Best Airport Play Area

ryan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:26:39 -0600

On our European trip we got to spend some time in some of the world's largest, most active airports: Chicago O'Hare, London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, New York JFK, and SEA-TAC.

Long airplane rides + sleeping children = good. This is where the airport play area comes in. Why isn't there one in every terminal of every airport in the world?

The "Kids on the Fly" at O'Hare sounds really awesome but was too far away from our terminal, as was Air France's Planete Bleue. We didn't have any time to kill at Heathrow, and nothing at CDG.

But SEA-TAC... alright! The play area is just past the food/shops area on the way to the A gates, an easy walk from any of the terminals. The floor is bouncy and soft, all the things to climb on are rubbery and curvy, and there's benches lining the whole thing so us exhausted parents can just sit back and watch the kids burn off steam. Why this isn't FAA-required standard equipment in all airport terminals is beyond me, but good job SEA-TAC for theirs.