The Stuck at the Airport terminal review team is just back from a 2-day residency at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT).
So it’s a good time to do an update of the 5 Things We Love About listing for CLT.
Here we go.
1. THE CLT ROCKING CHAIRS
Yes, you see rocking chairs at lots of airports these days. But the airport rocking chair amenity debuted first at Charlotte Douglas International Airport back in 1997 as part of an art exhibit.
Travelers loved the rocking chairs so much that when the art exhibit was over, the rocking chairs remained.
Since then, CLT has added more rocking chairs and there are now more than 100 white rocking chairs scattered around the airport for travelers to enjoy.
2. Art at CLT
The air collection at CLT has been growing, thanks to the Terminal Lobby Expansion project and a variety of other projects.
Garden Carpet (above), by Susan Brenner, and Catawba Ways (below), by Janelle Lane Stanley serve as terrazzo welcome mats from the east and west mezzanine skybridges.
Carolina Canopy (below), by Dixie Friend Gay, welcomes travelers in the International Arrivals canopy.
Learn more about all the art at CLT here.
Celebrations of flight
Head to the CLT Concourse A Connector for a fun, visual explanation of the Wright Brothers’ powered flights.
Passengers can follow the length of the Wright Brothers’ first four powered flights along the walkway
Four plaques and markings embedded in the terrazzo floor show the the distance of the first flight – 120 feet, second flight – 175 feet, third flight – 200 feet and fourth flight – 852 feet.
Learn more about CLT’s First in Flight Journey exhibition here.
4. The airport volunteers
Community volunteers at airports can really make a difference a traveler’s journey. Especially when the airport is as busy and sprawling as CLT.
Three of the volunteers we met during our CLT journey are examples of the dedicated crew at CLT.
Michael has been volunteering to play piano in the CLT Atrium several days a week for about 10 years and Rhonda, a former Piedmont Airlines employee now volunteers in the terminal helping travelers find their way.
We also met Sue-Ann, one of the volunteers on the CLT Canine Team who regularly brings her dog, Amelia (as in Amelia Earhart) to the airport to greet passengers.
5. The Airport Overlook
CLT has had an airport observation area, or overlook, in some form or another since 1937. And its current version is a keeper.
The 600-000-foot Overlook at 5130 Airport Overlook Drive offers views of the airfield, the skyline and the CLT Terminals as well as the active construction site for the airport’s future fouth parallel runway.
Amenities on the site are impressive.
There’s plenty of paved parked, two real bathrooms, two age-specific playgrounds, two pretend runways to run on, a food truck staging area, picnic tables and signage describing aviation history and a variety of flight-related tidbits.
Oh, and there’s also a real McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II military fighter jet on display too.
There’s lots more to love at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, so keep reading Stuck at the Airport for more stories from our visit.
