Airport Experiences

I will be heading to Portland this week, so another couple of days of travel for me.  This will provide me with some added insight to the guest experience of airports...  today I am considering the comprehensive process of flying somewhere.  From leaving your home or office to arrival in your destination city. 

I believe that a few of the tasks required for air travel are major sources of psychological and/or physical stress.  Those include heading to the airport; making sure your bags meet regulations (for weight and contents); making sure you are in the correct line for security; undressing/rearranging everything on the conveyor belt; reassembling all of your belongings and redressing.  For some people, it is physically challenging to perform these tasks.  For others it is unnerving due to their country of origin.  For others it is so routine that they occasionally gloss over a step and have to submit to additional searches. 

Is it ever NOT stressful to travel by air?  Even if a person likes traveling, there is still a higher stress level for them on a travel day than on a non-travel day.  There are more things to track on travel days and therefore more things to potentially lose track of. 

Our BAC Intensive experiences are an example of one travel extreme - 10 days away from home, with large quantities of clothing and art supplies and books that we need to bring along.  I had two bags (one huge) and a large briefcase.  My trips to Chicago for work tend to be one day in and out which are the other extreme - no suitcase at all; it's like a workday commute. 

This week I will be considering the process, tasks and where the environment could be altered to lessen the stress of the passengers.  The security line is an in-between space with a definite function and set of spatial requirements.  How can we (as architects) make people happy (or at least less unhappy) while they are in that line?