Animals

Airports + National Bee Day

Honey bees are experiencing a drastic decline in the United States and that’s having a negative impact on the global ecosystem.

Creating habitats where they can thrive is part of the solution. And on National Honey Bee Day, Saturday, August 20, we recognize the contributions honey bees make to our lives.

Airports abuzz

Airports around the country are doing their part to help the honey bees thrive by hosting honey bee hives on airport lands.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport (MSP) are among the airports that have apiaries on site.

The bees at MSP Airport are there as part of the University of Minnesota Bee Veterans program, which provides free beekeeping education for Minnesota Veterans, including monthly workshops, including in-person and online workshops.

Here’s a video from MSP showing honey bees in the hive.

Does your airport have hives? (Tee-hee) Let us know and we’ll update our list.

Wildlife spotted at Juneau International Airport

Alaska’s Juneau International Airport (JNU) is far from flashy.

The most recent terminal renovation at JNU added some impressive pieces of art but left behind the taxidermy animals travelers have long associated with landing in this city.

We spotted arriving passengers dropping their bags to take selfies with these critters. And we wondered if grizzly bears were still around. “Oh, yes,” my Alaska-born seatmate told me on the return trip, pulling out her phone to show me a wobbly video of a large grizzly she and her family had encountered while strawberry picking on a remote beach the day before.

Travel Tidbits: Animals at Airports

Update on the giant flamingo at Tampa Int’l Airport

The airport art team at StuckatTheAirport.com can barely wait for Tampa International Airport to finish the installation of a 21-foot tall sculpture of a flamingo in the main terminal.

When completed the big bird will appear to be gently dipping its head beneath the water’s surface.

TPA shared the news this week that the 6,0000 pounds of custom-made ceiling panels designed to replicate the surface of the water surrounding the flamingo have finally arrived in Tampa from Japan and are being prepared for installation.

On Watch for Wildlife at SEA Airport

Speaking of wildlife…

There’s a new exhibit at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) encouraging passengers to help save endangered animals around the world.

The exhibit includes information about endangered animals and illegal animal trafficking.

Included in the display are examples of confiscated illegally trafficked wildlife artifacts alongside sustainable look-alikes.

Look for the exhibit in SEA’s S Concourse, the departure point for most international flights.

Airports celebrate National Puppy Day

Today is National Puppy Day. So get ready for lots of photos of airports pup to pop up on social media,

We’ll start off with Heathrow Airport’s early tweet and add more as we spot them.

Feel free to share pics of the way your airport’s pups are celebrating.

Travel Tidbits from SFO + Finnair +Indiana State Museum

SFO’s Wag Brigade Gets a Bunny

Most airports that had them before the pandemic have now brought back their teams of stress-busting therapy animals to the terminals.

A great example is SFO’s Wag Brigade, which is made up of about a dozen cute pups, a pig named LiLou, and the newest member of the team, a 28-pound Flemish Giant rabbit named Alex the Great. Look for them all next time you’re in SFO.

Finnair handing out Nort Pole Diplomas

Yes, even adults love getting a set of plastic wings when onboard some airplanes. But Finnair has brought back a cool amenity for travelers: a certificate for passengers who have flown over the North Pole.

Back in 1983, when Finnair became the first airline to fly non-stop from Europe to Japan, passengers on the carrier’s Tokyo flights were given a certificate for flying over the North Pole.

Now, Finnair is using that polar route again in order to avoid flying in Russian airspace. And the carrier has brought back the certificate – plus some Moomin stickers.

On March 9, flight AY073 from Helsinki to Tokyo Narita headed towards the North Pole, instead of heading East. With this flight, Finnair resumed its service to Tokyo Narita, skirting around Russian airspace that closed on February 28.

Where We’d Go: Indiana State Museum

Now that the Stuck at the Airport museum team is back in the field, we’re adding a stop to the Indiana State Museum to our list so we can see the exhibit about Major Taylor: Fastest Cyclist in the World.