The Voices of MIA program launched in 2019 and featured the voices of local celebrities including Miami Heat stars Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem, celebrity chef Adrianne Calvo, Grammy-winning producer Emilio Estefan and telenovela star Jencarlos Canela.
The refreshed 2021 series of celebrity welcome messages includes rapper and singer Flo Rida; actor, singer and composer Carlos Ponce; celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein; rapper and TV personality Trina; and celebrity chef and TV personality Chef Pepín. Listen for the messages on MIA’s address system around the clock on a rotating basis.
And if you’re traveling through Miami International Airport, or have friends or family meeting you there or dropping you off, keep in mind this is one of the airports hosting a free COVID-19 vaccination site through July 31.
#TravelAdvisory: We will be offering COVID-19 vaccinations daily from 7 am-7 pm in the International Greeter’s Lobby in CC J through July 31.
MIA’s Military Hospitality Lounge recently reopened as well.
📢 Our Military Hospitality Lounge has officially reopened! Military personnel, veterans, and their families now have one more place to rest and relax during their travels. ✈️
UFOs have been in the news lately. So we are pleased to see a piece of art featuring a UFO included in a new exhibition at Miami International Airport.
Key West and Other Unusual Places includes printed works by Miami-based visual artists and printmakers Brian Reedy and Tom Virgin.
Reedy has a fascination with the supernatural and Asian architecture. So the work above, UFO over Bombay, makes sense.
Tom Virgin’s work reflects his travels across the United States.
Tom Virgin, Big Shark (from Escape Series),
The exhibit will be on display in the The Eye Has to Travel Gallery near Gate D29 until October, 2021.
A COVID-19 vaccination site at Miami International Airport will be providing free one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals 18 and older daily through June 18, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., except for June 8-9. Walk-ups are accepted with no appointment or pre-registration necessary.
The vaccination site is located at MIA’s Concourse D, 4th Floor Auditorium, upstairs from Door 1.
Fresh exhibits at SFO Airport, courtesy SFO Museum
United Air Lines uniform 1973 Designed by Jean Louis (1907–97)
The inaugural exhibition in the new Harvey Milk Terminal 1 gallery at SFO features bright an colorful flight attendant uniforms from the past from the 1960s to 1970s.
Braniff International Airways “727 Braniff Place Blue Pant Collection” uniform 1972 Designed by Emilio Pucci (1914–92)Braniff International Airways “Classic Collection” uniform 1968 Designed by Emilio Pucci (1914–92)
Look for Flight Patterns: Airline Uniforms from 1960-1970s post-security in SFO Terminal 1 through mid-March 2022.
SFO Museum also just launched a next exhibition titled Stoneware Stories in the pre-security area of the International Terminal on the Departures Level. This exhibition will be on view through January 23, 2022.
Pieces on exhibis include antebellum alkaline-glazed stoneware made by Thomas Chandler, David Drake, Collin Rhodes Factory, and other Edgefield District pottery manufacturers from South Carolina.
We’re all for finding the odd in the world. So we’re pleased to see United Airlines adding a new “America, Who Knew?” filter to its Map Search program. Some of the tidbits you can learn from the map:
Zzyzx: Pronounced “Zye-Zacks” is a scenic desert oasis in the Mojave National Preserve with self-guided trails
Whynot: Situated on Highway 75, or the North Carolina Pottery Highway, this town is world-renowned for its ceramics. The town’s name comes from a debate with settlers where a frustrated farmer said, ‘Why not name it ‘Why Not’ and then we can go home?”
Devil’s Kettle: Minnesota’s Devil’s Kettle Falls has one side that tumbles down a two-step stone embankment and continues on like a normal waterfall. The other side vanishes into a deep hole and disappears — apparently forever.
Mooselookmeguntic Lake: Tied for being the longest place name in the United States with 17 letters. This Maine lake is framed by mountains and has great deep water trout and salmon fishing.
Save the earth? Alaska Airlines offering water in boxes
To reduce plastic waste on airplanes, Alaska Airlines is replacing e single-use plastic bottles with Boxed Water’s 92% plant-based cartons. This will help remove 7.2 million plastic bottles a year, the equivalent of approximately 98,000 lbs of plastic.
Boxed Water is already served on Alaska’s Horizon Air-operated flights and is expanding to all Alaska flights throughout the summer, beginning this week with First Class.
The airline is also resuming its program of recycling cans, bottles, and water bottles starting May 19. The program has been on hold for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline’s employees first started a recycling program more than 15 years ago.
MIA Airport rolls out wheelchair charging stations
Just in time for Mobility Awareness Month, Miami International Airport (MIA) is celebrating the installation of 10 new wheelchair charging stations. If you use a wheelchair or travel with someone who does, you will be pleased to know there are now 10 charging spots at MIA: eight post-security and two pre-security.
Starting May 10, MIA will also have an on-site COVID-19 vaccination site that will be accessible to travelers who live and work in Florida, as well as to airport employees and family and friends of airport employees.
Breaking news 📢! Starting May 10, MIA will be offering on-site COVID-19 vaccinations to: ✅ Airport employees ✅ Employees' family & friends ✅ Travelers who live & work in Florida
Giving – or hoping to get – Valentine’s Day flowers this year?
If so, it’s a good bet those Valentine’s Day flowers are making their way to the USA via Miami International Airport (MIA).
Around this time of year, MIA reminds us that 89 percent of all U.S. flower imports that arrive by air come through the Miami hub.
In 2019, that represented 240,162 tons of flowers valued at $1.1 billion.
In 2020, the peak season from January 1 to February 15 alone brought 1.1 billion stems through MIA. And, despite the pandemic, MIA expects a similar number of flowers to make their way here this year.
The flowers don’t just land and head off to florists. The agricultural specialist at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspect the flowers on arrival for pests.
Here are some more photos MIA shared of those specialists at work.
