tornado

TSA has helpful hints for holiday travelers

The busy Thanksgiving and Christmas travel season is just around the corner and it’s a given that airports will be busy airports and airplanes will be crowded. With that in mind, the TSA has gathered up some helpful hints for holiday travelers.

Pies and cakes are OK to take through airport security checkpoints, but the TSA reserves the right to give those food items addition screening. Because there are always questions about what other items will clear the security checkpoint this time of year, it appears that the TSA has updated its sample list of liquid, aerosol and gelled items you should leave home, ship ahead or put in your checked baggage if you’ve got more than 3.4 ounces.

That list includes:
Cranberry sauce
Cologne
Creamy dips and spreads (cheeses, peanut butter, etc.)
Gift baskets with food items (salsa, jams and salad dressings)
Gravy
Jams
Jellies
Lotions
Maple syrup
Oils and vinegars
Perfume
Salad dressing
Salsa
Sauces
Snowglobes
Soups
Wine, liquor and beer

Notice that snowglobes are on the list.

For a long time snowglobes were not allowed in carry-on baggage, but the TSA has revised its position on these items and now snowglobes that “appear to contain less than 3.4 ounces (approximately tennis ball size) will be permitted if the entire snow globe, including the base, is able to fit in the same one clear, plastic, quart-sized, resealable bag, as the passenger’s other liquids, such as shampoo, toothpaste and cosmetics.”

You can find more tips here and you can read more about the TSA’s snowglobe decision and concerns about pet tornadoes here.

Teapots and a tornado at Lambert-St. Louis Airport

It’s been just about a year since a tornado blew through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Now a restored and upgraded Concourse C, which was heavily damaged in the storm, is set to reopen April 2nd, with a “tiled corridor, brighter ceilings, oval ‘cloud’ lighting, fully renovated restrooms, new signage, digital directory maps and five sets of art glass screens created by local artists.”

There will also be new and renewed shops and eateries, including Beer Bar and Grill (C1), by local brewer Schlafly,  La Tapenade Mediterranean Café (C8) and Chili’s Too.  Brooks Brothers is back and soon Bookmark Inmotion will open.

Also set to open at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is Sky High Tea: A Teapot Exhibition, in the airport’s new Meeting Place Gallery. On display through July 8, 2012 are teapots made of glass, clay, metal and fiber by 19 regional artists.

Anne Coddington Rast, Inside Out Teapot, Fiber, 2012

The Meeting Place Gallery is located in the Terminal 1 Bag Claim at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

They didn’t call him Lucky Lindy for nothing

Talk about luck.

For more than 30 years Charles Lindbergh’s 1932 Monocoupe D-145 hovered over the Concourse C checkpoint at Lambert-St Louis International Airport (STL).

But just last month, to make way for the relocation of that checkpoint, the plane was lowered to the floor, removed from the airport and put in storage at Missouri’s Mount Vernon Municipal Airport.

According to the owner of the company that moved the plane, “Had it still been inside the St. Louis airport when the tornado blew through last Friday, the plane would have taken a direct hit.”

Lucky, right?

That’s what the folks at the Missouri Historical Society are probably thinking. The organization received the plane from Lindbergh back in 1940 and planned to have it restored and put on display at the Mount Vernon Airport while renovations were underway at Lambert.

The timeline for restoring and returning the plane to Lambert airport may be altered a bit by the aftermath of the tornado, but at least the plane is safe and still around.

Tornado closes Lambert-St. Louis Airport indefinitely

We’ll be getting more details today, but Friday night, April 22nd, an apparent tornado ripped through the St. Louis area and caused so much damage at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport that the airport is now closed indefinitely while they figure out what to do.

Here’s a story from the local TV news station KMOV:

 

Airport spokespeople say at least four people were transported to area hospitals with minor injuries and that:

“At this time, it appears that Terminal 1 and Concourse C suffered the most damage from the storm with high winds that blew out up to 50 percent of windows and caused roof damage as well.  There is also considerable storm damage at the entrances of the airport and along roadways.”

KMOV has also posted a gallery of photos showing what the area looked like after the tornado:

See the rest of the KMOV STL airport tornado damage photo gallery.

The damage is heartbreaking. Especially for those who have been looking forward to all the new features and amenities that were being put in place for a major restoration project.

Let’s hope the Lindbergh 1934 Monocoupe D-145 is safe. Charles Lindbergh’s personal plane hovered over the STL Concourse C checkpoint for 30 years and just last month was lowered and moved to the Mt. Vernon Municipal Airport to make way for a concourse relocation project. The plane is owned by the Missouri History Museum and is scheduled to return to STL when renovations there are complete.