A new-fangled Pepsi Interactive Vending Machine in Terminal D at DFW Airport is giving thirsty travelers willing to show off their soccer skills a chance to earn points and win a can of soda.
No purchase is necessary to play with the machine, which makes use of Microsoft Kinect technology and challenges users to keep a virtual soccer ball in the air for 30-seconds while moving through a series of skills challenges.
There are twenty of these machines worldwide and, for now, this is the only one set up in North America.
Many airports host gift-wrapping stations during the holiday travel season to encourage and help out travelers doing some last-minute shopping on the fly.
But this year Dallas/Fort Worth International is upping the ante and not just wrapping gifts purchased at the airport; it’s offering to ship gifts purchased at the airport for free.
“Our marketing staff was doing research into what customers were interested in,” said airport spokesman David Magaña, “And while free shipping wasn’t a big request from leisure travelers, it was on the part of the business travelers, who make up most of our customer base. We took it to our retailers and 90% said they were in.”
Launched Nov. 22, the “You Shop, We Ship” program is in effect through Dec. 24, and is available to travelers who purchase an item valued at $50, $75, $100 or more, depending on the concessionaire.
For travelers who don’t need a gift shipped but would like to show up at their destination with wrapped presents, the airport is also providing a gift-wrapping kiosk near Gate 24 that will be open daily from 1-5 p.m. through Christmas Eve. Purchases valued at $50 or more will be wrapped for free.
DFW has a yoga space, free Wi-Fi, walking paths and a branch of the Minute Suites nap center. A Centurion Lounge for American Express card holders opened in mid-October.
“We’re keenly interested in making sure we put our best customer service forward,” said Magaña, “especially for the holidays.”
(My story: Dallas/Fort Wort airport will ship your gifts for free first appeared on Today in the SKy on USA Today.
Travelers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) can shop, snack, snooze and practice yoga while waiting for a flight. For the next six months they can also use their dwell time to learn how to save lives.
During a pilot program they hope to bring to other airports, the Dallas-based American Heart Association has partnered with American Airlines, also headquartered in Dallas, to host an automated kiosk to teach air travelers a simplified CPR method called Hands-Only.
Passengers can perform the technique — which does not require rescue breaths — on the torso of a manikin while viewing a watch-while-practice video showing the correct procedure in a non-threatening and fun way. “This tool really breaks the barrier people have of being afraid to initiate CPR while waiting for help to arrive,” said American Airlines physician Jeral Ahtone.
Research has shown that even abbreviated training with a short video can help people remember CPR steps, so secure, high-traffic areas such as airports, “where there is a lot of down time for people who are waiting for their flights” are logical sites to teach people the simplified CPR procedure, said Dr. Ahamed Idris, an American Heart Association volunteer and professor of Surgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
The video program on the touch screen kiosk gives a brief introduction to the technique and is followed by a practice session and a 30-second test. Feedback is given to the user about depth, compression rate and proper hand placement.
“There’s a real value to putting simple and understandable life-saving information out in public,” said DFW spokesman David Magaña. And because DFW has added amenities such as a walking path, a yoga studio, a massage and spa center and a soundproofed nap center towards its goal of being “one of the healthiest airports anywhere … this project seemed a good fit,” he said.
And over the next six months, don’t be surprised if you come upon passengers at DFW humming the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” or doing a few John Travolta-style, finger-in-the-air disco dance moves. The instruction video encourages those performing CPR to first call 9-1-1 and then push hard and fast in the center of a victim’s chest to the beat of the disco classic, which has a perfect beat for the lifesaving procedure.
When you’re stuck at the airport sometimes you simply need a place to nap, work, rest or just be alone.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and, now at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the folks at Minute Suites provide one option.
In each airport, travelers can pay $34 for the first hour in a private roomette with a daybed sofa, pillows, blankets, “noise neutralizing” systems and a “napware” audio program designed to help travelers get a power nap.Each suite also has a TV, work desk and internet access.
At the first of two planned DFW Minute Suite locations, which opened last week in Terminal D near Gate D23, travelers can also take showers – for $15 – with a suite rental – or $30, without.
Nice touch, Minute Suites. Now we just need to these in more airports. And maybe some happy hour-type pricing.
The Little People of America organization is holding its annual conference in Dallas — a city where the slogan is “Live Large. Think Big.”
The event kicks off June 29, and more than 2,000 people of short stature, and their families, will spend a week doing what most conventioneers do: attending workshops and banquets, and going to rodeos, museums and other attractions.
While the group is in town, conference hotels will be making some special accommodations for the many guests who have shorter-than-average reach due to the medical condition known as dwarfism.
If registration desks are high, steps and platforms will be made available. Two-foot long dowels with rubber tips will be placed in elevators so all guests will be able to press the buttons for the higher floors. And extra stools will be available for use in guest rooms, especially in hotels where the bedframes are high.
“We also ask that towels be placed on sink counters instead of hung up if the racks are high; for irons and extra pillows and blankets to be placed low; and for the bathroom amenities and soap to be placed toward the front of the sinks,” said Joanna Campbell, executive director of Little People of America.
Campbell said that when the LPA chooses a city for its annual convention, the group also asks the main conference hotels to leave room thermostats on and set at a comfortable temperature and to make sure bathroom shower heads point down instead of at the wall.
And for buffets and receptions, “we will ask hotels to lower the tables the food is placed on and to make sure things are pushed forward,” said Campbell.
For this year’s Little People of America conference in Dallas, it’s not just the hotels rolling out the welcome mat; the airport is as well. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is permanently installing Step ‘n Wash self-retracting steps in all 131 bathrooms to make it easier for conference attendees to wash their hands.
“We are taking the Little People conference as a self-imposed deadline to install as many of these as possible,” said DFW spokesman David Magaña.
The self-retracting steps are already found in many restrooms at theme parks, museums, zoos and at the Salt Lake City, Tallahassee and Atlanta airports and are usually seen as a handy amenity for families with children. “But unlike children, who usually have a parent to give them a boost, little people often have to be much more creative and resourceful to reach a public restroom sink,” said Step ‘n Wash president Joi Sumpton.
