Airport shops

Who buys luggage at the airport?

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Bag 4 Travel – courtesy Orlando International Airport

 

Whether it’s a quick business trip or a two-week vacation, most every traveler leaves for the airport with a carry-on bag or suitcase to be checked that is filled with clothing, toiletries and other items that might be useful on the trip.

So who’s buying all that luggage for sale at airports?

Travelers like Los Angeles-based freelance writer Sue Facter.

When the zipper on her tote bag broke on the return leg of a business trip, she planned to just “wing it” until she got home and had time to transfer her travel essentials to another bag. “However, I was in an airport gift shop buying a newspaper and a gorgeous leather tote with lots of pockets caught my eye,” said Facter. “Not only was it chic, it was on sale for $75. To this day, it is my favorite tote. I use it so much, I just replaced the zipper.”

Susan Facter with bag she bought for $75 to replace a tote with a broken zipper

Susan Facter with bag she bough at an airport for $75 to replace a tote with a broken zipper. Courtesy Susan Facter.

 

 

While travelers with broken bags can often be spotted in airport hallways trying to re-arrange their belongings in a newly purchased suitcase, at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, “staff repacks luggage right in the store so travelers can immediately put their new luggage to use,” said Karen Pride, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Aviation.

“We sell just as much luggage to people returning from trips as leaving for them,” said Lee Barrett with Hudson News at Houston’s Hobby Airport. “A lot of times their luggage is just worn, but we had one man come in who had all of his clothes in Walmart [shopping] bags. He couldn’t believe the airline wouldn’t let him check those bags.”

The weight restrictions airlines have set for checked baggage – and the hefty fees faced by passengers whose bags exceed those weight limits – also drive luggage sales at airports.

Lindsey Slater, a meteorologist for KSPR News in Springfield, Mo., paid $30 to buy a new bag at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wis., when she learned that the bag she had planned to check weighed in at just over 50 pounds. “Instead of paying an enormous fee of 90 buck or so, I decided it was actually cheaper to buy a smaller bag and check it for an additional 25 dollars. Crazy.” said Slater.

Lindsey Slater bought this bag at the airport in Milwaukee to avoid paying an overweight bag fee

Lindsey Slater bought this bag at Mitchell Int’l Airport in Milwaukee to avoid paying an overweight bag fee. Courtesy Lindsey Slater.

 

When American Airlines ticket counter worker Chris Lancaster informed a passenger at Arizona’s Tucson International Airport that her 60-pound suitcase was 10 pounds overweight and would incur an extra $100 fee, “she elected to visit the gift shop to buy an inexpensive carry-on bag for those extra 10 pounds to avoid the charge,” said Lancaster.

“Open luggage strewn across the lobby floor, with the owners repacking overweight bags into new bags purchased at the airport, is a familiar sight out here in Honolulu,” said Bill Payne. “Overweight charges can be $200 and more, so it can be a good investment to pay $50 for a bag that will accept 50 pounds of belongings and cost $25 to check.”

And then there are travelers returning to the airport after vacation shopping sprees

“Many international travelers heading home fill a carry-on with merchandise from the United States that they can’t buy in their home countries,” said Laura Samuels of Hudson Group, which operates branches of the Travel + Leisure Travel Store and Tumi luggage and accessories shops at various airports.

At Orlando International Airport, “we had to open a luggage store for all the travelers who come to our city to shop,” said Carolyn Fennell of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “Bags 4 Travel opened in 2011 and the bestsellers are duffel bags, items from the nostalgic Pan Am line of luggage and “luggage for international travelers to use; sometimes to pack up large-screen televisions.”

At times, passengers simply see a beautiful bag in an airport store and buy it, whether they need it or not.

That’s how Earlyne (Lena) Alexander ended up with a colorful suitcase sporting a design by pop artist Romero Britto. “It was just pretty,” she said. “I saw it in the Travel + Leisure Travel Store in JFK Terminal 2. I had a carry-on at the time and stuck my luggage into the new one and checked it. In fact, I’m traveling through JFK again this weekend and thinking of purchasing the matching carry-on piece.”

