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Heathrow Airport’s Commemorative Coronation Luggage Tag

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Heathrow Airport welcomed plenty of VIPs and tourists to town for the Coronation of King Charles III. 

And to mark the occasion, Heathrow Airport commissioned London-based artist Morag Myerscough to design a commemorative luggage tag that is being handed out to travelers through May 10.

“Instinctively I knew a bold color-filled, joyful, positive approach to the luggage tag to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and the start of a new era was going to be my approach,” said Myerscough. “I marked the day with ‘CR III 2023’ and on the reverse depicting an abstract gateway to echo how Heathrow is the gateway to the UK and the world, welcoming people to start their adventures there and now to celebrate a new monarch.”

The tags are printed on the high-quality, recycled card by ‘the Royals’ favorite stationer’ Barnard & Westwood. This is the fine printing and bookbinding company that held a Royal Warrant under both Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales, printing the orders of service for royal events such as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding.  

In addition to the luggage tags, Heathrow has been celebrating the King’s Coronation with live music, Coronation-themed cupcakes and Walker’s shortbreads, and special dishes in some of the restaurants. Look for the King’s Blini at the Caviar House & Prunier, Coronation Chicken at Pilot’s Bar & Kitchen, and the King Charles Burger at Big Smoke Taphouse & Kitchen.

And head to Terminal 5 for the special Union Jack lighting that also celebrates the Coronation.

(Photos courtesy Kieran Cleeves/PA Wire)

May is a good time to land at Denver Int’l Airport

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Sadly, the 250-ft tall Red Eye Ferris wheel announced by Denver International Airport (DEN) on April 1 was just an April’s Fools joke.

But there are plenty of real events coming to the airport during May that travelers will enjoy.

May The Fourth Be With You

Like some other airports around the country, Denver International Airport has a good time on Star Wars Day – May 4th.

This year they’ll do it again. On Thursday, May 4 characters from the Star Wars movies will be parading in the Jeppesen Terminal and all the concourses between 10:30 am and 1 pm.

Travelers will be able to get their pictures taken with Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mandalorian, and a Stormtrooper.

On Friday, May 5, DEN Airport will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a performance by the Baila Conmigo Dance Group in the Jeppesen Terminal Great Hall and in the concourses between 10 am and 1 pm.

National Paper Airplane Day 

And on Friday, May 26th between 9 am and noon, Denver International Airport will be celebrating National Paper Airplane Day.

From 9 am until noon a traveling craft station will visit the concourses at DEN with a supply of origami paper and offer tutorials on how to fold the perfect paper airplane.

See the list of these and other events at Denver International Airport here.

Seatback Safety Cards: A Good Read

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We had a chance to chat about airline passenger safety briefing cards with Trisha Ferguson, CEO of The Interaction Group, for a story on The Runway Girl Network.

The Olympia, Washington-based firm has been around for more than 50 years and has designed and printed inflight safety information cards for more than 600 airlines. 

The important and information-rich seatback safety cards have been around for decades but only became mandated in the US aviation industry in 1977. And while it may seem like all the cards are the same, they vary from carrier to carrier, aircraft to aircraft, and have evolved in graphics and design.

“Many of the earliest versions were booklet-style pamphlets that were all or 90% text,” says Ferguson. “The content was unfamiliar to the average passenger. And many of the phrases, words, and terminology were only understood if you were an industry professional.”

Over the years, much has changed in the look of the illustrations in terms of style and culture. And some creative ways airlines tried to get passengers to pay more attention to the cards. 

“One of my favorites was Sun Country Airlines,” says Ferguson. “We hid seven different characters in the illustrations, including a construction worker, a gentleman in a tuxedo, and a ballerina. And the crew would tell passengers that if they found all the characters, they’d get a little prize.” 

Read more about the history and development of airline safety cards in our story on The Runway Girl Network.

TSA finds lots more guns & so many sharp things

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) not only stops travelers from bringing dangerous and prohibited items onto airplanes, but it also tallies the finds.

And the agency shares information about some of the more unusual items that show up at the security checkpoints on social media.

For some reason, many travelers pack guns in their carry-on bags. And the number keeps going up.

In the first quarter of 2023, TSA officers found 1,508 guns at checkpoints. That’s 10.3% more than the same period in 2022.

Fake guns and ammunition – even replica versions can’t fly either

Stop it with all those sharp things

It’s not just guns. Check out these sharp objects travelers tried to bring on airplanes, and TSA’s cutting remarks about them.

 

Unclaimed Money at Airports. Who Gets It?

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This week (August 16 – 23) is National Coin Week. And it is a good time to remind travelers to keep track of all their loose change at the airport security checkpoints.

Passengers going through airport checkpoints are told to put all their carry-on items on the belt going through the x-ray machine and to empty their pockets as well.

You’ve seen it. And perhaps you do it. But many passengers dump the contents of their pockets directly into a plastic bin. And in the rush to reassemble their belongings and move along, a lot of people leave loose change – and cash – in the bins.

The money left behind adds up.

In a report filed by the Department of Homeland Security for Fiscal Year 2020 (the most recent report we can find), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) collected $517,978.74 in unclaimed money from airports around the county.

