Like all airports, London’s Heathrow Airport is very busy for the holidays, with more than three million travelers expected to pass through the terminals in just the last two weeks of December.
But unlike all airports, Heathrow is passing out thousands of gifts to passengers to help them on their merry way.
Throughout December, Heathrow’s team of ‘Little Here to Helpers’ are handing out 10,000 gifts across all four terminals. The gifts are provided by airport tenants, including airlines, shops, bars, and restaurants, and include everything from free flights and lounge access to Chanel perfumes, Pret breakfasts, and designer makeup from World Duty Free.
Want a gift? If you’re traveling through Heathrow look for the smiling folks in Santa hats hanging out near one of the 25 Christmas trees spread across the terminals. Not everyone will get a free gift, of course, but if you head that way, you’ll increase your chances.
Let us know if you score.
But wait, there’s more!
Heathrow also has an advent calendar on its website and on its app. Behind the windows, you’ll find discounts from Heathrow shops, bonus points from Heathrow Rewards, World Duty Free promotions, and deals on festive-inspired food and beverage menus.
Kids Eat Free
Airport meals can get expensive. And if you’re traveling with kids you’ll have to feed them too.
So it’s nice to know that Heathrow’s Kids Eat Free program is still in force.
Through January 3, 2023 participating restaurants at Heathrow Airport will offer once free child’s meal with each adult meal purchased, with a limit of four free kids meals.
This is a great airport amenity and is available during school holidays.
You may notice the heartwarming news and social media posts about airports working hard to reunite left behind stuffed animals with their rightful owners.
Teddy and 5-year-old Ezekiel have been REUNITED! Thank you @SouthwestAir and the 4 million people across the globe who followed along on Teddy's journey. We're so glad he's home! pic.twitter.com/UWv9cI7m8G
Or, the story that likely started the heartwarming “airports goes-all-out-to-reunite stuffed animal with child” trend. Back in 2015, Tampa International Airport took a stuffed tiger named Hobbes on an airport adventure before sending Hobbes home.
— Tampa International Airport ✈️ (@FlyTPA) June 15, 2015
We love these stories.
So, when making our way through Norway’s Bergen Airport (BGO) last week at about 5 am we did a double-take when were spotted a stuffed rat taped to a lane post.
It was very early in the morning. But we did notice that Bergen Airport is spotless. So it didn’t seem likely that the stuffed rat was there as a social comment. Nor did it seem like an official guidepost to point travelers to their gates.
So all we could conclude was that this stuffed rat had been left behind by a small child. And that it may soon show up on Bergen Airport’s social media feed in search of its owner.
We’ll check back to see.
Other amenities spotted at Bergen Airport
Besides the stuffed rat, there are some other sights at Bergen Airport that made us smile.
The sign for the bathroom employs the hard-to-miss universal symbols for “gotta go, now.”
And the kids’ play area in the main terminal area has this fun hopscotch board with an airplane, of course, in the top box.
Have you spotted a cool amenity (or a stuffed rat) and an airport? Send us a photo and we’ll try to include it in a future post on Stuck at the Airport.
We know that right now some of the features we mention might be temporarily unavailable due to health concerns. But we are confident they will be back.
Did we miss your favorite amenity at Dulles International Airport (IAD)? Let us know in the comments section below.
Have an airport you’d like to see featured in the “5 Things We Love About…” series? Make your nomination in the comments section as well.
5 Thing We Love About Dulles International Airport
1. The IAD Main Terminal Building
Opened in 1962 as the country’s first ‘jet-age’ airport, Dulles International Airport is perhaps best-known for architect Eero Saarinen’s iconic curved-roof design for the main terminal.
2. The mobile lounges at IAD
These days, many passengers at IAD move between concourses on the underground AeroTrain, a 3.78-mile underground people mover system.
But IAD’s historic mobile lounges are in still in use.
IAD’s mobile lounges transport international arriving passengers from their arrival gate to the International Arrivals Building. The mobile lounges shuttle passengers between the main terminal and the concourses, and between concourse. And when airplanes are parked on a remote hardstand, the mobile lounges ferry passengers to the main terminal.
3. The historic FAA air traffic control tower at IAD
The original Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) at Dulles International Airport dates to the airport’s opening in 1962 and remains on-site because of its historical significance to the airport’s design.
A new tower was dedicated in 2007 and is about one mile from the original tower.
4. Kids play area at IAD
What can we say? Sometimes kids have all the fun at the airport.
5. Only airport with Chipotle breakfast
Want a breakfast burrito made by Chipotle? The only place you will find that on the Chipotle menu is at Dulles International Airport.
Bonus: Pat Nixon christens 1st 747
Back on January 15, 1970 then-First Lady Pat Nixon christened the first commercial Boeing 747 during a ceremony at Dulles International Airport.
Our “5 Things We Love About…” series celebrating features and amenities at airports around the country and the world continues today with 5 Things We Love About Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU).
