Sea-Tac Airport

SEA: 5 Things We Love About Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport

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Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) celebrated a birthday on July 9, so this is a good week to feature SEA in our “5 Things We Love About…” series celebrating features and amenities at airports around the country and the world.

Keep in mind that some amenities may be temporarily unavailable due to health concerns. We’re confident they’ll be back.

If we miss something you love about Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), leave a note in the comments section.

And be sure to take a look at the other airports in the “5 Things We Love About…” series.

Opening Day ceremonies at SEA – July 9, 1949

SEA: 5 Things We Love About Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

1. The Art at SEA

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was the first airport in the country to have a public art program and it began purchasing art back in 1972.

SEA’s art collection includes valuable pieces by well-known 20th-century artists such as Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg and Louise Nevelson.

Night Flight #1 – By Louise Nevelson

There are also treasured pieces in glass, sculpture, photography, painting and sound by Northwest and regional artists.

Richard Elliot’s Eyes on the World

2. The Shops at SEA

If it’s Northwest souvenirs you’re after, leave time to shop at SEA.

In addition to Northwest wines, chocolates and music, for some reason one of the most popular souvenirs at SEA is (still) these Sleepless in Seattle nightshirts.

3. Dining at SEA

SEA has more than 40 post-security dining venues, so finding something that fits your taste won’t be a problem.

Some of favorites spots include the hip vegetarian Floret, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese and Lucky Louie Fish Shack, home of sweet waffle fish.

4. Live Music at SEA

SEA has a live music program that brings in top-notch performers to play everything from jazz and blues, classical, folk and acoustic pop in various parts of the airport throughout the day.

5. The special events at SEA

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport goes all out to celebrate holidays and special days.

Dancing snowmen and live reindeers show up around Christmas.

And the airport hosts celebrations for everything from the Luna Year to Dia de Los Muertos and North American Heritage Month.

Did we miss an amenity you love at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)? The mountain views, the CPR training machine or the fun kids’ play area? Let us know in the comments section below and feel free to suggest an airport you’d like to see featured in the “5 Things We Love About…” series.

Art in Delta Air Lines’ Seattle Sky Club

Lounges,

delta-sky-club-seatac-2

Delta Air Lines recently opened an impressive, 21,000 square foot Sky Club at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with seating for more than 400, 30-foot ceilings, direct runway, tarmac and (weather permitting) Mount Rainier views.

Amenities include six (!) complimentary shower suites, spa services (for purchase), foods and beverages that include local items such as Beecher’s ‘World’s Best’ Mac & Cheese, and some great art including this piece by Rebecca Coles (in the spa area) made from postage stamps.

delta-sky-club-seatac-8

In Seattle: airport ride-hailing, with a twist

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Uber app

Slowly but surely, airports are working out ways to include ride-hailing service such as Uber and Wingz and Lyft into their ground transportation offering.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the latest to join in, but their program has an environmental twist.

Back in 2003, the airport was the first in the country to mandate and achieve a 100 percent green taxi fleet.

Now, in a one-year pilot program that kicks off today, any ride-hailing service that wants to operate at the airport will be required to match those green fleet requirements through a combination of high MPG vehicles, deadhead reduction, and/or ridesharing, the airport said in a release.

Services that want to participate in the program will need to sign agreements with the Port of Seattle, prove their compliance and pay a $5 fee for each pick-up at the airport.

According to the Seattle Times , both Uber and Lyft have already signed the agreements and will begin service today, with Wingz planning to roll out service next week.

The ride-hailing companies will be required to file monthly reports on all pick-ups and drop offs and pay an additional $5 per trip fee if they don’t meet the environmental standards.

SEA Airport puts all its art in an app

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SEA_Spinning Our Wheels 2_photo by Spike Mafford photography

Spinning our Wheels – Spike Mafford

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has an incredible art collection that was started in the late 1960s and added to over the years with impressive works in glass, sculpture, photography, painting and sound.

You can walk around the airport, see something you like, read the labels and learn a lot anytime you want – but now the airport has an impressive app that tells you not only where everything in the collection is located (you don’t want to miss something great, do you?), but also all about the artwork, the artist and other places you can see their work.

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Louise Nevelson – Night Flight –

The entire collection – which currently numbers 65 pieces – has been loaded into the STQRY app (pronounced “story”) which is available as a free download for iOS, Android, and Windows devices.

YORK FACTORY A

York Factory A – Frank Stella – Courtesy Sea-Tac Airport

Treat for Pearl Jam fans at Sea-Tac Airport

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Pearl Jam AMES

Pearl Jam poster – Ames Bros., Chicago, 7/19/2013, Classic Show at Wrigley Field. Sold out. 2 hour and 40 minute rain delay. Courtesy EMP

There’s a treat in store for fans of the Seattle-born band Pearl Jam at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

An exhibit of Pearl Jam’s classic and now-historical poster art opens today at SEA, with 85 posters made over the years by more 30 artists including the Ames Bros., Brad Klausen, Munk One, Ward Sutton, and others.

