Greetings from Sydney, Australia where I’m touring the city and attending the Annual General Meeting of IATA – the International Air Transport Assocation.
While in town, I visited the Powerhouse Museum, one of the sites of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences and, in the Space section, came across a few examples of old food from space.
Also on display- Space food for cosmonauts from 1993:
Yum?
Courtesy Alaska Airlines
Earth Day – which this year highlighted Lonely Whale’s “For a Strawless Ocean” campaign to get people and companies to stop using plastic straws – has come and gone. But the earth still needs our help.
So it’s good to know that Alaska Airlines has jumped on the No Straws bandwagon. Starting July 16 the carrier will stop serving single-use, non-recyclable, plastic stir straws and citrus picks with drinks and will replace them with sustainable alternatives in its airport lounges and on all domestic and international commercial flights.
What’s wrong with plastic straws? They non-recyclalbe and if they end up on the oceans, they can kill birds and other marine life.
In 2017, Alaska Airlines handed out 22 million plastic stir straws and citrus picks. This summer, they’ll instead start using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified white birch stir sticks and a bamboo alternative for the citrus pick. People with special needs will be able to request non-plastic, marine-friendly straws.
Alaska Airlines has a good history of being eco-conscious.
Since it started tracking its recycling efforts in 2010, the airline says it has reduced passenger waste going to landfills by 54 percent.
The Seattle-based carrier has also replaced bottled beer with aluminum cans -which are lighter and easier to recycle and introducted a policy to refill plastic cups rather than offering a new cup for every round of beverage service.
“Building on our grassroots, employee-led recycling program, we’re thrilled to take the next step to protecting our land and oceans by removing single-use non-recyclable plastic straws from our planes,” said Jacqueline Drumheller, sustainability manager for Alaska Airlines, in a statement.
Let’s see if other airines join the no-straw party.
It’s back. And its yummy.
HMSHost is smack dab in the middle of its Restaurant Month celebration, offering special meals at more than 80 restaurants in about 50 airports throughout North America.
Menus vary by restaurant, but at many of the participating restaurants you’ll find these featured dishes:
* Avocado Banh Mi with cucumber, carrot, cilantro, mint, and lime
* Roasted Salmon with avocado, sautéed mushroom, arugula, and a Sriracha aioli
* Pulled Pork Tacos with avocado, radish, and lime
* Grilled Chicken Breast with smoky tomato sauce, caramelized onions, and avocado
Look here for a list of participating restaurants and airport, and some sample menus.
Also: Spirit Airlines, known for offering low fares but upcharging for everything from a water to printing out a boarding pass for you, has announced that it will be installing Wi-Fi on its planes by summer 2019.
Pricing will be available “starting with an average price of $6.50, with a cost range expected to be lower or higher based on the route and demand,” the airline said in a statement. We bet on “higher.”
Air France (launching flights between Seattle and Paris this weekend) is rolling out a cute campaign focusing not on its business or first class amenities – but on what it gives to economy pass passengers.
And what other airlines don’t.
Noting that ‘budget’ carriers offer low prices but minimal amenities, the “Take a Chance or Fly Air France” campaign touts the fact that economy class passengers on Air France pay low prices but also get amenities such as in-flight entertainment, warm meals, and champagne.
To make the point, Air France has made up give-away boxes containing items that may be useful to passengers flying economy class on other airlines:
The boxes will be given away via a vending machine at an event at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles on March 24 (with a few golden tickets good for two round-trip tickets on Air France in the mix), but the rest of us can enter to win a box of goodies by entering an online sweepstakes.
We definitely have a trend. Or a new way of doing things at airports.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is the latest airport to offer a service that allows passengers to order meals from airport vendors and have it delivered to them wherever they are in the airport, in about 15 minutes.
Schiphol is working with food-delivery company Deliveroo and HMSHost International on a pilot program for deliveries in Piers (or concourses) D and E, and in the Mercure Hotel in Departure Lounge 3, and so far the pilot is a big success.
“The reactions from the passengers have been very positive,” Schiphol spokesman Paul Weber told me via email, “Passengers are smiling and waving to our deliverers, taking pictures of them and saying how innovative & quirky the service is. Most of them are very surprised by the existence of such a service, calling Schiphol “The airport of the future.”
For now, the meals available are prepared at Kebaya and The Market, The Grill and The Oven, which are located in Schiphol’s Street Food Market and are delivered by scooter, for a delivery charge of €2.50 (about $3) – but free delivery is being offered through March.
Schiphol isn’t the first airport to offer gate delivery. Airport Sherpa offers gate delivery of food and merchandise at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. At Your Gate recently began offering gate delivery at San Diego International Airport. Both companies plan expansions to other airports.
And, as part of an Airport Innovation Challenge, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, a start-up called Fetchy Fox received a $15,000 prize to develop a delivery program for food and retail at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington’s Dulles Airport.
Brazilian restaurant for Miami International Airport
A popular chain restaurant from Brazil – Viena – has opened on the top (seventh) floor of the pre-security MIA Hotel at Miami International Airport.
The restaurant, which replaces the “Top of the Port” restaurant that was in that spot for many years, has a menu featuring Brazilian and European dishes, including salt cod fritters (Bolinho de Bacalau), Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) and the Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail.
In addition to great views, this new restaurant has free Wi-Fi, happy hour, large-screen TVS and electronic charging stations.
Foodie Week at Philadelphia International Airport
March 12-18 is Foodie Week at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) with seven restaurants in Concourse B offering special entrees at a discount – $12 – throughout the week
United Airlines passengers can buy a place in line
United Airlines now allows standard economy passengers to purchase Priority Boarding, allowing them to board in group 2.
