Friday, June 05, 2009

Airport terminal names

The Minneapolis airport has two distinct terminal buildings. One is the Lindbergh and the other is the H.H. Humphrey. One is the big, main terminal and the other is a little satellite terminal. Lileks today in the Strib discusses a proposal to change these names to Terminal One and Two. I agree with Lileks that it's not a good idea, even though I always have a horrible time remembering which name goes with which terminal. There comes a fork on the freeway to the airport where you're required to know the name of terminal you're going to and every time I have this conversation in my head:

Q: Lindbergh or Humphrey?
A: Dammit, why can't I ever remember this?!
Q: Well, obviously the big terminal is named for the man that the Airport Commission deemed more important. So which one would that be?
A: I don't know the answer to that.
Q: Isn't The Spirit of St. Louis hanging in the lobby of the main terminal above the ATM?
A: That must be the Lindbergh then. Wait, no, I'm sure I saw The Spirit of St. Louis at the Smithsonian. Still, the replica must be a clue. Argggh. I'll just take the first exit. Phew! This is the right one. So the main terminal IS the Lindbergh. Now I'll be able to remember it next time.

If we're going to change the names, I think we should go with Huge-Pain-in-the-Ass Terminal and the Small-Fabulous Terminal. Alternatively: Larry-Craig-Bathroom Terminal and The-Other-One.

Lileks' piece includes a mention of Houston Hobby.

1 comment:

Scooter said...

Hobby in Houston and Love Field in Dallas...both much better than Bergstrom in Austin.