holidays at airports

Airports, Airlines Celebrate the Lunar New Year

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January 22 is the beginning of the Lunar New Year 2023, which kicks off the Year of the Rabbit.

Here’s how some airports and airlines around the world marked the day.

Travel Tidbits from Chicago, Sweden, & TSA

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The holidays are around the corner and we’re looking forward to seeing how airports around the country – and the world – will celebrate the season.

TSA’s Canine Calendar for 2022 is available for download.

Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports are ready for the season.

Sweden Tourism takes on Ikea

Do you have any Ikea products in your house? It’s likely you do. And it’s also likely you didn’t know that the funny names they give chairs, sofas, toilet brushes and other items come from real places in Sweden.

The tourism department is fed up with that.

https://youtu.be/FDpoZdL1g0E

TSA’s Thanksgiving Do’s & Don’ts.

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Traveling with holiday foods?

Each year, when Thanksgiving rolls around, the Transportation Security Administration team reminds travelers of the foods that are OK to put in your carry-on for the big meal. They also make a point of giving some examples of items you should put in your checked bag or let someone else contribute.

Fruit cake? Dry stuffing mix? Mini marshmallows? Pumpkin pie? Those are all fine to carry on, says TSA.

Canned pumpkin and yams? Cranberry sauce. Maple syrup? TSA says those belong in checked luggage or on the shopping list of someone who’s driving.

“Here’s some food for thought,” says TSA. “If it’s a solid item, then it can go through a checkpoint. However, if you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it or pour it, and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, then it should go in a checked bag.”

Not sure if your food item is OK for carry-on? Check the TSA homepage, which has a helpful “What can I bring?” feature. Type in the item and find out if you can carry it through a checkpoint or if it should be checked. You can also tweet to @AskTSA to ask how best to travel with a specific food item.

Airports celebrate April Fool’s Day 2021

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We’re not sure we found them all, but here are some of the April Fool’s Day posts airports shared today. You’ll notice a lot of animals.

If you spotted some other travel-related pranks we missed, let us know and we’ll add them.

If you click on the link to learn more, here’s what you find.

Denver International Airport (DEN) actually does have a cat in there with the dogs that serve in the pet therapy program. So a llama on the safety inspection team? Why not?

And there there was Rusty, the first detector cat. On duty in Canada at Ottawa International Airport (YOW).

No animals at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). There the April 1 announcement was the ATL Rocket – “a tech-savvy SLIDE with state of the art screening capabilities.” I’m all for this being real.

Let’s see how airports are celebrating the holiday season

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Holiday travel is going to be different than usual this year. But airports are still going to be celebrating with decorations, music, and special events.

Here’s a sampling. We’ll bring you more as we gather them up.

Many airports kicked off the Hanukkah celebration with a show of lights.

There are elves making the rounds at some airports. We’re not sure how they get past the security checkpoints, but they do.

And we’ll be keeping watch over holiday trees and other decorations that go up in airports. We hope Santa will be making appearances too.

More soon. Feel free to send us your pictures of airports at the ready for the holidays.

Heartwarming stories from airports & airlines

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We’ve been reading some charming and heartwarming stories from airports and airlines this holiday week.

Sweet Virgin Atlantic seat-swap

First, there is a viral post on Facebook by a Virgin Atlantic flight attendant relating the story of a passenger named Jack swapping his business class seat on a flight from New York to London for the economy seat booked by 88-year-old Violet.

“Of the hundreds of flights I’ve operated, I’ve had the pleasure of looking after footballers, supermodels and some Hollywood movie stars but let me tell you about my two favourite passengers EVER!,” wrote Leah Amy, “Jack and Violet 💜 (I wish she was called Vera or Rose 🤣)”

She went on to explain that Jack’s entire family was booked in business class. But Jack decided to swap seats with Violet. He then “sat on the row of seats directly next to the economy toilets and never made a peep or asked for anything the rest of the flight. No fuss, no attention, literally did it out of the kindness of his own heart, no one asked him to.”

A great story, right?

Well, the story gets a bit better. In response to the story of Jack and Violet, Virgin Atlantic announced it will be offering complimentary upgrades to “the most seasoned person” on board all its flights through January 1, 2020.

Nice!

