Super Bowl

Super Bowl-bound? Airports and TSA ready.

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Airports and TSA bracing for Super Bowl travelers  

Long before the final matchup was set for Super Bowl LIV on February 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, South Florida airports and security officials were making game plans.

The task: deal with record-setting numbers of arriving and departing fans.

FLL, MIA and PBI Airports ready.

At Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL), which is about 18 miles from the stadium, signage for the big game adorns doors, walls, columns, and baggage belt areas.

“There won’t be a place on the airport where you won’t see some reference to the Super Bowl,” said airport spokesman Greg Meyer.

To prepare for and impress sports fans, many of whom may be visiting the airport and the area for the first time, FLL has put 160 live plants throughout the terminals and artificial greenery in the restrooms.

Teams are polishing terrazzo floors, shampooing the carpeting, pressure cleaning the sidewalks, scouring the restrooms and detailing the shuttles that run between the terminals and the rental car center.  

“We do much of this cleaning normally,” said Meyer, “but doing it just prior to the game will make sure we look our best.”

Before and after the big game, FLL will have extra staff on duty and more than 60 volunteers on-site to help guests navigate through the airport.

Airport concessionaires are doing their part too. Store hours are extended hours and there’s plenty of official team and game gear for sale.

Magically, memorabilia to celebrate the winning team will be for sale immediately after the game.

MIA Airport ready too

“Miami International Airport is doing much the same,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

MIA is about 18 miles from Hard Rock Stadium and expects above-average passenger traffic on the three days prior to and the day after Super Bowl Sunday. On Monday, Feb 3, about 90,000 passengers are projected to depart MIA, which would be a single-day record for departures at the airport.

In addition to a pre-game facility spruce-up, MIA is adding some bonus features as well.

Through Super Bowl Sunday, MIA’s public address system will be playing rotating welcoming messages from three former All-Pros: Miami Dolphins legends Dan Marino, Nat Moore and Jason Taylor.

And through the end of February, travelers can view Duane Hanson’s iconic, hyperrealist sculpture, “Football Player” on the D Concourse, between Gates D47 and D48.

Also through the end of February, the Wolfson Moving Images exhibition on Concourse F is featuring archive video from past Miami Super Bowls and Miami Dolphins history on a set of old-style flight monitors.

https://twitter.com/WolfsonArchives/status/1217827275212840961?s=20

Both FLL AND MIA also have detailed airport navigation information, arrival, and departure tips on their websites. Each airport also has important alerts about human trafficking, on the “Countdown to Takeoff Playbook” posted on their respective websites.

And passengers arriving before the Super Bowl on Thursday and Friday (1/30 and 1/31) at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), 58 miles from Hard Rock Stadium, will be greeted with special welcoming messages as well as giveaways and promotional items in the Bag Claim level.

Concessionaires at PBI are laying in the sports-themed memorabilia as well.

TSA gearing up for the game

During the Super Bowl week, TSA, local and county police departments, Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies will be adding extra teams and showing a hi-visibility presence at all area airports

And to help with the crush of fans leaving on February 3, some security checkpoints will open early at both FLL and MIA and additional checkpoints will stay open 24 hours. 

While not all security precautions being taken can be shared, according to TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz, FLL will have 6 extra canine teams, additional support from Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) and the Broward Country Sheriff’s office, and 40 extra Transportation Security Officers on duty to help at checkpoints and baggage areas.

Koshetz says 10 additional TSA canine teams will also join the eleven TSA canine teams already at MIA. There will be 60 additional TSA Officers to augment the TSA Miami Officer staff and help keep additional checkpoint lanes open on throughout the day.

Follow the countdown plan

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the National Football League, hospitality organizations and the airports are encouraging passengers heading home after the game on February 3 to follow the “5-4-3-2-1” plan.

The campaign encourages travelers to check out of hotels 5 hours before departure flight time; to return rental cars 4 hours before their flights, and to check-in at the airline ticket counters 3 hours before their flights. TSA hopes travelers will go through security at least 2 hours before their flights and be at their gates an hour before flight time.

