Curbside and airside after we have passed through security we are faced with bland concourses and departure lounges that seem more like a suburban shopping mall or prison waiting room. Since the advent of jet travel, few airlines have taken the bold step, of creating spaces that were different both architecturally (TWA Terminal JFK) and interior design wise (Braniff- Love Field Dallas).
Braniff opened their terminal of the future at Dallas Love Field in 1968, designed by Jack Corgan and decorated by Herman Miller with Ray and Charles Eames designs. This was the start of the space age, with metal disc minis from Paris and ‘2001- A Space Oyssey’ waiting to hit the big screen. The airline had started their “The End of the Plain Plane” campaign earlier which saw a complete makeover of everything to do with Braniff, from Pucci uniforms, aircraft, ticket counters and everything the public would see. This was a corporate makeover with a “BANG”, which the travelling public couldn’t help but notice, and I am sure influenced one as to which airline you would buy a ticket for.
On arrival and checking in for you flight, you had a sense of what you were going to expect from Braniff. Even though the check in area might not have been as light filled as some modern day equivalents, here was a space that one noticed, from the use of natural wood, to the ceiling with Braniff advertising suspended from reflective discs, to the continuous Braniff logo behind the counters.
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Bright colours, stripes and corporate logos adorned the walls, and bought us quickly into the space age.
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Now that flying has become so much of a necessity for some and not the special occasion it used to be, can't the airlines and architects make the experience a little more pleasurable? Give us something to look at while standing in line to check in or going through security. Make us think about our surroundings like Braniff did. While not to everyone’s taste it did give us something to talk about.