What Else Are Airports Missing?
Over the past few years, airports have really changed. Most airports are now treating themselves as a destination–especially since flight delays appear to be happening more now than in the past. Yes airports have:
- High end shopping
- DVD players and movies to rent
- Barbershops
- 10 minute manicures
And plenty of upscale restaurants.
The average passenger spends 108 minutes at the airport–more than double the amount of time that people spent seven years ago.
CLEARLY THERE IS PLENTY OF MONEY TO BE MADE IN HAVING CAPTIVE CONSUMERS WITH NOWHERE TO GO.
Some airports just don’t have the room to add lots of new amenities. Airports like Logan International in Boston and LaGuardia in New York are very limited on what they can add because their concourses are very small.
- The question is what is next for the airports?
- What is missing?
Airports need our help. Since a number of airport planners are readers of this blog (not 100% sure if this is true) and perhaps may listen to us if we can come up with a good idea or two.
A few of my thoughts:
- Investment centers. Why hasn’t Fidelity or Merrill Lynch opened up small offices?
- Workout facilities in the airline clubs
- Florists. Isn’t the airport a perfect location for guys who have left home without celebrating their significant others’ birthday or anniversary?
What are your thoughts and ideas?
I look forward to reading your comments.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:52 am
What about someplace where you can get some comfortable and private sleep during long flight delays?
December 8th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Early November, TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 2,500 travelers from around the world. Top trends identified in the survey are concerns about germs, the growth of green tourism, and opposition to cell phone use on planes.
80% of respondents are concerned about germs, bacteria and viruses when traveling. Airplanes are the most germy, according to 28% of those polled. Respondents outside the U.S. were particularly worried about the risk of germs at restaurants, while Americans are far more wary of airplanes.
With these figures I can imagine that in the future we’ll see a whole lot of more facilities to cater to these needs: free or paid shower rooms, hotels per day or (bath) rooms per hour.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I agree - a place to get some sleep if you are there for a long time. How about better food? It is horrible what is considered healthy at the airports. Most places have the presentation of the food down but it is mostly bad for you or it totally lacks taste. And the options outside of security are better…hmmm something is wrong there.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:43 am
I’ve always wondered why at airport boarding gates they didn’t use a large-type ticker tape type announcement system that was standardized for the boarding process. To me this just makes sense. A large screen that you can glance at periodically that provides an update:
Boarding begins in XX minutes
Boarding has begun
Now boarding elites
Now boarding travelers with small children & special needs
Now boarding first class
Now boarding Group 1, Group 2, etc.
To me this makes more sense than the paging systems of varying quality and the competing pages from different flights and cross-over that results when TSA announcements are broadcast while boarding announcements are being made while the Airport News feed blasts from the overhead monitors.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Chris,
I couldn’t agree with you more. This would be a simple change and be very efficient - maybe someone is listening!
Thanks for your comments.
Merrill
December 13th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Pat and Kelly - Check out yotel.com: In-airport hotel rooms, rented in increments of 4 hours or more. Right now these clever micro-hotels are only available in London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, but maybe something similar will come to the U.S.
-L
December 14th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I just got back from Nashville and noticed in the DFW airport terminal D they have an area to recharge your electronics.
Don’t recall seeing this before - great idea!
Merrill