We cannot wait to tell you all about this week’s airport and aviation related news as we found a selection of highly interesting items! You may find some of them surprising, some entertaining, some informative – in short, we have it all for you this week!
Let’s get right down to it: A controversy in Scotland made headlines this week when the Guardian wrote that Edinburgh airport (EDI) committed basic blunder by banning a Picasso nude. The article explained this headline by stating that the airport’s new owners Global Infrastructure Partners had reacted very hastily to a handful of complaints about a large advert for a new Edinburgh festivals exhibition featuring Picasso’s Nude Woman in a Red Armchair. Later the airport admitted its overreaction and executed a sharp u-turn on their decision to cover up and then ban the Picasso poster from their international arrivals lounge. Who complains about a Picasso poster in the first place we wonder?
We’re staying in the United Kingdom for the next story: Tesco has launched the UK’s first virtual supermarket at Gatwick airport (LGW) in the hope bored holidaymakers waiting for their flights will want to order a delivery for when they return, wrote the Guardian on Tuesday. According to the article the airport set up ten screens in the North terminal’s departure lounge with images of its most popular products. Customers can then scan the items with their phone to create a virtual shopping list and order a delivery for shortly after they arrive back home following their break. We think this is more of a PR stint than anything else, after all, Tesco already allows you to order goods online and get it delivered at a particular day and time in the UK – whether you sit at an airport and place your order or at home doesn’t really matter.
Moving on to two very different conveyor belt stories. Are you excited? Well, wait for it! The first story actually doesn’t involve a conveyor belt. But that’s the whole point of the story. Let us explain: in the United States American Airlines passengers are offered a new service where their arrival luggage is transported directly to their hotel. The Daily Mail – breaking the story – wrote that the amenity – available exclusively to AA fliers as of Aug. 7 – permits passengers to skip the dreaded baggage carousel and claim once their flight lands. The service is offered at 200 domestic US airports, as well as select foreign cities and costs from $29.95 per piece of luggage.
Now to the second conveyor belt story. Yes, this time it actually does involve a conveyor belt: The Telegraph reportedthat a drunk Norwegian tourist fell asleep on a baggage belt and travelled 160 feet before being identified by an X-ray scanner. The whole incident happened at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport (FCO) when a 36-year old Norwegian leapt across the counter after not finding anyone attending the desk, then falling into a deep sleep on the baggage belt with his bag beside him. Apparently as the belt then began to move the unsuspecting tourist reportedly travelled for 15 minutes through the secure baggage area in Terminal 3 before officials spotted his body curled up in a foetal position in an X-ray image on their monitors. Quite the story, don’t you thin? And the X-Ray picture will surely make for a nice memento (we strongly don’t recommend repeating this at your airport though!):
- The tourist was spotted in this X-ray image on the baggage belt Photo: La Repubblica (www.repubblica.it)
Our final story comes from Vietnam. As frequent traveller you can certainly relate to sometimes being bored during flights. Maybe you sometimes even think how great it would be if there was some live entertainment during the flight? Maybe a short play, a small concert… or a bikini show. Excuse me? That thought went a little far, don’t you think? Or did it? The Examiner reported this week that VietJet Air, a low-cost carrier in Vietnam, has been fined by the country’s Civil Aviation Administration for holding an unauthorized parade of bikini-clad beauty queens aloft. It’s true, there’s even a YouTube video to proof it:
The show lasted for 3 minutes and resulted in a fine of 20 million Vietnamese dong, the equivalent of about US$960 for staging the promotion on Friday, August 3, 2012. The airline protested the penalty.
That’s all we have for you this week – safe travels and watch out for those live entertainment shows!
[Featured image showing a montage of Google Image search for “Pablo Picasso’s Nude Woman in a red Armchair’ – composed through http://grant.robinson.name/montage-maker/]