Passing Time in Airports

As Thanksgiving approaches, the IT staff is looking forward to heading home for the holidays. But home for us—from Seattle to Long Island—involves trekking through crowded terminals, lugging baggage around the country, and, naturally, getting delayed (but hopefully not sleeping) in airports. So we were intrigued by a recent CNN article that highlighted airports offering travelers a number of different ways to pass the time before their flights.

If you find yourself stuck in Austin-Bergstrom, look out for local musicians playing on weekday afternoons. Vino Volo (Italian for "wine flight") has wine bars at Sea-Tac, Sacramento, JFK, BWI, and Dulles (with 7-10 new stores opening in 2008), so travelers can enjoy a glass before boarding their planes. Major U.S. airports like JFK feature XpresSpa, which Traveler's Senior Editor Sheila Buckmaster has personally tested:

Travelers headed for an international destination, especially if they are good campers and allow lots of time between airport arrival and wheels-up, find themselves with time galore. I've spent mine just walking around, people-watching, reading, cleaning out my wallet, and—now—having my nails done. When I saw the Xpress Spa "station" at JFK, with a great cross-section of humanity submitting to back massages, reflexology, and nail attention—all in plain sight of folks passing by—I thought, "Great. Didn't have time for a manicure before I left, but now, I have all the time in the world to get one and allow it to dry thoroughly."

So I signed up, fearing that I'd get a mediocre manicure. After all, practitioners here aren't in the business of building a loyal following. We are one-shots for them. "Next...!"

In the end, I had as good a manicure as I'd ever had, and enjoyed my conversation with the technician, a Korean immigrant whose work ethic is formidable. The airport gig is her weekend job. She works at a salon in Jamaica, Queens, during the week.

Kids will enjoy the live music in Austin, but obviously spa services and wine bars won't fit their taste. That's why Chicago O'Hare has a play area (in terminal two), designed by the Chicago Children's Museum, where kids can operate their own kid-friendly air-traffic control tower, fantasy helicopter, and cargo plane. San Francisco has a Kids' Spot in terminal three with a crawling apparatus and a "plasma wall that shoots arcs of energized color when activated by sound," CNN reports.

Singapore's Changi International Airport gets the best rating all around. Not only does it have shower, fitness, and spa services, music bar lounges, a Balinese-themed swimming pool, napping areas, and a free Singapore tour for passengers with more than five hours to spare (the list goes on), but it also has a nature trail with a bamboo garden, Koi pond, and an orchid garden for travelers who just want a little peace and quiet. Note: Many of the above activities come with a fee. (No wonder it was also rated the best airport to sleep in.)

IT's thinking about re-routing its holiday flights through Singapore, with hopes of getting stuck there indefinitely.

Photos: Singapore Changi International Airport