There is a fee to enter. Wine, beer, liquor, coffee, cigars and other items are available for purchase.
Tampa International Airport (TPA)
At Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Florida, there are 4 distinct post-security airside terminals – Airsides A, C, E and F – and each has its own covered outdoor smoking area.
Look for the TPA smoking lounges by Gate A18, Gate C30, Gate E62 and Gate F88.
Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), home to exhibits and experiences celebrating rock and roll music, science fiction and other expressions of popular culture, wants to The National Museum of Pop Culture.
And this week a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to get the process in motion. The bill will have to pass through congressional committees before it can be voted on by the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then the President would have to sign the bill into law. But we’re confident that will happen.
While that process is going on, we encourage you to visit the museum when you’re in town to see exhibits that include Massive: The Power of Pop Culture, Hidden Worlds: The Films of Laika, Hendrix: Wild Blue Angel, Fantasy World of Myth and Magic – and much more.
Help test out the new main terminal at PDX Airport
Portland International Airport (PDX) will open its new main terminal sometime in August. But first, they need to test it out.
As part of that process, the airport is seeking volunteers for a PDX Dress Rehearsal on Saturday, August 3. Volunteers will serve as pretend travelers and test out the check-in and security systems and share feedback.
As a bonus, the airport is giving volunteers a $50 gift card.
Tag along and then be sure to take in a few of the great exhibits at SFO Airport next time you’re there. We’ve arranged a long layover at SFO this week just so we can see the Airplane Model exhibit in the International Terminal.
Over the strong objections of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), last week the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners went ahead and unanimously voted to change the name of “Metropolitan Oakland International Airport” to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.”
The airport’s three-letter code (OAK) and its logo are not changing. But if you go to the airport’s website, you’ll see that the name has already been changed pretty much everywhere else.
Now lawsuits are flying between OAK and SFO
When OAK floated its name name change idea, the city San Francisco and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) weren’t happy.
So unhappy that the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit claiming that, among other things, OAK airport was infringing on its trademark.
But OAK is firing back with a lawsuit of its own. OAK airport is asking a judge to rule that the airport’s new name does not infringe on the trademark of SFO, which is across the bay.
“This new name will cause confusion and chaos for travelers, which will damage the travel industry for the entire region,” said SFO City Attorney David Chiu.
Oakland disagrees.
“The Port disputes that the new name will create confusion with consumers as passengers booking flights into the region—like travelers to other major metropolitan areas throughout the world—will understand that the San Francisco Bay Area can contain more than one airport,” according to OAK’s lawsuit.
What do you think of San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport’s new name?
The Stuck at the Airport team is a longtime fan of Spokane, WA.
The city is home to, among other treasures, a giant red Radio Flyer wagon.
Its airport, Spokane International (GEG), offers a free car wash to anyone who uses the parking garage.
In 1974, this eastern Washington city became the smallest city to host a World’s Fair and a citywide 50th-anniversary celebration of Expo ’74 is running through July 4, 2024.
We stopped at the Expo ’74 exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and got a kick out of the list of bands and other performers who visited the fair. Marcel Marceau, Gordon Lightfoot, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, The Modern Jazz Quartet and Chicago, were all there.
As was Liberace.
The exhibit displays the poster advertising Mr. Showmanship’s appearance (prices starting at $3) and the lovely beaded blue costume and boots he was wearing in the poster and in his show.
While in town, we stayed at the Davenport Grand, which sits right across the street from Riverfront Park and is one of the five unique hotels in the city’s The Davenport Hotel Collection.
Four of the hotels – The Davenport Grand, the 110-year-old Historic Davenport, the Davenport Tower, and the Davenport Lusso – are part of the Marriott Autograph Collection.
And each hotel adds a $20 amenity fee to the room rate.
Usually, hotel amenity fees irk us. But this one feels like a good deal.
The fee covers high-speed internet; a standard offering of amenity fees these days.
But guests also receive a coupon for a Washington wine tasting that includes two small glasses of wine, plus another coupon for $20 food & beverage credit which can be used anytime at any of the brand’s 11 restaurants & bars in town.
We got great value from this by using our coupons during Happy Hour at the Safari Room at the Davenport Tower and were pleased that the wines offered in the tasting, which we loved, were included in the discounted Happy Hour wines.
