San Diego International Airport

How to best test an airport terminal

Airport Terminals, Uncategorized,

You’d think that after hiring the best architects and builders and spending billions of dollars, a new airport terminal would be ready to spring into action when the work is done.

But before flights begin to come and go from a new terminal, airports usually run a dress rehearsal day with volunteers pretending to be passengers.

Here’s a slightly different version of a story we wrote for The Points Guy about why and how airports do these tests.

Why ask fake passengers to test airport terminals?

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is putting the finishing touches on a new $1.7 billion terminal set to open in October. Architectural and engineering firms Gensler, HDR and Luis Vidal + Architects designed the terminal and all systems and areas have been completed and rigorously tested.

“But construction and operational readiness aren’t equal,” Daniel Bryan, the consultant leading PIT’s operational readiness and transition team, said. Before the official opening date can be set and announced, PIT is conducting two public trial days, or dress rehearsals, where volunteers act as passengers to help make sure everything — and everyone — is truly ready for the big day.

The first terminal-wide test took place Saturday, Sept. 20, and included about 1,000 of the 18,000 people who responded to the airport’s initial call-out for volunteers.

Pretend passengers traveling on a pretend peak travel day were asked to do all the things real passengers do when they travel from the curb to the gate — checking bags, skis and golf clubs, going through the security checkpoint and finding their gate.

“This will be the first time we’ll see the building come alive,” Bryan said, so the team planned to check the acoustics, the public address system levels, signage and more. The test day was also a day for airport staff to do a run-through for the first day.

San Diego International Airport’s new terminal

It was the same story at San Diego International Airport (SAN) on Sept. 14. Opening day for is Sept. 23 for the $3.8 billion Terminal 1 designed by Gensler in partnership with Turner-Flatiron.

All went well, with adjustments planned in response to feedback that the paging system was too loud in some areas and not loud enough in others, and that better signage was needed for the outdoor dining deck and the oversized baggage belt.

What did Kansas City International Airport learn from its test?

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) held a test day back in 2023 ahead of the opening of its new $1.5 billion terminal.

All systems worked well, said airport spokesman Justin Meyer, and in response to volunteer feedback, the airport ordered more hefty paper towels for the restrooms.

Then there was the problem of test day volunteers missing their fake flights because they were spending too much time checking out the terminal.

Snaps from San Diego Int’l Airport’s lovely new Terminal 1

Airport Terminals

San Diego International Airport’s existing Terminal 1, built in 1967, closes on Tuesday, September 23, and the swanky new light-and-art-filled $3.8 billion Terminal 1 officially opens.

(A few flights will arrive at new T1 on the evening of September 22).

Designed by the Gensler architecture firm in partnership with Turner-Flatiron, the new terminal boasts five impressive commissioned art pieces – including Matthew Mazzotta’s jellyfish-inspired Rise, up above -, an outdoor patio with views of San Diego Bay and downtown, 13 security lanes, 7 bag claim carousels, and more.

We had a chance to tour the terminal as finishing touches were being put in place. Here are a few snaps from our tour.

Views galore

The terminal was designed to be “open and inviting – a glassy pavilion in a garden,” said Gensler’s Terence Young, Principal, Design Director and Project Designer. Passengers can see out to the airfield from plenty of spots along the concourse, but the coziest seating is likely the area behind the center information bank.

Cool concessions

New Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport opens with 5 specialty stores and a dozen food and beverage outlets.


Beautiful bathrooms

We already made SAN’s new Terminal 1 restrooms our Airport Amenity of the Week.

Not just because they’re lovely, but because each sink has three fixtures.

One dispenses soap.

One dispenses water.

And the third is a personal hand dryer.

So no need to drip your way across a counter to find a paper towel.

Did we mention all the art at SAN’s new T1?

We did. But here are a few more snaps.

Vessel of Light, by Erwin Redl, in the dining hall, is made of triangles that respond to music from the stage beneath it, and to ambient noise

.

Amy Ellington’s A Day in the Sun includes six mosaic-covered columns in the recomposure area just past the security checkpoint.

More than a million hand-set glass tiles create patterns that are inspired by the transition from sunrise to sunset along the Pacific shoreline.

Be sure to look on the floor around each column; there are tiles set into the terrazzo too.

Airport amenity of the week

Bathrooms,

The Stuck at the Airport team spent a long day touring San Diego International Airport’s lovely new Terminal 1 facility, which is scheduled to begin hosting flights on September 22, 2025.

We’ll be back with more images and information, but because it’s Friday, we’re declaring one of the SAN’s new restroom features Airport Amenity of the Week.

In each restroom, every sink has three fixtures.

One dispenses soap.

One dispenses water.

And one is the airport amenity of the week: a personal hand dryer.

This should cut down, or perhaps eliminate, icky wet counters that result from hand washers searching around for and walking over to communal hand dryer machines or paper towel dispensers.

Good thinking, San Diego International Airport!

Turn travel into poetry at San Diego Int’l Airport

Art,

 

Passengers traveling through San Diego International Airport (SAN) may have their travel tales turned into poetry.

Now through April 29, the airport’s Spring 2025 Performing Arts Resident, Poets Underground, will be onsite in the terminals at their luggage-inspired stage called The Great Poetic Baggage Exchange.

The artists will be inviting and enticing travelers to engage in conversations and mural paintings around five travel-inspired themes: Adventure, Baggage, Connection, Checkpoint and Rise.

The stories and images gathered at SAN will help the arts residents create poems and other artworks that will be then be featured in three airport performances on May 2, 6, and 8.

Could be fun!

Fresh art at San Diego Int’l Airport

Art,

(Artist: Guillermo Arias)

Mirror, Mirror exhibition at San Diego Int’l Airport

Mirror Mirror, the newest temporary exhibition on display at San Diego International Airport (SAN), features more than 100 works by 16 contemporary artists from the region, all exploring the fascinating interplay between light, color, and space. 

(Artist: Sophia Allison)

SAN’s Mirror, Mirror exhibition draws on the legacy of the California artists who were part of the 1960s Southern California Light and Space movement.

According to exhibition notes, artists were inspired by the unique quality of Southern California’s light “revolutionized minimalism” by using then-new light-interactive materials such as resin, plastics and neon.

The light-interactive materials were handy, thanks to the local aerospace manufacturing and industrial design industries.

Look for the Mirror, Mirror exhibit at San Diego International Airport in both the pre- and post-security areas of Terminal 2 throughout 2025.

(Artist – May-ling Martinez)

(Artist: Wendell Kling)