Keep in mind that some amenities may be temporarily unavailable due to health concerns. We are confident they’ll be back.
If we missed one of your favorite things about Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, please leave a note in the comments section below.
HOU: 5 Things We Love About Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport
1. The Art At HOU
Houston’s Airport System has one of the largest collections of public art in the state of Texas and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) gets to show off quite a bit of that art.
2. The music at HOU
HOU’s Harmony in the Air program presents live music performances in the Central Concourse Rotunda.
Concerts are scheduled Monday through Saturday and include everything from classical, jazz and pop to international music.
3. Amenities for families at HOU
HOU has a 450-square-foot space-themed play area near Gate A4 with a rocket slide, comet climbing structure, and an interactive light board.
The airport also has two nursing rooms. Each room has AC and USB power outlets, a changing table and nursing glider chairs. Locations: near Gates 4 and 46.
4. NASA exhibit at HOU
Houston is “Space City,” so travelers passing through HOU airport are treated to space-themed exhibits.
5. Souvenirs at HOU
The souvenir shopping at HOU ranges from space-themed items to more traditional Texas-wear.
Did we miss one of your favorite amenities at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)? Add your note in the comments section below.
(This is an ever so slightly different version of my story that posted on NBC News).
Would a “clean city” pledge get you to plan a trip?
We’re into what by all rights should be a busy summer travel season. But many states are hitting the breaks on reopening plans due to record spikes in COVID-19 cases.
Yet in many parts of the country, beaches and bars are filling up, hotel occupancy rates are rising and attractions such as zoos, aquariums and museums are welcoming back visitors.
Disney World Resort’s phased opening plans in Florida are on track, even though Disneyland’s plans in California are delayed.
The push to reopen is being fueled in part by businesses starving for customers and cash flow. But also by a cooped up public cautiously optimistic about making travel plans and hoping for a slowdown in the spread of COVID-19.
Communities that for months have been asking guests to stay away are now scrambling for ways to get business and leisure travelers to come back.
Campaigns to get tourists back
Now, branded campaigns declaring a destination clean, safe, and sanitized are trending.
“Tourism has taken a serious blow and destinations are doing whatever they can to restore consumer confidence,” says Misty Belles, a managing director with the Virtuoso travel agency network. “We know that concerns over contracting the virus are one of the key barriers to getting people comfortable with traveling again, so cities across the country are touting their enhanced cleaning protocols to quell those fears,” she adds.
In Ohio, window decals and website badges in Columbus are a sign that businesses have signed the “Live Forward” pledge to make the health and safety of patrons a priority.
“To meet this obligation, we’ve established additional protection measures and trained our team in enhanced best practices for safety and sanitation,” says David Miller, President and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
Cleveland’s Clean Committed campaign provides participating businesses with safety kits, guidelines, and materials to help make sure the city is ready for the return of visitors.
In Rochester, Minnesota (home of the Mayo Clinic), businesses in the Rochester Ready program are also implementing protocols in physical distancing, masking, cleaning, sanitizing and building ventilation.
Nashville’s Good to Go program is one of many with searchable databases of businesses that have vowed to adhere to coronavirus guidelines.
States are getting into the act as well. For example, Indiana has a Hoosier Hospitality Promise and the Count on Me NC public health initiative program stretches across North Carolina.
The list of vacation spots with clean campaigns is long and getting longer.
It is not only because cities are taking the health concerns of citizens and visitors seriously. Lodging industry consultant Bjorn Hanson says it also because “no destination manager or government entity wants to be viewed as doing less than others to attract and protect travelers.”
Will travelers trust a city’s seal of cleanliness?
Megan Tenney, whose family of six has been traveling full time since September 2018, now monitors COVID requirements and the health news in places the family is considering visiting.
“We’re focusing on places that seem to be doing better or were less affected to begin with,” said Tenney, “And I think a ‘clean campaign’ would give us the confidence to travel to a location.”
But while Brian DeRoy of Charleston, South Carolina feels that “whoever can market best in the game of being clean is going to have an advantage,” Seattle-based frequent traveler Rob Grabarek would not feel reassured by a city’s program alone.
“I’d have to examine the extent of a local government’s policies to see if I felt there were sufficient,” said Grabarek, “And while I applaud the idea of identifying businesses that are in compliance, I wouldn’t feel safe unless the entire community were adhering to the same stringent practices.”
Given that there is no single organization or government entity to oversee and assure that all these cleaning campaigns are effective, the emphasis on cleanliness as a destination marketing tool may not last long.
“Our travel advisors tell us there are really two traveler mindsets right now,” said Virtuoso’s Belles, “Those who want to pull back the curtain and know how everything they potentially come in contact with is being sterilized and those who just want to trust that it’s happening. Too much focus on cleanliness may actually backfire on those looking for the escapism in their vacation.”
What do you think? Would a city’s pledge of cleanliness be reassuring enough to get you to plan a trip?