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Chicago Department of Aviation
Chicago O'Hare International Airport has two play areas designed by the Chicago Children's Museum.
Airport planners have finally learned what all parents already knew: Give kids a place to run around, and you’ll have happier, calmer children on board planes, which can translate to happier passengers overall.
At least 30 of the nation’s major airports have (or will soon have) play areas, and some airlines have installed play spaces within their own terminals.
"It’s definitely on the rise,” said Debby McElroy, spokesperson for Airports Council International-North America. “When airports are developing their facilities, they recognize that families with children are spending more time at the airport, and they look at ways to make it a more enjoyable experience, whether it’s art displays, game rooms, DVD kiosks or play areas.”
San Francisco International Airport boasts three play spaces, two in the recently remodeled Terminal 2, featuring child-sized rocking chairs and unique art work that doubles as musical instruments.
Los Angeles International Airport is incorporating several play spaces in its new terminal to open, in phases, at the end of next year.
O’Hare International Airport has two play areas, designed by the Chicago Children’s Museum. One is a 2,200-square-foot space with a two-story air traffic control tower, a cockpit, and cargo hold, complete with luggage to load.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has a 1,400-square-foot play space with soft, aviation-themed equipment as well as a private room for nursing. Nearby Portland International Airport has two play areas.
“It’s a great way for kids to burn off energy before boarding a plane, and it’s also separation from the business traveler, for example, who wants a quiet place to sit with his laptop,” said Perry Cooper, Sea-Tac Airport’s media and public affairs manager.
Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, said catering to families makes good business sense.
“This is a marketing opportunity for airlines and airports to make customers for life,” he said. “If the flying experience from airport to flight to airport isn’t good, then not only will kids not want to take trips, when they grow up they won’t want to travel.”
In 2007, Southwest Airlines began installing family seating areas in their terminals at many airports, complete with low tables and stools, and programming for children on flat-screen TVs.
“We’ve found from our customers that those spaces are very helpful for kids to be able to read, relax, eat or just blow off steam before getting onto the airplane,” said Beth Harbin, senior director of communications for Southwest Airlines.
American Airlines has play areas in some of its Admiral Clubs, located in 22 of the nation’s airports. Not an Admiral Club member? Buy a $50 day pass, which covers one adult and up to three kids, for access to its play areas, showers, Wi-Fi, and free drinks and snacks.
Colleen Lanin, founder of TravelMamas.com, said while play areas can be hard to find, she’s thrilled more airports have families in mind.
“It’s great they are recognizing that families do travel with kids, and if our kids are able to get their energy out, it’s a better experience for everyone on the plane,” she said.
But if all else fails and you find yourself with squirming kids in tow and no play area in sight, do what Lanin does with her two small kids.
“Before we fly, I have them run around in our backyard or around a fountain at an airport and I pay them 10 cents for each lap,” she said. “It’s a fun way for them to earn a couple bucks to spend at the airport gift shop, and it burns some energy.”
More on TODAY Travel
- 9 essentials for traveling with tots
- Finding a baby sitter while on vacation
- Last-minute holiday trips and tips
Colleen McBrinn, a freelance writer in Portland, Ore., strives to maintain an active lifestyle of outdoor sports and travel with two wee ones in tow.
Leave a Comment:
This is so overdue. My 4 and 6 yr. olds always hope we change planes in Salt Lake City, because of their two relatively simple play areas, each with a play house, big Legos, and 8 or 10 large toys. They can use their own little cars on the capets which show roads, runways, etc. It makes a stop so much nicer - last weekend a connecting flight was delayed an hour from SLC to Idaho, and the boys were happy, not complaining and whining "when will we get there". I know some airports, like Atlanta, might be too huge to find convenient areas for play-yards unless they have a dozen of them, but many connecting airports would be so much more pleasant if they had one or two.
I don't understand why this didn't catch on sooner, say, 15 years ago!
My 5 year old has flown on approximately 40 flights in her short little life (thanks to airline employee benefits) and I LOVE this idea. Like someone mentioned in the article, I've usually run her ragged at home or at a park before a flight, to wear her out some, and I would DEFINITELY spend time using a play area at an airport before a flight!
There should be a play area in every terminal of every airport, with a speaker AND a monitor to hear / see when flights are boarding. This way adults who don't like kids can have a peaceful gate experience, and we parents with young children can let our kids burn energy without worrying about bothering other people.
Now all they have to do is put a coffee kiosk at the play place (for the parents) and let-er-rip! :)
Am I the only one that sees this a disease spreading nightmare?
