Homeless advocate Howard Sinclair says he’s helped and counseled at least 100 itinerant Londoners living at the terminal in the last three months, according to NPR. Heathrow officials are evicting people, as U.S. airport officials are forced to do. But the brass at London’s biggest airport have also hired specialists like Sinclair to help the homeless find homes and support.

Related on World Hum:
* Terminal Men Spend Almost Seven Weeks Living in Delhi Airport
* Tale of a Travel Martyr
* What a Difference Between the quality of the Items Handed out by Air France

Underhill, the author of The Call of the Mall, spoke with Malcolm Gladwell at the 2008 New Yorker Conference about, among other things, uncomfortable seating at gates, the quality of airport food and how rolling luggage influences the entire concept of airport design. 

Some airport bookstores may have taken steps toward becoming marketplaces of intellectual ideas, but, for the most part, “airport books”—think tomes by John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark and their ilk—still dominate in terminals around the U.S. Among the reasons why: the books’ covers. The Cleveland Plain Dealer examines why. “Publishers, especially the purveyors of what some derisively refer to as ‘airport books,’ actually want you to judge their books by the covers,” Karen Sandstrom writes. “They’ve arranged the jackets with that very plan in mind.”

Between flight cancellations, security fears, lost baggage, and—worst of all?—the spectre of cell phone use being permitted on planes, it’s clear that a lot of the fun has been sucked out of air travel. But there are signs of hope. While the airlines themselves flounder, authorities at some airports are stepping in, the New York Times recently reported. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, customer service is being ramped up, security procedures are being streamlined and more equipment is being added. Says one source: “The airport is saying, I need to be accountable to my customers regardless of what carrier they’re on.”

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The Wall Street Journal columnist writes: “America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask.” Funny beginning to an intriguing piece about the state of U.S. presidential politics as seen through the eyes of passengers at Gate 14, “small-town America, a mix, a group of people of all classes and races brought together and living in close proximity until the plane is called.”

This was inevitable. “When tourists ask for the bathroom in the Minneapolis airport lately, it’s usually not because they have to go,” reports the AP. “It’s because they want to see the stall made famous by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in a sex sting.” Karen Evans, information specialist at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, says it’s become a tourist attraction and that “People are taking pictures.”

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After a fun and invigorating four days at the Book Passage Travel Writers conference in Corte Madera, California—the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to a travel writers’ Woodstock, complete with karaoke—I headed to San Francisco International Airport yesterday for my first flight on the new Virgin America airlines. I’d been looking forward to the flight and the highly touted entertainment system, which on the gleaming white seatbacks looks like a giant iPod. The flight and entertainment were great. I’d happily fly Virgin America again. But the highlight wasn’t the plane. 

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And, just like us, Yoda hauls his own baggage. I’ve learned these bits of trivia from some posters now on display exclusively at Orlando International Airport—and seen at StarWars.com. 

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Regina Schrambling makes the link in a Los Angeles Times food-section story about the rise of local restaurants and cuisine at airports across the U.S. “Hard as it is to believe, the most dreaded places in the country—thanks to flight delays and security hassles—also happen to be sources of excellent local food,” she writes. “And now that travelers are spending more time waiting, the pickings are improving.”

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Two Bangladeshi men recently lived in the Delhi airport for 48 days after being turned away from Riyadh and having their passports held by Saudi Arabian authorities, according to a Reuters report. The duo reportedly “would often request the eatery staff to give them some work—not to earn money but to pass time.” It’s an epic stay, but no comparison to Merhan Nasseri‘s legendary residence at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Nasseri inspired the 2004 Spielberg-Hanks flick “The Terminal” and Alfred Merhan’s book “The Terminal Man.”

Related on World Hum:
* Adventures in ‘Airworld’
* Tale of a Travel Martyr
* Airports Get Their Pop Culture Close-Up
* What a Difference Between the Quality of the Items Handed Out by Air France and at the Shelters!

YouTube’s medford has put together a video composed entirely of cellphone footage taken at European airports and on airplanes. It really captures the spirit of Airworld. The Postal Service soundtrack sure helps, too.

Via Travelistic.

CNBC airs a two-hour documentary tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT chronicling a week behind-the-scenes at American Airlines. Peter Greenberg hosts, and he—and the program—are getting good reviews. “Some of his access is surprising,” writes The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Robert Philpot. “Greenberg doesn’t just canvass cockpits and executive suites, he climbs onboard with passengers to discuss their comfort level, how much they paid for tickets, or how they used their frequent-flier miles.” Philpot gives the program a B+. Florangela Davila of the Seattle Times writes that “it’s the little gems of information—the weight of a jetliner at departure versus arrival—that will stay with you. And tonight’s portrait might have you thinking twice before ranting the next time your flight is delayed.” CNBC has posted eight video clips from the show. No sign of them on YouTube yet.