Air Travel

Grimms’ Fairy Tales at Dane County Regional Airport

Air Travel, Airplanes, Art, Aviation history, Exhibits, , ,

A National Geographic website about Grimms’ Fairy Tales offers these words of advice:

“Looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft you toward dreamland?  Look somewhere else.”


That’s because the stories Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected in the early 1800’s don’t always have happy endings. There are witches. There are wolves. And there are creatures and plot turns kids (and some adults) shouldn’t read about before bedtime.

But if you’re wide awake and passing through the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin, you’ll definitely want to spend time perusing the books, prints, engravings, and historical documents in the airport’s new exhibition:  Once upon a time … – The Brothers Grimm – Life and Work, on view through June 25, 2010.

And when you’re in the terminal, don’t forget to look up: a full-size Corben Super Ace airplane – like the ones built in Madison in the 1930’s – is suspended from the ceiling. Volunteers from the Madison chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association built this plane using original 1930s plans.

Tidbits for travelers: free buffets at JFK; free flights to nowhere

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Volcano-delayed flights to and from Europe and beyond are resuming, but airport closures and flight cancellations may continue on-and-off for weeks. So this NYT tracking map may be handy for a while longer.

NYT volcano cancellation map

In the meantime, people have been opening their homes to stranded passengers and theaters, museums and restaurants have been offering discounted and free entertainment and meals to folks who found themselves stuck at the airport.  At JFK, the company that operates all the restaurants and fast-food outlets in Terminal 4 – SSP America – organized a free buffet meal for about 300 on Monday night. Breakfast for 300 was served Tuesday morning as well.

And no doubt because I spent so much time learning about the ins and outs of some very tiny and unusual airports for a Bing story titled: Easy Flier: 10 airports that reduce the hassle, I was extremely interested in this story on CNN, which discusses some other small airports around the country that end up having to offer free flights in order to maintain federal funding.

Stuck at JFK? Free buffet for volcano-delayed passengers

Air Travel, Delays, Food, Free Stuff, , ,

Many travelers stranded New York’s JFK airport due to volcano-canceled flights have been stuck at the airport’s International Terminal: Terminal 4.  Travelers stuck in other terminals have been bused over to Terminal 4 as well, in part because that’s the only terminal with food concessions located pre-security.

According to SSP America spokesperson Darleen Nascimento, “Many of the stranded passengers do not have the means to buy food at the restaurants and quick service outlets.”  (SSP America is the company that operates all the restaurants and fast-food outlets in Terminal 4.)

So today at 6 pm, SSP America will be offering a free buffet for about 300 stranded passengers. The airport chapel has donated its conference room for the meal.

The menu:

Pasta with marinara, perogies, mixed green salad, toasted garlic flat bread, braised beef in brown sauce, baked chicken wings with citrus and herbs.

If the travel restrictions continue, SSP America may also serve breakfast to stranded passengers tomorrow.

Kudos to them for doing this!

Get a Clue: toy exhibit at Toronto Pearson Int’l Airport

Air Travel, Art, Exhibits, , ,

Two new exhibits at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) are all about toys.

Exploring the Toy Box and Boosting Business: Companies Team up with Toys includes dolls, games, trucks and even a few musical instruments from the 1940’s to today.

The toys are on loan from the Canadian Toy Collectors Society and most every toy on display was made in Canada.

Exploring the Toy Box is in the Malton Gallery, pre-security, above the Canada arrival hall, through July.  The other exhibit, Boosting Business: Companies Team up with Toys is in the International Departures area of the airport through mid-May.

If you’re interested in seeing more toys, be sure to check out the Canadian Toy Collectors Society virtual museum.

The site has photos of  toys made from tin, plastic, rubber and other materials – including this wood and tin Superskyliner by Noma Toys.

Volcano closes airports; but doors are open in Denver

Air Travel, Architecture, Cancellations, Events, Exhibits, , , , , ,

If I could fly somewhere this weekend, I’d choose Iceland for the chance to see for myself what that volcano is doing. But since the ash has caused the worst disruption in air travel since 9/11, that’s not going to happen.

Photo courtesy Craig Murphy, via Flickr

OK, so Iceland, and pretty much everyplace else in Europe, is out.

But if I could fly anywhere in the United States this weekend, I’d choose Denver.

There’s no volcano erupting there, but this weekend the city is hosting Doors Open Denver – a free event that offers a look inside dozens of buildings around town that are usually closed to the public.  My column on msnbc.com this week, Welcome! The Door is open, includes a run-down of half a dozen cities that host this sort of event, but here’s a preview, along with some photos that didn’t make it into the posted story.

(Photo by Gregory Thow)

Billed as a celebration of the city’s built environment and design, the 6th annual Doors Open Denver takes place April 17-18 and includes 80 to 90 buildings around town that are usually off-limits to the public. This year’s theme is adaptive re-use so you’ll get to see many old buildings being used in creative new ways.