For security reasons, TSA is also asking Super Bowl travelers heading home after the big game to pack their commemorative programs in carry-ons, not in checked bags.

In previous years, the composition and thickness of these programs prevented TSA’s machines and human scanners from seeing beneath the booklets in checked bags, requiring those bags to alarm and be opened.

(My story about airports and TSA getting ready for Super Bowl fans first appeared on USA TODAY in a slightly different format.)

Vintage Super Bowl film clips at Miami Airport

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On Sunday, February 2, the Super Bowl returns to Miami for the 11th time.

And Miami International Airport (MIA) is getting ready to welcome thousands of fans who will be flying in – and out – for the big game.

In addition to special signage throughout the airport and a variety of other special treats, MIA airport is using a bank of old flight display monitors in Concourse F to show vintage film clips from the Wolfson Moving Images archives at Miami Dade College.

The film clips feature scenes from past Super Bowls that took place in Miami as well as Miami Dolphins history.

And check out those fans!

Here are some snippets:

https://twitter.com/WolfsonArchives/status/1217827275212840961?s=20

Super-real sculptures at Florida’s Airports

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Miami-Dade County will be hosting Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 and, in preparation, Miami International Airport (MIA) is displaying artist Duane Hanson’s hyperrealist sculpture “Football Player.” 

The sculpture is on display on MIA’s Concourse D, between gates D47 and D48 through February 2020 and is on loan from the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum.

MIA isn’t the only Florida airport to display the work of Duane Hanson. Both Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) each have a hyper-realistic Duane Hanson sculptures on permanent display.

At FLL, the Duane Hanson sculpture called “Vendor with Walkman” is in the Baggage Claim area of Terminal 1.

The airport has owned this artwork since 1990.

Orlando International Airport (MCO) has owned Hanson’s “The Traveler” since 1986. The sculpture is located in the Terminal A concourse between the East and West security checkpoints, near the food court.

Beyond these airports, many modern art museums have work by Duane Hanson in their collections.

Hanson, who died in 1996, created a special technique of casting in polyester resins reinforced with fiberglass. He’d make casts of living people and then painstakingly paint the figures to look exactly like the models.

Puppy Bowl at Denver Airport

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Football fan or not, it’s hard not to love the Puppy Bowl pre-game event that is now a Super Bowl-day tradition.

The event is so cute – and so good for promoting the adoption of puppies and dogs (and cats), that Denver International Airport holds is own Puppy Bowl.

DEN’s fourth annual Puppy Bowl will take place in the main terminal from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, ­Feb. 1.

The “players” will include eight adoptable puppies and two adoptable adult dogs from the Denver’s animal shelter/humane society, called the Dumb Friends League.

Pets featured at the DEN Puppy Bowl will be available for adoption the following day or following week at the Petco Adoption Center in Denver on a first-come, first-serve basis.

If you’re not able to attend the event in-person, be assured the airport will be sharing snaps of the puppies in action on social media (#DENPuppyBowl) and showing all the DEN Puppy Bowl “game footage” on the DEN Facebook page after the event.

MSP Airport is ready for Super Bowl fans to arrive – and leave

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The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is ready for the Super Bowl 52 fans to arrive – and leave .

“For many Super Bowl attendees, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will be their first and last impression of Minnesota, and we want to ensure it’s a great one,” said Brian Ryks, executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP.

The airport has spruced up with a special Super Bowl info page on its website, an enhanced Wi-Fi system, new carpeting, new furniture, new shops and restaurants and has added lots of NFL signage and pop-up Super Bowl souvenir shops in the terminals.

Extra volunteers have been recruited to help travelers with airport wayfinding and extra space has been arranged for all the taxis, rental cars, limos and Uber and Lyft cars that will be supplementing public transportation options at the airport.

