You know how during the airline safety instructions (you pay attention, right?) they say the nearest exit may be behind you?
Well, sometimes at the airport the coolest art features may be below you.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) one of the artworks is a river of 300 brass fish running along the terrazzo floor in Concourse B.
The work is called Flying Fish and is by Judith and Daniel Caldwell.
Most of the fish are regular fish, but there are some unusual ones in there.
Including the fish spotted swimming with a suitcase.
We’ve been walking over the floor and appreciating the fish for years, but yesterday was the first time we noticed this bonus traveling fish.
Maybe it was because it was early in the day and we could actually take our time walking down the concourse.
But we think it was because after being so nervous about traveling during the pandemic, we’re finally starting to go back to our normal travel mode of being excited to travel and alert to everything around us.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is having an in-terminal and virtual celebration on Thursday, Nov 4 to celebrate the end of all the major construction at the N Concourse. If you happen to be traveling through SEA between 11 am and 1 pm, head to the N Concourse for music and spoken word performances, food sampling, art tours, and giveaways. The even will able streamed online. In the evening, at 6 pm, SEA will host a travel trends panel that will be streamed live as well.
We’re big fans of airport mascots and noticed that Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) has a bee as a mascot. We’re wondering if the beekeeper is an official part of the team.
A few months back, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) joined the list of airports offering mobile food ordering. The OrderSEA program works with the Grab and At Your Gate programs, offering pick-up and gate delivery options from more than 16 airport food outlets.
As a bonus, some travelers who order gate delivery find the At Your Gate delivery person accompanied by a Gita-branded robot like the one at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) named Nom Nom.
Now that it has been on site a while, SEA wants the Gita robot to be part of the permanen team. So they’re asking the public to help choose a name.
Have any ideas?
Share your creative robot names! 🤖 With a few months under its tires, our OrderSEA food delivery robot wants its own special SEA identity. So it’s time for a new name and we need your help. Learn how to submit a name idea and read our naming guidelines → https://t.co/pN1tcUvs08pic.twitter.com/uOAdguu0ef
Called Zoom Zone and located in Terminal B between Gates 24 and 25, the 600-square foot space was created with support from Zoom (Zoom Video Communications Inc.) and has an aviation theme.
Features of the Zoom Zone include a Pin Screen, a Bird Climber, a Zoom Plane, and a Kinectic Butterfly. There’s also an Alphabet Airplane that invites kids to open airplane window shades and discover objects representing destinations.
Zoom Zone is officially OPEN! 🥳 The lovely folks of @Zoom, @PurpleMuseum and @HenselPhelps made this aviation-themed play space possible, and they joined us today for a joyous ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside City Councilmember @RaulPeralez.
— Mineta San Jose Int’l Airport – SJC (@FlySJC) October 28, 2021
Nature Photos at IND Airport
Camouflaged Spider by Ronda Hamm
Indianapolis International Airport (IND) is hosting a new photography exhibition titled Indiana, Naturally through December 2021 in both the Ticketing Hall and in cases in Concourses A and B. The exhibition is part of a larger, ongoing cultural collaboration between the Indianapolis Airport Authority and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Here are a few of the images. See more here.
Blue Sky Coreopsis by Jeanette Jeanette JaskulaZalman Wainhaus, Somewhere Silent
The uptick in air travel brings with it an uptick in airport security wait times. So airports around the country are getting creative in testing new ways to keep those lines from getting out of hand.
BREAKING: @TSA screened 2,028,961 individuals at airport security checkpoints yesterday, June 11. It is the first time throughput topped 2M since the start of the pandemic. The last time checkpoint volume was above 2M was 15 months ago, on March 7, 2020. https://t.co/Fp5cBJAjm8
— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) June 12, 2021
The “virtual queuing” test at SEA runs through August 31, 20201 from 4 a.m. to noon (the airport’s peak travel period). The program gives passengers who have neither TSA Pre-Check nor CLEAR memberships a way to streamline their security checkpoint experience by getting an appointment time (with a 15-minute window) to access the security line.
There is no fee to use the program, which is set up at two SEA checkpoints and open to all passengers.
At Boston Logan, the test is running through July 7 in Terminal B, from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The program at BOS is in partnership with the accesso, a company that provides virtual queuing for theme parks and attractions around the world. At BOS, the Virtual Security Line lets passengers use their mobile devices to reserve a spot in the line. They are then notified (with a countdown clock) when it is their time to approach the checkpoint, get their QR code scanned, and enter the checkpoint line.
We hope these test programs work out and convince these and other airports to make virtual cueing for checkpoint times a permanent amenity.
In the meantime, keep in mind that security checkpoint lines are usually longer in the summer. But now we have physical distancing, out-of-practice travelers, and lots more nervous travelers, so be sure to pack your patience when you head to the airport now.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s 1970s-era North Satellite is undergoing a much needed, multi-year makeover to create a state-of-the-art facility to serve Alaska Airlines flights.
Phase One of the project brought us a swanky new Alaska Airlines lounge, restaurants and shops, and bright new gate areas.
Phase Two includes the two gates that opened today in advance of 10 more gates that will open at the end of June. This upgraded space has a mezzanine area and a central atrium that will offer a live performance stage, lots of seating, and great views out to the airfield thanks to a giant wall of windows. And new dining and retail options will include PF Chang’s, Beecher’s, SEA Roast Coffee House, and a branch of Seattle-based outdoor store Filson.
This is our home base airport, so we were excited to mask up and take a tour.
First: Cookies. All Airport Events Must Have Cookies.
Passengers riding up the escalator from the train level at SEA’s North Satellite are now met with an impressive sculpture titled “Boundary.” Seattle-based artist John Grade created this life-sized portrayal of the expanding root structure of an old-growth Western Red Cedar.
The work is 40 feet high, extends 25 feet out from the wall, and stretches 85 feet across – a distance, the airport notes, is equal to the wingspan of a Boeing 737.
Blackleaf, by Montana artist Deborah Butterfield is cast in bronze from pieces of driftwood.
Courtesy Port of Seattle
Bathrooms that use rainwater to flush toilets
We are disappointed that the newest restrooms in the North Satellite don’t have that much-appreciated red light/green light feature found in some SEA lavs that let you know which stalls are empty.
But we are pleased these restrooms make use of rainwater collected off the roof to flush the toilets. That will help save 2.8 million gallons of potable water annually – the equivalent of 4.5 Olympic swimming pools.