Earlyne's luggage

Earlyne (Lena) Alexander couldn’t wait to tweet a photo of the luggage she bought at the airport.

 

The Tumi store on Concourse E at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is a regular stop for Benjamin Pendry. “My wife and I travel through ATL quite a bit and I always try to talk her into letting me go,” said Pendry, who reports buying more of his luggage at airports than anywhere else. “If your mind is set on traveling and you are in the middle of a trip, sometimes it’s the most convenient time to grab something new.”

Like Pendry, many travelers just have “luggage on the brain” when they’re at the airport, said Michele Marini Pittenger, president of the Travel Goods Association. “Travelers take notice of what others are rolling or carrying. So for travel retailers, airport locations are smart business” And, of course, “you’ve got a captive audience with time to kill.”

(My story “Who buys luggage at the airport?” first appeared in my “At the Airport” column on USAToday.com.

Best new airport amenities in 2012

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Air travel may have gotten (even) more irritating during 2012, but on the ground, the scene at many airports has gotten mellower, healthier and a bit more connected.

It wasn’t all that long ago that free Wi-Fi and plentiful power outlets at an airport were newsworthy additions. But in a recent 2012 ACI-NA Passenger Services Survey, 88% of airports reported having electrical charging stations for passengers and 90% of the airports surveyed said they now offer travelers free Wi-Fi. That list includes Los Angeles International Airport and BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, which are among the larger U.S. airports that began offering complimentary Wi-Fi this year.

ACI-NA’s survey of U.S. and Canadian airports also found that almost half have children’s playrooms, 86% offer major local art displays, and that live music is a regular feature at 34 airports.

Massage and/or spa services, as well as hair and nail salons, are common sights now at airports as well, but during 2012 some new amenities were rolled out designed to make airport dwell time even more productive. Here are few you may have missed.

Yoga room

During 2012, San Francisco International Airport began playing music at the security checkpoints in the international terminal, installed a trio of free bicycle assembly stations and expanded the locations of the handy water hydration stations that allow a passenger to empty a water bottle before security, take it through and refill it for free on the post-security side. But the most novel amenity introduced by SFO this year was the first-of-its-kind airport Yoga Room (located post-security in Terminal 2), designed as “a space devoted to contemplation and self-reflection.” DFW airport followed suit four months later with a yoga ‘studio’ equipped with yoga mats and hand sanitizer located behind a partial privacy screen (Gate D40) near one end of the new Terminal D walking path.

Return of landlines

Remember landlines? In November, Denver International Airport installed more than two hundred landline phones throughout the terminal and the concourses offering passengers unlimited free domestic phone calls. International calls are free for the first ten minutes and, much like the “free” Wi-Fi service offered in many airports, the service is ad-supported: callers must listen to or watch a short ad before being connected.

Booze to go

Also in November, Las Vegas, McCarran International Airport, already home to amenities such as smoking lounges, an aviation museum and more than 1,600 gaming machines, became the first airport in the country to have a packaged liquor store in the baggage claim area. On the shelves at the Liquor Library: beer, wine, spirits, cigars, cigarettes, small packaged snacks, mixers, travel cups and glasses. In-store tasting events seem to be very popular.

Better food

Fast-food outlets at airports remain popular, but the number of healthy dining options for passengers continues to expand. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport introduced a Farmer’s Market Kiosk this year, selling healthy take-away food items, including fruits and vegetables, as well as packaged herbs that are being grown inside the airport at the aeroponic garden, which opened in 2011. Herbs from the garden are being used by many airport restaurants and honey from O’Hare’s on-airport apiary (the nation’s first) is being sold at the airport as well.

