Airport Madness: The Nightly Rate?

Posted in Airlines | 8 comments

Share on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponSave on DeliciousDigg ThisSubmit to redditShare on MyspaceShare via emailShare

Every time I show up at the airport for an early flight I’m always amazed at the amount of people who sleep at the airport. Whether it be across a row of seats, sometimes even across a row which has armrests, on the floor or in desperate cases, in the bathroom (I’ve seen it) lately stranded passengers seem to prefer the terminal over a hotel room. Rather than taking a Car Hire New Zealand while visiting the Pacific to a hotel, why stay in the airport?

Have you ever spent the night in a terminal? What was your experience?

Share on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponSave on DeliciousDigg ThisSubmit to redditShare on MyspaceShare via emailShare
  • Mark Lyon

    Some folks don’t have the available funds to rent and unexpected hotel room.  It happens, particularly when you’ve booked and paid for a room elsewhere – you decide buying a second one isn’t worth it.

    I’ve slept in a number of airports, usually as a result of some massive mishap with my schedule.  

    One that sticks out in my mind is at ATL while I was in collecte.  I left SFO late in the evening and had a connection (the last flight of the night) to JAN.  I arrived at the gate only to find they had pushed back early – I was the only passenger not at the gate (because I was on another one of their airplanes), the flight was overbooked, and they just bumped me and sent everyone else on their way. There wasn’t even an agent at the gate.  Customer service refused to set me up with a room, they just booked me for the first flight of the morning.  I was tired and frustrated and ended up sleeping on the floor in front of the door to the gate.

  • http://twitter.com/skitten Ciaran

    Yeah – I’ve done it when I have a 6am flight and wouldn’t have been getting to the hotel until after midnight anyway.  Sometimes four (or less) hours sleep doesn’t seem worth paying for.

  • Joseph

    I spent the night at CDG since my flight left ~07:30 and my incoming flight arrived at around 22:00.  It wasn’t worth it in my estimation to make my way into Paris in order to be at CDG at 05:30.  It’s not very comfortable and airport staff chased me out of one area where I had camped out.  I’ll plan better or take different connections next time.  One thing I did learn about CDG in the wee hours is that escalators and moving walk ways stop and only start when you approach them unlike here in the states where they’re on constantly even if no one is around.

  • Anothertraveler

    Once when my flight leaving North Carolina got cancelled at 1:30am and the next flight out was at 5am. And then again when I had another 5am flight leaving Prague back to the states. Prague had a way cleaner and nicer airport plus there were other tourist there playing catch with a football within the massive airport. Worth the stay.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=55100502 Nick Boylan

    I did spend one night in an airport, but it was mainly because I arrived at 4am after a snow storm in NC and did not want to drive out of the airport until it was light, so I could see some of the issues on the road

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=593805601 Robyn Jacqueline

    I’ve done it more than once. It’s not the most comfortable, but it saves you money and time. Why pay $100+ to sleep for maybe 4 hours or whatever in a hotel, and then have to take a shuttle/taxi to/from, when you can just find a corner to camp out in and save yourself the money. If your travelling with few people it might be worth it because you can split the cost of a room 2-5 ways, but it most cases I’ll just tough it out and sleep at the airport.

  • Frank

    There’s even a website for “sleeping at airports” and it comes with suggestions and reviews!  Great resource should you find youself stranded in AIRPORT HELL:  http://sleepinginairports.net/

    • http://upupandagay.com Bobby Laurie

      Oh my god! I had no idea! This is crazy!