“Star of Texas (La Estrella de Texas),” by the renowned Mexican artist Sebastián, now sits on the south side of the SAT airport entrance, on Airport Boulevard.
The work is 17-feet tall and is painted in the artist’s signature fiery red.
“Public Art is a significant part of who we are, representing where we’ve been, where we are, and where we hope to go as a community,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a statement. “The ‘Star of Texas’ speaks to the long-lasting impression San Antonio leaves on visitors and residents alike. Whether visiting San Antonio for the first time or the 100th, or a resident leaving the airport for a vacation, we all know the feeling that keeps us longing for a fast return to this great city.”
Sensory Room + Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room at SEA Airport
Airports in Pittsburgh, Miami, Atlanta, and elsewhere now have sensory rooms designed to reduce the stress for travelers with neurological or developmental disabilities. The latest airport to offer this feature to travelers is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). The new sensory room at SEA room offers a seated bench area, an orange squeeze chair, a rocking chair, dimmable lighting, a starry night ceiling, wool rock pillows, and other features.
Along with the sensory room, SEA also recently unveiled the Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room. Features here include dimmable lighting, three alcoves of seating, a kneeling prayer bench, Qibla pointer, and luggage/shoe storage.
Both the Sensory Room and the Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room at SEA airport are located h the train level of the A Gates Satellite Transit Station (STS) in the long hallway near the elevators.
Here’s a fun, new airport amenity that goes right on the list for Airport Amenity of the Week.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) – as in a lot of other airports right now – there’s limited seating in bars and restaurants due to social distancing requirements.
That means you may not feel comfortable ordering a cocktail at an airport bar and hanging around nursing that drink a while at a table or on a barstool before your next flight.
Seattle’s celebrity chef Kathy Casey thought about that travel challenge and came up with a creative solution. She’s opened a pop-up concept at SEA airport called the Shot Bar in her existing Rel’Lish Burger Lounge on Concourse B.
The bar is a quick-serve counter with ‘grab ‘n go’ shots of alcohol served in the tiny two-ounce version of the familiar red Solo cup. That makes it easy to “Just order, shoot your shot and go,” according to an announcement declaring the Shot Bar the first concept like this to open in a U.S. airport.
Shots are $7 for a single. $10 for a double.
Here’s the menu. Let us know if you think this will – or should – catch on.
This new international route for Seattle was originally set to begin on March 15, 2021. But in an unusual move, Qatar moved up the launch date by almost two months.
“Qatar Airways’ decision to begin service to the Pacific Northwest is a testament to the airline’s confidence in the strength of the region and the expectation to bounce back after the past year’s struggles with the pandemic,” said Port of Seattle Commission President Fred Felleman. “We look forward to this being one of the first steps back to recovery as we will soon welcome global travelers into the new International Arrivals Facility later this year.”
In advance of the launch, Stuck at the Airport chatted with Qatar’s Mark Drusch, SVP of Revenue Management, Alliance, and Strategy. [Answers edited for space, clarity, etc.]
Why is Seattle an important market for Qatar now?
Drusch says traffic on the airline’s Los Angeles and San Francisco flights is very strong and the airline is seeing a lot of traffic through Seattle via partners American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, which is joining the oneworld alliance. “Seattle was the largest gateway on the west coast we weren’t operating out of. So this [new route] is just a natural,” says Drusch.
Why move up the launch?
“Our San Francisco service [launched December 15] has taken off so quickly, and the advance bookings for Seattle in March were so incredibly strong,” says Drusch. “With that and the fact that we were making great progress in establishing a partnership with Alaska, we said, ‘Why should we wait?”
Isn’t moving up a launch complicated?
“It is only complicated in that you need to work through the details with your crews – pilots and flight attendants. But we had enough advance notice that we could do that,” says Drush. “And, honestly, pre-COVID it would have been a lot more difficult. During COVID we have extra pilots and extra flight attendants, and we have more flexibility than we’ve had in the past.”
What about the partnership with Alaska Airlines?
“Alaska is joining oneworld at the end of March, and we are a member of oneworld, so we will obviously have a partnership with them via oneworld. But we’ve been talking to them about having an enhanced relationship versus the oneworld relationship. We haven’t announced anything yet, but stay tuned you might hear something shortly.”
How is the inflight service altered in response to COVID-19 concerns?
Qatar is using a Boeing 777 aircraft for this route with Qsuites in business class. The suites have sliding doors, “so when you are in your Qsuite you don’t have to use your mask,” says Drusch. Full meal service is being offered in both business class and coach, with some modifications. Flight attendants are in full PPE, including face shields. All planes are being cleaned every 24 hours with an automated UV machine.
