SFO

SFO makes deal with Sidecar

Sidecar

In a first for California, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Sidecar have come to an agreement that allows the Transportation Network Company (TNC) to operate legally at the Airport.

The permit, which allows the company to drop off and pick up customers at SFO, represents the first airport TNC agreement in the state of California. Sidecar, which is headquartered in San Francisco, expects to begin operations at SFO within the next 30 days.

“SFO is one of our most in-demand places for ride requests,” Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul wrote in a blog post on the company’s website, “so we’re excited and proud to work with them to offer riders safe and affordable travel to and from the airport.”

SFO officials say permit discussions continue with other transportation network companies, including Lyft and UberX, but that so far neither have signed a permit with SFO and so are not legally allowed to operate at the Airport.

Last November, SFO came to an agreement with Relay Rides – a company that offers free airport parking, a car wash and a cut of the proceeds to travelers who let the company rent out their cars to others. A similar company, Flight Car, does not have legal permission to operate at the airport.

Yoga: now at Chicago’s Midway Int’l Airport

Midway Yoga Room

September is National Yoga Month, which makes it great timing for the Chicago Department of Aviation to open the promised yoga room at Midway International Airport.

Located on Concourse C, Midway’s new yoga room has a sustainable bamboo wood floor, floor to ceiling mirrors on one wall, exercise mats and an area to store personal articles and garments. There are frosted windows on one side of the room to let in natural light and to provide a bit of privacy. There’s also a wall-mounted video monitor showing yoga exercise techniques and nature scenes, all with an audio plays soothing sounds.

Next door to Midway’s yoga room there’s a new room set aside for mothers who’d like some privacy while nursing a baby.

Midway mothers room

But, since it is National Yoga Month, let’s get back to yoga.

Here’s a list of other airports that offer yoga rooms for travelers:


Chicago O’Hare International Airport
-opened in December 2013. You’ll find it on the Mezzanine Level of Terminal 3 Rotunda, near the airport’s urban garden.

San Francisco International Airport has two yoga rooms.
SFO YOGA ROOM

SFO’s Yoga Room in Terminal 2 (which was the world’s first yoga room in an airport) is closed until November 4, 2014 to accommodate a construction project. The airport’s second yoga room, located in Terminal 3, Boarding Area E, remains open.

AT Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, there’s a yoga studio located near Gate D40 in the hallway connecting Terminals B and D.

There’s also a space set aside for yoga at Burlington International Airport in Vermont.

Burlington yoga

At all of these airport yoga studios, soothing ambiance – and mats – are provided.

Meanwhile, at Helsinki Airport in Finland, Finavia’s TravelLab initiative has been testing out a variety of yoga offerings, including a Yoga Gate, yoga lessons and the sale of yoga-related items, including mats and clothes.

The summertime project also surveyed passengers about the whether or not they’d be interested in paying for taking a yoga lesson at the airport. Would you?

Helsinki_Airport_Yoga_Kainuu_TravelLab

(All photos courtesy of the respective airports)

Detour for Sidecar & uberX at LAX & SFO

aerocarmodel_2_lrg

Ride-sharing services provided by companies such as Lyft, Sidecar and uberX have become popular, if somewhat controversial, lower-cost alternatives to traditional taxicabs in many cities and at many airports.

The services match people who need rides with mobile app-dispatched citizen drivers willing to provide rides and accept a fee.

But, citing an aggressive stance by authorities at Los Angeles International Airport for issuing citations to drivers picking up passengers there, Uber and Sidecar have recently pulled the plug on that part of their LAX service.

“Although we look forward to working with the authorities to resolve these issues quickly, this unwarranted action by authorities to punish drivers and riders cannot continue,” Uber spokesman Andrew Noyes wrote in a company blog post a week ago. “That’s why we’re temporarily halting uberX pick-ups at LAX effective immediately.”

Noyes told CNBC there were no projections on when the uberX pickup service might resume, but that for now uberX drivers are still dropping off passengers at LAX. The company’s other services, UberBLACK and UberSUV, which work with licensed commercial drivers, continue both pickups and dropoffs at LAX, he said.

Sidecar spokeswoman Margaret Ryan said via email that because the company has heard of the increased enforcement action at LAX, “we’ve advised Los Angeles drivers to avoid picking up passengers at LAX as well.”

In an email, Los Angeles Airport Police spokeswoman Sgt. Belinda Nettles said “no special enforcement is taking place” against uberX, Sidecar or other ride-share drivers. Only that “airport police officers are enforcing airport rules and regulations, as well as any violations pertaining to the penal code, vehicle code and the Los Angeles municipal codes as appropriate.”

