Airport Check-in
Roger Yu, USA TODAY, 8/17/2009 (excerpted)
Ben Abramson and Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY, 8/24/2009 (excerpted)SEOUL: “Air city” planned around Seoul Incheon
Officials at Seoul's Incheon International are planning to transform airport grounds into an "air city," complete with apartments, shops, recreational facilities and businesses.
Incheon International, one of the world's largest airports, has enough land — about the size of Manhattan— to make the vision a reality. About 20,000 people, many of them airport employees, already live in the apartment buildings that sit on the land.
The airport recently broke ground on a fashion complex that will house designer studios, fashion show runways and a convention center. In partnership with MGM, the airport will also build a new amusement park.
With the airport overlooking the Yellow Sea, the project also envisions a marina for yacht and sailing enthusiasts. A medical center to capitalize on the rise in medical tourism is also planned. It will provide commonly sought treatments and services that don't require long hospitalization, such as Lasik operations, Asian herbal medicine and eyelid surgery (common among Asians who want their eyes to appear larger and rounder).
The facilities and the airport terminal will be connected by a new magnetic levitation train system. The air city project is scheduled for completion in 2020.
The airport has been selected "Best Airport Worldwide" by Airports Council International four years in a row largely because of its services and amenities for transfer passengers. They can use free showers, soak in hot tubs in a Korean-style spa or nap at an in-terminal hotel that rents rooms in six-hour blocks.
PITTSBURGH: “Business as usual” during G-20
It will be business as usual at Pittsburgh International Airport next month when the city hosts the G-20 economic summit Sept. 24-25.
Airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny says the airport decided to make the announcement because it had been receiving so many queries about whether the international event would affect the airport.
Jenny advises passengers flying on those dates to arrive early and expect operations to be similar to a peak travel day, such as the day before Thanksgiving.
National Business Travel Study: O'Hare Airport's Taxes Highest
Gary Stoller, USA TODAY, 8/23/2009
The recession has reduced travel, but it hasn't stopped an increase in the taxes travelers pay, a study out Monday from a business travel group shows.
The study, commissioned by the National Business Travel Association, reveals that travelers not only pay a local sales tax, but they also spend up to 172% more in taxes aimed at visitors each day they stay at a hotel, dine and rent a car.
Taxes targeting travel-related services can cost a Fortune 500 company $50 million to $60 million a year, says Fay Beauchine of NBTA, which represents about 4,200 corporate travel managers and suppliers.
"In a tough economic environment, many state and local governments have relied on the old habit of targeting travelers to make up revenue shortfalls," Beauchine says.
Taxes paid by travelers may include those of more than one municipality and can vary at an airport or a city center.
The study looked at taxes at the 50 U.S. airports with the most passengers. It found that a typical traveler pays $40.99 a day in taxes at Chicago's O'Hare airport — more than at any other airport studied. The $40.99 is made up of $26.14 in sales tax, plus $14.85 in taxes aimed at travelers.
A traveler at Boston's Logan airport typically pays just $12.75 a day in sales tax. But the traveler also pays $21.88 a day — or 172% more — in taxes aimed at visitors.
Travelers at the Portland, Ore., airport pay the least amount: $21.49. Portland's airport is the only one in the study with no sales tax.
To calculate how much tax a traveler pays daily, the study assumed a hotel room rate of $95.61, a $73.66 rental car rate and $85.80 for three meals. Those are average industry rates, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Economics Group, which did the study for the NBTA.
Based on those rates, the study also looked at non-airport taxes aimed at travelers. It again found that Chicago charges the highest taxes on travelers, followed by Seattle and Dallas. Portland charges the least, followed by Detroit and Honolulu.
"The pain of new and increased taxes is softened," Beauchine says, because the recession has dropped prices.
"But it's like a land mine," she adds. "When the economy bounces back, travelers will get a double whammy of exploding taxes on top of rising prices."
TAXED TRAVELERS
How much a typical traveler may pay daily in taxes, including sales tax and taxes that target visitors. Taxes include hotel, rental car and meal taxes.
Highest taxes
Airport
Taxes
Chicago O'Hare
$40.99
San Antonio
$37.20
Houston Bush
$36.83
Kansas City
$36.79
Phoenix
$35.97
Lowest taxes
Portland, Ore.
$21.49
Washington Reagan
$21.76
Detroit
$21.89
Honolulu
$21.95
Fort Lauderdale
$22.08
Source: National Business Travel Association