What special events are planned for the inaugural landing and take-off of this new Qatar flight at SEA?
A social-distanced gate celebration will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Passengers will receive gift bags with local treats from Seattle, Qatar Airways, Alaska Airlines, and Boeing.
The airport is building a new $968 million International Arrivals Facility, which will greatly improve the arrival experience for passengers.
The number of international-capable gates will increase from 12 to 20. There will be more bag claim carousels. New technology will speed up passport check clearance. And the minimum connection time for passengers will drop from 90 to 75 minutes. Though we think people will want to spend more time in the airport once they see all the cool amenities here.
The new International Arrival Facility will also bring fresh new art to an airport already filled with great art. And the airport recently shared this video showing the artwork being installed in the Grand Hall of the new International Arrivals Facility.
First, a disclaimer. We went to the airport with a long list of photos to take, features and amenities to check up on, and favorite views and pieces of art to visit.
We’ve been isolating at home and in our neighborhood, so the crowds (yes, crowds) at the airport last Friday afternoon were a surprise. So were all people who were mask-less and oblivious to social-distancing despite clear signage and perfectly understandable overhead announcements. And, well, the state of the world.
So while we are pleased to see all the protocols and precautions the airport has tried to put in place, we cut the visit short.
But here are some notes on what we found in our hometown airport.
Courtesy SEA Airport
As expected, we saw lots of signs reminding people not to flock together and to put on their masks.
We noted too that there are new overhead announcements. Instead of local music celebrities and airport officials welcoming us to the airport, there are reminders of health-related protocols. Including a request to stand in the middle of the step when on an escalator.
There are now vending machines filled with personal protection items you may need on your trip.
We had meant to do some shopping at the airport in some of our favorite stores. Because – stores! But while we were glad to see Ex Officio is open in its new spot and Fireworks Gallery has friendly minders posted at both the entrance and the exit of the gift shop, we moved along to our scheduled appointments.
Cool new bathroom feature
We admit it. It was this new bathroom feature that really lured us out of the comfort zone of our home and past airport security.
Although we almost turned back once we saw how bunched up and pre-COVID disorganized things were around the screening machines.
Some other airports around the country already have Tooshlights installed in some restrooms.
But Seattle-Tacoma International Airport just got their first set.
As you can see from the photo, this invention lets you know if a restroom stall is open or not. Before COVID, it was appealing because it eliminates that awkward touching of all the doors or peeking under them to find an empty stall.
Now, the fact that you don’t have to touch doors and can easily see what’s open means less time spent in an enclosed space. There’s a bonus service here too: the locks collect information on how often each door opens and closes, so cleaning cycles can be lined up with use.
A new African-themed menu at the Africa Lounge
Courtesy SEA Airport
We made two other stops in the airport.
One was at the Africa Lounge on Concourse A. The taproom has been here since about 2005 and is a visual oasis in the busy concourse as well as a nice place to get cocktails and American fare.
Now there’s a new reason to stop by.
The Africa Lounge now has African food and drinks on the menu, including sambusas, which are Central African fried pastries filled with spicy beef or vegetables. The sides include fried plantains with tangy sauces and jollof rice, which is a West African staple made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices.
The Africa Lounge is also featuring a nice selection of South African wines, a handful of African-inspired cocktails, Ethiopian coffee, and an African music playlist.
Courtesy SEA Airport
The CLUB at SEA
We hope to go back and re-visit all the club lounges at SEA airport. But on this trip, we stopped into the South Satellite branch of The CLUB at SEA to see what’s new and different.
In addition to plastic partitions at the entry and touchless document reviews, the lounge is operating at half-capacity, with many seats blocked off. Even the coveted window bar has seating restrictions.
Cocktails are still being served at the cocktail window, but “nothing that needs to be shaken or stirred, such as margaritas,” said general manager Karen Law, “and no olives in martinis for now.”
Newspapers and magazines are gone too. Now guests can scan and upload a wide variety of papers and magazines to phone or laptops in many more languages than before.
Serve-yourself food is also out, for now, so staff members stand ready to hand guests pre-plated food and soft drinks from the fridge.
Book lovers everywhere celebrate National Book Lovers Day on August 9.
Traveling and books go together. And one element of travel we’re missing is the pleasure of buying a book at the airport and reading it cover to cover on a long flight.
Although some may be closed temporarily due to health concerns, there are full-fledged bookstores we seek out at airports.
Sometimes we make sure to arrive early or book long layovers to make sure we have time to browse.
But we’re confident travelers will still be able to find something great to read in airport bookshops for flights in the future.
So, to mark National Book Lovers Day today, we’re imagining a visit to Nashville International Airport (BNA) in the days when it was home to both a library and a reading room.
