Word: airports
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...what can they expect? It's hard to say, since the fees vary from airline to airline and are changing almost weekly. TIME.com has done a survey to see who is charging for what. With the caution that things could change even before your next trip to the airport, here's a run-down of the current status of passenger fees on nine major carriers, ranked from the friendliest to the stingiest...
...airline terminals built after the Sept. 11 attacks, which is apparent the minute you enter through the revolving doors of the sunny, terrazzo-floored hall: the centerpiece here is the 20 glass-framed security gates, which span 340 ft. and comprise the largest security area of any U.S. airport. The terminal's 40 check-in desks and 100 self-service ticketing kiosks have been arranged on either side of security - many passengers arrive at the airport having already checked into their flights and printed their boarding passes at home. Hooper says the terminal's space is clean and spare enough...
...well-organized security area also speeds passengers along - JetBlue estimates that 20 million travelers, or 30% of Kennedy Airport's total traffic, will pass through the terminal every year - with special family gates that have wider lanes to accommodate parents traveling with small children. Just on the other side of the security gates, in front of a luminescent blue wall, architects have thoughtfully installed a long-overdue innovation: a 225-foot bench, where passengers can reassemble their carry-ons and slip back into their stilettos...
...main concourse is what Hooper considers his terminal's most beguiling feature. Here, he has arranged brightly colored Moroso lounge chairs in front of the plate glass windows that overlook Kennedy Airport's main runways. Hooper calls it his "big-screen TV," and invites travelers to settle in and watch the mesmerizing take-off and landing of more than 1,000 aircraft a day. Fittingly, it is a simple glass window, and not the terminal's dizzying array of high-tech accoutrements, that reconnects the traveler to the bygone glamour of flying...
Even when we landed in Beijing, no one at the airport seemed to pay much attention to the Thai weightlifters. They should have stood out in the crowd, these well-muscled men and women hefting giant boxes of tom yum (hot and sour) instant noodles off the baggage carousel. (I guess we now know the secret ingredient to their success.) But as they pushed their luggage carts full of noodles past the airport crowds, no one came up for an autograph or asked them to pose for a picture. Dashiell, though, seemed to remember the man who retrieved his duckie...