Here’s a great airport amenity created for kids that will make parents happy. Especially on those travel days when kids are antsy and flights may be delayed.
There’s now a mobile HeArt Cart, at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) that brings free arts and crafts projects to young travelers.
The cart might show up at a gate where there are a large number of passengers. It may stay near the airport’s music stage, where crowds naturally gather, Guy Bruggeman, of the DAL Art & Programming Team, told Stuck at the Airport.
“We’ve done a Lovey where the kids could color and cut out different body parts and glue them to the doll. It’s like a Mr. Potato Head, but flat,” says Bruggeman. “We also use our button-maker and we have a few other art-based activities, including an upcoming event for “World Music Day” (June 21) where the kids can make their own maraca out of a water bottle.”
We think adults will be thankful that kids will have something fun to do at the airport. And we think kids of all ages will want to make art at the DAL airport’s HeART CART.
So we are declaring this the Airport Amenity of the Week.
Have a nomination for next week’s Airport Amenity of the Week? Drop a note in the comments section and we’ll check it out.
We’re ending the week with a round-up of airport news and activities
Ugly Sweaters in Las Vegas
In Las Vegas, Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) – the airport formerly known as McCarran International Airport – hosted its annual ugly sweater competition. And this week the airport also officially switched over to its new name, which honors retired Democratic U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid.
Travelers enjoyed a festive fashion show in Terminal 1 Baggage Claim this morning! LAS employees broke out their holiday best for the annual ugly sweater competition.🎄🤶 Here's a peek at what you missed: pic.twitter.com/6lPdXkaXuw
Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport (PVD) is having some fun with the #RIAirportelf and offering airport visitors a chance to win gift cards.
— Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (@IFlyRhodeIsland) December 17, 2021
Fresh Art at John Wayne Airport
Behind the Tent – by Wednesday Aja
The newest exhibit at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, CA features photography by Wednesday Aja offering a unique view of the circus.
“Enchanted by the worlds of sequins and makeup, performers, and trapeze artists, Wednesday Aja’s work reveals the magic that transforms for a song – or a circus season – inviting the viewer to come along and get lost in the magic.”
The photographs on exhibit at John Wayne Airport are from Aja’s ‘Troupes and Tribes’ ongoing series exploring themes of custom, costume, and community. Find them (pre-security) on the Departure (upper) Level near security screening areas in Terminals A, B, and C and on the Arrival (lower) Level adjacent to Baggage Carousels 1 and 4.
Another Milestone at LaGuardia
Terminal B West Concourse, Courtesy LaGuardia Gateway Partners
The West Concourse of Terminal B at New York’s LaGuardia Airport has opened. This phase includes the opening of four new gates and triggers the closure of the final gates of the original Central Terminal Building.
In addition to a 350+ seat American Airlines Admiral Club (Phase 1 is open now; the club should be complete by Spring 2022), the West Concourse has a charming children’s play area modeled after New York City.
Convenience is king for travelers hoping to spend as little time as possible in an airport. But for those who must hang around a while, it’s amenities that matter.
And during 2014, airports around the country introduced a wide variety of very welcome amenities for travelers.
Here’s the round-up I put together from my ‘At the Airport’ column on USA Today.
More ways to get to and from the airport – legally
Airports around the country are struggling to work out policies and permitting programs for on-demand rideshare services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. The services are currently banned at several airports, but in September Nashville International Airport became the first U.S. airport to officially recognize Uber and Lyft and in October San Francisco International signed agreements with Sidecar, Lyft and UberX. A few other airports have issued permits to some Transportation Network Companies as well, and we’ll likely see this amenity added to the ground transportation options at other airports during 2015.
‘Drinks on the go’
This year, Nashville International Airport (BNA) introduced “drinks on the go.” Thanks to an airport-wide beer and liquor license, passengers no longer have to sit at the bar or in a restaurant to enjoy their alcoholic beverage but can take it with them anywhere in the secure side of the terminal.
Pot and airports
During 2014, shops selling recreational marijuana became legal in both Colorado and Washington and the airports in those states had to decide how – or if – they’d go about enforcing rules prohibiting passengers from taking pot to and through security checkpoints and onto planes.
Most put up signs reminding passengers of the federal laws governing travel across state lines with marijuana – or did nothing – but in January, Colorado Springs Airport installed a pot amnesty box at the security checkpoint. Few travelers seem to be using the box to dispose of unused pot, but with images of the amnesty box being snapped and shared, the airport’s social media profile is certainly higher.
Airport workouts
During 2014, SFO airport opened its second yoga room (in Terminal 3, Boarding Area E) and following last December’s opening of a yoga room at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, in September Chicago’s Midway International Airport got a yoga space as well.
