In order to return to the “Golden Age” of air travel, fliers need to dress appropriately and the family travel experience must be prioritized. If families are happy—and healthy—travel will be a breeze.
That’s according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which last week, on the heels of calling for civility while flying—including dressing with class—made another announcement as we head into the busy holiday travel season.
The newest initiative, “Make Travel Family Friendly Again,” is aimed at improving the airport experience. Acknowledging public complaints that traveling as a family is challenging, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said there are several things that can be done with the $1 billion in funding that’s been allocated by the department to make airports friendlier—and healthier. Duffy wants exercise equipment, dedicated children’s spaces, and more nutritional food options.
“Concession operators sell what people buy. If passengers were demanding kale, they’d sell it,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst, told Afar, adding, “I see far more people eating burgers and fries than vegan salads while I’m waiting at an airport.”
Indeed, when Delta Air Lines announced a partnership with cult burger house Shake Shack, frequent fliers rejoiced. Although Shake Shack is available in many U.S. airport terminals, the chance to order a Shack Burger in flight was a call for celebration on social media.
As for the overall initiative to make U.S. airports family friendly? Well, pointed out Harteveldt, it’s not that airports are “family unfriendly.” It’s that “they’re just not that friendly to anyone.”
Harteveldt agrees that giving women greater access to nursing pods or facilities, which he said must be kept pristine, would be useful. He pointed out that airports are required to provide nursing facilities under the Friendly Airports for Mothers Improvement Act, which was passed in 2020, but these designated areas are typically only found on the concourse and not by baggage claim or other areas of the airport where women might need them.
A growing number of children’s play areas already exist in many of the country’s airports, too. In fact, the global design firm HOK (which partners with airports on major projects like Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 expansion) has already been “implementing most of these improvements into our modern-day terminal improvements,” according to Matt Needham, director of aviation and transportation for HOK. Needham said HOK has also been creating sensory rooms for children with special needs at the airports the architecture firm works on.
Needham sees the administration’s push to make the airport experience more pleasant as a function of the times to some extent. “There has been a universal desire to elevate the passenger experience, the traveler experience,” Needham said, pointing out that “the administration is latching on to trends that have been emerging in this market for the last decade.”
Beyond the government’s recent proposal, Needham would like to see outdoor spaces available to all at U.S. airports—not just the open-air decks and observation areas accessed through loyalty lounges. But he struggles to see how fitness facilities could work. You can’t have “loose weights post-security,” he pointed out. Yoga studios with bulky mats that are hard to walk away with, such as the ones at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), are a safer bet.
Yet to Harteveldt, who has decades of experience studying traveler behavior and airline operations, U.S. airports aren’t going to be viewed as “friendly” if children’s playrooms are bigger and better or if more vegan options exist. The focus, he said, should be on making airports easier to navigate. Functioning moving sidewalks—and more of them—are important. “Helping airports install better-quality public address systems to make sure announcements can be clearly heard and understood is critical, especially given the aging population in the U.S.,” said Harteveldt.
Airport real estate is hard to come by, and there are numerous things on frequent travelers’ airport wish lists that come before gyms in terms of improving the airport experience and bringing back the elusive “golden age of travel.” For instance, crowding at the country’s biggest and busiest hubs remains an issue, according to a recent air passenger satisfaction survey conducted by J.D. Power.
The promised air travel investments from the DOT come one month after the department dismantled a Biden-era rule that would have required airlines to automatically pay customers between $200 and $775, depending on the length of the flight delay, plus cover meals and hotel rooms when when airlines cancel or delay flights for reasons deemed within their control, such as mechanical issues, staffing shortages, or system outages. Instead, airlines are back to largely deciding for themselves what, if anything, to offer travelers when disruptions strike.
It also comes after the recent prolonged government shutdown once again highlighted the strains on the country’s air traffic controller network. During the shutdown, flight delays and cancellations mounted as federally-employed TSA officers and air traffic controllers were pushed to their limits.
For many fliers, there are too many issues to name, but a recent Faye Travel Insurance query from Lauren Gumport on TikTok resulted in some colorful responses to the government’s proposal to bring civility back to air travel, including this one from a frustrated traveler: “Overbooking flights, getting treated like a criminal, 10 bucks for 5 pieces of cheese and some crackers. I’m wearing sweats and Crocs and day drinking.”
