Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Food festival today at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport

If you’re passing through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) today (Oct 29), be sure to head to the Domestic Terminal Atrium for a fun food festival.

ATL is holding its fifth annual Taste of Hartsfield-Jackson event today.

The pre-security event gives travelers and locals a chance to sample dishes from more than 30 airport eateries.

Participants range from One Flew South, Cat Cora’s Kitchen, Atlanta Chophouse and Brewery, Atlanta Braves All-Star Grill and Paschal’s to Piece of Cake and Krispy Kreme.  

Tasting tickets are $15 for a book of 10 and you’ll need to hand over 1 ticket per taste.

You can purchase tickets on-site and 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank, a local nonprofit that distributes millions of pounds of food to community kitchens, shelters, senior centers, food pantries and more throughout the year. 

The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes music and a cooking competition with two airports chefs competing for the title of Taste’s Top Chef 2019,

Atlanta International Airport shows off lighted canopy

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?

Recovering from that power outage at Atlanta Int’l Airport

Updated: Monday morninng, December 18

The power went back on at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International around midnight last night after a fire in an underground faclity knocked out power airport-wide around 1 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday all operations at the airport ground to a halt with thousands of passenger stuck inside the terminal into darkness and on planes.

Delta alone canceled more than 1,000 fllights and hundreds of other had to be diverted or held on the ground at their departure cities. At least 300 Delta flights are already canceled for today.

 

Getting everything back in order and everyone to their intended destination will be a mess as we head into a busy holiday travel week.

Delta Air Lines, American AirlinesJetBlue,  Southwest and United Airlines are among the airlines posting alerts about refunds and change fee waivers as a result of this event.

As always, check with you airline before heading to the airport for a flight that may be affected by this incident.

 

Tasty event at Atlanta International Airport

 

Travelers passing through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Wednesday, November 1 (2017) will be able to join the airport’s 3rd annual Taste of HartsfieldJackson event in the domestic terminal atrium from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

$10 buys 10 tickets, each good for one food sample and includes concessionaires such as Atlanta Chophouse & Brewery,Carrabba’s Italian Grill; Piece of Cake; Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen; Phillips Seafood, Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint; Papi’s Cuban & Caribbean Grill; Atlanta Braves All Star Grill; Shane’s Rib Shack;  Cat Cora’s Kitchen; Jekyll Island Seafood Company and Sweet Auburn Market. Buy tickets here.

The event, which benefits a local charity that fights childhood hunger, will also include a chef’s competition featuring celebrity chef Cat Cora and a timed culinary challenge.

 

 

 

Spotted at Atlanta Int’l Airport – a forest

atl-airport-walkway_edited

 

Here’s a good reason to walk – or take the moving walkways – instead of the train between concourses at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: the art!

Especially now that “Flight Paths”, by artist Steven Waldeck, seems to be finished.

The $4.1 million installation has taken years to complete but is designed to give travelers the feeling of walking through a forest – complete with a simulated tree canopy, bird sounds, floor projections and special lighting along the 450-foot long underground tunnel between Concourses A and B.