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SFO Quiet Airport (2025)
- changoplatanero 6mo agoI had to sleep overnight in the phoenix airport once. All night long a loud speaker was repeating at high volume "Caution: the moving walkway is coming to an end." I remember wishing that it would indeed come to an end.
- enthdegree 6mo agoNo materials on the escalator
- crooked-v 6mo agoThe white zone is for loading and unloading only. There is no stopping in the red zone.
- stooart 6mo agoThe red zone is for loading and unloading only. There is no stopping in the white zone.
- pdonis 6mo agoThe really fun part is that the couple who read those lines in the movie Airplane actually had been announcers at, IIRC, LAX airport. They must have had a great time doing the movie.
- ternaryoperator 6mo agoThe actual quote, both from the movie and IRL is: "The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only."
- CGMthrowaway 6mo agoHit the E-stop button next time. The belt will stop and won't get restarted until the morning when a maintenance guy comes around.
- SR2Z 6mo agoI'm sure the belt will stop, I'm less sure the audio will.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- kstrauser 6mo agoThat sounds like a great way to get tossed out of an airport.
- CGMthrowaway 6mo agoSir this is hacker news not hall monitor news
- kstrauser 6mo agoI’m not the hall monitor. I appreciate a good hack. But I’ve also been around the hall monitors enough to recognize what behavior is likely to summon them. I don’t particularly care if someone shuts up an obnoxious, unused piece of equipment. The armed federal hall monitors running the place probably see it differently.
- a-b 6mo agoSounds like ill advice. Have great potential to discover the authentic beauty of Amtrak and Greyhound modes of traveling.
- dredmorbius 6mo agoGenerally the e-stop button will trigger an e-stop alarm of some sort: buzzer or horn, mandated by regulations.
- dinobones 6mo agoThose walkways are only in between each set of gates, there aren’t any actually near gates or anywhere near seating. Where did you sleep lol?
- m463 6mo agoFemale PA Announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a red zone. Male PA Announcer: The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a white zone. ...
- josuepeq 6mo agoSame problem at LAS, SLC, and DEN. Whenever I have an overnight layover in any of these airports I now pack NIOSH certified ear muffs, along with an eye mask. I look ridiculous, but I don’t care.
- Patrick_Devine 6mo agoI wish they would do this when you're boarding the plane. I get that there is essential information that everyone needs to know, but if you're a frequent flier you've probably heard the "put your larger carry-on in the overhead bin and your smaller bag underneath the seat in front of you" hundreds, if not thousands of times.
- advisedwang 6mo agoEspecially flying with kids at naptime or bedtime. Trying to get an extremely tired toddler to fall asleep on a plane just to hear an announcement about in flight entertainment. OMG.
- AlotOfReading 6mo agoThere's a large subpopulation of people flying who seem to have no idea how planes and airports work. Maybe they're sleep deprived or it's their first time flying, but these announcements are targeted at them.
- s0rce 6mo agoI think its more likely that the people do know they just don't care and it helps them to put their backpack overhead so they do it anyways. There is minimal/no enforcement.
- floren 6mo agoI'm very much a we-live-in-a-society, follow the rules kind of guy, but if I checked a bag and only have my backpack in the cabin, you bet your ass I'm going to try and find a place for it in the overhead instead of cluttering up where I want to put my feet. The flight attendants can go scold the passenger with the oversized roller + backpack + 20 liter "purse" instead.
- s0rce 6mo agoYes, the logical rule would be 1 bag in the overhead per person. If they enforced carry-on sizes strictly and charged less for checked luggage the problem would probably go away.
- jessriedel 6mo agoBesides making the airport more pleasant, targeting announcements to the relevant travelers also means they are much more likely to be heard. When 99% of announcements are irrelevant, we just mentally screen them out.
- sefrost 6mo agoI had this experience starting a new company recently. Every single SaaS product seemed to have a dozen onboarding floating modals that need to be dismissed. It would have been impossible to read them all. In most cases I had used the product a lot before but I simply had a new corporate email so they thought I was a new user. So if any said anything important I wouldn’t know because I had to dismiss them all.
- jfil 6mo agoThis is why Intercom and Pendo are in my adblock list. Enough pop overs!
- _false 6mo agoI didn't realise that "quiet airport" still means there are targeted announcements
- bombcar 6mo agoThe idea is they first try to reach you via the app (I believe) and then announce to the area around the gate only - instead of all announcements going to the entire terminal.
- MengerSponge 6mo agoSee "Alarm fatigue" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_fatigue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_fatigue
- llsf 6mo agoI agree... in early 2000, at Colombo (Sri Lanka) airport, they were calling my name, over and over, but never picked it up. I started to pay attention when some dispatched army guys (it was after the 2001 Tamil Tigers attack at the airport) were screening everyone at the airport asking for my name... ops sorry.
