SEATAC – Nw u cn uz txt msgs 2 chk flts @ c-tc!

In other words…now you can use text messages to check flights at Sea-Tac!

The new service, implemented by the Port of Seattle, allows travelers the convenience of checking their flight information on their cell phones.

It uses a simple text message request that returns updated flight information back to the user’s phone via text message and is compatible with most cell phone brands.

Users get real-time flight information including current departure or arrival times, gate numbers, and additional flight status updates.

Here’s how it works:

• Text “FlySEA” (359732)
• Text the name of your airline and flight number. For example: Alaska 1234
• Within seconds, you’ll receive the latest real-time information, including the flight number, departure or arrival time, gate number and flight status
• Cell phone updates are a one-time, passenger activated service
• In order to receive another update you must text the address again
• Your cell phone carrier’s standard rates apply

For those interested in receiving e-mail notifications for real-time flight status, customers must sign up for the free service on the Port of Seattle’s Web site.

SEATAC – Sea-Tac International Airport registered number 17 in overall airport satisfaction, according to a study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates.

The list was comprised of the 19 largest (30 million or more passengers per year) airports in the country.

Only San Francisco International Airport and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport ranked worse; Philadelphia International ranked No. 1.

Sea-Tac scored a 656 compared with Philadelphia International’s top score of 690 and Minneapolis/St. Paul’s bottom score of 647. The average of all 19 airports was 674, according to J.D. Power’s study.

Sea-Tac scored at the bottom of every category used in the study, including:

• Overall airport satisfaction
• Airport accessibility
• Check-in/baggage check
• Security check
• Terminal facilities
• Baggage claim
• Food and retail services

SOURCE:

• Puget Sound Business Journal

SEATAC – Autopsy results indicate that the imprisoned director of a Thai museum in Bangkok died of natural causes at the SeaTac Detention Center (first reported here).

According to a spokeswoman for the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Roxanna Brown passed away from “peritonitis,” an infection caused by a perforated gastric ulcer.

The 62-year-old Brown, a U.S. citizen, died around 2:30am Wednesday while being held for further investigation.

Brown was the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand. Investigators accused her of allowing collectors to overstate the value of art donated to several Southern California museums and claim tax deductions.

Authorities arrested Brown last week while she was in Seattle visiting relatives. She was charged with one count of wire fraud.

Maggie Ogden, a spokeswoman for the Federal Detention Center, said Brown was booked May 9.

She said all inmates coming into the facility are screened by medical staff, but she declined to speak specifically about Brown’s case.

Brown’s death is under investigation, she said.

SOURCE:

• Seattle P-I

…and we have proof in this photo of our patented SeaTac Blog Digital Weather Thingy®, taken at 2:34pm today:

The high at SeaTac Airport today was 90 degrees, and yes, we’re very proud that it was .3 degrees warmer at our place.

We hope everyone enjoyed this brief taste of summer. Tomorrow should be considerably cooler.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Spring…

SEATAC – A renowned Asian antiquities expert, indicted in Los Angeles in connection with a federal investigation into illegal trafficking of pilfered Southeast Asian art, has died in custody at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.

Roxanna Brown, the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand, was found dead around 2:30 a.m., said FDC spokeswoman Maggie Ogden.

Brown was arrested at her hotel last Friday as she prepared to have dinner with colleagues from the University of Washington, where she was scheduled to speak Saturday, according to news reports.

Ogden said the cause of Brown’s death is under investigation. Brown had complained of being ill after her arrest and her scheduled appearance before a U.S. magistrate Monday was postponed because she didn’t feel well. Emily Langlie, the spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle, said Brown was able to appear in court Tuesday and that her extradition to Los Angeles to answer the charges was pending.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, the Los Angeles prosecutor heading the illegal antiquities investigation, said Brown was “one of many targets” of the probe. He declined to say how her death would affect the investigation.

Brown, 62, who lived in Bangkok, was indicted on a single count of wire fraud for allegedly allowing her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms of items donated to museums. Those appraisals, according to court documents, were inflated so that the donors could claim fraudulent tax deductions.

SOURCE:

• The Seattle Times