Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Fresh art at O’Hare Int’l Airport

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If you’re traveling through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) over the holidays and are passing through Terminal 5 (T5) you’re in for an art-filled treat.

The installation of a $3.5 million public art commission featuring work by more than 20 Chicago artists is nearly complete and it’s pretty darn impressive.

Here is a selection of the works you’ll be able to see.

Above is a part of the piece titled a murmuration by Jina Valentine, which consists of 600 wall-mounted convex aluminum discs of varying sizes on view in the Passenger Level Concourse.

The artwork is a data visualization mapping over 200 years of immigration to the Illinois region. The color shifts as you move from one end of the piece to the other, illustrating the changes in immigration patterns over time.

Shinsekai Yori / From the New World (above), by Mayumi Lake is on view in the T5 International Arrivals Corridor.

Buffalo Chart at O’Hare, by Bernard Williams, is also in the International Arrivals Corridor.

In addition to all the new works on view in Terminal 5, you’ll find art in Terminal 1, Terminal 2, the Terminal 3 Rotunda, the muli-modal transportation facility, and elsewhere on the O’Hare Airport Campus.

DEN’s ELF, PHL’s Pottery Bike & More Airport Fun

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Some airports around the country are going all out to celebrate the holidays this year and entertain travelers. Here are some of the fun celebrations we’ve spotted.

More to come. Let us know what we missed.

Denver Int’l Airport’s Purple Elf

Pottery Bike Landing at Philadelphia Int’l Airport

If you’re at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) on Friday, December 16, between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm make your way to the spot between Terminals B and C across from the food court.

PHL Airport will be teaming up with The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, for the second visit of Pottery Unplugged–a people-powered pottery bike.

Passengers and employees will be able to try to throw their own clay vessel or just watch and see how it’s done. The twist here is that the pottery wheel is powered by a bicycle.

“At PHL, we always strive to represent what Philly has to offer artistically and culturally,” says Leah Douglas, PHL’s Director of Guest Experience. “Pottery Unplugged certainly accomplishes that through its creative ingenuity.”

Festive Decor at Chicago O’Hare Airport

Christmas Miracle at SEA Airport

The pandemic put the renovations in the Central Terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) years behind schedule. But just in time for the holidays, the airport has finally opened Salty’s – a welcome sit-down restaurant with great airfield views – and a beer & wine garden.

Now if only the reindeer would return to the airport light rail station…

Tuesday Travel Tidbits

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Hawaiian Airlines plans to offer free Wi-FI

Hawaiian Airlines has inked a deal with Starlink, the SpaceX satellite network, to provide complimentary high-speed internet onboard flights between the islands and the continental U.S, Asia, and Oceania as early as next year.

The airline plans to equip select Airbus A330 and A321neo aircraft, as well as an incoming fleet of Boeing 787-9s, with Starlink’s satellite internet connectivity service.

“We waited until technology caught up with our high standards for guest experience, but it will be worth the wait,” said Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Peter Ingram, in a statement.

Free Coloring Books at O’Hare and Midway Airport

If you are passing through Chicago’s O’Hare or Midway Airport anytime soon, be sure to stop by an info desk to ask for one of the free activity and coloring books. The books are available in English and Spanish and can be downloaded as well.

Free stuff and prizes when you explore Indiana

Indiana

The deals team at Stuck at The Airport loves creative travel campaigns, free stuff, and prizes.

And Visit Indiana Week, which runs May 1-7, has it all.

Admission is free to all Indiana State Parks on May 1. That also happens to be the Hoosier State’s free fishing day as well.

Throughout the week, anyone who checks in using the Indiana State Nature Passport becomes eligible for a grand prize that includes a 2022 State Parks Pass, a $50 gift card for camping, and a subscription to Outdoor Indiana magazine.

Indiana also has a Culinary Trails  Passport and throughout May, anyone who checks in on the I Scream for Ice Cream Trail is eligible to win a gift card from one of the trail stops, courtesy of Indiana Foodways Alliance.

More holiday cheer – and dances – from airports and airlines

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If we were traveling around this month, we’d certainly be spending a lot of time in airport gift shops buying Christmas chocolates and other treats.

Some of that chocolate would even make it home and into nicely-wrapped gift boxes.

Instead, we’re home and keeping an eye on what airports and airlines are doing to be festive and still keep us safe during an unusual travel season.

