The Pittsburgh International Airport: Shop, dine, or travel

I recently traveled to the Pittsburgh area and once again enjoyed the Pittsburgh airport. My family flew there the first time in 1993 after the new airport opened and I was impressed with the layout, the many shops and the restaurants.

The design in the early-mid ‘90s was meant to attract casual airport visitors as a mall destination even if people weren’t there to meet friends or relatives coming in on flights.

When I compare the Pittsburgh airport to Los Angeles International (since I live in Pasadena) I certainly see that Pittsburgh is a much nicer airport in terms of cleanliness and given the fact that it’s newer.

The airport certainly seemed busy enough in the ‘90s yet the crowds weren’t overwhelming even when flying during the Christmas holidays whether we had bought discount tickets or paid full fare. Moving from one concourse to the other is easy, shops and restaurants are in the middle, and a nice climate-controlled walkway on the outside leads to the parking lots and the airport Hyatt Hotel.

While researching this article, I discovered that JD Power and Associates named Pittsburgh International as one of the top five airports nationally in terms of customer satisfaction.

I first remember flying out of Pittsburgh to Los Angeles in the late ‘60s when my dad took us to Los Angeles when he had to fly on business. We flew on TWA and the windows were covered with small curtains.

The Pittsburgh airport was still fairly young at that time.

In1940s, government officials decided Pittsburgh needed a military airport to defend against its industrial base. By 1944, AlleghenyCounty officials decided to expand the military base with a $33 million dollar commercial airport built with only Pittsburgh area companies.

Visitors walking to baggage claim in the current airport descend down escalators that pass by statues of George Washington and Franco Harris, the former Steeler running back known for his "immaculate reception" against the Oakland Raiders in '72. Talk about combining history and culture!

While waiting for my flight back from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, I discovered two airlines that I hadn’t heard of previously: usa3000airlines and Myrtle Beach Direct Air and Tours.

USA3000 Airlines exclaims on its website “Great service isn’t a thing of the past.”

Myrtle Beach Direct Air flights are public charters operated by Virgin America, USA Jet, and XTRA Airways.

For shopping and dining information at the airport call 1-800-ITS-FAIR during normal eastern time business hours.

I heard anecdotal reports that traffic is down at the Pittsburgh airport. My brother who flies out of there fairly often says additional gates have been closed. And during my flight back to Los Angeles, the person sitting next to me said he can notice fewer jets flying over his house in the afternoons to land. The area surrounding the PittsburghInternationalAirport has much to offer as does the city.

I hope that for its future, its governed well and draws the traffic it deserves. I can recommend it as a comfortable airport.