- amiga386 6mo agoBut how am I going to know the white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone. ?
- kstrauser 6mo agoThe red zone has always been for loading and unloading of passengers. There's never stopping in a white zone.
- amiga386 6mo agoDon't you tell me which zone is for loading, and which zone is for stopping!
- traderj0e 6mo agoIs that just in LAX or everywhere? Cause that scene was still relevant in 2000s LAX
- amiga386 6mo agoI've been in a lot of airports, not LAX, and I've never heard voice announcements about loading zones. Most airports just have separate directions for drop off vs parking, and since a terrorist attempted to ram-raid Glasgow airport, neither are near the terminal itself in a lot of cases. Interesting, the directors of Airplane! couldn't get actors with "authenticity" for the anouncers, so they hired the actual LAX announcers.
- gucci-on-fleek 6mo agoThe Calgary and Edmonton airports are also like this, and I agree that it makes being in the airport so much more pleasant. (I think that all the Canadian airports might be similarly quiet, but I haven't flown through them recently so I'm not entirely sure)
- dmazin 6mo agoHas anyone actually heard Eno at the airport? What is it like? Does it actually calm you?
- cholantesh 6mo agoI was hoping to see discussion of this - to my knowledge it was sold to a few airports who removed it after it was poorly received: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/article/abs/unsettling-brian-enos-music-for-airports/376877E6D34C3CBFFF76B552ADD653A6 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-mu... Personally 1/1 has been absolutely sublime for me as a tool for meditation, but I don't know that I could imagine it in an airport.
- dmazin 6mo agoYeah, 1/1 is one song I always keep downloaded to my phone for this reason! Thanks for that article, love to read about well intended design being poorly received.
- cholantesh 6mo agoEnjoy; I especially liked learning of the 'rebuttal' album that the Black Dog released lol
- have_faith 6mo agoNo, but I’ve heard Aphex Twin in an aquarium once. Bristol (UK) for anyone interested, which fits.
- dmazin 6mo agoWas it in that kind of touristy area filled with children? I didn’t think to go in. Is this a regular thing?!
- kstrauser 6mo agoNot exactly the same thing, but I was flying from SFO to the east coast and this stood out to me: At SFO: "Welcome to San Francisco! Please feel free to relax in our yoga and meditation rooms." At DTW: "Welcome to Detroit. Remember to cover your face when you sneeze." Totally different vibes.
- wat10000 6mo agoI always like the differences in the ads. SFO: "Use our AI startup!" DCA: "Buy our warship!"
- oaktowner 6mo agoGo to Louisville -- it's all BOURBON.
- _moof 6mo agoHa. Last time I went through DCA the ads were all "Here's why TikTok isn't evil!"
- temp8830 6mo agoBut usually they are "here's why Palantir isn't evil". Actually, they are "Palantir is evil and that's awesome!"
- krackers 6mo ago"In New York, all the advertising on the streets and on the subway assumes that you, the person reading, are an ambiently depressed twenty-eight-year-old office worker whose main interests are listening to podcasts, ordering delivery, and voting for the Democrats. I thought I found that annoying, but in San Francisco they don’t bother advertising normal things at all. The city is temperate and brightly colored, with plenty of pleasant trees, but on every corner it speaks to you in an aggressively alien nonsense. Here the world automatically assumes that instead of wanting food or drinks or a new phone or car, what you want is some kind of arcane B2B service for your startup" - Sam Kriss
- jasonmp85 6mo ago[dead]
- misterboo72 6mo agoMy home airport. I can confirm that this is a (relatively) quiet airport. I wish they had a meditation space. Knowing SF, it's probably coming.
- throw03172019 6mo agoThere is the Berman Reflection Room at SFO.
- ac29 6mo agoThere are Yoga rooms in terminals 1, 2, and 3
- markvdb 6mo agoI'd love to also have a low smell airport. So many airports direct passenger flow through a shopping zone drenched in perfume fumes. Disgusting as far as I'm concerned. Not to mention the screaming visual pollution of course.
- inatreecrown2 6mo agoCame here to say just that. Smell and visual noise is rampant in most international Airports, especially the duty free areas.
- musicale 6mo agoThe smell of jet (and ground vehicle) exhaust is pervasive. It can't be good to breathe.
- ChrisArchitect 6mo agoTitle: San Francisco Airport Removed 90 Minutes of Daily Noise — Travelers Say It Changed Everything
- drfuchs 6mo agoBurbank Airport used to get recognizable celebrities to record the canned public announcements in their own style. I seem to recall Joan Rivers, Henny Youngman, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. It took some of the edge off while you waited around, at least for a bit. Don't know if this continues.
