America's Healthiest Airports

What makes an airport healthy? Health magazine has some answers and has published a list

According to Health magazine, it seems to be a combination of factors that contribute to physical health and mental health by offering "nutritious food, special relaxation zones, walking paths, the latest safety technology, and a whole lot more." Other pluses: noise reduction, children's play areas and environmental stewardship. The opportunity to move around, to eat food that's not bad for you and to be in a stress-reducing place contribute greatly to an airport's health factor.

In a piece called "America's Healthiest Airports," the magazine selected the America's top ten -- and the links I have used are to the magazine's evaluations and descriptions, not to the airports' own websites:

1. Phoenix Sky Harbor
2. Baltimore Washington International Airport
3. O'Hare International (Chicago)
4. Detroit Metropolitan
5. Denver International (right)
6. Washington National
7. Dallas/Fort Worth International
8. Logan International (Boston)
9. Portland International (Oregon)
10. Philadelphia International

Of course, living in Colorado, I am more familiar with DIA than any other airport. Recently opened in the main terminal is the Vertical Mile Market (right), bright and inviting and offering some not-so-great-for-you snack foods but also far more healthy options than the newsstands. You'd never know from the food-court lines at various fast-fooderies that DIA does have healthy options, but they do exist.

The B Gates (aka, Concourse B), offer the most healthy options (be sure to choose wisely) including Cantina Grill Express, Itza Wrap! Itza Bowl!, Jamba Juice, Que Bueno! Mexican Grille, TCBY Yogurt, and Wolfgang Puck Express. TCBY also is in the main terminal and at the C Gates. For those who like to walk, the B Gates are also along DIA's longest concourse, so once through security, passengers can take a nice long hike there. Another walking opportunity is to use the skybridge rather than the train to reach the A Gates and to walk from the main terminal to A instead of using the moving walkways to approach security.

To Honor or Not to Honor "Error Fares"

Airlines don't always honor ultra-low fares that they posted by mistake

"The Middle Seat," an always-informative Wall Street Journal column on air travel, tackles an interesting topic today. In "When Airline Fares Are Too Good to Be True," columnist Scott McCartney discusses situations that occur when someone at the airline makes makes a mistake in fare quotes and passengers snap up the bargain deals. Some airlines live with their employees' errors, while others backpedal and don't honor their unintended offers.

McCartney cited to recent dramatic examples of backpedal ing carriers. "British Airways PLC canceled 1,200 reservations for 2,200 passengers from the U.S. to India last fall when it mistakenly offered tickets for $40 on October 2." The airline claimed that passengers should known have better and gave them an apology $300 vouchers for a trip from the US to India that had a short booking deadline. Some passengers have sued, but so far, the courts have reportedly sided with the airline. I think "Super Nanny" should have been enlisted to send BA to the "naughty chair."

Another example: "In January, American offered first-class tickets from the U.S. to Australia for the coach price of $1,100 round-trip. First-class round-trip tickets actually cost as much as $20,000. American refused to honor the tickets and offered passengers $200 vouchers as compensation."

The parent corporations of United, Continental., Southwest, JetBlue and Singapore Airlines told McCartney that "their policy is to not cancel tickets even when a mistake is discovered, no matter how large the error."

True TSA Tale: Read It to Believe It

Does TSA stand for Transportation Security Agency - or for Totally Screwed "Ap"?

A few weeks ago, I posted my experience of having a mostly used-up tube of sunscreen confiscated because a Transportation Security Agency screener said that a 100-milliliter container is the limit for a carry-on item, not the 110 ML I had with me -- even though there was nowhere near 110 ML of lotion in it. That was only irritating. My more recent experience was amusing, astonishing or horrifying, depending on how you view the entire process of airport security.

Early on Thursday afternoon, I checked in at the Great Lakes Aviation counter at Denver International Airport for a flight to Telluride. I didn't really look at my boarding pass, and neither, evidently, did the TSA agent charged with comparing boarding passes with picture IDs. Because of heavy regional snow, I was eventually switched from the cancelled Telluride flight to one going to Cortez. In the process of changing flights, one of the several podium agents who looked at my original boarding pass finally noticed something odd and asked, "Who is Christopher Weber?" I had no idea who he was other than being an alphabetic neighbor, coincidentally with the same initials. Mostly, I was astonished that I had passed TSA's so-called security procedures and a couple of gate agents before anyone noticed that I could not possibly be Christopher Weber.

After that DIA underperformance, the screeners at Telluride Regional Airport (TEX, right), from which I flew yesterday, made up for it with excessive zeal. At this time of year, the only commercial service is Great Lakes' two daily flights using 19-passenger Beech 1800 aircraft. Four (4) TSA screeners were on duty for a daily passenger count that cannot possibly exceed 38. Of the 11 or 12 of us on my flight, three of us were "selected" for extra screening. Our checked bags were opened and riffled through, as were our carry-ons. Many items removed from our luggage were swabbed for explosives or some other lethal substance. We were all patted down. I guess that quartet had to justify their underworked existence at TEX at this time of year.

After we were all cleared and were waiting to board the Denver-bound flight, I started telling someone about the Christopher Weber mix-up at DIA. A fellow sitting within earshot said, "Was that on Thursday? I'm Christopher Weber, and when I got to the airport, Great Lakes told me that I had already checked in."

British Airways Cabin Crew Strike, Cont.

Airline withdraws flight benefits from stiking cabin crews

Some people take airline jobs because they can bid hours and try to schedule their work around the rest of their lives, but I'll wager that most do so for the travel benefits. So it seems especially harsh that British Airways chose to punish cabin crews who went on strike to protect their working conditions and, I think, their very jobs. Click here for my earlier post and here for the Unite union's website including a backgrounder that they refer to as "The Truth About the BA Dispute," and BA's online outreach message to passengers. The latter, of course, will go away from the website when the issue is resolved. The union is also issuing Twitter updates. The Guardian, the well-respected newspaper that used to be called the Manchester Guardian and is anchored in a historic manufacturing, mercantile and shipping city and is traditionally sympathetic to unions, is currently conducting a poll about whether pulling flight benefits was too harsh. When I clicked on it, more than one-third of the respondents believed that it is.

