Larry Summers, former Clinton Treasury Secretary, Obama chief economic advisor, and Harvard President, observes that “the newer the [airport] terminal, the less convenient it is to use” thanks to all of the long walks and wonders why that’s the case.
The reason is actually simple economics, but to see that you have to be aware of the details of how terminals are financed, and how airport revenue agreements work.
I have just travelled thru the new LaGuardia airport. It confirms a theory of mine. The newer the terminal, the less convenient it is to use because all the walks are longer. I wonder why?
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) April 26, 2023
When an airport authority brings in private companies to finance construction of a new terminal, there’s rarely much discussion of how those companies will make their money. One of the primary ways is from concessions. They’re going to rent out space in the terminal to retail shops.
- The more revenue those shops makes, the more they can charge in rent
- And deals are generally structured so that the terminal owner takes a percentage of revenue as well
- Where there’s a dominant airline especially, the airline will often share in concessions revenue as well.
New York LaGuardia Central Terminal
Passengers are not an airport’s customer, they’re the product an airport (and airline) sells to merchants who rent space inside the terminal.
Long walks frequently designed to accommodate more shopping, with more retail space in the terminal. And airports don’t want passengers skipping the shops!
This seems obvious if you’re familiar with airports, but a lot of very smart people aren’t aware of it, so it also seemed worth explaining.
Why? The whole point of redoing LaGuardia was that everyone was sick of it being absurdly crowded…no place to sit, nothing to eat except deep fried pretzels. So this seems like asking, "why, in seeking to make it bigger and less crowded, did they make the airport bigger?"
— Stuart Buck (@stuartbuck1) April 26, 2023
Designed to improve “on time” arrival and departure which are measured gate-to-gate. This also why airports like Denver are so far from town. Ironically, these things make your door-to-door timing worse.
— Bill Gurley (@bgurley) April 26, 2023
This principle isn’t limited to large new construction terminals, either. Both Dallas-Forth Worth and Chicago O’Hare removed moving walkways that used to assist passengers in their journey and speed up travel in the terminal (which reduced the risk of passengers missing flights!). Dallas spent one million dollars to remove theirs. The reason is that passengers on a moving walkway skip all of the shops along the way!
You’ll frequently see international airports that route you through duty free on the way to your gate, forcing you to take a circuitous route. Sydney’s airport is famous for this, and so is London Heathrow. In fact, British Airways reportedly pays Heathrow £1 million per year to have a door immediately past security on the right that allows first class passengers direct access into the Concorde Room lounge rather than having to be routed the long way through the shops.
Now retail isn’t the only reason that terminals are often larger. They may need to accommodate more planes, and larger planes, that the ones an earlier facility was built for. You may need a midfield concourse to accomplish that, given what other structures are already in place. But the thing that’s common across airports is that incentives are aligned to push travelers to do more walking past shops because that’s a tremendous source of revenue.
Ultimately though the purpose of an airport is to get somewhere quickly. You want an airport that you can get to quickly, get through security quickly, and get to your gate quickly. New larger terminals may be more beautiful, and more revenue-generating, but that doesn’t make them “better.”
Americans continue to get fatter and fatter so complaining about walking 15 minutes makes total sense. How lazy can you get? Don’t worry, plenty of food spots along the way.
The new LaGuardia terminal is insanely inconvenient when it comes to curb side to gate time. But to Gary’s point, I’m not sure that all the shopping is why the walk is longer, or if the walk is longer because of unique design needs in a small airport footprint and the added shopping is just a benefit (to the PANYNJ) of that.
LaGuardia is horrible. I much preferred the chlamydia filled carpets and short walks to the new Mall of America format. It’s not an airport anymore. It’s a mall with some gates I won’t fly it anymore since it takes an hour from rental drop off to gate
The only money I spend at the airport is for lounge access and maybe a cup of coffee. Shopping, not a chance.
I doubt you took very much time to interview any airport folks or any airport designer/architects before writing your article. While you are correct that airports desire to create revenue from concessions, this is not the tail wagging the dog. The design of terminals begins with how many gates and how many carriers need to be accommodated. In some airports there is a big question about location and the size of the property available. You imply almost a sinister aspect to airports’ motives. The airports I have worked at have always concsidered the passenger to be custormers and an important objective has been to “serve the customer”. The idea that airports intentionally design their airports to make passengers walk further past concessions is crazy. Passenger want and need food and beverage concessions, gift and new concessions, rental car concessions and more.
LGA has problems beyond just the extra shops. Much of the extra distance to walk has no retail or security purposes. Just to get to the food court takes a long walk after TSA. That’s not about economics. That’s just stupid.
People just complains about everything nowadays. Complaining about the OLD LGA, and now the new LGA is a million times better, oh it’s too much walking! If you have a plan to make things better, why don’t you take up a job to be part of the project or run for office to influence these decisions?
Have you walked through Changi, Narita, Haneda, or HK? They are massive and have shops all over. No one forces you to buy things from them. Airports are designed to make money and you have a choice not to pay for any of their services.