Weather contingency plans are in place. Airport police and fire crews have been working with city, county and federal law enforcement agencies on how to deal with various scenarios. And the Transportation Security Administration is bringing in extra officers and passenger screening canines to help process passengers heading home after the game.

“TSA operations at MSP following the Super Bowl will be an ‘all hands on deck’ operation,” said TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers, “From uniformed staff to plain-clothes administrative personnel, everyone will be working.”

TSA and MSP expect to set passenger records on the Monday and Tuesday after Super Bowl, but airport officials are confident their team is up for the challenge.

“We have a solid plan in place to keep everyone safe, the operation running smoothly, and travelers’ experience positive,” said MSP’s Ryks.

Safe and smooth is good, but MSP’s Super Bowl welcome team is also offering fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots some fun extras.

A 10-day “Performing Arts Spectacular” is underway, with a lineup of events featuring everything from Bollywood, hip-hop and flamenco dancers to vocal and drum performances. The airport’s animal ambassadors will be out in full force. And giveaways in the terminals will include a series of Super Bowl/Winter-themed MSP buttons and foldable terminal maps with disposable hand warmers attached.

Several airlines, including Delta, Southwest, American and United, have added flights to MSP from Boston, Philadelphia and many other major hubs for Super Bowl ticket holders and last-minute planners heading to the Twin Cities to partake of Super Bowl festivities.

In addition to the extra flights, American Airlines, the official airline for the Philadelphia Eagles, is handing out Eagles rally towels to all passengers flying on from Philadelphia to Minneapolis-St. Paul through Sunday, February 4.

And on Saturday and Sunday, United Airlines is serving “football favorites,” including hot dogs and macaroni salad, to customers visiting the carriers’ lounges in its hub cities. United Club visitors in Boston, Philadelphia and Minneapolis will also find extra treats, including lobster roll and New England clam chowder in Boston; Tastykakes and a build-your-own hoagie bar in Philadelphia; and Captain Ken’s Wagon Trail Chili (a Minnesota favorite) in Minneapolis.

 

Russell Wilson’s Fan Flight II on Alaska Airlines

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Fan Flight jacket

Everyone in Seattle is pretty worked up about the Seahawks return to the Super Bowl. So it was no surprise that more than 80,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members from Oregon, Washington and Alaska (20 percent more than last year) entered a contest to win a spot on a special charter flight to Phoenix for a Super Bowl party on February 1. MVP Gold members could also bid miles – which would be donated to Children’s Hospital in Seattle.

The 56 contest winners – and their guests – along with 6 top mileage bidders (who bid a total of 2.2 million miles!) – enjoyed an inflight tailgate party to Phoenix and will be cheering on Russell Wilson, Alaska’s ‘Chief Football Officer’, and his team Sunday evening.

Here are some photos from the flight.

 

Airlines add flights for Super Bowl fans

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Russell Wilson plane

Trying to find a flight to Phoenix, Arizona that will get you there in time for Super Bowl XLIX on February 1st?

Don’t give up.

Many regularly-scheduled flights are already sold-out, but airlines are adding special flights to their schedules to help fans get to the game.

Alaska Airlines has added two extra round-trip flights between Seattle and Phoenix; one on January 30th, the other on February 2nd.

The airline is also hosting Russell Wilson’s Fan Flight II: 56 lucky contest winners will be able to take a friend on a special flight from Seattle to Phoenix to attend a Super Bowl party. To enter you’ll need to be an Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan member and be a resident of Oregon, Washington or Alaska.

United Airlines is adding flights – 55 in all – from its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark and San Francisco and adding nonstop service – from Jan.29 to Feb. 2 – from Boston and Seattle to Phoenix.

Delta Air Lines is adding service between Phoenix and Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle for Super Bowl fans.

JetBlue is adding a flight from Boston to Phoenix on January 30th and a return flight on February 2nd.

Southwest Airlines is adding both nonstop and connecting flights between Seattle and Phoenix Sky Harbor and between Boston and Manchester (New Hampshire) and Phoenix between January 29 and February 2.