Dan Stratman, the former Air Force captain behind the AirportLife app is pleased that there are healthier dining options such as Shoyu, a modern Japanese restaurant and sushi bar, among the dozen or so new restaurants and markets rolled out recently in Delta’s Concourse G at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Many of those restaurants are associated with local and national name-brand chefs, a trend that Gate Guru’s Zachary Einzig was tracking during 2012. “Popular new places include Lemonade at LAX, Lorena Garcia Tapas Bar at ATL, Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar at CLT airport, and the Food Network Kitchen at Fort Lauderdale International Airport,” he said.

Loyalty programs

Airport loyalty programs gained momentum this year, most notably the Thanks Again program that gives travelers points and miles for money spent at restaurants, shops and parking garages at airports. The program began in 2009 (at Anchorage Airport) but took off significantly in 2012. As of mid-December, the program has presence in 170 airports and facility-wide participation in 40 airports. Marc Ellis, Thanks Again co-founder and CEO, is pleased that the most recent airport to join the program is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, which is located about 35 miles from the company’s headquarters in Tyrone, Georgia.

Shopping

During 2012, many airports welcomed new shops featuring popular local and national brands and on December, 13, just in time for the holiday season – and all that holiday eating – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport becomes the first airport retail location for shapewear phenomenon SPANX.

TSA PreCheck

Joe Brancatelli, editor of the business travel newsletter Joe Sent Me, thinks the best innovation this year is TSA’s PreCheck program. “As much as it is easy to criticize TSA and the pace at which it implements change, the spreading of PreCheck to dozens of airports is a game changer for frequent travelers,” he said. The program, which initially rolled out in October, 2011, is now at 33 airports, with Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport the most recent airport to join the program, on December 4. The TSA website offers a full list of airports with TSA PreCheck.

In May 2012, the TSA also extended to passengers age 75 and older, the modified screening procedures the agency put in place for children age 12 and under the year before. The program does not require older passengers to remove their shoes or light jackets at the checkpoints and allows them an additional pass-through (or “do-over”) through the screening machines to resolve any anomalies detected.

Looking forward to 2013, Brancatelli would like to see “more public-access lounges where travelers can go during disruptions or delays– or just to wait and work before flights.” And Raymond Kollau of Airlinetrends.com hopes to see more U.S. airports following the lead of European and Canadian airports that have introduced amenities such as libraries, book-swapping programs and wireless charging for gadgets.

I’m holding out for the opportunity to use my airport dwell time to take short classes in cooking, packing, dancing or Spanish and would like to see a vending machine installed at my home airport’s parking garage and/or light-rail station that will sell me a quart of fresh milk when I’m heading home from a long trip.

What new airport airport amenities were you pleased to see during 2012? And what amenity do you hope to see up at your airport during 2013?

 

(Best new airport amenities from 2012 first appeared in my At the Airport column on USA TODAY)

Makeover for Terminal 5 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport

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Will a ribbon cutting and this snazzy video, on Tuesday the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and Westfield Concession Management unveiled plans for significant renovations at Terminal 5 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Coming in Fall 2013: a totally new look, 15 new dining and retail brands and a variety of other amenities.

It’s the first make-over since the terminal was constructed, in 1993. Since then, as we all know, air travel has changed significantly and so this project will move the dining at retail options from pre to post-security locations.

What’s in store?

A new food court with performance kitchens, more efficient TSA checkpoints, a European-style pass-through duty-free store and dining options that will include Tortas Frontera by local award-winning chef Rick Bayless, Natural Break (salads, sandwiches and juices), Tocco (pizza/pasta), Hub 51 (sushi, gourmet tacos, burgers), Urban Olive (modern Mediterranean cuisine), Big Bowl (Chinese/Thai) and Wow Bao (hot Asian buns).

On the retail side: Hudson News outlets, Swatch brings, Chicago-based Vosges Haut Chocolat (yum!), I Love Chicago (art/accessories) and XpresSpa, which will offer massage services and salon treatments such as manicures, pedicures and facials.