I don’t mind a long walk to get some exercise. Nevertheless, I NEVER buy anything at an airport other than a meal. For some reason the Criminal Airport Authorities think they own you, and their little criminal empires try to squeeze every nickel out of your pocket.
Longer walks also make for fewer complaints about how long it takes for the bags to arrive (I am looking at you, CLT)!
Larry Summers, disgraced Harvard president.
FIFY…..
Its also because construction needs to take place while the airport is still operating. That’s why Terminal A at EWR was built in a new area and the new Terminal 1 at JFK is being closer to the airport center core.
Are Spirit gates the longest walk on average? Those kettles appear to be the most obese of flyers.
@ Gary — I love the new LGA terminal. The old one was horrible. The extra walk is good purpose-filled exercise, which is the best type in my book.
Omitted from the discussion of ever longer distances traversed to/from gates at new airports is the impact, or for some, the additional hardships imposed in an already difficult, or perhaps even hostile, environment for those with reduced mobility.
Even with the benefit of wheelchair assistance, the ever longer distances results in a trade-off between requiring additional employees to cover the same volume of passengers who require assistance at airports in order to offset the much longer times it takes for each passenger – or those who require assistance are forced to wait ever longer for an assistant to become available if additional staff is not hired (for budgetary reasons) or is unavailable (absences; staff shortages, etc.).
As it is, airports are extremely challenging for those with reduced mobility what with the various levels between check-in/bag drop, security clearance/passport control (etc.), lounges or of course, baggage claim, customs/immigration.
Elevators are seldom located conveniently, and at the worst offenders (here’s looking at you London Heathrow, Newark of the airports we’ve had some of our worst experiences at) can be at opposite ends of facilities, especially headhouses.
London Terminal 3 is especially horrible with its endless maze of mismatched elevators, or the change of carriages en route to/from gates for the wheelchair caravans (or whatever the term is for the wheelchairs strung together like railroad cars/carriages and towed by a motorized lead is) used there.
Unless one experiences airports with reduced mobility or travels with someone who has reduced mobility (like my partner), they likely have no idea just how poorly designed airports of all sizes are, let alone the ginormous airports in major cities and hubs are.
btw, although we have yet to use LaGuardia Terminal B, the distance between gates at Delta’s Terminal C (or the airline’s furthermost gates at JFK Terminal 4) is *EXTREMELY LONG*.
I wish that there was a short cut for regular business travellers to avoid the long walk. I fly from BHX almost every week, I never buy anything from the so called ‘duty free’ shops so they’d lose no revenue if I don’t run past the shops
I love the spectacle of Gary Leff schooling Larry Summers on economics.
Since I can no longer walk (I miss it terribly) I must use an airport provided wheelchair and a hard working employee to push me my gate or between gates. These massive shopping mall airports make me feel so bad for the overworked wheelchair pushers. I tip them well but still miss the moving sidewalks, etc.
I don’t go to an airport to get exercise. I want to get to the gate quickly. I understand that there can be a long distance between security and the gate at many airports but there should be no excuse for not providing moving sidewalks for almost the entire distance. While I’m not handicapped, I am older and not able to walk at the same pace as a 30 yr old. I just get disgusted with certain airports in particular- SLC (which is a total joke), PDX (if departing on WN or DL), and LHR T-3. It’s a though a child designed these airports.
I noticed a long time ago that modern, grand airport terminals have more walking, even if there aren’t many shops. The small airports, like CAE Columbia (South Carolina) Metropolitan Airport or Eppley Field in Omaha are nice in that there’s not much walking. Of course, they don’t have too many gates.
So that means 2F at CDG is literally the poster child of what not to do
Some airports are shopping malls with a few gates here and there. but it’s not only airports. To get through this very article and the comments, I had to walk by ads for Sephora, Citi Business Aadvantage, Bilt World Elite MasterCard, this blog’s newsletter, Squarespace, AARP, and Constant Contact.
Like others, I do wonder about the success of airport retail. I never see many people in the shops. Anywhere. Airport food concessions are a different story — people seem to want to eat and drink, especially with less food available on the airplanes. That said, I do wonder whether the growth of “better” airport lounges has put any dent in that business. I almost never spend a dime at an airport restaurant because I simply assume the food is bad and/or expensive, and I can usually get free food and beverages of some sort at a lounge.
Total Time at JFK T4 (assuming no elite status):
Bag Drop – 15 – 20 mins
Security – 20-30 mins
Walk to the one of the furthest gates: 1 hour 10 mins
I’m kidding…but it is loooong!
I have a bad knee…due for replacement. The pounding on the long walks from gate to gate is hard on my knee. MSP…HORRIBLE walks, ORD…hot & stinky…ATL LONG WALKS to the center and get in late…NO TRAINS. LHR…total goat rope. ATL Terminal F international arrivals to CBP…REALLY HORRIBLE. JFK…sucks…all the way around. LGA…don’t get me started. One has to wonder if there are airport masochists architects.
Shopping, are you kidding? Is this just a suggestion mentioned here? Probably also because of security purposes. But they won’t tell you that.
