One of the most successful romances in Hollywood history begins at the airport. You can see couples kissing, grandmas hugging each other, children falling into a woman’s arms. “When the global political situation depresses me, I always think of the arrival hall at Heathrow,” says a man’s voice at the beginning of “Actually Love” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/.”It is always claimed that we are alive in a world of hate and greed, but that’s not true. On the contrary, it seems to me that we are surrounded by love everywhere.”
Maybe the Philadelphia airport marketers had this movie opening in mind when they dreamed up a program called “Wingmate” that launches next week – or one of the hundred other references to pop-culture airport romance, be they scenes from “Casablanca” or “Terminal.” or the song “Leaving on a jetplane”. From November onwards, anyone who wants to bring someone to or pick them up from the airport in the US state of Pennsylvania will not necessarily have to wait in front of the security gates with hundreds of other visitors as before. Or blow goodbye kisses hours before the flight leaves. Instead, if he or she has registered online, he or she can accompany the person he or she loves to the gate. A fitting idea given the current world situation, a little more love certainly won’t hurt.
It’s also about – money
But anyone who is happy about the good in the world should not forget: operating airports – in this case with more than 106,000 employees – costs money, and that has to come from somewhere. And so the video in which the program is advertised suggests that there is more than just warmth behind the Wingmate idea. The video is about making someone happy. But the “more than 140 shops and restaurants” waiting for customers at the airport also get plenty of mention. The child in the video is bought a cap and sweets and the friends celebrate their reunion with two large coffees right in the airport hall. And, oh coincidence: Anyone who has a “Wingmate Pass” gets special offers in stores. How little it is actually about family love, for example, is also shown by the fact that only adults can register for the pass.
Nevertheless, it is a small sensation that the number of airports where all this is possible is increasing. Seattle and New Orleans have similar programs, as does Orlando. The official reports only say that the new regulations are possible for the first time in more than 20 years. What it doesn’t say: Before the attacks on the World Trade Center, in the USA – in contrast to Germany, for example – it was a given that visitors could go to the gate. This has only changed since the attacks and increased security measures and has remained this way for more than two decades, until now.
And so it may not be about love at these airports, but about a little more trust and a feeling of security than before. And that is at least a start.