Onions

The giant onion at Walla Walla Airport

Walla Walla, Washington (the town so nice they named it twice) is well known for its world-class wines and the Walla Walla Sweet Onion.

Although there are more than 120 wineries in the area and more than 750,000 annual visitors, there are just two flights daily in and out of Walla Walla Regional Airport (ALW), both to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

Still, the airport has some charming amenities.

There’s a large onion sculpture welcoming passengers waiting at the baggage carousel and a cafe operated by the Hidden Valley Bakery serving sandwiches, bagel dogs and a wide variety of fresh pastries.

The Stuck at the Airport team was in town for work, but we did do some wine tasting at one of the many downtown tasting rooms.

And we tested Alaska Airlines’ Wine Flies Free program.

Mileage Plan members flying from 32 cities in Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho may check up to case of wine with no baggage fee. Some wineries also offer free tastings for visitors who show their boarding pass, which is a valuable bonus.

We purchased one bottle of wine from woman-owned Dama Wines and had it boxed up for travel.

At the airport, the gate agent said whether it is one bottle or a full case, it doesn’t matter. It is free to check it. So she added fragile stickers to our one-bottle box and handed us a bag claim ticket.

In Seattle, we waited a while for our box of wine to appear at the baggage carousel and got a bit nervous. But our box did eventually show up.

And now it was festooned with TSA stickers and a note letting us know that the agency’s officers had looked inside.