Flights Of Fancy: Airports Turn Into Shopping Malls

Consider this scenario: You're at the airport and your flight is delayed for an hour. You have the following choices:

-- Read the newspaper - twice.

-- Eat a mystery hot dog at the snack bar.

-- Stare at the departure board and hope the information will magically change in your favor.

-- All of the above.

Sound familiar?

Until recently, travelers didn't have much of a choice at U.S. airports. Whether they were departing or getting a connecting flight, airports offered a miserable selection of shopping and eating opportunities. And with few exceptions, what was for sale was overpriced.

Now things are changing. The nation's airports are being transformed into shopping malls where planes just happen to take off and land. So, when you're changing flights at hubs, or if your flight is delayed and things get tough, the tough can go shopping.

It started in 1988 in Portland, when that airport became the first in the U.S. to go from dealing with just one "master concessionaire" to signing individual contracts with local businesses and franchise operators of name-brand products. It was an immediate success, and the Portland airport stores have now produced sales revenues higher than just about any U.S. airport.

When Portland opened, it signaled a trend in airport shopping. When Pittsburgh airport opened, it became the trend - with dozens of name-brand stores. No longer was there just a newsstand selling

overpriced knickknacks and souvenirs.

The good news - or bad, depending upon your wallet and how early you are for a flight - is that you now have to pass a gantlet of merchants offering quality merchandise. Now, airports house shops ranging from upscale shoe stores to art galleries, Speedo outlets, sports-memorabilia stores, a PGA golf store and The Gap.

The Pittsburgh airport might as well be a mall. There are more than 100 stores, ranging from electronics boutiques to designer chocolates, the Nature Company, record and tape stores, Johnston and Murphy shoes, jewelry stores and the Body Shop. You can even get a massage.

At the Miami airport are a golf pro shop, a putting range and a fitness center.

The new Denver airport may have gotten bad press about its notorious baggage system, but there have been few complaints when it comes to shopping. It boasts art galleries, ski shops, a designer-sweater boutique and a chiropractor.

When the Starbucks coffee chain wanted to put its first store in Cincinnati, it picked the Cincinnati airport, which also features 40,000 square feet of new retail and food facilities.

Both Chicago's O'Hare and Los Angeles International have plans to quadruple the number of airport vendors and services. O'Hare already has a dental clinic, flower stores and a travel-accessories store, while LAX has signed contracts with Benetton, Big Dog sportswear, Neiman Marcus and the Sharper Image.

At Sea-Tac, you can find Pacific Northwest art displays and some Northwest-flavored shops. Dallas-Fort Worth offers everything from a sports-autograph store to a wine boutique and a PGA golf store. Before you run out to the airport to shop, however, check the prices.

At some airports, prices can be hugely out of proportion with the price for the same item in the city.

Just ask William Wrigley, president of the Wrigley chewing-gum company. At a recent stockholders meeting, he heard complaints that the concessions at O'Hare and Los Angeles International charge 70 and 60 cents respectively for gum that usually sells for 25 cents.

"It's very frustrating," he replied. "If I forget to bring gum with me and go buy some, it's very disturbing."

And gum chewers weren't the only complainers. So local governments have prevailed upon many airport operators to match in-city prices. That's not yet the case at LAX, where McDonald's charges substantially more at the airport than in any other city location.

But the Airmall at Pittsburgh now guarantees that airport prices will match city prices - and they do. A ladies' white blouse at the airport Gap costs $28. At a mall in town: $28. A McDonald's Big Mac at the airport: $1.85. Same price throughout Pittsburgh.

But the great choices of name-brand merchandise at local prices have spawned unanticipated passenger problems.

In some cases, travelers have apparently forgotten why they came to the airport in the first place and, in a shopping frenzy, have missed their flights. Others have appeared at the departure gates in plenty of time to make their flights - only to be denied boarding because they were overloaded with too much carry-on baggage.

Peter S. Greenberg's syndicated column runs regularly in the Travel section. Seattle Times Travel