You missed the other revenue raising facet of newer terminals.
Gate lounges are getting smaller or ceasing to exist. Thus increasing the opportunity to transfer revenue from PAX by forcing them to wait near the outlets.
A few years ago Melbourne Australia opened new domestic terminal “4”. Once though security you are in a large Retail/Food/beverage area with only narrow hallways channelling to the ‘gates’ where there is almost no seating.
Cairns in Australia takes it one step further. The the Boarding Pass scanners are actually right at the Retail Concourse leading to doors with long walks to the aircraft AFTER being scanned.
Gotta say that I am dreading my post TKA flights this summer. I hate being dependent on the wheelchair service, but I expect the distances to be daunting (esp. at LHR).
Let’s complain about too many cars on the road (because the population and number of cars has doubled and we’ve built very few new roads in the past 60 years). Let’s complain that a cup of coffee used to be a nickel or a quarter (all you could drink) and now it’s $5.00. Let’s complain that public transportation is crowded and dirty (because it’s serving 2-3 times more people than intended).
For those who want to know the truth, the reason (you think) LGA gates are “too” far from security, the reason they’re further than at the “old” LGA, is because the new airport was built over the old airport, on the same tiny footprint, without ANY interruption of service or closures. Please all you complaining rocket surgeons, tell all us idiots how YOU would have accomplished that same thing without moving the gates further from security.
Oh yeah, the essential reason you’re all complaining, it’s called living in a capitalism society with others and it’s all about the Benjamins. Don’t want to complain, don’t want a long walk to the gates, move to your own private island with an airport with gates close to security or move to Russia, I’ve heard the walk from security to the gates is very short, if they let you and don’t throw you in jail for 50 years for having a Western news app on your phone.
DaveS: rather amusing comment, but I saw Zero of those; for yourfuture sanity, work on some ad blocking in your device-it will help you smile, trust me!
The new forced exercise is to have passengers work off some weight so the airplanes don’t have to burn as much fuel. Anyway, that is my theory.
@Win Whitmire~
`You are elegible for airline provided wheelchair assistance with the disability you describe.
Arrange this at the time of booking, not when you turn up for check-in. Services are stretched more than ever and the airlines need to plan ahead.
Incidently, the US is almost the only place in the world where you are pressured to tip the pusher. Elsewhere it is regarded as the same as any other service in the airport you wouldn’t dream of dropping a tip.
…really the best solution is drive-thru check-in/boarding…
Probably the only meaningful exercise that most people get.
Just returned from OPO-MAD-ORD logging 10,000 steps never leaving the airports. The worst MAD moving from 4 to 4S with each gate being the furthest from the inter terminal people mover. About half of total steps in MAD alone with a 50 minute connection. Certainly had to wend our way through all the shops in 4S. ORD passage to customes/intergration also accounted for many of the steps and there is certainly no duty free along that route.
It’s not only about the shops. One of the biggest complaints about airports has been that the gate areas are too crowded and don’t have enough seating. The only way to have more space is to have the gates farther apart, which results in longer walks. You can’t have spaciousness and comfort and still have all the gates crammed together to make the walk shorter.
DFW removing moving sidewalks has nothing to do with forcing you to walk past retail shops and restaurants. They were in-between terminal a and c for AA passengers and maybe between B/D and A/C where there are no retail places anyway. It is generally quicker to move between terminals via the skylink. The moving sidewalks rarely were all working and it probably saves money to not have to keep there inspections current and the maintenance. For passengers departing from DFW it can be one of the shortest distances from car to gate. The problem is your return flight may come in at another terminal if you are AA.
you mean people actually BUY things at those shops? If they are connecting, they barely have time to get from one gate to the next and avoid missing their connection. How on earth does anyone even have time to shop? To me its all about getting to the gate on time, maybe grabbing something to eat.
And if this is true, then why do airports waste opportunities to have retail in say the tunnels.? I havn’t been to ORD for years, but the tunnel serving United was just a corridor with a bunch of art installed. Why not expand that to include retail and food on both sides, developing a sort of underground mall if you will? SLC has a tunnel to, a damn long tunnel. My wife isn’t capable of walking fast, so I was relieved on my last connection there that they had a gate change which helped us avoid that tunnel. But they have lots of opportunity to build in food and retail there.
They extend the length of walkways to provide time for facial recognition to identify potential terrorists or other “undesirables.”
@ Jeff Winter, FYI, the A-C moving rubber belts are still in use. The sidewalks that they removed were in Terminal D, not connecting to another terminal, just within D itself.
They also used to have them at MCO in the retail hall, but they removed those for the reasons that Gary mentioned.
The arrogance of those who say ‘just suck it up, you need the exercise’ is appalling. I am temporarily disabled (at least I believe it’s temporary) but hiking the miles of blank corridors in the ‘new’ LGA was exhausting, especially as I was using a cane I had little experience with. And it never occurred to me I could ‘order’ a wheelchair–I’ve never seen wheelchair attendants at the sterile side of security or at check-in. For those who are permanently disabled, transversing airports must be an eternal nightmare.