Safe for comfy benches, but not toothpaste or wi-fi

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SeaTac Airport's relatively new Terminal A is nice. I was irritated by wi-fi problems, but impressed by all the shops, cafés, power outlets, and comfy chairs and benches. Wow! Long, flat, padded benches... perfect for sleeping during a long layover. I've never seen such a thing. I'm sure in my pre-9/11 youth they created all those awkward rows of chairs with armrest dividers to prevent transients from sleeping in the airport... for better or worse, that's not an issue in today's permanently secured areas. And the guy ahead of me in line at the x-ray had to throw away his tube of toothpaste.

Speaking of permanently secured areas, D/FW is a crazily pre-9/11 airport trying to make it in a post-9/11 world. Huge, extravagant, mall-like shopping and restaurant centers in each terminal... but every single venue stuck inside the security screen. My good friend N., whom I hadn't seen since 1999, came down at 6:05 AM to meet me and catch up, but outside the secure area we couldn't get so much as a lousy cup of coffee to visit over.

Note to self: when meeting a friend during a long layover, first make sure the departing flight isn't in a totally different terminal. If necessary, travel to the departing terminal before getting engrossed in conversation. Don't spend 3 hours talking and then damn near miss the connecting flight.

Oh, except the train to get from one terminal to another is... hmm... inside the secure area.

At least D/FW is clean, shiny, and typically North Texas ostentatious. Bradley International in Hartford is pre-9/11, pre-me, quite possibly pre-manned flight, and it's showing its age painfully. It doesn't have Honolulu's colonial charm, either. No more complaining about SeaTac's wi-fi for me!

Also: I love American Airlines, because American Airlines respects my femurs.

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