Airport Terminals

New Orleans Airport really wants you to visit

Airport Terminals,

We keep track of the airports that offer gate pass programs that allow non-ticketed visitors to go past security and hang out at the airport.

You can see the full list here.

At these airports, you can be at the gate to meet a friend or family member arriving on a flight.

You can spend every last second with someone until they have to board their flight, instead of saying goodbye at the curb or the security checkpoint.

Or you can just go and hang out at the airport by yourself or with a friend and shop, eat, watch planes do their thing, listen to live music or have a date night.

These are all things we’ve done on daycations with our gate passes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Nashville International Airport (BNA) and elsewhere.

The newest airport to offer a gate pass program is Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE).

But here’s news from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), which has offered its Indulge MSY Guest Pass for some time.

The airport is upgrading the Indulge MSY Guest Pass program to make it even easier for non-ticketed guests to access areas beyond the security checkpoint.

Now, in addition to signing up online, eligible guests can use a self-service in-terminal kiosk and get a pass within minutes.

That means it’s even easier to get access to live music and more than 40 dining and shopping options, including local favorites like Emeril’s Table, MoPho, and Fleurty Girl at MSY.

The self-service kiosk is on Level 1 of baggage claim, between doors 2 and 3.

Entry requires standard security screening through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) general boarding lanes, and guests aged 18 and older must present a valid REAL ID or passport.

The Indulge MSY Guest Pass program is available daily until 8 p.m.

We’re making this the Airport Amenity of the Week.

Get past security at these airports without a ticket

Airport Terminals,

You don’t have to have superpowers to get past the security checkpoint at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) without an airline ticket.

That’s because, starting August 11, 2025, CLE is launching a guest pass program called The Hopkins Hangout Pass.

The program allows non-ticketed guests to apply for a pass that will give them access to the secure side of the airport to greet an arriving traveler, spend more time with a friend or family member before a flight or just hang out at the airport to shop, dine or watch planes take off and land.

Guests must submit their request at least 24 hours in advance, but not more than a week in advance and can begin applying for passes on August 6th. Here’s the Hopkins Hangout Pass portal.

Passes will be limited to 100 per day, and guests will only be allowed past security from 7 am until 10 pm.

What other airports offer gate passes to non-ticketed guests?

CLE joins a growing list of airports that offer gate passes to non-ticketed guests. The list includes:

The Wingmate Pass at Philadelphia International Airport. Limited to 100 visitors a day.

Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA): SEA Visitor Pass Program. Limited to 300 guests per day.

The MSY Guest Pass Program at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY).

DTW Destinaton Pass at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW).

BNA Passport at Nashville International Airport (BNA). Limit of 75 visitors per day.

Capital Region International Airport (LAN) in Lansing, MI: the LAN Visitor Pass. Limited to 25 visitors per day.

OC AirPass at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, CA,

ONT+ Visitor Pass Program at California’s Ontario International Airport (ONT)

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) recently rolled out its MCI Guest Pass Program

Palm Springs International Airport has a Stay and Play Visitor Pass

At Orlando International Airport (MCO), the MCO Visitor Pass Program for Terminal C is on hold as of July, 2025.

And we hope that Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), the first airport to offer a gate pass program for non-ticketed passengers, will revive its MyPITPass program when the new landside terminal opens, sometime this fall.

Have we missed any airport gate programs? Let us know!

Long Beach Airport (LGB) gets the love too

Airport Terminals

 

Yesterday, we told you about all the love Portland International Airport (PDX) has been getting. And in listing some of its charms, we neglected to mention the cool, recent rap video about the new main terminal roof.

Today, let’s give some to Long Beach Airport (LGB), which came in 2nd, behind PDX, on the list of the 50 Best Airports in America put together by The Washington Post.

The 2nd place award ranking notes LGB’s ease of navigation and its outdoor courtyard, which are just two of the many features the airport, which has trademarked itself as ‘america’s coolest airport’, is proud of.

LGB also boasts a newly renovated 1941 historic terminal, a $17.8 million project which was recently recognized at the 37th Annual Long Beach Heritage Preservation Awards.

The renovation included the restoration of Works Progress Administration (WPA)-era mosaics by Grace Clements that were (re)discovered when the maintenance team took up the carpet.

Made in 1941, the mosaics pay tribute to Long Beach’s origins in aviation, oil and communications with images of a large map, birds, a ship, an oil well and a hand dialing a telephone.

BWI Airport turns 75. Let’s look at baby pictures.

Airport Terminals

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) will turn 75 years old on June 24th and is planning celebrations throughout the airport on that date.

The airport was originally named Friendship International Airport, as a nod to the local Friendship Methodist Church and surrounding community, but officially changed its name to Baltimore/Washington International Airport in 1973. The airport added “Thurgood Marshall” to its name in 2005 to honor the Baltimore native and the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

To get in the groove for a year of 75th-anniversary celebrations, this month the airport and local organizations are hosting live music performances on the upper level of the airport, near the B security checkpoint. If you’re headed to BWI this month, check the concert lineup before you go.

BWI is also sharing images from its photo archives. Here are a few of the airport’s baby pictures, including a snap of the outdoor observation deck and a game room with pinball machines – two amenities we’d love to see come back.


And look at this: Dulles International Airport wasn’t the only airport to have mobile lounges. In Baltimore, though, they were called “Planemates.”

And we can’t resist one more. This is a snap of the airport interior from the early 1990s, complete with built-in ashtrays in what looks to be hot pink and bright red couches.

All images courtesy BWI Airport

Visit Salt Lake City Int’l Airport without a plane ticket

Airport Terminals

Thanks so $5.1 billion worth of renovations, “The New SLC,” as Salt Lake City Internatonal Airport bills itself, is a pretty impressive place.

In addition to new large-scale public art installations, the return of a massive terrazzo World Map, a dinosaur and a cool and convenient underground tunnel connecting Concourses A and B, the airport has many new shops, restaurants and other amenities.

To show it all off, SLC airport is hosting a public open house from 5 pm to 9 pm on June 28, 2025 and allowing 200 visitors to visit the terminal without an airline ticket.

Registration opens June 13 at 8 a.m. MDT and closes June 23. Tickets are limited to four per registrant.

(Image at top: artwork by Gordon Huether, courtesy Salt Lake City International Airport)