books

Souvenir Sunday: Finnair flight attendants share their stories

Flight attendants, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

Has anything unusual or humorous happened to Finnair flight attendants?

Looks like we’ll have to get a copy of Airborne: Tales From A Thousand And One Flights, to find out.

The book is billed as “a collection of true stories written by customer service professionals of the sky” and appears to be filled with stories like this:

CRUISE – MEAL SERVICE

A passenger was upset on a leisure flight as he had asked for a window seat, but had been given one on the aisle instead. The flight was full, and nobody in his immediate vicinity was willing to change seats. I wondered what I could do to cheer him up, and decided to make him a window. I took a trash frame and taped “curtains” from kitchen roll on it. I went up to the man and said, “I’m really sorry that our service chain has let you down today. However, to make up for your loss, I do have this portable window for you. Would you like me to hold it in place, while you eat your preordered vegetarian meal?” The passenger burst out laughing, and stayed in a good mood for the rest of the flight.

Tee-hee. There are more wild and wacky stories like that in the book, which is available in English or Finnish. Proceeds of the book will be donated to the Finnish Central Association for Mental Health, which works for the prevention of mental health issues among children and adolescents.

JetBlue’s summer reading program

Air Travel, Kids, Kids travel, , , ,

JetBlue and PBS kids have rolled out a fun literacy program that will not only entertain kids, but help keep the cabin noise level in check.

The program has several elements, but here at StuckatTheAirport.com we’re most pleased to learn that kids on JetBlue flights this summer will receive a free activity kit with reading games, including this fun word find exercise.

Kids and their parents can also download a reading activity kit, create a summer reading list, log reading minutes and do other activities. And for every reader that registers on SoarwithReading.com, JetBlue will make a book donation to a child through First Book, up to 10,000 books.

Soar with Reading will also be giving $10,000 worth of children’s books to one community’s library. Another library will receive $2,500 worth of books and five other libraries will receive $500 worth of books, courtesy of Random House Children’s Books and JetBlue. You can nominate a library and, as a reward, be entered to win a vacation package to the Bahamas.

So it’s win-win-win all around.

Book art at Albany International Airport (ALB)

Airports, Art, Exhibits, , ,

In New York, the Albany International Airport (ALB) Art and Culture Program has just kicked off “The Imaged Word,” an exhibition featuring works by a variety of artists all on the theme of books and the words inside them.  Most of the work is in the airport’s (pre-security) third floor gallery, the same floor as the Observation Gallery, but at least one piece makes impressive use of the stairwell leading to the gallery.

Here are a few samples of what you’ll see.

Imaged Word at Albany Airport - Building Bridges

Detail from Aaron Stephan's "Building Bridges"

Aaron Stephan’s Building Bridges installation is made up of eight foot high arched columns of books arranged so that they seem to recede into the distance of a darkened room.

In See No Evil, an altered book by Robert The, a scarab (talisman for warding off evil) seems to be escaping from a book filled with photographs of New York State politicians and influential people.

Robert The's "See No Evil"

Robert The's "See No Evil" - altered book

And in Hanging Index #20:Last Lines, by Scott McCarney, pages of a book have been cut, line by line, so that they cascade out of the book into a cloud of text that hovers over the stairwell leading to the gallery.

Work by Scott McCarney

Scott McCarney's "Hanging Index #20: Last Lines"

The Imaged Word will be at New York’s Albany International Airport through January 9, 2011.

Schiphol getting world’s first airport library

Air Travel, Airports, Delays, Entertainment, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Layover, Reading, , ,

Library at Strahov Monastery

(Strahov Monastery library, Prague. Photos courtesy Curious Expeditions , via Flickr)

Over the years I’ve heard from one or two US airports that were toying with the idea of letting their local library have a cart somewhere in the terminal where travelers could check out and return library books.

But so far, it seems nothing much has come of that.

Now comes word that, come July, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will have the world’s first airport library, complete with books, films and music. According to Radio Netherlands:

As the airport library is a place where people will pass time and then leave on their flights, visitors will not be allowed to take books, DVDs or other items away. There will, however, be a separate ‘download room’. A new device will allow visitors to not only watch films, but also to download them to mobile phones.

A brilliant idea! Hopefully other airports will team up with local libraries and do the same.

And, for fun and inspiration, take a look at this Librophiliac Love Letter from Curious Expeditions – a round-up of some of the world’s most beautiful libraries. Schiphol’s new library may not end up looking like any of these, but I bet they’ll create something quite inviting.


More airport freebies – for people & pets – for Thanksgiving travel

Air Travel, Entertainment, Events, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids, Parking, Pets, , , , , , ,

turkey

It may be stressful traveling this week through the nation’s airports, but there are some freebies and special events being rolled out that you may find useful and entertaining.

In addition to the events we listed yesterday at Boston’s Logan International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Airport, you’ll find:

valet parking icon

Two days of free valet parking at Kansas City International Airport (MCI). To get a coupon for the free parking, fill out this form.

MSP Spoonfuls of Stories

Through Wednesday, November 25, 2009, you can stop by any Travelers Assistance Info Booth at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and pick up a free children’s book, courtesy of Cheerios and The Spoonful of Stories program. The books include: “Junkyard Fort”, by Jon Scieszka, “Tea for Ruby”, by The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, “Sleepyhead”, by Karma Wilson, “Ballyhoo Bay”, by Judy Sierra, and “What’s Under the Bed?”, by Joe Fenton.

ATL DOG PARK

And don’t forget that many airports around the country have opened on-site dog relief parks.  The latest to open is at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which now has a dog park with two sculptures by Doug Makemson of Commerce, GA, who says:

“The model for “Abby” was my beloved yellow lab, Abby, who was always willing to strike a pose. She had a full life and a mercifully rapid demise a few weeks after the sculpture was completed. She was the world’s best dog; I miss her. The sculpture is made mostly from parts of a backhoe and a bulldozer, and the stone is Gneiss, a type of granite, from an old quarry near Glade, Georgia. For me, “Abby” the sculpture will always make me remember Abby the dog, the most loyal friend I ever had.

You can see the sculptures – and a happy dog in the park – in this cute one minute video ATL airport posted to celebrate the opening of the dog park.

Happy Thanksgiving – more airport freebies tomorrow!

TURKEY big