LAX

Preview of new satellite terminal at LAX

Airports, ,

The Tom Bradley International Termional at Los Angeles International Airport is pretty swank and awfully big.

But it’s not big enough. So LAX is buildling a bonus Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) with 12 extra gates just west of the terminal.

Scheduled to open in early 2020, the new terminal – or MSC – will be connected to the Tom Bradley International Terminal by both a 1,000-foot passenger tunnel with moving walkway and a bus port to allow transportation on the airfield from other terminals.

Here’s a short video LAX shared.

 

Airports go dark for Earth Hour

Environment, , ,

Courtesy LAWA

Airports around the world will join thousands of iconic landmarks, buildings, attractions, hotels and homes in turning off (non-essential) lights on Saturday, March 25 in honor  of International Earth Hour.

The event began in 2007 with a single lights-off event in Australia and is now observed  in 178 countries and territories – including the International Space Station – with more than 12,700 monuments turning off their lights for one hour in 2016.

Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) signature 100-foot-tall Gateway pylons (above ) will glow green – and then go dark between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Courtesy Denver Int’l Airport

Denver International Airport (DEN) will be turning off the lights on the iconic “32-foot-tall Mustang” statue and the “Shadow Array” artwork at the Hotel and Transit Center. Shadow Array is made up of 236 beetle-kill spruce logs that are usually illuminated at night.

Here’s a link to an Earth Hour map of other places going dark around the world for an hour on March 25. Check to see if the lights will be going out where you are at 8:30 local time.

 

Cat in the Hat at LAX Airport

family travel, Kids, ,

Today is the birthday of Theodor Geisel – better known to most of us as Dr. Seuss – the author and illustrator of books such as “The Cat in the Hat,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “Horton Hears a Who!”

To mark the day, airport police officers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will hold a “Dr. Seuss Hour” from 10 to 11 a.m. as part of Read Across America Day.

During that hour, officers will read books to kids and adults and the Cat in the Hat will pose for photos with travelers. The LAX PUPs (Pets Unstressing Passengers) and their handlers will be on hand as well.

Kids who attend the Dr. Seuss Hour will get souvenir travel bags with copies of Dr. Seuss’s book, LAX activity coloring books, and “Cat in the Hat Read Every Day” bookmarks.

And don forget:

“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

 

 

In progress: LAX new Midfield Satellite Concourse

Architecture, ,

You can’t say they’re not trying.

Ground has been broken phase one of the new Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) at Los Angeles International Airport.

When completed, sometime in late 2019, the $1.6-billion, five-level facility and an associated new baggage system will add 12 new gates, more amenities and greater flexibility for parking aircraft.

Designed as an extension of the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), the new 750,000-square-foot concourse will be located west of TBIT (the Tom Bradley International Terminal) and connected by a 1,000-foot-long underground pedestrian tunnel with moving walkways.  Buses will also be used to transport passengers between the concourse and other terminals.

Two of the new gates will accommodate the larger Airbus 380 and Boeing 747-8 jets, with the remaining 10 gates accommodating Boeing 777s and 787s, and the Airbus 330s and 350s.

Among a wide range of other new features, the new midfield terminal will be ‘smart’.

According to LAX, flight information displays will include scanners that allow passengers to receive personalized maps on their boarding passes.  Beacon technology will also be in place and will work with a new LAX app on smartphones to help passengers find their way around the concourse and find the concessions and amenities they are interested in – and to help LAX track how passengers use the concourse features.

And, looking forward, LAX says the concourse is being built with future technology enhancements in mind, including automated boarding gates that make use of biometrics, such as facial geometry, fingerprints or iris scanning for identification.

*All images courtesy Corgan in association with Gensler.

See stars at LAX

Music, , , , , ,

 

The 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards take place on Sunday night, February 12 in Los Angeles, but Los Angeles International Airport is already setting the scene with giant images of recording stars wrapped around the columns on the lower level of the horseshoe-shaped roadway in front of the terminals.

The project is a partnership with The Recording Academy and its annual GRAMMY Awards, are themed Believe in Music, and feature five different eight-foot-high celebrity images.

See if you recognize them all:

 

(David Bowie, Chance the Rapper, James Corden, Miranda Lambert and Sia)

Photos by GP Color Imaging Group

Airports celebrate Mother’s Day

Holidays, , ,

 

2_Jacksonsville Internatinal Airport offers travelers carnations on Mother's Day and Valentine's Day

 

Mother’s Day weekend is being celebrated at airports around the country, starting today.

