Question:
Taking Delta all over the country this summer, with numerous shifts and waits in Cincinnati and Salt Lake. Not quite enough time to go into the city in either case, so can someone tell me what I should look for as good hang-out places, food places, bookstores, or whatever in these airports, and how much I can expect from them? I’m used to La Guardia or O’Hare; I realize I can’t neces- sarily expect the same from these, but want to know what I *can* expect. -Naomi — Naomi Rivkis "Always distrust the man who looks you straight in the eyes. He wants to prevent you from seeing something, Look for it." Dorothy L. Sayers
Response:
NR> Taking Delta all over the country this summer, with numerous shifts NR> and waits in Cincinnati and Salt Lake. Not quite enough time to go NR> into the city in either case, so can someone tell me what I should NR> look for as good hang-out places, food places, bookstores, or NR> whatever in these airports, and how much I can expect from them? I’m NR> used to La Guardia or O’Hare; I realize I can’t neces- sarily expect NR> the same from these, but want to know what I *can* expect. well, first of all, I presume you’ll only be spending a typical "hub pull & push" segment in these airports – that is, about an hour. It’s not much time, really. By the time the plane lands, everybody gets OFF, you go cross-concourse (not always, but enough of the time that you should allow for it, timewise), you will only have about 15 minutes before they call for boarding on your *next* flight. Nevertheless! CVG has more in the way of "amenities" than SLC. Delta has two concourses at CVG, Concourse A & B in Terminal 3 (plus their Delta Connection Carrier, Comair, on Concourse C). Concourse B is the "nicer" one (wider hallways with lots of moving sidewalks and plenty of shops & food options). Unfortunately, you don’t really get an option which concourse you use (DL does schedule flights to "bigger" cities out of Concourse B, so if you’re flying to Chicago or Denver or Boston or Houston, you’ll be almost certainly out of Concourse B). The main amenities of concourse B are right in the middle. Here is a crude ASCII picture: G gates gates gates FOOD gates gates G A A T moving sidewalk moving….. moving sidewalk…. T E E S gates gates gates BOOKS gates gates S see, I *told* you it was crude 
There are also news stands and smaller food options throughout the concourse (pizza shops, deli sandwiches, etc). The food court has a pizza hut, taco bell, kfc, mcdonald’s, mrs fields, a sit-down Cheers, Starbucks, and I think I’m missing one other thing. There is also a Disney Store, a great bookstore (Waterstones), several good news stands (including the "mother ship" across from the food court), and other specialty stores (a sports parephenalia store, a "Cincinnati" store, etc). bathrooms are plentiful and clean (this is a plus in my book). Toilets and sinks are of the auto-flush, auto-on/off variety. You have been warned There are phones near every bathroom, as well as one or two at every gate pair. The odd numbered gates have a slightly better view of air traffic (mostly taxiing Comair traffic) than the even numbered gates (which can only view Concourse A). It’s not worth saying much about Concourse A. They do have some stuff there (news stands, the occasional food stop), plus one Chili Bar (Gold Star Chili), but it’s not nearly as "high class" as Concourse B. Travel from Concourse A to B is via underground train (or underground walkway). At Salt Lake City, Delta is spread out over two concourses – Concourse C & D. Their Delta Connection Carrier (Skywest) is in Concourse E. Concourse C & D are pretty identical – both have similar amenities, neither is better than the other. More crude ASCII art: security restaurants walkway concourse E OTHER CONCOURSES walkway walkway concourse C Concourse D gates gates both Concourse C and D have some "cafeteria" style places – Taco Bell Express, Pizza Hut Express, and TCBY. Neither of them have much in the way of sit-down space for eating. The gates at SLC are smaller than at CVG (in general), so there is less space for everyone to sit down (basically if you get to the gate late, you may have to stand til you board your plane). There is also a Burger King, plus one other restaurant (whose name escapes me) near the walkway between Concourse C & D. bathrooms in SLC are very clean, although they are the manual operated variety. There are even check sheets on the wall where you can see how often the bathrooms are cleaned (usually every 30-60 minutes!). Phones are less available than CVG, but they’re not hard to find. news stands are kind of puny, but the selection is good (if a bit too "mainstream" – SLC’s magazine selection didn’t seem as eclectic as CVG). SLC doesn’t have a "real bookstore" (minus in my book!). So there you have it! I think that’s all I have to say about the two … if you have any more questions, ask me (in email if you’d like). –Helen
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