See? This is what happens when they keep making us take off our shoes:
Security workers at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida “are complaining of odor” – yes, the stench left behind on the carpets from those who remove their shoes for security.
Actually the smelly feet complaints revolve around two separate security checkpoints.
Anyway, airport management is busy “formulating a plan” on this matter; here, you can use my plan: A.) Go to carpet store, and B.) Buy new carpet.
The frugal among us may be wondering why they don’t just clean the carpets, but – the problem is that the security check-points open at 4:30am, and may not close until 1:00am or so (if flights are late), so there’s not a lot of time for shampooing and drying.
An insightful story on CNN by Daniel Fahl, who is described as a “captain for a major U.S. airline” – he writes about the expected delays at JFK that I blogged about last week.
“Just like freeways get backed up during rush hour and the holidays,” says Capt. Fahl, “so do the runways and airborne highways that aircraft navigate.”
He added that, with JFK’s main runway out of action for the next few months, the delays will be magnifed – especially because Kennedy is a prime departure/destination airport for the big planes traveling long-haul routes. The can present special problems due to “wake turbulence”:
“Wake turbulence, similar to the wake a boat creates, poses a safety threat to trailing aircraft. Because of this, there is a longer delay between departing and arriving aircraft when one of these large, or as we say “heavy,” aircraft enters the picture. With only three runways available, this adds to the headache of keeping traffic flowing.” – Daniel Fahl for CNN, 3-11-10
If you’ll be heading to JFK this Spring, watch for delays – especially if you’ll be traveling during “rush hour”.
A graduate student at Rutgers pleaded guilty to “defiant trespass” yesterday, which is to say, he’s the guy who caused chaos at busy Newark Liberty Airport in January when he slipped through security to give his girlfriend one last kiss before she headed home to California.
Romeo, also known as Haisong Jang, 28 was ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs and will have to complete 100 hours of community service.
The man will also have this on his record for five years, after which (if there are no more kissing episodes), he can get it erased.
So – did this kill the romance? Not at all. The kissing couple remain a devoted pair, though presumably they are now low-keying the PDA’s*.
*Blog-speak for “public displays of affection”
Okay. Actress Raquel Welch’s black-satin bustier tripped the metal detector alarms at O’Hare the other day, and as a result, she had to undergo a pat-down search.
The bustier, it seems, was lined with little strips of metal.
In case you were wondering, the TSA officer who administered the pat-down was female and the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Ms. Welch reacted with good humor and patience.
“It was hilarious,” Welch’s publicist, Julie Nathanson, said today. “Every alarm in the hemisphere went off.” – Chicago Sun-Times, 3-9-10
The actress was in Chicago for an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show, where she publicized her new book titled, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage.” Okay.
It is not the intention of JetBlue or Delta to be cruel or mean – it just kind of looks that way as they seek an exemption to keep passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours, if they have to.
A bit of background: starting April 29, a new Dept. of Transportation rule goes into effect that orders airlines to let people off planes if they’ve been sitting there, going nowhere, for three hours.
It seems DOT Secretary Ray LaHood got tired of waiting around for a “passengers rights bills” and just went ahead and said, “Three hours? That’s enough!” And there are big fines for those who violate this new rule – according to the New York Times, they’ll be dinged $27,500 per passenger.
But here’s the problem: the main runway at JFK is closed for improvements for the next few months and airlines like JetBlue and Delta are scared there’ll be all kinds of delays and on-the-tarmac idling – and, record fines.
Work at JFK is already causing delays. It’s a pity the passengers might have to pay for that, with extra long waits. If your travels take you in or out of Kennedy, be sure to bring a book (Stephen King’s latest, I’m told, is 1,088 pages long, which sounds about right).
Did you know? Those folks roaming around the airport with those handheld mobile gizmos could be members of American Airlines’ “Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere” program, and they’re there to help (and United has a similar type program).
They are helpful to passengers: they can provide flight information, assist you with getting on a standby list, that sort of thing. You’ll see American’s assistants in Boston, and now Dallas, Miami, San Juan and New York.
And, not so helpful (but helpful to the airline): if a carryon bag is too big, they’ll help you check it and you will pay (USA Today says American Airlines in part ”sees [the program] as a revenue-generating tool”).
Save yourself some trouble (and money) – get the facts on bag sizes and fees – and pack right, before you run into a “roaming assistant”.
Two women at the airport in Manchester, England declined to undergo the full body scan – you know, the somewhat controversial security imaging machine – with the result that neither one was allowed to fly.
According to reports, one refused on religious grounds, the other “cited health grounds.”
In the U.S., you have the right to refuse the body scan – although if you do, you will be subjected to a full pat-down.
Good news for the people of Haiti: Spirit Airlines has resumed flights to Port-au-Prince – and as CEO Ben Baldanza put it, the carrier is ”thrilled to once again liberate Haiti from high fares.”
Somehow, I’m not sure that cheap flights are at the top of most Haitians’ “to-do” lists just now, but whatever.
In fairness to Spirit, they did dedicate staff and aircraft to relief efforts in the wake of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. And, they want everyone to know their cheap flights between Ft. Lauderdale and the Haitian capital have resumed.
Of course, American Airlines got the jump on them – the legacy carrier resumed its flights two weeks ago. And, I’ve just heard from a Delta Air Lines spokesman about their plans for resuming flights, who said, “We hope to be able to announce a date shortly.”
