All posts by Tom

Tom is the Founder and Chief Blogger of LateDeparture.com. He is a very keen traveller and (obviously) loves to explore airports around the globe. He also enjoys feedback on his posts, so don't be shy and write a comment!

This week: Tel Aviv Airport in firing line, Houston’s problem & more

Well, well, we’re running late again and to make matters worse, we’re very time poor this week. Yes, we know, it’s an awful excuse but it’s true. Nevertheless, we did want you to know what’s been going on this week in the world of airports, so here’ a little list and some short comments from our Chief Editor Tom. It’s a new format, but hey, who said you wouldn’t embrace change, right?

  • Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) came into the firing range this week – literally. The airport is located 50 miles north of Gaza, within range of rockets being fired by the militant group Hamas. After a rocket landed in the area, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told all U.S. airlines that flights to the airport are prohibited. Europe’s airlines soon followed suit, but lifted the ban later in the week as the BBC reported.

 

 

  • London’s Gatwick airport (LGW) got into some trouble this week after angry passengers complain about long baggage delays. According to passenger tweets reported by the BBC, passengers waited up to 4 hours for their luggage to appear. The airport told the news outlet that resourcing issues at the handling company were to blame.

 

  • Less serious yet equally interesting news came from a PSFK article claiming Alaska Airlines let travellers print pancakes in their lounges. Fresh pancakes, who doesn’t like that?

That’s it for our quick update – you can always read our up-to-date news on our Twitter page. Safe travels!

Photo Credits:
Ben Gurion International Airport aerial view” by My another account (talk) – Own work (Original text: “I (My another account (talk)) created this work entirely by myself.”). Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This week: Grief in Amsterdam & Kuala Lumpur after MH17 tragedy & more

It’s been a terrible week for civil aviation with the shot down Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam. Here’s our overview of all our topics:

Continue reading This week: Grief in Amsterdam & Kuala Lumpur after MH17 tragedy & more

This week: More security concerns, Star Wars at Frankfurt & more

This was one of those weeks where one topic dominated. Nevertheless we did find some other interesting and even amusing airport news aside from the big one – here’s the overview:

Continue reading This week: More security concerns, Star Wars at Frankfurt & more

This week: Thightened security for U.S. bound flights, Washington airport to be renamed?

We’ve had another week of airport news coming our way. This week there was one very dominant topic overshadowing everything else – the terror threats with the corresponding tightening of airport security across Europe, Africa and the Middle East that is. Here are all of our topics this week:

Continue reading This week: Thightened security for U.S. bound flights, Washington airport to be renamed?

Shanghai Pudong International Terminal 2 – not quite Hong Kong

If you haven’t been to mainland China, arriving at any Chinese airport is quite exciting as it can feel a bit like the forbidden, foreign land. At least it did for us when we visited. But if you’ve traveled through a large number of airports like we did, you may find something you expected to be fairly exotic, is actually pretty “normal”. This airport terminal could certainly be almost anywhere in the world. One well known airport comes to mind quite strongly though.

Continue reading Shanghai Pudong International Terminal 2 – not quite Hong Kong

This week: Europe’s flight delays, VietJet lands at wrong airport & more

This one has been a rather busy week with lots of airport delay news flowing into our news desk . Fortunately most of them were rather minor on the “delay gravity” scale. Here are our topics:

Continue reading This week: Europe’s flight delays, VietJet lands at wrong airport & more

This week: Fire alarm to catch flight, Singapore’s intelligent airport system

It’s been a rather quiet week this one, but nonetheless we summarize the week with the following three airport stories:

Continue reading This week: Fire alarm to catch flight, Singapore’s intelligent airport system

This week: Karachi airport under attack, Pandas in Hong Kong & music in Vegas

It’s been another mixed week for airport related news. We found everything from a self-made video at Las Vegas Airport to terror attacks at Pakistan’s main airport:

Continue reading This week: Karachi airport under attack, Pandas in Hong Kong & music in Vegas

This week: Bad week for Ryanair in Rome, when to get to the airport & more

More interesting airport related stories reached us from across the world this week. Here’s what we found:

Continue reading This week: Bad week for Ryanair in Rome, when to get to the airport & more

This week: Volcano disrupts Australian flights, shooting in Cape Town & more

It’s been a rather uneventful airport week. And that’s probably a good thing as it means most airports would have run normally and travellers wouldn’t have had to endure lengthy delays. However, some stories about disruptions and disturbances have reached us regardless:

Continue reading This week: Volcano disrupts Australian flights, shooting in Cape Town & more