More than $19,000 of the funds was in foreign currency. And more than $37,000 of the funds were collected at airport checkpoints in Las Vegas.

TSA is allowed to keep the unclaimed funds left behind at checkpoints. And the agency can spend it as it wishes “to provide civil aviation security.” In FY 2020, for example, most of the funds TSA had in the kitty were used to purchase “masks, gloves, plexiglass shields, and other protection measures for travelers and TSA’s frontline workers,” according to the report.

Don’t Want TSA To Get Your Loose Change?

We expect a new report to be issued shortly on how much cash and currency travelers have been leaving behind at airport checkpoints. And we won’t be surprised if the numbers tick up because so many travelers are still working on relearning their travel skills.

But it’s pretty easy to avoid adding your cash to the TSA coffers.

Before you leave home, empty the loose change from your pockets into a small bag, or even an envelope, that you can slip into one of the larger bags you’ll be sending the x-ray machine. Or put that change into a zippered pocket in your coat or carry-on before you get to the checkpoint. Do the same with your wallet, so you decrease the chance of leaving way more than loose change behind, and you won’t tempt someone else to steal it.

Visiting: Victoria International Airport (YYJ)

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Illarion Gallant’s ‘Bouquet of Memories’. Photo by Ray Shipka

Stuck at the Airport hopped on the Victoria Clipper for a 3-hour ferry ride from Seattle, Wa to Victoria, British Columbia. And on arrival, we jumped in a cab and headed north about 15 miles to Victoria International Airport (YYJ) for a look around the expanded terminal. And to taste some award-winning gin.

Courtesy Victoria Int’l Airport. Photo by Landon Copplestone

Art at Victoria International Airport


Arriving passengers at Victoria’s YYJ airport enter the terminal’s bright central rotunda. And there they find live plants, floor-to-ceiling windows, inviting seating areas, and, overhead, Robert Wise’s gently moving “Roulette” sculpture.

Courtesy Victoria Int’l Airport

There’s lots of other art in and around the terminal as well.

Out in front of the terminal, Illarion Gallant’s colorful “Bouquet of Memories” welcomes departing passengers with giant aluminum and steel poppies.

Also out front, Charles W. Elliott’s “Totems” trio.

Photo by Ray Shipka

Elliott’s carvings are also featured in the Eagles Landing Observation Lounge on the YYJ’s third floor and in the bag claim area.

 Sul Sul Tan Spindle Whorl #1

And two rotating exhibitions curated by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria both display works by area artists and offer the work for sale.

Food and Drink at YYJ

A few steps beyond Tim Horton’s is the Fickle Fig Farm Market, whose farm can be spotted across the airport airfield. The menu features seasonal, sustainable, and very locally-grown items.

And post-security you’ll find an outpost of Victoria Distillers, which produces a full line of award-winning Empress 1908 gins and other spirits at a waterfront distillery nearby in Sidney.

Victoria Distillers at YYJ offers travelers complimentary samples of all its gins and sells bottles of all its gins to go. There is also staff on duty to blend, bottle, and hand label the company’s purple-hued Empress 1908 Indigo Gin.

This famous gin is blended with botanicals, the signature black tea served at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, and butterfly pea blossom, which gives the gin the signature indigo color.

The only other airport that has a distillery on its premises is London Gatwick Airport (LGW). There, The Nicholas Culpeper – the world’s first airport distillery – has been open since 2016. The distillery makes ‘The Nicholas Culpeper London Dry Gin,’ which is named after a famous botanist and is distilled from an exotic blend of ingredients, including Chinese Cassia Bark and Angelica root from India.

British Columbia Aviation Museum at YYJ

Courtesy British Columbia Aviation Museum

Another bonus amenity at YYJ is the British Columbia Aviation Museum located on the southeast corner of Victoria International Airport’s property. The museum has a wide range of aircraft, as well as engines, photographs, models, and other aviation artifacts related to the history of aviation in Canada, with an emphasis on British Columbia aviation history.

Travel Tidbits From An Airport Near You

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Courtesy Portland International Airport

Cool New Kids’ Play Area at Portland International Airport

The family travel team at Stuck at the Airport knows that traveling with kids can be trying.

That’s why we’re delighted to see airports adding or refreshing play areas with creative and engaging features.

The latest on the scene is at Portland International Airport (PDX). There, the Tillamook County Creamery Association has created a cool new kids’ play area on Concourse E.

The 600-square-foot space has steps, slides, and a flying van designed with children ages 3 to 8 – and people of all abilities – in mind. The bouncy flooring is made from post-consumer recycled materials and the mural on the wall is by illustrator Josephine Rais.

The Tillamook Market, also on Concourse E, serves up meals made with Tillamook’s famous cheese and other locally-sourced ingredients, scoops of Tillamook ice cream, exclusive branded merch, and grab-and-go favorites including famous Tillamook Cheese Curds.

Freshful Fridge at Santa Barbara Airport

Stuck at the Airport is 100% in favor of healthy food options at all airports.

