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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 7, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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How would you improve the airport experience?

I know how I would improve my experience, I often have to travel to southern europe, where my wife is from, from Canada, and the only decently priced flights usually involve > 8 hours layovers, often overnight, and/or early morning departures that require travelling to the airport the night before. Few airports are equipped to keep you comfortable for such long layovers. Many have benches with armrests that discourage sleeping in the landside area; I understand not wanting to be used as a hotel by people who shouldn't be in the airport (or discouraging people sleeping in the part of the airport where pickpockets have easy access), but sometimes you can't help having to stay overnight there and it just sucks. Thankfully, I've yet to see an airport with an airside area that had only armrest benches. Even if the airport has no flights in the middle of the night and it's not very profitable to run it, there should always be at least one café/restaurant per terminal that stays open; just someplace with human activity to keep you from going insane. The "liminal space" nature of an empty airport at night is unsettling and makes every hour run so much slower. It must be what purgatory feels like. I just want someplace to make me feel human, like being in the airport is fine and normal, like I'm not a nuisance or penny-pincher for not going out, paying a taxi then an additional 200$ for barely a night in a hotel, and then having to go through security again. Oh, and those airport lounges? Why the hell do they close at night? While I wouldn't pay for a hotel, I would absolutely pay 25-50$ per person to have a place I could feel safe sleeping in, refreshing myself, taking out my laptop, etc... I don't need them during the day.