- AnimalMuppet 6mo agoIt's not just announcements. SLC (at least) used to have TVs playing the "Airport Channel". Last time I went through there (and maybe the time before?), they were gone. It makes a big difference. You still have announcements, but at least the announcements aren't cutting through some TV noise that you don't care about that is always there.
- pnw 6mo agoThis is a nice idea. I don't remember the last time I walked through an airport without noise cancelling earbuds and my own music playing. The noise level definitely adds to the stress if you are a frequent traveler. This is my current favorite airport album. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orph%C3%A9e_(album) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orph%C3%A9e_(album)
- natterangell 6mo agoThank you for this! Such a sad demise for the composer. Amazing music, added to my playlist.
- pnw 6mo agoAbsolutely, Johan is one of my all time favorite composers and as prolific and talented as he was, it's terrible that we will never hear new music from him again. :(
- lawlorino 6mo agoI thought you were going to link Brian Eno’s Music for Airports > intent of defusing the anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal as an alternative to "canned" Muzak and easy listening styles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_1:_Music_for_Airports https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_1:_Music_for_Airports
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- mudil 6mo agoI have this theory that all sorts of stimuli exhaust our nervous system: be it auditory, wind stimulation of skin, shaking or even smells. That's why people get tired flying on airplane, spending a day outside seemingly doing nothing, etc etc
- insane_dreamer 6mo agoNewly renovated (and beautiful) PDX does this too
- jmugan 6mo agoThis is wonderful. I remember I was in Asia in 2000 relaxing at the airport and was puzzled why it felt so nice and peaceful. Then I realized that it was the lack of repetitive pointless announcements.
- danielodievich 6mo agoOne of my formative consulting projects in like 2002 or 2003 was in St. Louis, where couple of hundred of accenture and avanade and microsofties got together for like 6 months week after week to hack on a large software project for multiple states. It was a total crazy show but who cares. I had to take a red eye from west coast to Chicago which landed at 5, then take a 7am to St. Louis. I found some places to just lay there for 2 hours in Ohare, which is already hard. But they all had those TVs that were blasting CNN. I was smart and bought a legendary TV-B-Gone https://www.tvbgone.com/ https://www.tvbgone.com/ and it would work on those! And on so many other tvs out there, from the sports bars to obscure brands in the airport shuttle buses. Thank you TV-B-Gone!
- dry_soup 6mo agoThe one time I flew from Austin, there was a band playing at a restaurant in the ticketed area. Going through security it was bad (you could only really hear the drums) but once I was through it was downright painful. Really makes you wonder how these decisions get made.
- rahimnathwani 6mo agoI was waiting for a flight at SFO, trying to get some work done. Two airport employees were sitting at the next table. One of them started watching a video on her phone, on speaker, at loud volume. I politely asked her to use headphones or turn off the sound. Hey retort: "this is an airport!". I replied that it's a 'quiet airport' but her reaction suggested to me that she was not familiar with the concept.
- traderj0e 6mo ago"Quiet airport" doesn't mean this
- rahimnathwani 6mo agoIt is what quiet airport means, at least in the context of SFO. SFO's quiet airport policy is described on page 17 of this document: https://www.flysfo.com/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025-10%20RR%20Final%204912-2571-7885%20v.1.pdf https://www.flysfo.com/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025-10%2... Here are two quotations from that policy, directly relevant to the situation I described: "The playing of music is prohibited in the following locations: at the podiums, ticket counters, and seating areas adjacent to gates" "employees may not use mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets, in “speaker mode” in any public area of the Airport"
- traderj0e 6mo agoSFO is so nice just because of this. I hope other airports follow.
- HoldOnAMinute 6mo agoHarvey Milk Terminal 1 is my happy place.
- bonsai_spool 6mo agoThe new Berlin Brandenburg airport is the most quiet and lovely I've seen to date: https://onemileatatime.com/berlin-brandenburg-airport-review/ https://onemileatatime.com/berlin-brandenburg-airport-review...
- caycep 6mo agothe biggest problem with SFO is all the delayed flights from weather/wind or some other logistical hassle. Usually I try to fly into SJC instead
- bparsons 6mo agoThe international arrivals section of Vancouver airport is a great example of this. Indoor waterfalls, sound dampening on the walls and ceilings, carpeted floors and wide open space is a huge relief after a 5-15 hr flight. It's also an excellent way of making a great first impression on visitors.
- pavelstoev 6mo agoSFO is one of the nicest and cleanest airports I frequently transit through. I am from Florida.
- sagarm 6mo agoNoise pollution in public spaces is a widespread problem. Maybe given the success at SFO we can institute and enforce of noise limits elsewhere.