SFO Airport is charming us with lights, music, and dancing

We love the giant light switch in this holiday message from SFO and we’re ordering one installed in our home office.

We also love this ‘put your mask on’ music video starring and produced by some incredibly talented people who work at SFO airport.

SFO’s mask video is a good pairing with the safety dance video Alaska Airlines put together that we featured here yesterday. That video also stars in-house talent.

Wreath-decorating contest at O’Hare Airport

It looks like they had so much fun with the pumpkin decorating contest at Halloween that now 13 shops at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport are competing in a wreath-decorating contest.

The public is invited to weigh in on which is best.

Voting is open through December 25, 2020.

O’Hare Airport also has some great themed holiday trees.

More to come..

ORD: 5 Things We Love About Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Airport guides, ,

We’re back with another installment of our “5 Things We Love About…” series and today we’re landing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

Please keep in mind that due to health concerns, some features and amenities at ORD may be temporarily unavailable. But we’re confident they’ll be back.

Here’s a link to the airports that have been profiled in the “5 Things We Love About…” series so far. Feel free to nominate an airport you’d like to see included in the series.

And if we missed a feature or amenity you love at any of the profiled airports, le us know in the comments section.

5 Things We Love About Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

O’Hare International Airport (ORD) is located about 14 miles from downtown Chicago. Originally named Orchard Field Airport, the airport was renamed in O’Hare International Airport in 1949 to honor Lieutenant Commander Edward H. “Butch” O’Hare, a Chicagoan killed during WWII.  

1. ORD’s Aeroponic Garden

O’Hare International Airport’s aeroponic garden grows herbs and vegetables, including basil, lettuce, beans and edible flowers – all without soil. Many restaurants in the airport use ingredients harvested from this garden.

2. The Brachiosaurus at ORD

The Field Museum has been kind enough to loan ORD a skeleton model of a Brachiosaurus excavated in 1900 by one of the museum’s paleontologists. The model is 4 stories tall and 72 feet long and hard to miss in Terminal 1, Concourse B, near the entrance to the tunnel to Concourse C.

3. The ORD Shoe Hospital

The Shoe Hospital at ORD not only offers shoe shining services, they can fix broken heels, sell you shoelaces, put another hole in your leather belt and, in a pinch, fix a suitcase or a strap on your carry-on bag.

4. Art at ORD

Entertaining and iconic, “The Sky’s the Limit,” by Michael Hayden is a 745-foot-long kinetic light sculpture in the tunnel connecting Concourses B&C in Terminal 1.

5. The Fighter Plane

ORD displays a replica of the WWII F4F-3 fighter plane flown by the airport’s namesake, Lt. Commander Edward “Butch” O’Hare. Find it on the north end of Terminal 2, near gate E1.

Did we miss any of your favorite features or amenities at ORD? The yoga rooms? The day passes you can get to use the well-equipped gym at the O’Hare Hilton? Or perhaps the Farmer’s Fridge vending machines that dispense fresh salads and snacks in returnable jars?

Let us know?

Nintendo’s pop-up airport lounges

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Nintendo pop-up lounge at Dallas Love Field

Calling all Nintendo fans. Or anyone wanting some entertainment while they’re stuck at the airport.

Nintendo has rolled out a cluster of pop-up game lounges at four airports just in time for the spring break travel season,

The Nintendo Switch On The Go pop-up airport lounges are at Washington Dulles (IAD), Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA), O’Hare International (ORD) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) airports.

Each lounge gives travelers hands-on time with game demos using Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.

According to Nintendo, anyone who visits one of these Switch On The Go lounges can order Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite systems and receive a free carrying case with their order.

Another promised bonus for anyone who stops by is a free Nintendo Switch branded luggage handle wrap and a $10 coupon from Target to use on any Nintendo purchase of $75 or more – “available while supplies last.”

Nintendo pop-up lounge at SEA airport

But: We stopped by the SEA pop-up lounge on Monday, the first day Nintendo’s pop-up lounge was opened. Although the attendants were friendly and chatty and offered to take our photo, no luggage handle wraps or coupons were offered. So, if you’re interested in that, be sure to speak up.  

Look for the pop-up lounges through March 29, 2020 at these airports:

Help upgrade the food at O’Hare International Airport

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Have you ever complained about the food at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD)?

If so, here’s your chance to make a difference.

The airport is partnering once again with HMSHost and inviting chefs of all abilities from across the country to enter the Channel Your Inner Chef competition.

