I had to sleep overnight in the phoenix airport once. All night long a loud speaker was repeating at high volume "Caution: the moving walkway is coming to an end." I remember wishing that it would indeed come to an end.
I wish they would do this when you're boarding the plane. I get that there is essential information that everyone needs to know, but if you're a frequent flier you've probably heard the "put your larger carry-on in the overhead bin and your smaller bag underneath the seat in front of you" hundreds, if not thousands of times.
Besides making the airport more pleasant, targeting announcements to the relevant travelers also means they are much more likely to be heard. When 99% of announcements are irrelevant, we just mentally screen them out.
Burbank Airport used to get recognizable celebrities to record the canned public announcements in their own style. I seem to recall Joan Rivers, Henny Youngman, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. It took some of the edge off while you waited around, at least for a bit. Don't know if this continues.
It's not just announcements. SLC (at least) used to have TVs playing the "Airport Channel". Last time I went through there (and maybe the time before?), they were gone. It makes a big difference. You still have announcements, but at least the announcements aren't cutting through some TV noise that you don't care about that is always there.
This is a nice idea. I don't remember the last time I walked through an airport without noise cancelling earbuds and my own music playing. The noise level definitely adds to the stress if you are a frequent traveler.
I have this theory that all sorts of stimuli exhaust our nervous system: be it auditory, wind stimulation of skin, shaking or even smells. That's why people get tired flying on airplane, spending a day outside seemingly doing nothing, etc etc
This is wonderful. I remember I was in Asia in 2000 relaxing at the airport and was puzzled why it felt so nice and peaceful. Then I realized that it was the lack of repetitive pointless announcements.
One of my formative consulting projects in like 2002 or 2003 was in St. Louis, where couple of hundred of accenture and avanade and microsofties got together for like 6 months week after week to hack on a large software project for multiple states. It was a total crazy show but who cares. I had to take a red eye from west coast to Chicago which landed at 5, then take a 7am to St. Louis. I found some places to just lay there for 2 hours in Ohare, which is already hard. But they all had those TVs that were blasting CNN. I was smart and bought a legendary TV-B-Gone https://www.tvbgone.com/ and it would work on those! And on so many other tvs out there, from the sports bars to obscure brands in the airport shuttle buses. Thank you TV-B-Gone!
The one time I flew from Austin, there was a band playing at a restaurant in the ticketed area. Going through security it was bad (you could only really hear the drums) but once I was through it was downright painful. Really makes you wonder how these decisions get made.
I was waiting for a flight at SFO, trying to get some work done. Two airport employees were sitting at the next table. One of them started watching a video on her phone, on speaker, at loud volume. I politely asked her to use headphones or turn off the sound. Hey retort: "this is an airport!". I replied that it's a 'quiet airport' but her reaction suggested to me that she was not familiar with the concept.
The international arrivals section of Vancouver airport is a great example of this. Indoor waterfalls, sound dampening on the walls and ceilings, carpeted floors and wide open space is a huge relief after a 5-15 hr flight. It's also an excellent way of making a great first impression on visitors.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 46.4 ms ] threadWhenever I have an overnight layover in any of these airports I now pack NIOSH certified ear muffs, along with an eye mask.
I look ridiculous, but I don’t care.
(I think that all the Canadian airports might be similarly quiet, but I haven't flown through them recently so I'm not entirely sure)
At SFO: "Welcome to San Francisco! Please feel free to relax in our yoga and meditation rooms."
At DTW: "Welcome to Detroit. Remember to cover your face when you sneeze."
Totally different vibes.
So many airports direct passenger flow through a shopping zone drenched in perfume fumes. Disgusting as far as I'm concerned.
Not to mention the screaming visual pollution of course.
This is my current favorite airport album. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orph%C3%A9e_(album)