Florida flights delayed due to — catfish on runway.

by Grant Martin on

As Florida gets pounded by rain for the third day straight, the 20 + inches of rain dropped on the sunshine state is starting to starting to have an effect on airport operations.

Flooding and generally soaked conditions near the Melbourne International Airport resulted in a slew of confused animals wandering through the grounds thinking that fields were wetland — two gopher tortoises, four walking catfish, an alligator and a blue indigo snake so far, to be exact.

While doing routine checks at the airport, inspectors discovered the creatures and were forced to delay at least one Delta Airlines inbound aircraft as they cleared the tarmac. According to the airport’s executive director, “The tortoises were moved to the airport’s designated gopher tortoise relocation area [while] the walking catfish and snake were tossed back into a nearby pond. The gator wanted no part of the action and scampered back into a drainage ditch”

Ah, the Gopher Tortoise Relocation Area. Many a heady night have I spent in the GTRA (as we regulars call it), drunk, flipping over Tortoises and playing red rover with the locals. I miss the days of unbridled tortise racing, binge drinking and catfish baseball at the Melbourne Airport — now all we have left is a small relocation area, a crate full of old photos and a vial full of unicorn tears to remember the past.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Guns Still Not Allowed in Atlanta Airport

by Josh Lew on

A gun-rights organization called GeorgiaCarry has lost their suit against Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. A recently passed state law allows licensed gun owners to carry their weapons on public transportation. The group went into court claiming that airports are “public transportation” areas as defined in the law.

GeorgiaCarry did not want the right to carry guns on airplanes. They simply wanted to be able to carry in non-secure parts of the airport like parking lots, baggage claim areas, and any other space that can be accessed without passing through airport security checkpoints.

Georgia Republican Governor Sonny Perdue claimed that his wife might want to pack heat as she walked from the parking lot to the terminal. (It was not clear why she would need to walk from the parking lot instead of being dropped off curbside in the governor’s limo).

Fortunately, there is no need to don your Kevlar vest if you are flying into or out of Hartsfield-Jackson. A district judge shot down GeorgiaCarry’s case, saying that allowing firearms inside airport grounds would be a significant risk to public safety.

Some state politicians and gun-rights groups vow to continue to press forward.

Galley Gossip: There’s more to Miami than La Carreta

by Heather Poole on

“There’s more to Miami than La Carreta,” said the well dressed passenger seated in 9D, the seat directly in front of my jump seat, as we slowly climbed to our cruising altitude.

“Oh I don’t know about that!” I laughed, as I loosened my seat belt so I could lean into the aisle and see why the woman three rows back kept waving her hands at me.

“The seat belt sign is on,” I told the woman as I pointed to the ceiling, at the illuminated seat belt sign, after she had asked if she could go to the restroom. “I’ll let you know when it’s safe to get up.”

NOTE: If the flight attendant is still sitting in the jump seat, you should certainly be seated in your seat. It’s not safe to get up yet.

The passenger wearing the nice suit seated directly in front of me just shook his head. Then he looked at the handsome guy with the longish hair from Chile sitting beside him and said, “tell Heather there’s more to Miami than La Carreta!”

The Chilean just smiled at me sweetly, so I smiled back. I don’t think he even knew what we were talking about. But the father and son team from the Dominican Republic wearing matching New York Yankee ball caps across the aisle from the Chilean knew exactly what the stylish one and I were talking about, because in unison they cried, “there’s more to Miami!”

Now this conversation began right after the passenger, the well dressed one, had asked “Do you fly to Miami often?”

“No. Not really,” I said. “Not if I can help it. I can’t even remember the last time I had a layover in Miami.” Then I went on to explain why I’m not a fan of the New York – Miami trips, which had more to do with the Miami International Airport than Miami itself.

“I think you need to give Miami another shot. It’s a fantastic city!” he interrupted.

I’m sure it is. But how would I know? Long gone are the days when I can actually do something on my layover other than shower, eat, and sleep. You see my Miami is not his Miami – the sexy exciting international Miami. Oh no. My Miami is a four hour sit at the airport between flights. My Miami is wearing a navy blue polyester dress and sweating my you know what off as my hair begins to frizz because of the heat and humidity inside the airport terminal. My Miami is swarms of passengers carrying too much heavy luggage wrapped in plastic. My Miami is a plane full of scantily dressed passengers who get angry as soon as they realize we don’t have blankets on board. My Miami originates from New York. Enough said?

