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Fancy-Schmancy Shoeshines at JetBlue's Terminal 5
While you can expect a new airline terminal to have a thing for reminiscing over the chic days of burgeoning jet travel, Jetblue's Terminal 5 at JFK has stepped beyond retro cocktail lounges and barbershops to embrace a designer shoeshine stand.
Paying homage to the design of the original TWA Terminal 5, designed by Eero Saarinen, Jetblue's stand has taken the famous "Egg" chair design by another Scandinavian contemporary of Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, and transformed it into a shoeshine worthy of the history of the location. Operated by A Shine & Co. out of San Francisco, the stand employs a colorful cast of people who actually act as though buffing your loafers was the highlight of their day.
Because of New York's recent heavy winter weather and all of the resulting salt on the streets, we bet that A Shine & Co. is doing brisk business restoring the sheen to many shoes. This might no longer be the days of wingtips, but it is always nice to see someone attempting to make the best arrival appearance as possible. Now to rid the world of "travel sweatpants."
Related Stories:
· A Shine & Co. [Official Site]
· T5 at JFK coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Delay Dispatch / JetBlue / JFK / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / Snow Days / → All Tags
JetBlue's T5 At JFK Survives Its First Brush With Winter Weather
While Ellen Wernecke was dealing with the five stages of flight delays at LGA recently, our occasional correspondent JetSetCD was enjoying the new T5 at JFK, built by an airline that knows something about awful winter weather.
As New York City buttoned up on Friday for its first snowstorm of the season, I headed straight into the belly of the beast. Although I've been to JetBlue's new Terminal 5 at JFK twice before on trial runs, I'd yet to actually fly out of it under full operation. With strong winds and heavy snow forecast for the day, I decided to forget about the possibility of delay for my flight and instead focus on watching the new, innovative terminal stretch its legs.
Despite the flood of New Yorkers headed out of town on the Friday before Christmas, the wait at security was non-existent and I quickly found myself snuggling in with the WiFi warriors in the food court. When JetBlue described this concourse as inspired by Union Square in New York, they must've meant something more like Whole Foods; there is a deli-style buffet with an abundance of fresh salad choices, barrels of bags of apple chips versus potato chips, fresh fruit to cure your travel scurvy and the best looking donuts I've ever sunk my teeth into. (The perfect frosting alone was award-winning food porn.)
Tags: Airports / Architecture / JFK / Jetblue / Buildings / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / → All Tags
JetBlue Terminal 5 Opening Pushed Back!
Crisis at JFK! The new JetBlue terminal will not--repeat, will not--open on October 1!
While the carrier insists that construction is on schedule, a spokeswoman tells the Associated Press:
The operational opening was delayed to give [our] Marketplace vendors more time to complete necessary work.
Hey, we like fully operational wine-and-tapas bars as much as the next guy, but we're definitely not happy that we'll have to wait until October 22 to check 'em out.
Related Stories:
· JetBlue Delays Opening of Terminal [AP, via BW]
· Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Opening Party [Jaunted]
· There Will Be Live Blogging: JetBlue's T5 Grand Opening Already Underway [Jaunted]
· Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Trial Run [Jaunted]
Tags: Airports / Architecture / JFK / Jetblue / Buildings / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / TWA / David Neeleman / Dave Barger / Videos / → All Tags
Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Opening Party
Our ever-stylish correspondent JetSetCD was on-hand for JetBlue's ribbon cutting bash yesterday...
Yesterday's shindig out at JetBlue's new Terminal 5 was no boring, corporate ribbon-cutting, nossir it was not. Instead, the carrier threw a straight-up block party to celebrate more than just a new address; the festivities and congratulations all centered on JetBlue's employees, many of whom turned out to spend half the day cavorting in their future workplace.
Getting business out of the way with a packed-to-the-gills press conference at 2 pm, where JetBlue founder (and current Azul airline mogul) David Neeleman entered to an immediate standing ovation, the day slowly progressed into pure fun with a performance by Estelle and free booze.
Tags: Airports / Architecture / JFK / JetBlue / Buildings / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / TWA / Videos / → All Tags
First Video of JetBlue's Terminal 5 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
JetBlue's new Terminal 5 may not be open to the public yet, but there seem to be approximately 17 billion people on hand for the ribbon cutting today, as seen in this video starring CEO Dave Barger.
In the crowd are David Neeleman (just in from Brazil?), New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and The Rockettes.
Also on view at the new terminal are some fancy seats from Lufthansa, which owns 19 percent of JetBlue. And our spy on the scene says they're serving "T5-tinis," which sounds nice!
Related Stories:
· T5 Live Blog [Official Site]
· There Will Be Live Blogging: JetBlue's T5 Grand Opening Already Underway [Jaunted]
Tags: Airports / Architecture / JFK / JetBlue / Buildings / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / TWA / → All Tags
There Will Be Live Blogging: JetBlue's T5 Grand Opening Already Underway
JetBlue is hosting a day-long "ceremonial opening" of its new T5 at JFK today, but the media--including our correspondent--aren't supposed to show up until about 2 pm.
But if you have to know what's happening at T5 right this second, you can tune into JetBlue's official blog about the terminal, which already has a few of posts from corporate PR and marketing people hyping the day's festivities.
Later today, the carrier promises:
Ribbon cutting with world-famous New York City dance troupe [and a] performance by [a] popular singer with one of this summer's Top 10 hits.
