More about airports
Okay, so I don’t really get what’s with the Indianapolis and RIchmond airports. They have lots of restaurants and shops outside the concourses, but once you pass through security, there’s almost nowhere you can eat.
On the other hand, O’Hare, Lambert, and all other large-ish airports I’ve been to (as far as I can recall) have lots of restaurants after security, but almost none before security. Now, I understand that it might make sense to have some things before security, because then they’re accessible to people waiting for friends to return, seeing friends off, etc.
But it seems to me that most of the places ought to be after security. If people want to take food or drinks onto a plane, they would need to buy them from shops after they pass through security. Travelers on layovers might need to eat lunch or something but it would be obnoxious to have to exit and reenter the concourse.
And of course, in an effort to not miss your flight, you might want to enter the concourse before sitting down for a meal, because it’s hard to predict how long it will take to go through security.
If there really is some good reason to put all the eating establishments before security rather than after, can someone explain it to me?
Lastly, a story about foodservice at airports that happened to me yesterday at Indy:
McDonald’s worker: “What drink would you like with that?”
Me: “Do you have Mountain Dew?”
Worker: “No, we have Sprite.”
Me: (pause) “Um. Okay, I’ll have Coke then.”
Worker: (hesitates, possibly confused)
Me: “Or Pepsi, it doesn’t matter.”
Worker: (hits a button)
Guess which they had? Coke. It was a confusing exchange.
I assume that airport restaurants that are post-security have certain security measures applied to everything brought in. Perhaps smaller airports tend to eschew the preferable location in favor of greater convenience to the restaurants themselves?
July 8th, 2008 at 11:41 pmHaving gone through Rockford’s pitifully tiny airport, then Denver International (which blows my mind; not just Canada, mind you, but places like Amsterdam. There is no way I would fly non-stop from Denver to Amsterdam.), on a recent family brouhaha, it seems rather odd that there are chain restaurants of familiarity – your Burger King and Taco Bell and the like – pre-security, and brandless shops – mere glorified vending machines – post-security. I suppose the airports enjoy the idea of a monopoly, albeit on a tiny market (the hour-or-so before the flights leave).
July 10th, 2008 at 3:46 amAlso, I’ve done the “Mountain Dew?” “No, Sprite,” “Ok, Coke” routine before…but you’d think someone who likes Mountain Dew enough to know that they don’t want Sprite would know that A: Mountain Dew=Pepsi, Sprite=Coke, and B: so many McDonalds have Coke that it’s almost futile to even ask. You’ve got to be in a building large enough to have an exclusive contract with Pepsi AND important enough to need a McDonalds that is ballsy enough to deal with the Pepsi exclusivity.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:51 amThey have a deal with the Coca-cola company. It’s pretty simple, I’d say.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:38 pm“Alright Mandrake, but you’ll have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company.”
July 10th, 2008 at 11:59 pm