Do you have a favorite airport bookstore or book swap? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
Signs and floor stickers reminding travelers to keep their distance in airport terminals are necessary right now.
We get that.
But at least some airports are giving their signs some local character.
In the sign above, you’ll see that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is using Chinook salmon as a measuring tool. The airport has also enlisted the help of a moose and a Bald Eagle
We’re curious about how they figured out that 72 Kisses chocolates equals six feet and hope whomever was asked to lay the candies out to figure this out got to eat them.
Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF) has a long-running thing for plastic pink flamingos. So it makes sense that a flamingo pops up in the airport’s social distancing signs.
In Chicago, they use these cute floor stickers at O’Hare and Midway Airports to remind people to keep their distance.
As travel resumes, do your part & remember to social distance while visiting Midway. Maintain 6ft between yourself and others. pic.twitter.com/LmUQlzwvaO
And at San Diego International Airport (SAN) it makes sense that the measuring stick is a surfboard. Passengers are urged to stay at least one surfboard apart.
In addition to floor decals reminding travelers to stand at least one surfboard apart, we’ve also installed social distancing seat covers to give people more space to chill. 😎 pic.twitter.com/mhrlzVK132
— San Diego Airport (@SanDiegoAirport) July 17, 2020
We’ll keep adding to this collection of creative airport social distance signs and stickers as new ones arrive.
If you see a one in your travels that you think fits, please snap a photo and send it along.
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.
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.
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.
The aviation industry, government agencies, and technology companies are scrambling to find a way to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic so that travelers will be safe in airports and in the sky.
Already, masks, hand sanitizing stations, and hyper-vigilant cleaning protocols have become standard.
And now temperature checks are being added to the list.
Airports, airlines and industry organizations are discussing how to make this happen on a national level.
But the Port of Seattle Commission doesn’t want to wait.
On Wednesday the commission told its staff to work up a plan, by June 9, for rolling out temperature screenings at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
The priority will be on screening arriving international passengers. And with this directive, SEA believes it is the first large U.S. airport to begin working on a formal plan for temperature checks and health screening.
Commission has directed staff to develop a plan to facilitate temperature checks at @flySEA. This direction makes our airport the 1st large U.S. airport to begin work on a formal plan for temperature checks and health screening. https://t.co/wz3EJbGbtopic.twitter.com/f8Qwip66TF
— Port of Seattle – ⚓️ (@PortofSeattle) May 13, 2020
Port of Seattle commissioners acknowledge that with temperature screening will come questions. Mostly about passenger privacy and the fact that temperature checks won’t catch even a majority of virus carriers.
“No single measure is sufficient to slow the spread of coronavirus, and each comes with additional costs and inconvenience. However, given the gravity of the virus, and the impact it has had on our region’s well-being, the benefits of these measures outweigh the costs,” Port of Seattle commissioners said in a statement.
If you’re heading to an airport now or sometime in the future, the new normal is going to be, well, different.
Masks for everyone, please.
As more and more airlines now require each employee and passenger to cover their mouth and nose with a mask or cloth, airports from Seattle to Singapore are adding that requirement to anyone entering the terminals.
Beginning May 18, all passengers, visitors, and workers, including Port employees, in the public areas of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will be required to wear cloth face coverings.https://t.co/M1tVil3wbx
— Seattle-Tacoma Intl. Airport (@flySEA) May 10, 2020
Airports in Asia have been scanning travelers’ temperatures for quite some time.
Now Fiumicino Airport in Rome is using ‘smart helmets’ to check the temperature of passengers.
The device is worn by airport workers and allows them to check and measure the body temperature of passengers at a distance.
Frontier Airlines, which stepped back from charging an extra fee to keep middle seats free, will begin pre-boarding temperature screenings for passengers on June 1.
Customers will be screened via touchless thermometers prior to boarding.
If the temperature reading is 100.4 degrees or higher, they will be given time to rest and, if the flight departure time allows, get another temperature check.
“If the second check is 100.4 degrees or higher, a Frontier gate agent will explain to the customer that they will not be flying that day for the health and safety of others,” the airline said in its statement. Any passenger with a 100.4 degrees or higher fever will be offered the option to rebook travel on a later date or make other arrangements.
And don’t be surprised if in the not-too-distant future TSA officers scan you for a fever at the same time they’re looking through your stuff.
PRESS RELEASE: A4A announced that its member carriers are supporting the @TSA to begin checking the temperature of the traveling public and customer-facing employees as long as necessary during the COVID-19 public health crisis. https://t.co/GYxgkfBI5u
— Airlines for America (@AirlinesDotOrg) May 9, 2020
What do you think of these moves? Will it make you feel safer when you fly?