This year, participating sites include the city’s old main post office, which has been turned into a high-security federal courthouse; a restored mansion that serves as the Colorado Governor’s Residence; a theater in a former mortuary; a Yellow Cab garage that now houses businesses and residential units; and the Historic Sugar Building, which was built in 1906 as the headquarters for the Great Western Sugar Company and now houses office and retail space, and two original Otis cage elevators.

One sure-to-be-popular site is the Daniels & Fisher Tower, which was once the tallest building in Denver. The Italian Renaissance Tower has a restored lobby with marble floors and walls and a 17th floor boasting a giant clock-face and a balcony that offers great 360-degree views of the city, the surrounding plains and the mountains.

(Courtesy: Gregory Thow)

More doors opened
If you can’t make it to Denver this weekend, don’t worry. Doors at many other usually off-limits locations will soon be opening in cities throughout North America, including Toronto, New York, Chicago, and in Lowell, Mass.

May 13-15 are the dates for the 9th annual Doors Open Lowell event, which will feature everything from reclaimed and restored mill buildings to a 1920’s classical revival Masonic Temple with curious chambers and meeting rooms, and the subterranean space that once housed giant turbines for a power plant that ran a local mill.

During Doors Open Toronto, held on May 29-30, 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and/or social significance will be open to the public. Highlights include: Toronto’s City Hall, which offers self-guided tours of the Rotunda, the Council Chambers and the Observation Deck, and the five-story red brick Toronto Flatiron Building, which pre-dates New York City’s famous Flatiron building by about ten years. Also open to the public will be the Canada Life building, which has a weather beacon and a 17th floor tower room offering a panoramic view of downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario, as well as the restored circa-1920 Canon Theater — once the largest and most elegant vaudeville and motion picture palace in Canada.

Mark your calendars: New York hosts Open House New York on Oct. 9-10, with more than 200 sites participating throughout all five city boroughs, including the Woolworth Building, Radio City Music Hall and the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, which is accessed not by a door, but by a manhole.

(Courtesy Jeffrey Donenfeld)

Are airports ready for the new 3-hour rule? Are you?

Air Travel, Airline policies, Airports, , ,

(photo courtesy Daniel Incandela)

My column on USATODAY.com this month, Are airports ready for the 3-hour rule?, takes a look at how airports are gearing up for the April 29th roll-out of the new Department of Transportation (DOT) rule to upgrade protections for airline passengers.

We’ve been hearing a lot from airlines – they’re not happy – but I was curious about what the fall-out might be for airports if (when?) more planes end up turning around and coming back to the terminal and if (when?) more people end up stuck at the airport.

I was imagining I’d hear worry, maybe even hysteria, from airport officials.  That’s not what I got. In fact, the responses I got down the line were more along the lines of “We’re ready. Bring it on.”

You can read the complete column – and the very intriguing comments readers have been posting – on USATODAY.com.  Here’s some of what airport officials told me:

Airports at the ready

Long before the DOT announced enhanced protections for airline passengers, airports were holding meetings to work on creating tool kits and best practices that could be used during excessive flight delays. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, for example, executive vice president for operations Jim Crites says that in 2007 the airport began purchasing extra equipment to help deplane passengers quickly. DFW also started beefing up communications with airlines, with regional airports that might get diverted flights and with airport concessionaires that might need to stay open later than usual during irregular operations. “The customer expects everyone to be on the same page. So instead of doing business in isolation, you began to see more coordination, more teaming up and partnering across entities.”

It’s the same story at many small and medium-sized airports. “After that incident when people were stuck on a JetBlue plane in New York for nine hours we agreed as a management team that we would not let that happen here,” says Russell Widmar, the aviation director at California’s Fresno Yosemite International Airport, “So we’ve had our own passengers’ bill of rights in place for almost a year and a half now.”

The plan that the team worked out was successfully put to the test in January 2008, when severe weather on the California coast brought 14 diverted planes to Fresno Airport. “It really isn’t any problem dealing with extra flights,” says Widmar, “The only difficulty is that these passengers don’t want to be in Fresno. They want to be San Francisco or wherever they were headed. But if they end up here, no matter when they drop in, we have services available for them. No one needs to be stuck on the airplane.”

Widmar believes that by now pretty much every airport is ready to deal with this type of activity. That includes the many small airports not currently covered by the DOT contingency plan rule, such as Indiana’s Fort Wayne International Airport, which often get diverted flights from Chicago and Detroit. FWA executive director Tory Richardson says “The DOT rule is silent on how the coordination plans are to be handled at small airports, even though there are a few hundred of us. But we will step up … Nobody wants the black eye that happened in Rochester.”

Airports of the future?

Air Travel, History, Technology, , ,

What would the airport of the future look like? As this collection of links to past articles in Popular Science makes clear, from the 1930’s through the 1960’s, people have floated some pretty wild ideas, including floating airports.   Other possibilities?  Skyscraper airports, airports with cotton runways, and rotary airports.

What’s your idea for the airport of the future?

Have you seen an award-winning airport bathroom?

Air Travel, Bathrooms, ,

Been in any great airport bathrooms lately?