And we’re big fans of the Farmer’s Fridge salad vending machines offering fresh meals at more than 20 airports.

The trend is growing.

Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has a new Freshful Fridge vending machine filled with locally-sourced snacks, salads, and beverages. Look for it in the SBA baggage claim area on the first floor.

More Limits at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport

For a while now, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) has been placing caps on the number of departing passengers and flights. The action is an effort to deal with staff shortages that are causing long lines, canceled flights, and giant baggage backups.

KLM, Schiphol’s biggest customer, and a handful of other airlines aren’t happy about those flight caps and have filed a suit against Schiphol.

Now comes word that Schiphol will further restrict flights in an effort to reduce noise pollution.

Beginning “no later than 2025 – 26,” Schiphol will ban aircraft takeoffs between midnight and 6 am and all aircraft landings between midnight and 5 am.

Private jets and the noisiest airplanes will no longer be welcome at Schiphol. And plans for an additional runway are being scrapped.

“ We need to be sustainable for our employees, the local environment, and the world,” said Ruud Sondag, Royal Schiphol Group CEO. “I realize that our choices may have significant implications for the aviation industry, but they are necessary. This shows we mean business.”

KLM said in a statement that while it believes “operations should be in balance with our surroundings and the climate,” the airline is “astonished” that Schiphol is “unilaterally putting forward proposals that will have far-reaching consequences for airlines, without involving the industry parties in this process.”

Instead, KLM said, it would prefer “to work with the rest of the aviation industry on developing further measures to reduce CO2 emissions and noise pollution.”

How Airports & Airlines Marked April Fools Day

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We were pleased to see so many airports and airlines – and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation – Amtrak – having so much fun on April Fools Day.

Aviation museums also got in on the fun.

Here are some of the April Fools Day “news items” we encountered. Let us know if we missed some your faves.

UFO Displayed at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

In an April 1 release, the Museum of Flight in Seattle announced it would put on display an unidentified flying object (UFO) recently recovered from a crash site in a remote area in Washington state.

Here’s what it looks like:

Clearly, it’s an April Fools Day joke. But we love that the museum created a full backstory for this UFO:

Following a rash of inexplicable UFO sightings worldwide, the wreckage and debris field from a small disc-shaped object were discovered at a remote desert location near the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state. The UFO was initially detected by NORAD as it raced through the restricted airspace of Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The phenomena continued erratically on a northern flightpath and fiery descent to an impact zone in the remote desert hills of Benton County, Wash.

Military officials quickly removed tons of topsoil from the crash site to preserve any toxic fluids or alien biological matter that may have exited the disc. The object has displayed no signs of hostile intent, but extra security measures will be in place while it is on display at the Museum.

Plenty of airports and airlines got in on the fun. And many ‘announcements,’ such as Charlotte Douglas International Airport’s notice that it was removing the rocking chairs to make more room, no doubt made readers look twice.

But others, like KLM’s recline alert system and Geneva Airports’ ski-through-the-terminal updates aren’t totally silly ideas.

Robot Manicures at JFK Airport

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Back around 2001, when Stuck at the Airport was launched, airport manicure stations were an unusual sight.

“Ridiculous,” one reader commented. “Who would do that?” said another.

Now, airport spas with technicians on duty for drop-in manicures and pedicures are quite common.

What’s Next?

Looks like robot manicures are what’s next.

XWELL, which operates airport XpresSpa locations, has teamed up with the Clockwork company to bring an AI-powered manicure ‘robot’ to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) Terminal 4, near Gate B22.

The Clockwork MiNiCURE robot promises to paint nails in under 10 minutes without human intervention.

Here’s how it works:

You need to file and shape your nails yourself and remove existing polish (nail polish remover is provided). Once seated at the robot manicure machine a touchscreen will guide you through the experience,w ith a live support feature available.

The price? $20.

XpressSpa hopes to add at least five of Clockwork’s AI-powered robots across the company’s portfolio of 31 spa locations this year with the goal of deploying as many as 25 units.

Will you use this?

(Clockwork photos courtesy Karston Tannis / Monmouth Media House).

PHL Airport Celebrates the Philly Cheesesteak

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Friday, March 24, is National Cheesesteak Day. And Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is celebrating with a weeklong tribute of specials and giveaways.

Through March 24, the promo code “CHZSTK23” offers $3 off a cheesesteak or cheesesteak-inspired menu item from participating locations at OrderAtPHL.com.

Then on National Cheesesteak Day, Friday, March 24, PHL travelers will be treated to free cheesesteak samples from Chickie’s & Pete’s, Geno’s Steaks, Jack Duggan’s Pub & Restaurant and Passyunk Steaks. Samples of Pepsi Zero Sugar, prizes, and other surprises are also on the menu.

The “Finale Celebration” will be hosted by Lauren Rei with Wooder Ice and a live DJ from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the stage between terminals B and C.

Enter the Cheesesteak Sweepstakes

In or out of the airport, cheesesteak fans should enter the Pepsi and cheesesteak sweepstakes by March 24.

The prize is, you guessed it, cheesesteaks and Pepsi Zero Sugar for a year delivered in the form of $7,300 worth of gift cards.