At issue are the first round of rules issued by the California Public Utilities Commission for regulating companies such as Uber, Sidecar and Lyft, which the commission calls transportation network companies. “The question of picking up passengers by TNCs is still under review” by the commission, and TNCs wishing to serve the airport also need licenses or permits, and insurance, to do business at LAX, Nettles said.

Nettles said Thursday she was unable to provide information on what types of citations were issued to uberX drivers. “We cite for airport rules and regulation violations and California vehicle and penal code violations as appropriate daily,” she said.

LAX is not the only airport that has taken action against ride-sharing companies.

In April, San Francisco International Airport issued a cease and desist order to ride-sharing services operating there. “These were enforced primarily through admonishments, and some citations were also issued,” said SFO spokesman Doug Yakel.

Like many other airports, San Francisco has rules stating that each business that provides ground transportation, rental car or airport parking services must get an airport permit .

In response, Uber published a blog post in August with tips for riders at SFO noting that pickups by Uber services were unaffected, but that “SFO has taken an aggressive stance against uberX and has begun citing some drivers.” The company suggested fliers instead use another Uber ride service, such as UberBLACK or UberSUV.

Ryan said Sidecar is working with the state utilities commission to work out a solution but that in response to the cease and desist order, “we’ve advised San Francisco drivers to avoid trips to SFO until we’ve figured it out.”

Lyft has not yet responded to a request from CNBC for the status of its services at LAX or SFO.

For its part, SFO airport, which recently came to an agreement with car-sharing service Relay Rides, remains “open to new business models that provide our customers with a variety of transportation options,” said Yakel.

He said while the decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate transportation network companies provides a framework to move forward with a permitting process at SFO, “we have yet to receive word of any TNC attempting to operate at SFO being permitted through the CPUC.”

(My story about ride-sharing services at SFO and LAX first appeared on CNBC Road Warrior)

Travel contests: because you can’t win if you don’t play

prizes

I’m a big believer in “you can’t win if you don’t play,” so here are a few contests to enter with great travel adventures as prizes:

From now through March 8th, 2013 San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is celebrating Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) new non-stop service to Copenhagen with a Facebook sweepstakes (and a strange little video starring hamsters). Entrants choose their favorite destination from one of 12 European cities served by SAS and the winner of a random drawing will be awarded two round-trip Economy Class tickets on SAS to the destination they selected. Enter here.

Also through March 8, American Airlines is having a contest with four grand prizes that include a first class trip for two anywhere the airline flies, a year-long Admiral’s Club membership, Five Star Service (“To whisk you through the airport like a star”), a Samsung Tablet, Bose headphones, first-class pajamas, and a $1,000 gift card. Enter here.

And, to welcome the terracotta warriors to San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, Cathay Pacific Airways is giving away prizes that include a 10-day China tour and a chance to fly to Xi’an to see the iconic terracotta warriors in their homeland.  Enter here through March 18.

  • Grand Prize: 10 days/9 nights “Cathay Pacific Essence of China” tour, including a pair of roundtrip Economy Class tickets on Cathay Pacific to Beijing, Shanghai and a private sightseeing tour to view the real Terracotta soldiers in Xi’an.
  • 2nd Prize – A one weekend night stay at the Galleria Park hotel in San Francisco, plus pair of VIP tickets to see the Asian Art Museum’s “China’s Terracotta Warriors” exhibition
  • 3rd Prize – An Annual Family Membership at Asian Art Museum plus a copy of the official exhibition souvenir book

Good luck!

Exhibition of souvenirs at San Francisco International Airport

Souvenirs: Tokens of Travel, January 2013?June 2013

Tokens of travel come in all forms: from photos and hotel keys to shells, rocks, postcards and handcrafted or mass-produced souvenirs.

Keep that in mind as you enjoy the new SFO Museum exhibition at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) filled with mementos from the nineteenth century to the present, including sailors’ valentines, world’s fair souvenirs, miniature monuments, transfer ware and ruby-stained glass.

The exhibit fills twenty exhibit case in the north end of the International Terminal and will be on display through July, 2013.

Here are some samples:

Souvenirs: Tokens of Travel, January 2013 -June 2013

Souvenirs: Temple of Vesta c. 1860. Italy; Painting of Mount Vesuvius and Bay of Naples at night, late 1800s; Temple of Castor and Pollux c. 1860, Italy

Souvenirs: Tokens of Travel, January 2013–June 2013

Sailors’ Valentine: Shell mosaic c. 1870. Barbados
Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

(All photos courtesy of the SFO Museum)