At Los Angeles International Airport, traveling mothers can get complimentary makeovers, hand massages and fragrance consultations, sample Godiva chocolates and enter raffles for prizes in front of DFS, post-security at the Tom Bradley Terminal (TBIT) on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Airport staff will also be handing out chocolate roses to moms.

(A ticket for a flight at any LAX terminal will get you past the security checkpoint at TBIT)

Friday through Sunday at Miami International Airport (from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. pre-security and from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. post-security) MIA Ambassadors will be presenting moms with chocolate roses.

Moms at MIA can also enter a raffle for a $200 American Express gift card if they take a picture with a chocolate rose or with an “I’m a Mom, what’s your super power?” t-shirt at an MIA concession and post it to a MIA social media platform with the “ShopsAtMIA” tag.

And, as they have every year since 2009, volunteers at Jacksonville International Airport will likely be on duty with 1000 red, white and pink carnations for moms.

New indoor food truck at LAX

Food, , ,

lax food truck

As promised, the rotating food truck concept in Terminal 4 at Los Angeles International Airport has rotated.

Operated by HMSHost, the L.A. Gourmet Street Truck inside the terminal looks like a food truck and was designed to house a parade of popular L.A. street vendor offerings.

Chef Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ was the first to occupy the stand. Now Border Grill (which has another location in the Tom Bradley International Terminal) has taken over with a menu of tacos, quesadillas, ceviches and more.

Want to give the Border Grill a try? Although American Airlines flights operate out of Terminal 4, a same-day boarding pass and your government ID will get you past the security checkpoint – here or in any terminal.

Fresh public art at LAX TBIT

Airports, Art, , ,

LAx - art 2

Three new – hard to miss – public art pieces are fully installed in the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at Los Angeles International Airport.

Bell Tower, above, by Mark Bradford, is on the mezzanine level of the terminal’s Departures Hall, and is suspended from a skylight above the TSA security screening area.

The artist says he modeled the sculpture – 712 panels made from salvaged plywood and posters found on construction sites around town – on medieval bell towers, which served as both a civic gathering spot and sites of surveillance.

LAX ART 1

In the north light well of the TBIT Great Hall, look for Air Garden, by the Ball-Nogues Studio. A “sinuous, dynamic cloud of color,” the sculpture looks like a giant beaded curtain that seems to take on different shapes depending on the light and viewer’s perspective.

LAX Pae White

The third public art piece is Pae White’s, ΣLAX, which is suspended above the terminal’s north and south “sterile corridors” leading international passengers to customs.

The work is made of 23.86 miles of custom-dyed cordage in three distinct color palettes that pay homage to the colored-tiled mosaics by Charles D. Kratka, that are in Terminals 3, 4, and 6. Among the sculpture’s 7,484 gold brackets – are eleven (have fun guessing) that are actually made of 14K gold.

(Photos courtesy PanicStudio L.A.)

LAX ups its curbside appeal

Airports, Design,
LAX Susan Goldman - pink lightband

Photo/Los Angeles World Airports, Susan Goldman

Another phase of the major upgrade program is underway at Los Angeles International Airport.

This one focuses on curbside appeal and includes modern LED street lighting, custom-made art deco LED light poles and a programmable LED light band running the length of the Central Terminal.

LAX tells us the light band is over one mile long, is attached to the edge of the Upper/Departures Level roadway and is made up of 690 eight-foot-long individual light boxes interconnected and controlled by a single theater control system.

Looks great!

Souvenir Sunday at LAX

Airports, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Sports,

Each Sunday, Stuck at The Airport takes a look at some of the fun, inexpensive and locally-themed items you can buy when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s treat comes from Los Angeles International Airport, where we spotted this great selection of Los Angeles Dodgers gear – a reminder that airports are usually a great place to purchase sports-themed souvenirs from a variety of local teams.

Play ball!

LA DODGERS

Seeking souvenirs….

We’re seeking more snaps of some of the inexpensive, locally-themed and, ideally, a bit offbeat, souvenirs you can buy at airports. So please take a photo of something you spot (or actually buy) next time you’re stuck at the airport.

If your souvenir is featured here on Souvenir Sunday, we’ll send you a special travel-themed souvenir as a thank-you.