The cost is $9 per segment and, according to United, the number of passes sold will be “closely controlled based on flight, date, time of day and day-of-week restrictions.”
For those who already have TSA Precheck and really want to move up in the boarding process, this is a less expensive add-on than Premier Access, which offers priority boarding benefits along with other benefit such as access to premier check-in lines and security lanes. Prices for this add-on start at $15 per segment.
Keep in mind: the new Priority Pass option, like Premier Access, is non-refundable and is not available to you if you’ve purchased a Basic Economy ticket.
SXSW bring extra music to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
The SXSW mash-up of conferences and festivals is underway in Austin and the airport in the Live Music Capital of the World is doing its part to make sure everyone gets their fill of music.
In addition to the usual 21 live music events it offers each week, Austin Bergstrom International Airport is adding six extra performances during peak SXSW travel days – March 12, 13 and 19.
Of the extra performances, bands will play at the airport’s Asleep at the Wheel State at Ray Benson’s Roadhouse near Gate 10, while extra solo acts will perform at Annie’s and Waterloo. See the full schedule here.
Post Office plus at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports
The Parisian postal service – La Poste – has opened enhanced post offices at both Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports, In addition to 24-hour postal machines, these post offices will have gift shops, terminals where customers can make photo postcards, rentable work spaces, and other services, including a key drop.
Your face is your boarding pass
Passengers flying with British Airways from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to London Gatwick can now opt to use their face as their boarding pass, thanks to SITA’s biometric boarding technology, which scans a person’s face and matches it up with the data U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has on that passenger in their files.
The process is already being used with certain JetBlue flights at Boston Logan International Airport and British Airways flights at Los Angeles International Airport.
Going biometric isn’t a requirement to board the flights testing the new technology, but last year’s SITA’s passenger IT survey showed that 57% of passengers would use biometrics instead of a boarding pass. SITA reports that real world rates are even higher than that: nearly 100% of passengers are opting to use the biometric boarding during the trials.
Today is National Pancake Day at IHOP – which is doling out free short stacks of pancakes throughout the day.
Today is IHOP® National Pancake Day®. Today we celebrate that every pancake has the right to pancake. So come into IHOP® for a free short stack of pancakes. Rejoice! pic.twitter.com/3BH4XjS63N
— IHOP (@IHOP) February 27, 2018
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International is the only airport I’ve found that lists an IHOP among its dining outlets and I’m not sure if the free pancakes offer extends to the airport.
ATL’s website says this IHOP Express in the Atrium is open 24 hours, so (free or not) it’s always possible to have pancakes at the airport.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is going give its Terminal 3 a makeover, with lots of local dining options and fresh new shops. All should be open by 2010.
In addition to a branch of Shake Shack, locally-themed dining venues coming from both airport dining operators Host International and SSP American in the mix will include:
Some of the locally-themed retail concepts on the way include:
Some of these new outlets will open in late 2018/early 2019 as part of the Terminal’s new South Concourse. The rest should open when in 2020 when the north concourse renovation is finished. More details here.
You order take-out meals delivered to your home or office, so why not get a meal – or some merchandise – delivered to you while you’re sitting at your airport gate?
That’s the idea behind the app-powered services landing in airports.
Airport Sherpa started doing this last July at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and late last month San Diego International became the second airport in the country where passsengers and airport workers can use an app to order food, drink or merchandise for sale in the airport delivered to them wherever they are in the airport.
At Your Gate did a soft launch of its service in San Diego at the end of January with the company’s three founders joining two employees in making the initial in-airport deliveries to flight attendants, airline employees working gates and ticket counters, ramp break rooms and to a few passengers who caught wind of the program.
The service seemed popular among airport workers right away, with plenty of orders coming in from employee break rooms on Super Bowl Sunday.
Many flight crews with short turn-around times have already ordered food delivered to them at the gates, while at least one airline has set up an account with At Your Gate so they can order food for passengers in the first-class cabin in case the ground catering service doesn’t have time to restock a departing flight.
Another possible application for the app: delivering food to “through” passengers on Southwest Airlines flights who don’t have time on the short connections to get off the plane to buy a snack.
What does it cost?
At Your Gate is currently charging airport and airline employees a $2.99 delivery charge. Passengers in the airport will pay a $6.99 delivery charge when the service officially opens to them next month and there’s discussion of offering unlimited deliveries for a monthly subscription cost.
Sound like a good idea? Let me know what you think.
The “Channel Your Inner Chef” culinary competition is back for another year at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
The HMSHost-sponsored competition gives amateur cooks, culinary students and anyone with a great recipe a chance to show off their favorite dishes and win some great prizes – including having their recipe featured at a restaurant at O’Hare Airport.
To enter: make a two-minute video of yourself preparing your favorite recipe, then upload your video by February 20, 2018 at ChannelYourInnerChef.com.
Five finalists will be selected based on the recipe, presentation, form, and showmanship.
Those finalists will win a trip to Chicago to compete in a live cooking showdown in front of an audience and a panel of judges at O’Hare Terminal 2 on March 20, 2018.
During the timed cook-off finalists will be asked to create an original recipe with ingredients revealed at the event and the winning dish will be featured on the menu of an HMSHost-operated restaurant at O’Hare.
The grand prize winner will also receive two roundtrip airline tickets for a flight within the continental U.S. and a VIP trip for two to attend the James Beard Awards Gala on May 7, 2018 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Deadline to enter is February 20, 2018. Full details at ChannelYourInnerChef.com.