US Airways is adding extra flights as well.

Airline perks for Seahawks and Patriots fans

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Sunday was a big day for football fans (especially fans of the Seattle Seawhawks and the New England Patriots, of course) and airlines are helping get the celebrations for Super Bowl XLIX underway.

To celebrate the Seahawks win, Alaska Airlines is offering a free drink to everyone on a flight leaving Seattle on Monday, January 19:

For those who want to make quick plans to go the game, JetBlue is adding extra flights between Boston and Phoenix. In addition to the regular schedule of flights (already sold out), JetBlue is adding a flight leaving Boston on January 30, 2015 at 8:20 a.m. (arriving at 12:24 p.m.) and returning on February 2, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. (arriving at 6:10 p.m).

Sunday evening, Alaska Airlines teased about another special Super Bowl treat:

And early Monday Alaska Airlines announced a re-run of last year’s sweepstakes offering Mileage Plan members a chance to fly from Seattle to Phoenix on a special charter on Feb. 1.

“Russell Wilson’s Fan Flight II – For Strong Against Cancer,” a four-day sweepstakes is taking place on Alaska Airlines’ Facebook page.

Fifty-six prize winners will receive two round-trip tickets for an ‘inflight tailgate party’ from Seattle to Phoenix on its “Go Russell 737-900ER” aircraft. Winners will also get two nights of hotel accommodations, admission to an exclusive game day party and transportation to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and their hotel.

(I was able to tag along last year and it was a heap-of-fun!)

The sweepstakes is open to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members who are residents of Washington, Oregon and Alaska and winners will be notified by phone and email beginning on Friday, Jan. 23 at 8 a.m. PT. (Last year, winners told me they had a short window to answer the notification, so on Friday, be sure to check your email and voice mail right away.)

The airline is also adding extra flights between Seattle and Phoenix:

On Jan. 30 flights will head from Seattle to Phoenix at 1:30 p.m. and 5:55 p.m. and on February 2nd from Phoenix to Seattle at 5:55 p.m. and 10:25 p.m.

Twitter throwdown for Seattle & Green Bay Airports

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Giant Super Bowl Football

As you might imagine, excitement is rising in cities that still have football teams in the running for this year’s Super Bowl.

And as Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers gets closer, hometown pride is in strong evidence on the Internet, where Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Green Bay’s Austin Straubel  International Airport are engaged in a good-natured Twitter throwdown that includes smack talk and a bet that involves cheese, coffee and team jerseys.

Here’s some of what played out on Thursday.

Both airports took a time-out Thursday night and will no doubt be back on the field on Friday. Stay tuned.

(Disclaimer: I live in Seattle. So, Go Seahawks!)

Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport ready for Super Bowl

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PHX SUPER BOWL CLOCK

At the end of January, about 100,000 football fans will be heading to the Phoenix area for Super Bowl XLIX and a wide range of related festivities.

Most all of them will be arriving and departing from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport ,where the busiest day will be the day after the Super Bowl, February 2nd.

Is the airport ready for the big game? You bet.

This will be the Phoenix area’s third Super Bowl (games were held there in 1996 and 2008) and planning has been underway for months. Airport officials have been working closely with the Super Bowl Host Committee, airlines, the TSA, car rental companies and other partners to make sure everything is in place.

To accommodate the influx of football fans, restaurants inside the airport will increase their hours and the number of available taxis will be increased by approximately 50 percent.

Sky Harbor will also have increased customer service staff at the ready to welcome visitors. In addition to the 400 volunteer ‘Navigators’ at Sky Harbor, PHX will have about 200 Super Bowl volunteers on hand to answer questions.

Then there are the security preparations.

PHX is coordinating with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Phoenix Police Department and other public safety partners to make sure there’s increased law enforcement presence around the airport, including firefighters from the two Phoenix Fire stations located at Sky Harbor who will be patrolling the terminals on bikes.

(My story about PHX getting ready for the Super Bowl first appeared on USA Today in a slightly different version.)