I explained this to the well dressed passenger after the flight attendant working in first class made the announcement that it was safe to use electronic devices. Of course the woman three rows back who had waved her hands at me earlier began waving the hands again.

“Not yet. Soon,” I told her as I pointed to the seat belt sign again.

The woman began to crawl over her seatmate anyway.

I shook my head and yanked on my own harness straps for emphasis. “I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

She sat back down.

Turning my attention back to the well dressed one, I added that even though the New York – Miami route isn’t my favorite trip, I do get excited, probably a little too excited, about one thing – La Caretta.

La Caretta is a popular Cuban restaurant located in concourse D outside of security. Apparently, according to the well dressed one, La Carreta has several locations in the city of Miami, but, as you know, I only have time to go to the one located at the airport. Trust me, it’s worth leaving the secured area for the food at La Caretta, no matter how long the lines.

White rice and black beans with a sprinkling of onions and cilantro and a side of beef picadillo and plantains, that’s what I order each and every time I pass through town. The best part about La Carreta, besides the good food, are the reasonable prices. The large portions aren’t bad, either. Don’t you know I can eat it all – it’s that good!

Of course, after La Carreta it’s off to Versailles for a cafe con leche.

La Carreta is as close to the city of Miami as I get these days. And I imagine it will be a very long time before flight crews see long layovers again. So when someone tells me there’s more to Miami than La Carreta, I am forced to disagree. For me, and other flight attendants, La Carreta is the light at the end of the tunnel, especially when you’re working the New York – Miami route.

WestJet Offers a Blast from the Past

by Josh Lew on

Passengers on Canada’s low cost carrier WestJet might be in for a bit of a surprise if they are traveling to Prince George in northern British Columbia. During September, the airline will not be relying on their fleet of Boeing 737s to make the trip. Instead, passengers will find themselves boarding one of two Bombardier Dash-8 turboprop planes that have been leased by the airline.

WestJet’s fleet is made up of 737s. So why the change?

In the days of airline budget cuts, you might be surprised to know that the turboprop flights are not the beginning of a new cost-cutting strategy.

Construction on the main runway at Prince George’s airport will necessitate the use of a shorter runway, which is not long enough to accommodate the Boeing 737. The airline chose to continue service with the prop planes rather than taking Prince George out of the picture for a month. The Dash-8 will be able to safely land on the shorter runway.

Flights to Prince George might take a little longer during the month of September, but passengers will be able to use prop plane experience as a conversation starter at happy hour.

JetBlue gives new terminal at JFK a dry run

by Grant Martin on

JetBlue‘s new terminal at JFK opens up on October first, and the airline is making sure to run it’s operations through the gauntlet before going live. We all remember what happened in Heathrow’s T5 earlier this year when they didn’t test their operations thoroughly enough: thousands of passengers and their luggage were separated and stranded, resulting in unruly passengers, thousands of complaints and an embarrased British Airports Authority.

To help simulate life in the fully operational T5, the New York City based airline has invited passengers to take the terminal on a dry run on August 23rd. That morning, over a thousand True Blue frequent flyers will converge on the terminal in a mock booking. Upon arriving at the airport they’ll be divided into groups and instructed on their roles — for example, four random people may be put together, given “luggage” and assigned an “itinerary” heading to Las Vegas.

Passengers will then go about as normal, checking in at the kiosks, sending their luggage through the system, going through the active TSA checkpoint and going as far as the gate before the simulation ends. Then, they’ll do it in reverse as if just arriving from their destination.

The trial is meant to test the opertion of the entire integrated teminal. As JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin mentioned earlier to Gadling today, each of the systems have been tested independently, but the true trial will be under operating conditions with real passengers — which is what they want to create on August 23rd.

For their time, passengers will be awarded with JetBlue branded goodie bags, be fed and several may even win a flight or two on the airline. And they get to see the innards of the new T5, the long awaited oasis in JFK mayhem.

Unfortunately, the event has already booked and overbooked its capacity, so if you haven’t already responded to your invite (or didn’t get one), you may be out of luck. Keep an eye on Gadling and we’ll try to get some good photos and reports of T5 during the event.