Airports open up to terminal tourists who want to hang out

Bloomberg

Chuck Hughey braves security lines at Pittsburgh International Airport at least once a week. Not to catch a flight, but to get an ice cream cone or cruise a few of the concourses.
Is he nuts? Not at all, he will tell you, just a doting grandfather. He and 3-year-old Cleo spend quality time there, riding the trams between terminals and gliding along the moving walkways.
“It’s so convenient, so safe and so secure,” Hughey, a 72-year-old retired school superintendent, said after a recent visit on what’s called a non-traveller pass. “She loves to look out the big picture window and have a bottle of milk she got from Dunkin’ Donuts and sit there and watch airplanes coming
and going and the baggage carriers loading up the planes. We have a great time.”
Hughey’s at the vanguard of a new phenomenon: terminal tourism. Programmes adopted or being considered by a number of airports allow people beyond security checkpoints so they can meet arriving relatives or just hang out. It’s a bit of a return to the days before the 9-11 terrorist attacks, when airport security was more relaxed and you didn’t need a ticket for a flight to get inside. The programes are taking root as airports expand options to fill passenger dwell time, as it’s called — those often mind-numbing hours between when people make it through security and when their flights take off. Now many airports feature live music and art exhibits. There
are spas, playgrounds and gourmet restaurants.
Pittsburgh was the first airport to open up to non-travelers, in 2017, and Tampa started doing so last month. Seattle-Tacoma is evaluating a pilot it tested earlier this year and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the nation’s busiest, may seek approval for a trial run. The idea is under consideration in Detroit and Austin.
The seed was planted in 2006, when the Transportation Security Administration allowed access to restaurants and shops for overnight guests at hotels connected to terminals in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Dallas-Fort Worth. Today, broadening post-security access is an option for any US airport, said Jenny Burke, a TSA spokeswoman.
Some view it as a potential money-maker; officials with the facilities in Atlanta and Detroit figure they might see additional revenue from parking and concessions. A survey of visitors during Seattle-Tacoma’s trial showed people stayed an average 2.5 hours — though they spent only an average $10.29.
At Pittsburgh International, the impetus was popular demand, said CEO Christina Cassotis. She was peppered whenever she appeared at public forums. “In the top five questions was always, ‘Why can’t we go back to the airport and see what’s going on out there?”’
Terminal tourists must have background checks ahead of time and go through the usual TSA security screenings. Each airport will need to continually evaluate security concerns at their location, and weigh those against the benefits of non-traveller access, said Richard Bloom, who teaches aviation security and global intelligence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Pittsburgh doesn’t limit number of passes, and between 50 and 150 people use them daily. In Tampa, 100 non-travellers are allowed in on Saturdays.