I am in North America, far from the strike action and perhaps in no position to judge, but the union points out that cabin crew members are the airline's major point of contact between the company and the passengers, and from these thousands of miles, it seems that BA's choice of punitive measures might, in the end, be counterproductive.

World's Best Airports

Airports trade organization releases list

The Airports International Council's list of the five best airports on the planet and also the five best in six regions is again enlightening. Every one of the world's top five is in Asia. Some would say that's because the demands of international air travel developed in Asia later than in Europe or North America. Some would say it's because Asian governments are more willing to make major investments in transportation infrastructure, perhaps to show how progressive they are -- or perhaps because they want to serve the traveling public.

For the fifth year in a row, Soeul's Incheon International Airport was named the world's best airport, followed by four others in Asia. The honor came 2009 Airport Service Quality survey, conducted by the Airports International Council's monthly surveys conducted at 118 airports in 45 countries. Four of the top five African airports are in South Africa and one way up in the north, in Egypt, two of Europe's top five are on islands (Malta and Iceland) and the Asia list echoes the world list. But Mexico City as the second-best in Latin America? The international end of the concourse is pretty spiffy (I was there less than a year ago), but the domestic area is pretty badly designed, ill signed and crowded. Below is the ACI's list.

BEST AIRPORTS WORLDWIDE

1. Incheon (ICN) (right)
2. Singapore (SIN)
3. Hong Kong (HKG)
4. Beijing (PEK)
5. Hyderabad (HYD)

BEST AIRPORT BY REGION

Africa

1. George (GRJ)
2. Johannesburg (JNB)
3. Cairo (CAI)
4 Port Elizabeth (PLZ)
5 Durban (DUR)

Asia-Pacific

1. Incheon (ICN)
2. Singapore (SIN)
3. Hong Kong (HKG)
4. Beijing (PEK)
5. Hyderabad (HYD)

Europe

1. Keflavik (KEF)
2. Zurich (ZRH)
3. Porto (OPO)
4. Malta (MLA)
5. Southampton (SOU)

Latin America & Caribbean

1. Cancun (CUN)
2. Guayaquil (GYE)
3. Barbados(BGI)
4. Mexico City (MEX)
5. Montego Bay (MBJ)

Middle East

1. Tel Aviv (TLV)
2. Dubai (DXB)
3. Abu Dhabi (AUH)
4. Doha (DOH)
5. Muscat (MCT)

North America

1. Austin (AUS)
2. Halifax (YHZ)
3. Ottawa (YOW)
4. Jacksonville (JAX)
5. Portland (PWM)

Thoughts, anyone?

Season's First Turns in Telluride

My 2008-09 ski season has begun in brilliant sunshine and on well-groomed snow

Telluride is one of my favorite places in Colorado -- not just one of my favorite places to ski but one of my favorite places. Period. The downtown, a National Historic District, is an immaculately preserved jewel. Boutiques, restaurants, nightspots and way too many real estate office line the broad main drag of what was once a gritty mining town, but the beauty of the box canyon still eclipses the glitter of the businesses. The lifts serving the original ski terrain were strung right on the outskirts of town. Further ski terrain expansion began in a stellar glacier-carved basin where the new resort development called Mountain Village has taken shape.

A handful of runs above Mountain Village are currently open -- a very limited percentage of Telluride's expansive 2,000 acres of terrain. I don't usually travel this far to ski for a weekend, but I am happy to be here -- really happy. I know that resorts closer to Denver/Boulder have more terrain open and a deeper base, but I also know that weekend traffic along I-70 is horrific as snow-starved Coloradans head for the high country -- and back again.

This morning, I made my first turns of the 2008-09 ski season on Telluride's immaculately groomed runs under the big blue dome of the Colorado sky. The resort is making snow like crazy, and a storm is forecast early this coming week. During the first part of any winter, a few perfect runs that invite setting skis on snow are all I ask for. Later, I'll be looking for morem terrain -- and Telluride will soon offer it.

British Airways Cabin Crew Stages Three-Day Strike

If you're flying British Airways in the next couple of days, be prepared for chaos, and even if you're flying another carrier on BA-served routes or airport, it might not be much better.So far, the airline has reportedly canceled more than 1,000 flights out of the nearly 2,000 scheduled during the strike period that began earlier today. There is also a possibility of an additional four-day strike beginning on March 27. This might mean a protracted period of flight cancellations, delays and crowded terminals and aircraft that could extend to the busy pre-Easter travel time.

The union workers are striking against cost-cutting changes to working conditions that the union says result in a "second-tier workforce on poorer pay and conditions." BA plans to keep "at least 60 percent of passengers flying," with planes crewed by people who are not striking (whoever they might be) and also leasing, 22 crewed planes from as many as eight other European airlines.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the strike "a disaster," and not to get too much into British  politics here, members of the Conservative party believe that the Labour prime minister himself is a disaster. Meanwhile, the phrase "second-tier workforce" might be code for contract workers rather than BA employees. This has already happened in the US. I have checked in for international flights at New York's JFK at counters staffed by airline service contractors, and James Van Dellen, who blogs as Future Gringo, recently posted a report called "Airserv: Does My Shirt Say United?" on just how negatively contractors can impact on the travel experience. Bottom line, IMHO, is that every time airlines seek to cut costs, the passenger pays in one way or another, whether it's via add-on fees or the quality of traveling.