If so, then take a moment nominate it for the 2010 America’s Best Restroom Award.

This is the ninth year the Cintas Corporation has been running this wacky contest and there have been some pretty swanky loos among the contestants.  But back in 2005, the grand prize winner was none other than the Fort Smith Regional Airport (FSM) in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Here’s a description of their winning restrooms:

Fort Smith Regional Airport prides itself on the Southern hospitality that it displays for its visitors. The restrooms are always clean, with sanitation being of utmost importance. Beautiful décor and comfortable seating, both inside and outside the stalls, compliment the restrooms’ cleanliness. Dried flower arrangements are always on display. And you’ll never have to manually flush a toilet or turn on a sink here—everything is automated.

Sounds like a lovely spot for a traveler to take a tinkle, doesn’t it?

Nominations for the best restroom – airport or not, in the United States and in Canada – are being accepted through through April 26, 2010. 10 finalists will be announced in July and the public will get to vote for the favorites, with the winner announced in  September.

Besides the Fort Smith Airport, other winners have included the University of Notre Dame; The Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi; Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield, Ohio; Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee; and in 2009, Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, Missouri.

You can see the winners and the runners up in the America’s Best Restroom Hall of Fame.

What’s there for you in DOT’s new tarmac-delay rule?

Air Travel, Delays, , , , ,

Yes, the Department of Transportation’s new rule taking effect April 29 promises stiff penalties for airlines that strand passengers inside idling airplanes for more than three hours.

But look closer at the 81-page document detailing DOT’s new Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections rule, and you’ll find other regulations that apply more broadly. They require carriers to be more truthful about flight delays and take more responsibility when things go wrong.

No time to read the entire document? No problem. In an msnbc.com column this week Something for everyone in DOT rules, I outline some of the highlights of the DOT legislation that might just make a difference on your next trip.

Make, share and stick to plans

There’s that three-hour rule. There’s also a two-hour rule.

With a few security-related exemptions, an airline must allow customers to get off the plane — or risk receiving fines of up to $27,500 per passenger — at the three-hour point of a tarmac delay.

After two hours, DOT will require airlines to give passengers “some type of food [i.e. pretzels or granola bars], potable water, working lavatories and, if necessary, medical care.”

These rules apply to major U.S. carriers as well as the small regional carriers you might fly due to code sharing arrangements.

Airlines must also have contingency plans in place, and the plans must be coordinated and shared with the airports regularly used by the carriers, as well as with any medium- or large-hub airports likely to receive diverted flights.

Those plans also need to appear on airline Web sites.

No more ignoring passenger complaints

Have a beef about an airline experience?  Who doesn’t?

Recognizing that some airlines make it difficult for customers to file complaints, the DOT will now require airlines to post information about how and where to file complaints on e-ticket confirmations and at ticket counters and boarding gates.

And airlines must now acknowledge a complaint within 30 days and provide “a substantive response” — something that addresses a customer’s specific complaint — within 60 days.

What else is in the rule? And what’s next?

You can read more about the passenger protections the DOT is rolling out in my column  Something for everyone in DOT rules, where you’ll find a link to the 81-page DOT rule itself. Take a look and then you can decide for yourself if you think the rules will make a difference or, as some industry experts predict, will just cause more problems.

And don’t think DOT is finished with its rulemaking for airline consumer protections. According to a statement posted on his Fast Lane blog in December, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is determined to protect air travelers even further.

Pay for carry-on bags? We’ll see about that.

Air Travel, Baggage, Carry-ons, Fees, , ,

We all knew this was coming – someday – right?

Spirit Airlines announced that, come August 1st, you’ll need to pay a fee (up to $45 if you wait until the last minute) to stow a bag, a box, or that container holding our uncle’s cremains in the overhead bin.

The alternatives?  Check your bags (there’s a fee for that as well) or tote less.  Or, as many of the 45,000 people who voted so far in the msnbc.com on-line survey vow to do, fly a different airline.  “Enough is enough,” wrote one voter. “They must think we’re idiots,” said another.

For their part, Spirit Airlines claims that by unbundling this fee, passengers might save money.

Given the fact that Spirit adds fees for just about everything else, the potential to save money by traveling with no luggage is highly disputed.  But the airline also suggests that charging for carry-ons will reduce boarding hassles.  Spirit Airlines COO Ken McKenzie claims the new charge “will reduce the number of carry-on bags, which will improve in-flight safety and efficiency by speeding up the boarding and deplaning process, all of which ultimately improve the overall customer experience.”

We’ll see about that.  And, of course, we probably only have to wait until about, oh, August 2nd, to find out if other airlines will follow Spirit’s lead.  It’s a good bet.  We were all shocked when airlines started charging for checked bags and snacks but now, as my mother used to say about things far worse than that, it’s all just part of the game.

To add your vote to the msnbc.com carry-on bag survey, to read my column on the topic, and to see all sorts of videos and other reporting on this topic, see Unbundled baggage fees reach the overhead bin.