Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Fresh sit-down dining options at O’Hare and Atlanta Int’l Airport

Food, Restaurants, , ,

If you find yourself stuck at O’Hare International Airport or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (and this time of year, it’s a fair chance you will) keep and eye out for these new sit-down restaurants:

At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, a branch of local favorite Stefani’s Tuscany Café is now open in Terminal 1, Concourse B near Gate 18. The cafe serves northern Italian dining specialties including pastas, pizzas and wines. (The restaurant has a popular location on Taylor Street in Chicago’s “Little Italy” neighborhood and branches throughout the Chicago area.)

And Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) now has its first fine-dining restaurant: One Flew South.

The menu highlights ingredients from regional producers and includes items such as BBQ Duck Sandwich, Benton’s bacon & Sweet Grass Dairy goat cheese salad, and pecan & Georgia honeysticky bun with whiskey ice cream, pecan brittle, and sweet potato crisp.

Sounds yummy!

In addition to a sushi bar, the restaurant’s cocktail list, dubbed “Salute to Aeromarine,” pays homage to the four years starting in 1920 that Aeromarine Airways carried wealthy passengers from Miami to Nassau and Havana aboard flying boats(‘Floatplanes’) so that the guests could drink legally during the Prohibition era.

The restaurant is located in the E Concourse and is open daily.

Chill out – for free – at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport

Free Stuff, Wi-Fi, , , ,

The list of stress-busting activities being offered at the nation’s airports this holiday season just keeps growing:

In addition to the entertainment being offered by airports around the country and the free amenities being offered by JetBlue Airways in its new terminal at JFK, on Nov. 25th and 26th, travelers passing through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) can get free massages, free Wi-Fi, and free snacks.

The stress-reducing services are at the “privacy oasis” sponsored by 3M Computer Privacy Filters in the Airport Executive Conference Center on the 3rd floor of the Atrium. The company has also set up a Web site where travelers have been sending in tips about places to chill out at various airports around the country.

Given how close we sit next to each other on airplanes, computer privacy filters seem like a useful tool pretty much anytime. But as I wrote in a recent Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com, privacy filters may become downright necessary as airlines roll out in-flight Wi-Fi. (Virgin America is launching its Gogo in-flight Internet service – on one plane – this Sat, Nov 22) Not all airlines plan to filter in-flight Internet service and some travelers are worried about being exposed to inappropriate material on a seatmate’s screen.

Last chance to name the airport dinosaur

Exhibits, Museums, ,

Last summer, these two dinosaurs from the Royal Ontario Museum took up residence in the Terminal 1 International Arrivals area of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

The display features an “action” scene of a large Allosaurus bearing down on an Othnielia that has tripped to the ground. But it doesn’t include the ‘given names’ of these two creatures.

So the airport has been running a ‘Name the Dinosaurs’ contest.

I’ve suggested Bert & Ernie or Thelma and Louise.

Think you can come up with better names? Hurry and send them in. The contest deadline is October 31.

You can get more details and enter the contest here.

And don’t forget: there are also dinosaurs on display in at least two other airports in North America:

A giant replica of a Brachiosaurus skeleton towers over the Field Museum store in Terminal One at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and, at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, there’s a replica of a 33-foot-long dinosaur in the airport atrium. The Yangchuanosaurus skeleton is on loan from Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

Win stuff today – Oct 17th – at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport

Contests, Free Stuff

As part of today’s customer appreciation party at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) they’re giving away some really cool stuff. Here’s the list:

300 Caramel Candy Apples
500 Pocket Massagers
500 Luggage Tags
1,000 Candy Bars
1,000 Newspapers
1,000 Thank You Cards
4,000 Luggage Finders
11,000 Bottles of Water
15,000 Godiva Chocolate Squares
A set of round trip tickets on Air Tran Airways

Customer appreciation day at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport

Events,

Here’s unusual and welcome news from an airport:

Today, Friday, Oct. 17, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is having an appreciation celebration for passengers.

No joke!

South Atlanta High School’s 20-member Drum Line kicks-off today’s event, which will include a costumed Buckingham Palace Guard, face painters, musical performances, an African storyteller and traditional dance from Atlanta Asian Culture and Arts Center performers.

The party kicks off in the Main Terminal/Atrium at 12:30 with the high school Drum Line. Part of the promised entertainment is a “game show host on a Segway.”

The costumed palace guards start the afternoon on Concourse E at 1:30 p.m and will be followed by Spanish Guitarist, Cucho Garcia, African story-teller Cynthia Watts and a traditional dance from Atlanta Asian Culture and Arts Center performers.

Maybe every airport should make Friday customer appreciation day!

More airport side trips: Tampa and Atlanta

Environment, USA Today,

Early this month I wrote a column for USATODAY.com about cheap, easy side-trips you can take from many U.S. airports. Since then, I’ve gotten email and tips on several more. Here are two of them:

Tampa resident Robert Danielson wrote with this tip:

“Adjacent to the south runway at Tampa International Airport (TPA) is “International Plaza,” Tampa’s premier shopping venue, with courtesy shuttles to the airport (about a five minute ride). Also, downtown’s Florida Aquarium is less than a 10-minute cab ride from the airport.”

And for folks with time to spare near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), there’s this story about the new airport-built 56.5 acre Sams Lake Bird Sanctuary park, a short ride from the airport.

The sanctuary has a reconstructed stream, bat houses, three observation decks, a half-mile walking trail, and three ponds that are now home to bass fish. Deer, turkey, nesting birds, and other wildlife have been seen on-site.

Why did the airport spend $5 million on the project?

“Federal law required the airport to complete the wetlands restoration project after constructing its fifth runway, which paved through 14 acres in the Flint Basin. The Clean Water Act Section 404 mandates the restoration for every acre of wetlands disturbed by infrastructure development. The Army Corps of Engineers gave the airport a permit to restore Sams Lake.”

Whatever it takes.

(Neon) sign of trouble at Atlanta airport?

Art

Sure airports need to find new ways to boost income; but please don’t take down the art.

According to this article in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution by Moni Basu, officials at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) are considering taking down an iconic piece of the airport’s eclectic art collection to make room for advertising.

(Source: the artist’s Web site)

“Four Walls for Atlanta Hartsfield Airport,” a neon work by Stephen Antonakos, was one of 14 public artworks specifically commissioned for the airport. Now, one airport official told the paper, proposals are being considered to use that space for “advertising that showcases the city or is in some way educational, such as ads that promote energy conservation.”

It will be sad if the neon piece gets replaced by ads. But there will still be plenty of art to see at ATL. The airport owns and displays about 275 other works of art and has discussed creating “a mini-museum about Atlanta in the walkway between Concourses A and B and a rain forest display between Concourses B and C.”

Guns, grenades and other weapons to leave home

Guns, Safety, Security, ,

I spent a lot of time chatting with TSA folks last week while working on an article about guns and other prohibited items travelers keep trying to take through airport security checkpoints.

To be honest, it gave me nightmares.

Especially after a TSA spokesperson sent me a photo of a shipment of snakes discovered at one airport (I didn’t dare open that attachment) and this photo of a display board of “relinquished” weapons.

(Photo courtesy TSA)

I know of two airports – Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – that have exhibits like this at their security checkpoints.

Anyone know of others?