Entrants may be “aspiring, connoisseur, or otherwise.”

The event takes place at O’Hare on March 24, 2020. And while you don’t need to be a master chef to enter this live cooking competition, you do need to get busy.

Entrants need to make an up-to-five-minute video of themselves preparing a favorite original recipe. The video entries need to be submitted by February 17 at the Channel Your Inner Chef website.

Five finalists will be selected from the video entries. Those finalists will be flown to Chicago to compete in a live cook-off in front of an audience and a panel of judges at O’Hare on March 24, 2020.

During the 30-minute cook-off, finalists will be challenged to create an original recipe using some of the food ingredients laid out before them.

The winning dish will be featured on the menu of an O’Hare restaurant.

The grand prize winner will win a VIP experience for two to the James Beard Awards Gala being held on May 4, 2020, in Chicago. The winner will also get two roundtrip airline tickets for a flight anywhere within the continental U.S.

Sound like something for you or someone you know? Find more details at Channel Your Inner Chef.

Below is a video from last year’s event.

StuckatTheAirport.com was on-site for last year’s competition. We got a kick out the fact that, after competing against each other, the contestants got together to cook themselves a feast with some of the fresh fish, meats and other unused ingredients that had been fanned out for them.

“We’re cooks,” one contestant told us, “We not going to let good food go to waste.”

Airport amenity of the week: free snacks at O’Hare and Midway Airports

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Free food at the airport? Yes, thank-you.

The Taste of Chicago music and food festival takes place in Chicago’s Grant Park July 10 to 14, 2019, but there are also free tastings and special discounts being offering for travelers passing through O’Hare International and Midway Airports this week.

And although it is only Wednesday, we’re declaring this StuckatTheAirport.com’s Airport Amenity of the Week.

Atlanta International Airport shows off lighted canopy

Airport Terminals, Airports, , , , ,

Hatsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently tested the lighting on the first three sections of its North Terminal canopy.

ATL Airport - green canopy

This canopy is one of a half dozen major construction projects under way at ATL as part of a major 20-year long development program, dubbed ATL Next, that the airport says is designed to boost capacity, renew and replace existing facilities and “enhance ATL’s aesthetic appeal.”

There will be canopies in front of the North and South passenger terminals and the full length of each canopy will be covered in a plastic material that will be able to be illuminated in different colors and patterns by thousands of embedded LED lights.

Work on the ATL’s North Canopy should be done by the fall. The South canopy is expected to be completed in Fall 2019.

The airport did a test run on the lights on part of the North Canopy last week. Neutral white light is expected to be the default color but on special occasions the canopies will be illuminated to mark specific events such as red, white and blue to honor Independence Day.

Other options already under consideration: red and black to celebrate a Falcons Super Bowl victory, or green to mark Earth Day.

Of course, ATL isn’t the first to get a cool lighted architectural feature.

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport has the “Sky’s the Limit” underground neon walkway.

OHARE NEON TUNNEL courtesy ORD

Detroit Metropolitan Airport has a lighted tunnel.

 

And Los Angeles International Airport has lighted pylons at it entrance that are often lit up in different color patterns to honor a holiday or special event.

What other cool lighted architectural features at airports should we add to this list?

Makeover for Terminal 5 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport

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Will a ribbon cutting and this snazzy video, on Tuesday the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and Westfield Concession Management unveiled plans for significant renovations at Terminal 5 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Coming in Fall 2013: a totally new look, 15 new dining and retail brands and a variety of other amenities.

It’s the first make-over since the terminal was constructed, in 1993. Since then, as we all know, air travel has changed significantly and so this project will move the dining at retail options from pre to post-security locations.

What’s in store?

A new food court with performance kitchens, more efficient TSA checkpoints, a European-style pass-through duty-free store and dining options that will include Tortas Frontera by local award-winning chef Rick Bayless, Natural Break (salads, sandwiches and juices), Tocco (pizza/pasta), Hub 51 (sushi, gourmet tacos, burgers), Urban Olive (modern Mediterranean cuisine), Big Bowl (Chinese/Thai) and Wow Bao (hot Asian buns).

On the retail side: Hudson News outlets, Swatch brings, Chicago-based Vosges Haut Chocolat (yum!), I Love Chicago (art/accessories) and XpresSpa, which will offer massage services and salon treatments such as manicures, pedicures and facials.