Airports Open Up to Terminal Tourists Who Just Want to Hang Out

Chuck Hughey braves security lines at Pittsburgh International Airport at least once a week. Not to catch a flight, but to get an ice cream cone or cruise a few of the concourses.

Is he nuts? Not at all, he will tell you, just a doting grandfather. He and 3-year-old Cleo spend quality time there, riding the trams between terminals and gliding along the moving walkways.

“It’s so convenient, so safe and so secure,” Hughey, a 72-year-old retired school superintendent, said after a recent visit on what’s called a non-traveler pass. “She loves to look out the big picture window and have a bottle of milk she got from Dunkin’ Donuts and sit there and watch airplanes coming and going and the baggage carriers loading up the planes. We have a great time.”