Birthday treat at Schiphol Airport

Here’s another heartwarming holiday-season travel story. This one from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) documenting a great birthday treat they were able to arrange for 94-year-old Granny Miep.

Canadian hospitality

And one more.

Community helps stranded passengers on Christmas Day. (courtesy Karen KayCee/Facebook)

According to the CBC, when 75 passengers got stranded in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on Dec. 25, the community came together in “Come from Away” style.

The town welcomed the passengerw, put together a Christmas dinner and made sure they got on their way.

The CBC notes that what happened in Deer Lake is reminiscent of what happened in 2001, when townspeople rallied to welcome thousands of passengers on planes diverted to Gander – which is also in Newfoundland and Labrador – due to the attacks on September 11.

That real-life story is the inspiration for the Tony Award-winning musical “Come From Away.”

In Deer Lake’s case, a plane full of WestJet passengers left Toronto for St. John’s late Christmas Eve but got diverted by bad weather.

Deer Lake isn’t a regular stop for WestJet flights, so there was little in the way support for the passengers once they were on the ground and sent over to the local Holiday Inn Express.

But this was Christmas Day. So local townspeople responded to a call-out on Facebook and rustled up a Christmas Dinner that included everything from sandwiches and cookies to turkey dinner and gravy and homemade rabbit stew.

All great stories, right?

Here’s to great travel and more heartwarming travel stories in 2020.

Airport or the North Pole?

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Airports and airlines are certainly getting into the holiday spirit.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has a giant walk-through ornament and a mailbox where anyone who has been nice this year can mail their letter to Santa. There’s also indoor snow.

Portland International Airport (PDX) is all decked out with giant snowflakes and cool-looking gifts.

And, looking ahead a bit, if you’re flying on Alaska Airlines on December 20 and own a holiday sweater, this is your chance to wear it.

Courtesy Alaska Airlines

December 20 is National Ugly Sweater Day and, for the third year in a row, Alaska Airlines will be offering flyers wearing any kind of holiday sweater (because “ugly sweater” is in the eye of the beholder) priority boarding on Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights.

And, ugly sweater-fan or not, keep an eye out for the Alaska Airlines “Snowplane” with a fun, winter livery.

See something festive in an airport? Or have something planned?

Let us know.

3 airports where you can go ice-skating this winter

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What’s better than an airport with an ice-skating rink?

Three airports with ice-skating rinks, of course!

Denver International Airport (DEN) is bringing back its free outdoor skating rink for the fourth season.

Starting November 22, DEN’s ice-skating rink will be in the pre-security area on the DEN Plaza, which is between the airport terminal and the Westin hotel.

Time on the ice is free. And, recognizing that not everyone has their own ice skates, or travels with them, there is free skate rental as well.

DEN’s skating rink hours will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily from November 22 through January 20, 2020. As a bonus, on Friday afternoons there will be hot chocolate, hot cider and a variety of extra winter activities, including live entertainment.

Skating at the TWA Hotel at JFK

This year there will an ice-skating rink created at the TWA Hotel across from JetBlue Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) as well.

The custom 56-by-44-foot Runway Rink will be created near the hotel’s 1958 Lockheed Constellation Connie airplane-turned-cocktail lounge and operate seven days a week starting November 30 and running through February 2020.

While skating shows are planned, time on the ice at the TWA Hotel’s Runway Rink won’t be free. Admission will be $15 for adults and $10 for kids under 12. Skate rentals will $10 ($8 for kids under 12).

Hours:

  • Monday through Thursday from 4 PM to 9 PM
  • Friday from 4 PM to 10 PM
  • Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 10 PM

The TWA Hotel will also be selling retro knit hats and scarves as well as beers, Sno-Caps candy and other snacks.

Skate in a Winter Wonderland

If you’re traveling to or through Germany’s Munich Airport (MUC) this holiday season, you’ll find an ice-skating rink already up and running.

For the 21st year, the large roofed open space between Terminals 1 and 2 and Munich Airport is transformed into a winter wonderland, with a winter market, more than 45 Christmas trees, live music, activities for kids and adults, a pine forest and a free ice-skating rink. Skates can be rented for a small fee and there’s a bonus rink for curling set up next to the skating rink as well.

Hours: 11 am to 9 pm. Daily.