Alamo Accolades

Famous Texas landmarks earn huge international honor — first for state

The Alamo, mission, San Antonio, November 2012

The Alamo and four other San Antonio missions have been given the honor of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For the first time, Texas is home to an official World Heritage Site. On July 5, the San Antonio Missions — including the Alamo — were declared part of the elite UNESCO World Heritage Site list. This is the 23rd designation in the United States but a first for Texas.

The San Antonio Missions take their place alongside other great national treasures like the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall and the Grand Canyon. The missions, the largest concentration of Spanish colonial missions in North America, are the third designation in the country in the last 20 years.

"The United States has a powerful and valuable history that encompasses a wide range of peoples, creeds and experiences," said Crystal Nix-Hines, U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to UNESCO. "The San Antonio Missions represent an important element of our story, and a World Heritage designation allows them to be shared not only within the U.S. but also the wider global community."

In 2007, Susan Snow, archeologist for San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, began coordinating community efforts to secure the status.

"The San Antonio Missions are a tangible representation of everything required for a functioning Spanish colonial mission system, all within a short trek along the San Antonio River," she explained.

"These missions are a living example of the interchange of cultures bringing together the indigenous, Spanish, Mexican and other influences that form South Texas today. The resulting cross-cultural exchange is the very essence of the great melting pot of the United States."

As protected historic sites, the missions host millions of visitors for free each year. With their limestone facades and picturesque bell towers, the missions bring to life a bygone era. Tours allow visitors to walk the historic grounds and explore living quarters and churches, while listening to centuries-old stories from studied park rangers.

For San Antonio, the nation's seventh largest city, the impact of the new designation is significant. Tourism is one of the city's top five industries, providing one in eight jobs and more than $12 billion annually. By 2025, the World Heritage Site economic impact on San Antonio and Bexar County is expected to generate an additional $44 million to $105 million in economic activity, with more than 1,100 newly created jobs.

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Airline News

American Airlines launches new gate program to foil early boarders

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

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Fort Worth-based American Airlines has launched a new system to catch passengers who try to sneak ahead in line.

According to a release, the airline is deploying a program in which technology is used to deter passengers who try to board before their official boarding group has been called.

Passengers who try to board early will not only hear a beep when they scan their boarding pass, but a tattletale message will pop up on the scanner, alerting the American Airlines employee of the passenger's correct group.

The airline trialed this modern technology over the past month at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Tucson International Airport. It will now be deployed at more than 100 airports across the U.S.

If a customer boards before their assigned group is called, the new software will not accept the boarding pass and instead makes an audible sound to alert the gate agent and customer that the group has not yet been called. In these instances, the American team member will invite the customer to rejoin the line when their boarding group is called.

According to a story in the NY Post, airline employees have a name for these people: “gate lice."

A statement from American Airlines says that those passengers who are paying for early access should get their just desserts. People who are paying extra are mad when others get the same benefits.

"The new technology is designed to ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding with ease," it says.

Surely a factor is the way American Airlines' current boarding system has become an exercise in the haves vs. the have-nots, with nine levels of boarding groups, from elite status members and credit card holders all the way down to the Basic Economy nobodies. It's gotten worse since the pandemic, with extra charges applied to every element of flying, including a charge if you want to choose your own seat.

As an explanation of why people might do it, the NY Post cites a theory that travelers try to get ahead "out of a tendency of conformity and a sense of competition."

Public shaming is a powerful motivator, and Larry David fans would surely agree that line-cutters should always be called out — but in this case, there is an actual valid reason for trying to get a jump in line, and that can be summed up in two words: overhead bins.

Too many travelers place their luggage in overhead bins that are not located over their seats. Who has not seen the guy breezily stash his suitcase in whatever bin is closest? And this is an inequity that is not addressed by flight attendants, who admittedly have enough on their hands.

But the fact remains that if you get on the plane when your boarding group boards, the odds are slimmer that your designated overhead bin is going to have room for your suitcase.

If the airline is not going to enforce the overhead bin situation, then it's hardly fair to blame gate lice for worrying about where their suitcase is going to end up — or worse, whether they'll face the horror of having to get their bag checked at the last minute because some other passenger stole their overhead space.

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