If we weren’t so busy enjoying the festivities at Riverfront Park and visiting the Expo ’74 exhibit, our amenity fee would have also covered our use of the hotel’s bicycles – and helmets – for two hours; any number of fitness classes at the local branch of The Union; and unlimited rides on the hotel’s shuttle van to any attraction or location within a half mile of the hotel. If the weather hadn’t been so nice, we would have used that shuttle quite a bit.
The Davenport Collection team values this amenity package at $125.
And while not every guest will take advantage of all the items covered by the amenity fee, as amenity fees go, this $20 is easy, and fun, to recoup.
Condor, Germany’s ‘stripey’ airline, recently started flying its striped A330neo aircraft between Frankfurt and both Vancouver, BC, and Boston, MA.
Touchdown at Boston Logan! Today we welcomed @Condor's newest aircraft, A330neo, to the airport for the first time! pic.twitter.com/Petame1oB8
— Boston Logan International Airport (@BostonLogan) May 7, 2024
Condor leans into the stripes with colored bands on the outside of these planes and in the cabin, with stripes to be spotted on everything from cups and napkins to barf bags and slippers.
Now there’s one more cool striped item to look for. The airline recently started serving its version of a Cosmopolitan – the Condorpolitan – in tiny striped bottles. Cheers!
Here are some travel tidbits from the Stuck at the Airport inbox to help you ease into the week, including music and travel advice, contests for travel adventures and, of course, airport news.
Hello Kitty Day coming to Oracle Park
EVA Air is teaming up with the San Francisco Giants to host Hello Kitty Day at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
As part of Hello Kitty Day, the first 15,000 fans to enter Oracle Park on May 11 will each receive a Hello Kitty Bucket Hat. On that day, EVA President, Clay Sun, will throw out the first pitch while Hello Kitty and the Giants Mascot Lou Seal mug on the field.
For planespotters: EVA’s Hello Kitty “Shining Star Jet” is flying between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) in Taipei, Taiwan. The Boeing 777-300ER is flying two days a week, on Fridays and Sundays, now through May 26. It will then shift to Sundays only, from June 2 to June 23.
Musical Travel Guides for Europe, courtesy of Air Canada
Air Canada asked three Québec artists – Charlotte Cardin, Alexandra Stréliski and Sarahmée – to create music playlists to go with their favorite European cities.
And Alexandra Stréliski shares her faves in Amsterdam.
The playlists are available on the Air Canada website and Spotify. Give a listen.
Airline Satisfaction Study: Niceness wins.
J.D. Power’s 2024 North American Satisfaction study is out and concludes that investments some airlines have been making in trying to improve the overall flight experience with friendly, attentive service are paying off.
“The big takeaway from this year’s study is the power of people to positively influence the overall flight experience,” said Michael Taylor, J. D. Power senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service. “Airlines investing in staff training and recruitment are finding ways to overcome the negative effects of crowded gates and planes simply by being nice to their customers.”
The North America Airline Satisfaction Study measures performance in seven categories: airline staff; digital tools; ease of travel; level of trust; on-board experience; pre/post-flight experience; and value for price paid. Scores are tallied on a 1,000-point scale.
Here are the top lines in Customer Satisfaction, but segment.
First/Business: Delta Air Lines ranks highest with a score of 743. JetBlue Airways (736) ranks second.
Premium Economy segment: Delta Air Lines ranks highest for a second consecutive year, with a score of 716. Alaska Airlines (687) ranks second and American Airlines (684) ranks third.
Economy/Basic Economy: Southwest Airlines ranks highest in customer satisfaction in the economy/basic economy segment for a third consecutive year, with a score of 685. Delta Air Lines (651) ranks second and Allegiant Air (633) ranks third.
Perhaps you’ve seen news reports about the four zebras that escaped from a trailer on a highway east of Seattle this week. 3 were quickly captured, but one is still on the loose.
Here's something you don't see every day: Zebras on the loose in Washington.
The zebras escaped a trailer on Sunday afternoon. Three of them were captured, but one zebra is still on the loose, as of Monday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/zcG9er72c1
There have been some real sightings of the last zebra out in the woods and we hope he’s found safe soon.
But in the meantime, locals are having a great time spotting the zebra in other places, including at the airport, on a ferry, on a bridge, at the Department of Motor Vehicles, in a police car and lots of other places.