In July, Philadelphia International Airport partnered with a local fitness equipment retailer to install stationary exercise bikes at several locations throughout the airport and this year Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was among several airports adding marked walking paths inside (and sometimes outside of) its terminals.
For those who would rather exercise outdoors, in August bike-share company Zagster installed a rack of 10 reservable bikes in a rack outside the international terminal at BWI Marshall. For $5 (good for 12 hours), passengers can borrow a bike and ride it around the 12.5-mile scenic outdoor trail that encircles the airport.
Wi-Fi milestones
Travelers have come to expect unlimited complimentary Wi-Fi at airports, and in 2014, the Houston airports (IAH and HOU) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport joined the team of major airports that provide this much-appreciated amenity.
JetBlue has offered complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi in Terminal 5 at JFK for a while now, but earlier this year the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced its intention to offer free 30-minute Wi-Fi sessions for all travelers at JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports.
The Port Authority and Wi-Fi provider Boingo are still working on those plans, but in a statement earlier this week said that free Wi-Fi will be available in at least one terminal at JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports by month’s end, with the free 30-minute service at all terminals anticipated by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
“Complimentary 30-minute Wi-Fi sessions are now available in JFK Terminal 4 and Newark (EWR) Terminal C, with free service on target to be available at LaGuardia’s Central Terminal Building by month’s end,” according to a Boingo spokesperson.
Events
To show off a $10 million reboot of the shops and restaurants in the post-security AIRMALL at Pittsburgh International, PIT airport invited non-ticketed visitors to come out for a one-day holiday event in early December. More than 1,500 people attended the event, which may be repeated, and “someone tweeted us asking why the San Antonio airport can’t do the same,” said PIT spokeswoman Alyson Walls.
On National Compliment Day (January 24), the staff at Reno-Tahoe International Airport set up a booth to dispense kind words to passengers. Some travelers were complimented on their choices of glasses, colorful scarves and boots, said airport spokeswoman Heidi Jared, “and booth volunteers even admired a gentleman’s ‘confident gait’ as he rushed by.”
Let’s hope the smart, charming and lovely volunteers at RNO set up that booth again this year.
Airport trading cards
As a gift to aviation geeks and collectors everywhere, in September, more than 20 airports around the country teamed up to create the North American Airports Collectors Series of trading cards. Each card has an iconic image of an airport on the front, fun factoids about the airport on the reverse, and are being distributed in the terminals of participating airports. Twenty-three cards are currently in the series, with Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport set to begin distributing its trading card after Christmas.
And then there are amenities that aren’t necessarily airport firsts, but are proud 2014 additions for the airports that have installed them.
Seattle-Tacoma International, for example, is proud that during 2014, it not only added handy cup holders to many seating areas, but brought branches of two iconic local brands, Metsker Maps and indie music label Sub Pop, into the airport.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is still giggling with delight over the children’s play area that opened in May. The 1,500-square-foot Magic House not only has a kid-sized plane and an air traffic control tower with a slide, it has car rental counters, a luggage conveyor belt and an airport screening area with a pretend x-ray machine.
Denver International Airport is proud of the popular water bottle refill stations it installed throughout the airport terminals this year, the new on-airport pet boarding facility, and its just-plugged in “Open Windows” experimental interactive digital customer experience on Concourse B that combines 128 LED rings of light and a 3D motion-detection camera to create an 11-foot-tall interactive tower of lights that react to a person’s movement.
Did I miss your favorite new airport amenity from 2014? Please add it in the comments below.
Each Sunday StuckatTheAirport.com takes a look at the souvenirs you can get when you’re stuck at the airport.
This week, the souvenirs come from the sky, courtesy of Fly the Branded Skies, an airline-focused website that has a section devoted to the junior wings just about every airline used to hand out to young passengers.
Delta and a few other airlines still do hand out junior wings, but instead of metal the modern-day wings are plastic or, in some cases, merely a sticker.
JetBlue and PBS kids have rolled out a fun literacy program that will not only entertain kids, but help keep the cabin noise level in check.
The program has several elements, but here at StuckatTheAirport.com we’re most pleased to learn that kids on JetBlue flights this summer will receive a free activity kit with reading games, including this fun word find exercise.
Kids and their parents can also download a reading activity kit, create a summer reading list, log reading minutes and do other activities. And for every reader that registers on SoarwithReading.com, JetBlue will make a book donation to a child through First Book, up to 10,000 books.
Soar with Reading will also be giving $10,000 worth of children’s books to one community’s library. Another library will receive $2,500 worth of books and five other libraries will receive $500 worth of books, courtesy of Random House Children’s Books and JetBlue. You can nominate a library and, as a reward, be entered to win a vacation package to the Bahamas.
