McCarran International Airport

New terminal opening at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas

Airports, Art,

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is officially opening its new $2.4 billion, 14-gate Terminal 3 on Wednesday, June 27th.

16 international carriers will move their operations over to T3 on Wednesday; five domestic carriers (Alaska, Frontier, JetBlue, Sun Country and Virgin America) move over on July 31st; and United and Hawaiian are waiting till late August to make the switch.

The high-tech terminal has more than 200 self-service kiosks that allow airlines to invite passengers to weigh, pay for and tag their own bags and to scan their own boarding passes and self-board at the gates.

There’s also some lovely public art, including “Sunset Mirage” by Barbara and Larry Domsky

Sunset Mirage

Peter Lik’s panoramic photo of Red Rock Canyon, called “Almighty” –

"Almighty"

And this fun mural called “Follies in Flight,” by Terry Ritter

Dance video booth at Las Vegas airport

Airports, Environment, Music, , ,

Here’s a fun – and funny – airport amenity that you’ll only find at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas: a Dance Heads Video Booth

Located near Gate D-5, this booth looks like a photo booth, but is actually a video booth that lets you pick from one of 45 songs (Elvis – of course – Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, James Brown and others) then superimposes your face over animated videos of dancers. Then it makes a recording. For $10, you get a DVD copy of the “performance.” Extra copies, $10 as well.

If you try it out, be sure to send a copy along to StuckatTheAirport.com.

Snack Saturday: iCandy at the Las Vegas Airport

Airport shops, Food, Snack Saturday, , ,

Photo courtesy: Clark County Department of Aviation

There are lots of changes going on, concession-wise, at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Many of the hotel-themed and other shops in the pre-security concession area they call the Esplanade are gone and shops with new concepts are moving in.

One of them is iCandy, a locally-developed shop with its own mascot and a wide variety of sweets, including chocolates by local favorite Ethel M and Tipsy Truffles, alcohol-infused treats ranging from cupcakes to chocolate alcohol drops. Yum!

Record-breaking video screen at McCarran International Airport

Entertainment, Exhibits, Fun Stuff, , , , ,

Fuzzy Dice

In preparation for the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, which will be held in Las Vegas January 6-9, McCarran International Airport partnered up with Samsung Electronics America to install a giant 100-screen video wall in the airport’s D Concourse. There are also smaller, 10-screen displays on the A, B and C Concourses.

McCarranGIANTScreen

Until something bigger comes along, the 33-foot-by-19-foot screen may be the largest-known video wall in a U.S. airport. Big enough, airport officials hope, to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

While we wait to find out, the airport will work on figuring out what to do with this giant screen. In addition to running ads (of course) airport spokesperson Candice Seeley says “The airport is considering the idea of hosting video game challenges on the wall as an added amenity for passengers who want to pass time playing their favorite Nintendo Wii or Sony PlayStation games.”

Or maybe they could show videos of all those old Elvis movies.

McCarron Airport Elvis and show girls