While we’re getting used to seeing stripes at SEA, we’re not sure this belongs to us. 😕 Better call our wildlife biologist! #NorthBendZebra 🦓 pic.twitter.com/3S7DL3eM9j
— Seattle-Tacoma Intl. Airport (@flySEA) May 2, 2024
Apparently the zebra that escaped from the North Bend facility was last seen on the ferry to Bremerton. pic.twitter.com/twp3QA5lzE
We can confirm that a wayward #zebra stopped in briefly this morning at our West Seattle driver licensing office. He said he needed an enhanced ID to cross the border. We reminded him that he's a zebra and he can just, you know, cross if he wants to. 🦓 pic.twitter.com/XjSqt7YHv4
— Washington State Department of Licensing (@WA_DOL) May 2, 2024
Our department just issued rules to protect people from hidden airline fees and to require airlines to give passengers automatic cash refunds when owed. No more having to fend for yourself and jump through hoops to get your money back—airlines will have to automatically do this. pic.twitter.com/Jv7dFmnNkI
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) April 24, 2024
It’s taken several years, but on Wednesday the US Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a final rule requiring airlines to promptly provide refunds to passengers when flights are canceled or significantly changed; when bags are delayed and when other purchased services are not provided.
Before this, refund policies differed from airline to airline. And that made it difficult for passengers to navigate their refund rights.
Under the rule, passengers are entitled to a refund for:
Canceled or significantly changed flights
Passengers will now be entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed if they do not accept alternative transportation or travel credits offered.
The rule now also defines “significant change” to a flight to include departure or arrival times that are more than 3 hours domestically and 6 hours internationally; departures or arrivals from a different airport; increases in the number of connections; instances where passengers are downgraded to a lower class of service; or connections at different airports or flights on different planes that are less accessible or accommodating to a person with a disability.
Significantly delayed baggage return
Passengers who file a mishandled baggage report will be entitled to a refund of their checked bag fee if it is not delivered within 12 hours of their domestic flight arriving at the gate, or 15-30 hours of their international flight arriving at the gate, depending on the length of the flight.
Extra services not provided:
Passengers will be entitled to a refund for the fee they paid for an extra service — such as Wi-Fi, seat selection, or inflight entertainment — if an airline fails to provide this service.
DOT rules now spell out HOW airlines are to give refunds
Under the new rule, airlines must issue refunds automatically – without requiring passengers to jump through hoops, and promptly – within 7 business days for tickets purchased on credit cards and 20 calendar days for other payment methods.
The new rule also says refunds must be in the form of the original payment – cash, credit, points, etc. Airlines may no longer substitute vouchers, travel credits, or another form of compensation unless the passenger chooses to accept some alternative compensation.
Also, refunds must equal the full amount of the ticket price, minus the value of any portion of transportation already used. The refunds must include all government-imposed taxes and fees and any airline-imposed fees, regardless of whether the taxes or fees are refundable to airlines.
Most of these rules will go into effect within 6 six months, while some won’t take hold for a year.
YVR's been named Best Airport in North America at the Skytrax World Airport Awards! We've worked hard to improve our operations, accessibility, and traveller experience and we're so grateful to our airport community for helping us reclaim the top spot. https://t.co/eOtEIAGPUp
There are lots of “best” lists for airports. But Skytrax, which uses over 13 million air passenger satisfaction surveys to determine its rankings for airports globally, is one of the big ones.
The Skytrax rankings for 2024 were recently announced and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) came out on top of the list for airports in North America. YVR was also crowned the Cleanest Airport in North America.
2nd on the list in the Best Airport in North America category is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), which had been in the top spot in this category for the past two years.
Here are the other airports that made it onto the list of Best Airport in North America for 2024:
3. Houston Hobby (HOU)
4. New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
5 Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG)
7, San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
8. Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
9. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
10. Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)
Other awards for North America Airports
Finding a great airport hotel can be challenging, so this list of Best Airport Hotels in North America might come in handy.
Topping the list for 2024 is the TWA Hotel at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
The Fairmont Vancouver Airport, the Grand Hyatt at SFO, the Westin at SFO, and the Westin at Denver International Airport round out the list.
The Houston Airport System took top honors for the World’s Best Airport Art in the Airport and Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) landed the award for the World’s Best New Airport Terminal.