Souvenir Sunday at Hong Kong International Airport

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I had two days to spend in Hong Kong this week and spent one of them touring Hong Kong International Airport. There’s an entire shopping mall in Terminal 2, with a Disney store and pretty much every shop you’d see in an upscale mall in any city. Terminal 1 has many of the same sort of shops, but it also has a branch of Muji, the Japanese-based minimalist, no-brand brand of goods, now with branches in cities around the world, including JFK Airport.

There’s a lovely Muji to Go shop in Terminal 1 at Hong Kong International Airport as well. The shelves were filled with all manner simple and elegant travel gear, toys, gadgets and personal accessories. But I found myself wanting to stare at – and then buy – just about everything in this incredible display of food and snacks.

Souvenir Sunday at South Korea’s Incheon Airport

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Each Sunday is Souvenir Sunday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, a day to look at some of the fun and inexpensive items you can find in gift shops at airports.

This week’s treasures come from Ross Reynolds (my husband), who found these cute little dolls for sale in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport . He didn’t buy them for me, but he is a big fan of Souvenir Sunday.

No need for dolls? If you’re stuck at Incheon airport, you can while away the time at the Korean Culture Museum, the traditional craft gallery, the Observation Deck or in the gardens.

Want to participate in Souvenir Sunday? If you spot a souvenir that’s inexpensive, offbeat and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo and send it along. If your souvenir is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, I’ll send you a travel-related souvenir.

Atlanta Airport – and others – get bigger

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The world’s busiest passenger airport is getting bigger.

Today, May 16, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport opens the new $1.4 billion Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal, named in honor of the city’s first black mayor.

“The opening of the international terminal is huge for Atlanta,” said the airport’s Aviation General Manager Louis Miller. “It gives international passengers their own terminal with its own entrance, it ends the baggage recheck process for Atlanta–bound passengers, and it enhances the airport’s overall capacity now and for the future.”

The opening of Atlanta airport’s new terminal comes on the heels of some other high-profile — and pricey — terminal openings in 2011, most notably San Francisco International Airport’s $388 million renovated Terminal 2 in April and Sacramento International Airport’s $1 billion new terminal in October.

The airport upgrades don’t stop there. Here are six more projects you may spy next time you fly:

Las Vegas

On June 27, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas will open “T3,” a new high-tech, $2.4 billion terminal that will serve both international and domestic flights.

“Our plans for T3 include self-boarding podiums at all 14 gates, self-service kiosks equipped for customers to print and affix their own baggage tags, and a robust [free] wireless Internet system that will extend out to the ramp and allow customers to log on whether they’re inside the terminal or aboard an aircraft parked at the gate,” said Randall H. Walker, director for the Clark County Department of Aviation.

Miami

This summer, Miami International Airport will open a new federal inspection area at the North Terminal that is twice the size of the existing Concourse E facility. In early 2013, the airport hopes to have the entire multibillion dollar North Terminal project completed. “What remains to be opened are three passenger gates and five of the 10 baggage claim carousels in the international arrivals area,” said Greg Chin, communications director for the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department.

A new AirportLink Metrorail extension that will speed connections to downtown Miami is also being built.

San Diego

San Diego International Airport is halfway through a $1 billion sustainable “Green Build” expansion of its Terminal 2 that is scheduled to be completed in August 2013.

“When complete, Terminal 2 will have 10 new gates, a dual-level roadway to separate arriving and departing passengers, a large, bright concessions core and the largest airport USO in the world,” said Katie Jones, spokesperson for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles International Airport is building a new $1.5 billion Tom Bradley International Terminal, which will include new concourse areas and gates that will be able to accommodate the superjumbo Airbus A380 airplanes.
Renovations and upgrades are also underway throughout the rest of the airport.

New York

And in New York, Delta Air Lines is spending more than $160 million to renovate Terminals C and D at LaGuardia Airport and more than $1.2 billion on John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4. The LaGuardia project may be completed by the end of 2013; the JFK project, by spring 2013.

That’s a lot of airport-upgrade activity at a time when the economy remains skittish, fuel prices are still sky-high and airlines continue to scale back schedules.