One thing to remember: T5 doesn't actually open to passengers until October 1.
Related Stories:
· T508 Live Blog [Official Site, via]
· Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Trial Run [Jaunted]
· T5 at JFK coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Airports / Architecture / JFK / JetBlue / Buildings / T5 at JFK / Eero Saarinen / TWA / → All Tags
Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Trial Run
It was a beautiful day for a fake flight: The sky was blue, the sun was bright and the Airtrain was quickly depositing 1,000 people onto JetBlue's new turf behind Eero Saarinen's iconic TWA Terminal at JFK.
Saturday's event, the JetBlue T5 Trial Run, involved groups of New York-area TrueBlue members (us), JetBlue family and press who would put the terminal through the paces without actually flying anyone anywhere.
Last week when we received the email confirming our place in Group A--scheduled to start the first run-through at 9 am--our stomach sank at the thought of having to be out on the A train to JFK in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. But to the airport we went!
Tags: Architecture / Architecture Travel / Eero Saarinen / Eero-Saarinen-Travel-Map / Embassies / → All Tags
Eero Saarinen Travel: Let's Go See the Queen!
There's a lot of great Eero Saarinen action right here in the United States, but he didn't limit his works to the states. One example of his adventures overseas is the Embassy of the United States in London that sits in Grosvenor Square. Finished in 1960, it's one of the largest American diplomatic offices in the world.
The building consists of nine stories, with three of them below ground. The facility is topped with a gilded aluminum Bald Eagle with a wingspan of more than 35 feet. Besides the US embassy in Japan, the London post is the only one situated on land not owned by the American government. Let's just hope the United Kingdom doesn't get any ideas.
Besides handing out visas and other paperwork, the building is traditionally used as the setting for announcing any agreements between the UK and US. Maybe you'll even get to visit on your next trip to London after spending a little too much time at the pub and getting belligerent in the streets!
Related Stories:
· Embassy of the US: London [Official Site]
· Eero Saarinen Travel Map [Jaunted]
· Architecture Travel [Jaunted]
[Photo: Wikimedia]
Tags: Airports / JFK / Architecture / Buildings / JetBlue / T5 at JFK / Architecture Travel / Eero Saarinen / Airport Dining / → All Tags
T5 at JFK: Heaps of Restaurants, Shopping for Future JetBlue Hostages
Last we heard from JetBlue, there wasn't much new happening at the still-under-contruction T5 at JFK. But The New York Times dug up some juicy new details on the innovative new dining and shopping options coming to the airport's newest addition this fall.
The 26-gate terminal will have dining bars, pictured, scattered throughout, with plug ins for your electronics and touch-screen ordering a la Virgin America's RED. Tap in an order, and it's delivered to you a few minutes later. In the heart of T5, a 10,000-square-foot food court will have a Whole Foods-style buffet of hot and cold items, perfect for grabbing on the run.
Fancier options include a "rustic Italian trattoria," a sushi spot, a brasserie, a tapas joint and a Mexican place, all of which count chefs from popular NYC restaurants as consultants.
On the retail side, be on the lookout for a Muji outpost to compliment two other locations in New York. There will also be a an outlet for WFAN, a local sports radio station, and 17 other shops.
Related Stories:
· Jet Blue Banks on Travelers' Worldly Appetites [NYT]
· At Kennedy, Shopping and Dining [NYT]
· T5 at JFK coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Architecture / Architecture Travel / Eero Saarinen / Eero-Saarinen-Travel-Map / → All Tags
Eero Saarinen Travel: Taking Care of Business
As you can probably tell, we just can't get enough of Eero Saarinen over here. As we continue to lust over the Finnish-American architect, we travel to Rochester, Minnesota to see the facility he created for one of America's most well-known companies. Construction of IBM Rochester began in 1956 and when first completed, it created 576,000 square feet of work space for the company.
The building has grown over the years and now represents the largest IBM facility in the world under one roof. The Rochester staff has received over 2,700 US patents for product innovation over the years.
Tags: Airports / JFK / Architecture / Buildings / JetBlue / T5 at JFK / Architecture Travel / Eero Saarinen / → All Tags
Eero Saarinen Travel: Checking in on JFK
Speaking of JFK, with our heavy focus last week on architect Eero Saarinen, what better time is there to check in on progress at the airport's new Terminal 5? We went straight to the source, asking JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin what was up.
Here's what he said:
T5 is progressing very nicely. We're scheduled for a late September operational start date. The exact date is still being finalized. The project is still on budget, and a September opening will put us almost six months ahead of schedule.
Don't worry: We'll be trying our best to get another sneak preview before T5 finally opens to fliers this fall.
Related Stories:
· JetBlue Travel: Inside the New Terminal 5 [Jaunted]
· Architecture Travel: Saarinen's T5 to Open This Fall [Jaunted]
· Eero Saarinen Travel Map [Jaunted]
Tags: Architecture / Architecture Travel / Eero Saarinen / Eero-Saarinen-Travel-Map / → All Tags
Eero Saarinen Travel: Back to School Edition
If you've been following this week's coverage of Eero Saarinen, then today's focus should be instantly recognizable. Constructed between 1953 and 1955, the Kresge Auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology displays many of the themes that we've seen in his works so far. The building was named in honor of S. S. Kresge, founder of the company that would later become K-Mart. Although not a graduate of MIT, he apparently had some pretty strong cash reserves.
