Airport Design Secrets You Don't Know The Purpose Of

Before arriving at the Airport you're probably not wondering why the airport is designed the way it is. Yet, everything you see in an airport has a purpose. Here’s our top 10 ways airports are designed the way they are, and the purpose of each design secret.

[chris]

Did you seriously say that they have chairs so that people don't sit on the floor?

[budgiebreder]

Carpet also has a 3rd use - sound dampening. You dont wanna sit and relax when you hear talking and footsteps. Carpet dampens these sounds as well.

[michaelreagan]

Even the floors have a purpose
Me: to walk on 😐

[modelflugzuegsamlung]

So, you're telling me that they make the writing on the signs big enough to read, so that people can read the signs?? mind = blown

[reecedylan]

3:41 thats a train's interior not a plane's

[Jfkt]

Airport management undergrad here! I can confirm this is true. Soon enough airports will become shopping centers, and you'll be surprised the amount of people who actually buy from the airport. Also subliminal signs/messages is the main concept when designing an airport.

[AndrewLim]

I always think about an airport’s design when i go to the airport!

[JPMJPM]

I do appreciate the new queue design. The line seems to move a lot quicker. My post office uses this, as well as several stores. And I do love airport art. It makes me feel like I've landed in a place of real interest.

[jtjvvlr]

Have you seen Stansted airport in the Uk? They make you walk past every shop and there are no short cuts. A bit like IKEA; though worse as at least there are short cuts in IKEA.

[thomasmann]

Very interesting and informative, but I still have one question: When switching planes, why is the gate you're leaving from as far away as humanly possible from the one you arrived at?

[Michael_in_Vt]

I've flown hundreds of times, not once have I been tempted to buy something from their shops. (except for a bottled water after going through security)

[mannyrosario]

"Excuse me sir you cannot have this cologne sir it's dangerous!" Passes gate. Cologne shop

[LazyMcCrazy]

Id say placing everyone in one big queue is also more stress reliving as youre constantly moving places in the queue and feel like progress is being made. If there are 10 check-in desks and 10 queues you move forward 1/10th of the speed you would if the queue was combined into one. Even though the queue is shorter, its more stressful to be stood still.

[werewolfbat]

About the moving walkways what i do is actually walk on them because it's faster

[corabritton]

I love airports. I enjoy seeing so many different people and I think about where they are going and where they came from. I feel comfortable at the airport. It’s always exciting, even if I don’t like to fly....

[racerx]

These days it seems like airports are really closer to being shopping malls and the flight part is just something they do on the side. Some airports like Sydney, as soon as you leave security you have to go through the duty free shop to get to your gate. That just seems to be pushing things a bit too far.

Also most big airports these days force you to spend money to get there. Often the public transport is expensive, taxis are charged a surcharge to go to the airport, parking is very expensive. Some airports like Brisbane domestic are even moving free temporary drop off and pickup areas as far from the terminal as is possible.

[ecclestonsangel]

Having worked in retail for many years, I've always been hip to the little gimmicks they use no matter where you are, to try to part you from your money. Also, as I'm handicapped and in a wheelchair, the skycap pushing me around will push me right past all the stores unless I specifically ask him to stop.(I rarely do.) I also select my flights frequently based on connection times. I don't like to sit around waiting for my connection; it's painful to my damaged spine. I usually fly with Delta. They have they best connecting times. The longest connecting time I've ever had with Delta for a domestic flight was two hours. That gave me enough time to be taken off my inbound flight wheeled to my connection, take care of my call of nature, grab a bite to eat and be tossed back on to my connection. Most of the time, my connections are just long enough for them to get me off my inbound flight, wheel me to my connection and toss me onto my outbound connection, and that suits me just fine. Delta is a great airline; they treat me like a princess.

[phils]

Another reason for those big open spaces - if there IS any explosive event (accidental or terrorist) the energy is dispersed over as large a volume as possible, so minimising structural damage (which could lead to collapse / fragmentation = more casualties).

[laconicus]

Has anybody else just reached a point in life where they just stop caring

[norbertkarpl]

Regarding the queues: They're absolutely stupid. In the civilized world (help me finding that one), instead of standing in a queue for hours, you just get a "nummerlapp", a little piece of paper showing your place in a virtual queue and you can sit down, relax and wait until your number is called. In the meantime, you can get a cup of coffee, to to the washrooms, etc...

Why standing in the queue physically? There's no reason to it!