PUSH ME, PULL ME: Pearl Jam and the Art of the Screen Printed Poster shows off the work of some great artists, of course, but also illustrates how, when the band formed way back in 1990, posters were the best way to communicate with their audience.

Pearl Jam exhibit at SEA

Pearl Jam Post exhibit – opening day. Courtesy Jasen Emmons

Here are few more samples, all courtesy of Seattle’s EMP Museum, which helped put the show together at SEA on Concourse A, near Gate A.

Pearl Jam 2

Brad Klausen, Seattle, 4/29/2005, Easy Street Records 10th Anniversary of CIMs. Secret, private show for indie record store owners. Courtesy EMP

Pearl Jam 3

Don Pendleton, Brooklyn, 10/19/2013, Don created the art for Lightning Bolt that eventually won a Grammy for album package design. 1 of 2 sold out shows at Barclay’s Center. Courtesy EMP

Pearl Jam 4

Tom Tomorrow, Philadelphia, 10/28/2009, 4-night stand at The Spectrum to close down the fabled arena. Courtesy EMP

Souvenir Sunday: travel-themed gear at PHL & SEA Airport

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A new shop at Philadelphia International Airport – called Pilot & Captain – is the first brick & mortar effort from the design studio The Heads of State – and is filled with travel-themed items related to what the creators call “the good old days of planes, trains & discovery”

PHL PILOT and CAPTAIN

The shop offers city-specific t-shirts, mugs, posters, notebooks and more and can be found in Terminal 3.

There’s also a new travel-themed store at Sea-Tac Airport on Concourse C called Planewear – Style is in the Air , filled with items created for the Enumclaw, Washington-based Planewear company

Planewear-storefront

Inventory includes the sassy SkyBelts, (belts made out of airplane seatbelts, which might be problematic for flight when you have to clip on the real airplane seatbelt…), Pan Am “vintage inspired” t-shirts, passport covers, luggage tags, those nostalgic Pan Am bags and kid-sized apparel.

Souvenir Sunday at Sea-Tac Airport

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Two new shops at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport offer some great options for locally-themed souvenirs.

SubPop

The Sub Pop shop sells music by many of the bands signed up with the independent record label, of course, but it also sells a wide variety of other items, including Sub Pop-branded t-shirts, note cards, travel pillows and coffee.

Sub Pop coffee

Over at the new Metsker Maps shop, you’ll find globes, books, small flags, all manner of maps (of course) and a wide variety of other geography-themed gifts. And when I stopped by last week, John Loacker, president of the historic Kroll Map Company, which joined forces with Metsker Maps of Seattle in 1999, was on duty and happy to show me around.

Metsker Maps owner.

The store had been open just a few days, but Loacker said there were already some bestsellers, including paper city maps and these country-themed patches.

Metsker Maps patches

Sub Pop music store opens at Sea-Tac Airport

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SubPOP Mega Mart ad courtesy EMP

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s “Experience the City of Music” program includes live performances, overhead music and announcements by Northwest artists, videos, a web radio player and music–themed art exhibits.

Now there’s even more music: the first retail store for Sub Pop Records – the Seattle record label founded in 1988 that helped promote Nirvana and grunge music – has opened at Sea-Tac Airport.

The shop is located in the Central Terminal and features vinyl albums, CDs, sweatshirts, t-shirts, books, hats, art and more.

sub pop

Automated Passport Control machines at Sea-Tac

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The airports in Vancouver and Toronto have them. And so do airports in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Montreal and Miami. JFK in New York has them.

APC

Now Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks as well.

With these self-service machines, eligible U.S. and Canadian citizens should experience shorter wait times, less congestion and faster processing when returning from an international trip.

 Here’s how they work:

 “Instead of filling out a declaration card and taking their travel documents to a CBP officer, passengers who are eligible and choose to use Automated Passport Control can proceed directly to a self-service kiosk in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection passport-control area.  Travelers will follow the on-screen instructions to scan their U.S. or Canadian passport, answer the customs declaration questions using the touch screen, receive a receipt confirming their information and proceed to the CBP officer to finalize processing.  The kiosk allows up to four people residing at the same address to be processed together.”

At Sea-Tac, which now has 14 of APC machines, the entry process for eligible U.S. and Canadian citizens should be cut in half.

Sounds great!

Singing the praises of Sea-Tac Airport’s Music Program

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Seattle-Tacoma International is not only one of my favorite airports, it’s my home-base airport.

And so I’m delighted that the airport has received a Future Travel Experience Award for its music program, which welcomes travelers with live music performances, exhibits about local music history and a music soundtrack of Northwest artists from the likes of Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, The Ventures and Perl Jam that is played overhead, on video monitors and on a web radio player that can be accessed in the airport and on-line anywhere. Many of the public safety announcements travelers hear in the airport are also now voiced by Northwest musicians. (Here’s Macklemore and Quincy Jones.)


SEA Hendrix Display