“Airports are investing in modern infrastructure to ensure that their communities, and the companies in them, can successfully compete in an increasingly global economy,” said Greg Principato, president of Airports Council International -North America, an airport membership organization. “These facilities are an investment in our economic future.”

(My story about airport upgrades first appeared on msnbc.com)

Spend Mother’s Day at the airport

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Airports around the country are rolling out the red carpet for Mother’s Day with special events, free gifts and shopping discounts. Here’s a round-up:

Keeping with their tradition, Volunteer Airport Ambassadors at Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport will have about 1000 carnations to hand out to moms passing through the airport on Mother’s Day.

At Miami International Airport they’re celebrating Mother’s Day Friday through Sunday with discounts, gifts-with-purchase and freebies in the shops, foil-wrapped chocolate roses for moms and events that include live music, a pick-a-pearl game with real oysters and a chance to make last-minute Mother’s Day cards and photo postcards.
(Find the coupons and event locations here.)

At Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports, food and retail concessions posting the sign above will be handing out free flower seed packets (zinnias) to moms from Friday, May 11 through Sunday, May 13, 2012. (While supplies last).

There are also special Mother’s Day sales and gift-with-purchase offers going on at Philadelphia International Airport , at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, at the Swatch stores in JFK International Airport, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and at Boston’s Logan Airport.

Souvenir Sunday at Louisville International Airport

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If you’re a horse racing fan you know by now that I’ll Have Another, at 15-1 odds, won the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Whether you bet right or not, if you’re heading home through Louisville International Airport you can pick up some fun Derby-related souvenirs.

Airport officials tell me that, at the Churchill Downs specialty shop, a favorite souvenir is an authentic horseshoe from Churchill Downs, especially those that still have some dirt from the racetrack.

Other souvenirs include official mint julep glasses, Derby-themed aprons decorated with brightly colored jockey silks and treats made from Kentucky’s signature bourbons, including Woodford Reserve bourbon balls, Mint Julep taffy and bourbon bark.

For those heading out from the airport on Sunday, May 6, Robert Joyner, artist of this year’s Kentucky Derby print, will be at the Churchill Downs shop from 10 to 11 a.m. to sign prints. And, for kids of any age, there will be a chance to meet Churchill Charlie (the mascot of Churchill Downs) between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Free ebooks at Harrisburg International Airport

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Here’s a great idea: on Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg International Airport (MDT) introduced a free eBook Library for travelers.

 

Airport marketing manager Stephanie Gehman browsed through the more than 30,000 free titles offered by Project Gutenburg and picked out 15 ebooks for the MDT library. Passengers – or anybody – can download the books, which include classics and aviation-related titles, at www.flyHIA.com/ebooks.

What’s on the shelf?  The Adventures of Huck Finn, Aeroplanes, Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Around the World in 80 Days, Gulliver’s Travels, Little Women, Mother Goose, Oliver Twist, Opportunities in Aviation, Pride and Prejudice, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, The Early History of the Airplane, The First Airplane Diesel Engine, and Wuthering Heights.

The ebooks are available for multiple formats directly from the website or by scanning any of the 15 different signs posted in gate areas and in a few other locations in the MDT terminal.

“The signs have a QR code that links directly to one of the fifteen titles in the ebook library,” said Gehman.  “Passengers can wander around the terminal, scan all of the signs and collect all fifteen titles.”

And what about the shops that sell books at the airports?

MDT has two Hudson News locations that sell books, “But we selected ebook titles that aren’t for sale at the booksellers in the terminal,” said Gehman.

Talking about airports

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I spend a lot of my time interviewing other people for the stories I write for various outlets and it always feels a bit strange when people turn the tables and ask to interview me.

But probably because this is the hectic holiday travel season, I’ve answered questions posed by Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome, Travergence, Rudy Maxa’s radio show (the podcast should be posted shortly) and, now, the Moodie Report’s Foodie Report. (Go to pages 24 & 25 to hear the audio clips, or read the story below.)