Blog #485: The Importance of Sensory Friendly Airports

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As I sit here in the lobby of my secondary base of operations for Going the Distance in Boca Raton, Florida, I wanted to touch base on the importance of something that a lot of neurodivergent and sensory friendly individuals and families have struggled with…airports.

I bring this up because during my layover in Detroit yesterday, I had to go from the regional concourses of B and C to the mainline concourse in Concourse A. In order to get there, you have to go under a tunnel and the tunnel in question is a light show with rainbow colors and smooth music. Walking through the tunnel got me thinking, what is so important about a tunnel connecting concourses at a major airport like Detroit? What is it about the tunnel that gets someone who is neurodivergent like myself excited to want to even come to the airport in the first place?

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Well, the answer to that question may surprise you as airports are working hard to try and make their facilities sensory and inclusive friendly across the country and for that matter, the world as a whole. Nowadays, more and more people are taking to the skies whether its for business, like myself, or for pleasure.

However, think of it as like the tortoise and the hare where the hare is the sudden surge of air travel demand and the tortoise is the airports trying to invest money and time into creating a sensory friendly environment within their facilities. While some airports like in Pittsburgh, Tampa and Newark have managed to create and open sensory friendly locations for travelers, there is still plenty of work that needs to be done.

Many airports have made their connecting tunnels between concourses sensory friendly, but that’s not good enough. What airports need to install are full on sensory friendly rooms and spaces where travelers can decompress if they are overstimulated.

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The two hometown airports I have are an example of night and day approaches. At my hometown international airport, Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, a sensory friendly room was recently installed in the international terminal, Terminal E, but the problem with this is that Logan Airport is essentially like a jigsaw puzzle: the concourses don’t connect with one another and if someone gets overstimulated, they can’t get access unless they are travelling out of Terminal E. Logan Airport has plenty of other concourses that they can install a sensory room in, particularly in Terminals where airlines have a major presence like Delta in Terminal A and JetBlue in Terminal C.

Then there is my other hometown airport, Rhode Island TF Green International Airport outside of Providence, Rhode Island that doesn’t have a sensory room at all. In recent years, TF Green has undergone something of a renaissance if you will where it has expanded to include a startup airline, Breeze Airways that has a base in Providence and routes to destinations like San Juan, Puerto Rico operated by JetBlue. Growing up, the one thing I remember the most is that TF Green Airport had a small game room in each of it’s concourses, out of the public eye.

Okay, so you are trying to attract gamers that like to play video games, but what about travelers who are prone to sensory overloads and stimulation? Take away the video games and replace them with sensory rooms that can result in families and individuals an option to go decompress before or after their flights. I mean, not to make the Transportation Security Administration look bad, but what if a neurodivergent individual has a bad experience with them? The individual will want to calm down, but there is no place to calm down at without attracting unnecessary attention to yourself from other passengers.

The truth is, subtract game rooms and add sensory rooms which can make a big difference.

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Even at my secondary airports in Florida, there is a similar situation where Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida nor Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida doesn’t have a sensory room while Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida has one. Again, approach the matter and consider what is more important to draw sensory friendly and developmentally different families to your airports. Miami’s Airport may be the top dog in South Florida, but Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach’s airports are no different.

One example would be that a sensory friendly room could be installed next to the Delta Sky Clubs at West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, perhaps even a few sensory rooms at FLL concourses where airlines reign supreme such as JetBlue and Spirit.

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The fact of the matter is that 1 in 36 people and children are being diagnosed as neurodivergent and the demand needs to be met to accommodate their needs at our nation’s airports and international airports worldwide.

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Catch you all later!!