by changoplatanero
5 subcomments
- I had to sleep overnight in the phoenix airport once. All night long a loud speaker was repeating at high volume "Caution: the moving walkway is coming to an end." I remember wishing that it would indeed come to an end.
by jessriedel
4 subcomments
- Besides making the airport more pleasant, targeting announcements to the relevant travelers also means they are much more likely to be heard. When 99% of announcements are irrelevant, we just mentally screen them out.
by kstrauser
2 subcomments
- Not exactly the same thing, but I was flying from SFO to the east coast and this stood out to me:
At SFO: "Welcome to San Francisco! Please feel free to relax in our yoga and meditation rooms."
At DTW: "Welcome to Detroit. Remember to cover your face when you sneeze."
Totally different vibes.
- But how am I going to know the white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone. ?
- This is a nice idea. I don't remember the last time I walked through an airport without noise cancelling earbuds and my own music playing. The noise level definitely adds to the stress if you are a frequent traveler.
This is my current favorite airport album. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orph%C3%A9e_(album)
by Patrick_Devine
6 subcomments
- I wish they would do this when you're boarding the plane. I get that there is essential information that everyone needs to know, but if you're a frequent flier you've probably heard the "put your larger carry-on in the overhead bin and your smaller bag underneath the seat in front of you" hundreds, if not thousands of times.
by danielodievich
0 subcomment
- One of my formative consulting projects in like 2002 or 2003 was in St. Louis, where couple of hundred of accenture and avanade and microsofties got together for like 6 months week after week to hack on a large software project for multiple states. It was a total crazy show but who cares. I had to take a red eye from west coast to Chicago which landed at 5, then take a 7am to St. Louis. I found some places to just lay there for 2 hours in Ohare, which is already hard. But they all had those TVs that were blasting CNN. I was smart and bought a legendary TV-B-Gone https://www.tvbgone.com/ and it would work on those! And on so many other tvs out there, from the sports bars to obscure brands in the airport shuttle buses. Thank you TV-B-Gone!
- Burbank Airport used to get recognizable celebrities to record the canned public announcements in their own style. I seem to recall Joan Rivers, Henny Youngman, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. It took some of the edge off while you waited around, at least for a bit. Don't know if this continues.
by gucci-on-fleek
1 subcomments
- The Calgary and Edmonton airports are also like this, and I agree that it makes being in the airport so much more pleasant.
(I think that all the Canadian airports might be similarly quiet, but I haven't flown through them recently so I'm not entirely sure)
by misterboo72
2 subcomments
- My home airport. I can confirm that this is a (relatively) quiet airport. I wish they had a meditation space. Knowing SF, it's probably coming.
- Has anyone actually heard Eno at the airport? What is it like? Does it actually calm you?
by rahimnathwani
1 subcomments
- I was waiting for a flight at SFO, trying to get some work done. Two airport employees were sitting at the next table. One of them started watching a video on her phone, on speaker, at loud volume. I politely asked her to use headphones or turn off the sound. Hey retort: "this is an airport!". I replied that it's a 'quiet airport' but her reaction suggested to me that she was not familiar with the concept.
- Noise pollution in public spaces is a widespread problem. Maybe given the success at SFO we can institute and enforce of noise limits elsewhere.
by bonsai_spool
0 subcomment
- The new Berlin Brandenburg airport is the most quiet and lovely I've seen to date: https://onemileatatime.com/berlin-brandenburg-airport-review...
- The one time I flew from Austin, there was a band playing at a restaurant in the ticketed area. Going through security it was bad (you could only really hear the drums) but once I was through it was downright painful. Really makes you wonder how these decisions get made.
- I'd love to also have a low smell airport.
So many airports direct passenger flow through a shopping zone drenched in perfume fumes. Disgusting as far as I'm concerned.
Not to mention the screaming visual pollution of course.
- This is wonderful. I remember I was in Asia in 2000 relaxing at the airport and was puzzled why it felt so nice and peaceful. Then I realized that it was the lack of repetitive pointless announcements.
by traderj0e
1 subcomments
- SFO is so nice just because of this. I hope other airports follow.
by AnimalMuppet
0 subcomment
- It's not just announcements. SLC (at least) used to have TVs playing the "Airport Channel". Last time I went through there (and maybe the time before?), they were gone. It makes a big difference. You still have announcements, but at least the announcements aren't cutting through some TV noise that you don't care about that is always there.
by pavelstoev
0 subcomment
- SFO is one of the nicest and cleanest airports I frequently transit through. I am from Florida.
- the biggest problem with SFO is all the delayed flights from weather/wind or some other logistical hassle. Usually I try to fly into SJC instead
- The international arrivals section of Vancouver airport is a great example of this. Indoor waterfalls, sound dampening on the walls and ceilings, carpeted floors and wide open space is a huge relief after a 5-15 hr flight. It's also an excellent way of making a great first impression on visitors.
by insane_dreamer
0 subcomment
- Newly renovated (and beautiful) PDX does this too
- I have this theory that all sorts of stimuli exhaust our nervous system: be it auditory, wind stimulation of skin, shaking or even smells. That's why people get tired flying on airplane, spending a day outside seemingly doing nothing, etc etc
by ChrisArchitect
0 subcomment
- Title: San Francisco Airport Removed 90 Minutes of Daily Noise — Travelers Say It Changed Everything
- [dead]
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