Why do airports invite fake passengers to test new terminals?

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is putting the finishing touches on a new $1.7 billion terminal that will open sometime in October. A joint venture of architectural and engineering firms Gensler, HDR and Luis Vidal + Architects designed the terminal, and all systems and areas have been completed and rigorously tested.

"Construction and operational readiness aren't equal," Daniel Bryan, the consultant leading PIT's operational readiness and transition team, said.

Before the official opening date can be set and announced, PIT will conduct two public trial days, or dress rehearsals, where volunteers act as passengers to help make sure everything — and everyone — is truly ready for the big day.

The first terminal-wide test will take place Saturday, Sept. 20, and will include about 1,000 of the 18,000 people who responded to the airport's initial call-out for volunteers.

"We want to recreate Day 1 before it actually happens," Bryan said.

Volunteers will be given scripts to follow for their airport journey. And as pretend ticketed passengers traveling on a pretend peak travel day, they will do all the things real passengers do when they travel from the curb to the gate — checking bags, skis and golf clubs, as well as going through the security checkpoint. They just won't be boarding any planes.

Bryan and his team are confident that all the core systems that have been tested and retested in isolation will work. "This will be the first time we'll see the building come alive," he said, so they'll be on the alert for issues related to acoustics, the audio level of the public address system, wayfinding and cueing, as well as gathering feedback from the volunteer travelers. In addition to testing all the airport systems, Bryan noted that the trials also give all airport staff the opportunity to practice, learn and build confidence in their teams.

"By the time the first passengers walk in the door on Day 1, we want our people not to just know what to do, we want them to know that they've done it already," he said.

The goals were much the same at San Diego International Airport (SAN), which conducted a passenger test day on Sunday, Sept. 14, in advance of the Sept. 23 opening of its new light- and art-filled $3.8 billion Terminal 1 designed by Gensler in partnership with Turner-Flatiron.

Angela Shafer-Payne, SAN's chief development officer, was confident all the systems would work because the airport required contractors to turn over each system in operating mode.

"For example, the baggage handling system alone had an 8,000-page checklist. And they ran thousands of bags through the system for weeks on end. But the simulation day is a different type of activation of the systems."

One thousand volunteers were given cards that told them what kind of passenger they would be playing — e.g., a business traveler or a family of four — and were directed to park in the parking garage, find a specific airline counter, check in luggage, go through security, visit a concession and, perhaps, the restroom or the pet relief area, and get to their gate.

Surveys of SAN's test day are still being tallied, but all the feedback will be valuable "because while we've all lived and breathed this project for so many years and I, for example, could find all the restrooms blindfolded," Shafer-Payne said, there might be testers who point out places where signage for the restrooms (or other such signage) is inadequate.

Indeed, SAN airport learned from testers that that the paging system was too loud in some areas and not loud enough in others, and that better signage was needed for the outdoor dining deck and the oversized baggage belt.

But signage was just one of the elements volunteers commented on after the public trial day Kansas City International Airport (MCI) held ahead of the opening of its new $1.5 billion terminal in 2023.

Even though the test day took place on Valentine's Day, "tickets for the event were super-hot," said Justin Meyer, the airport's deputy director of aviation, marketing and air service development.

Designed, planned and engineered by Skidder, Owings and Merrill, the new stand-alone airport was one of the most visible infrastructure projects the city had undertaken in about 50 years. "So there was a lot of desire and civic pride to be among the first people to test it and see it," Meyer said.

Testing the terminal technology "with volume" was one of the main goals of the test day.

"We wanted to make sure that scanners were scanning, that systems were talking to each other, that ticket printers were printing and that bags put into the system could get delivered to the right baggage belt, things like that," Meyer said.

All systems worked well, but Meyer said some signage was adjusted in response to volunteer feedback, and some changes were made in the restrooms right after opening.

"On terminal test day, but then significantly once we opened, we were finding that the paper towels were shredding, and we ended up with bits and pieces of paper towel all over the floor. Now we have a different, more durable paper towel," Meyer said. Soap dispensers were also dispensing too much soap; a problem remedied with recalibration.

Then there was the problem of many test day volunteers missing their simulated flight.

The test day script asked volunteers to go through the airport and get to their gate for their scheduled flight. "But everyone was just so excited to be in the terminal and walking around, that many people arrived late or were no-shows for their flight," Meyer said. "So that was a funny takeaway for us."

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