I'm all for children having a place to play, but I would want to know that every surface in the play area is sprayed down with bleach hourly.
I don't think people are understanding that airports with international flights have kids from every place on earth, can you imagine something like this at NY, LAX, or Houston? Picture every runny-nosed kid from every place on the planet running around and wiping their nose with their hands and then touching all those surfaces. Yikes!
Unfortunately, bacteria, mold and fungi can be found everywhere, including restaurants, the supermarket and the park, and there are kids from other countries at these places as well. If it's such a concern, I recommend packing some wipes and Purell, but don't deprive your kids of living and having some fun. There's nothing you can do about colds caught from other children at school, with which they have constant exposure, unless you teach your child to never touch his eyes, always wash his hands, and not put anything in his mouth, but even then, you're still bound to have him catch colds or stomach viruses.
My husband and I used to take our kids to the mall play area sunday mornings when they would wake atrociously early and would usually arrive to find the area being cleaned.
There is no way to avoid germs and children intermingling. I stay home with my kids for now and just having them enrolled in ballet/gymnastics has caused them to get sick just by being around other kids.
Macgyver,
Is your kids school hosed down with bleach hourly? Is the local playground hosed down hourly? Is the plane hosed down with bleach after each flight? Is your car washed with bleach hourly? The school bus?
Your child has a better chance of catching something in the confined space of the plane than in the playground area.
Teach your children better hygiene like washing their hands with purell after using the playground and don't put your fingers in your mouth and they will be fine. No hourly bleachings needed.
No, but they do bathe everyday, other world cultures, not so much, for better or worse.
It rains outside, and germs are exposed to wind and direct sunlight on a playground.
No, they do filter the air though on airplanes, and because the location of children is not a defined location in one common place, their natural poor hygiene choices don't tend to interact with each other right away.
I imagine they do clean the school bus every now and then, but it really wouldn't matter, as the germs in my area are already in most of the kids in our area. I really don't have much fear of common seasonal bugs from my area, it's the tropical rainforest and downtown China types I am afraid of. Perhaps perfectly harmless to the locals there, but potentially deadly to someone never exposed to them. Vice-Verse to the children from the tropics and China, they may live in fear of South-Western American bugs.
Tell your argument to some of the native peoples of the Americas, oh wait, they mostly died of strange diseases brought into their lands that they had no natural immunity to. Much the same way you get sick after eating local food on vacation, only now it's going to be from 10 countries at once and in a small child.
As far as teaching my child better hygiene, she's 14, and has good hygiene, and would be bored by the example picture listed above, so I would like you to explain to 5-year old the do's and dont's of hygiene, and see what happens within 10 seconds. It's almost like they don't fully understand the in's and out's of microscopic life and how infections and germs spread. :P
Even if they do all the right things, others may not, and people touch their face without thinking about it all day. From your tone, you made it sound like I was recommending using baby seal fur to do the cleaning, I would just like to know if anyone had asked the CDC what precautions should be made given the whole-world-disease-interactions likely to go on in these.
So I guess you answered my question, I am apparently the only one that sees this a disease spreading nightmare.
"No, but they do bathe everyday, other world cultures, not so much, for better or worse."
I'd advise you to stay in this country during your travels. That statement alone shows your ignorance of other cultures. That was about as biased and xenophobic a statement as you could make without getting into specifics.
Ok, FYI, I served in the Army in Iraq, Korea, and Germany, and have been to France, England, Austria, Poland, The Netherlands, Japan, Qatar, Spain, Kuwait, Switzerland, and Mexico I can tell you first-hand that other cultures most definitely do not bathe everyday, most it is only once a week. I did not judge anyone, I said for better or for worse. Next time you call someone xenophobic or biased, you might want to check and see if in fact they know what they are taking about.
In a mall, yes there may be kids from other countries, but in an international airport, it may only be.
Again, I was just asking a question, because given my history, I tend to think worst-case scenarios.
I have never been criticized so much in my life for worrying about the health of children, from any country.
Well it's about time. Ask someone who has travelled to Singapore and has seen Changi Airport. They have children's play areas and computer terminal at every corner with internet access (for 15 mins each, FREE!!). Try beating that! After 15 mins the browser will close and you can go back in to access the internet again. No charges!!!!
Like others have said, it's long overdue. Tired out kids tend to eventually fall asleep and not bother other passengers on the plane. It's too bad they don't have it at MIA yet and at every other major airport in the country.