Airport Zen | Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) at Sunset

Getting to the airport several hours early has benefits if you’re nerdy for airports. But then, Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)  never struck me as one that I’d want to spend so much time at. Until now…

I walked up and down each concourse of the Barry Goldwater Terminal at PHX (some much busier than others) until I found one with very few people. Here’s where I found the most peace.

In Between Moving Walkways: There’s enough room for people to move around you as they get  from one walkway to the next. This isn’t a great spot for groups, but if you’re solo and love to look at planes, it’s a nice view of the apron and more throwback liveries than you can shake a stick at. This is a standing-only zen spot as there are no chairs here (or anything, really). Just be sure not to set all your luggage here while you gaze outside. “Walk” lane walkers don’t like stuff in their way.

Empty seats behind a gate desk: I found a nice area behind a desk at the end of the B gates. Not much was coming in or going out of this concourse on this visit so I set up shop in a small row of 3 seats looking out onto the apron. My view here was mostly US Airways but somewhere back there is a British Airways 747.

Pre-Security: There are no plane views here and it’s hardly “zen” but there’s good land-side seating with both standard and USB power. The Courtyard by Marriott hotel chain had a  temporary “mini-lounge” setup on this visit with communal bench seating, sofa seating and power outlets available on my visit. Minus the booze and tiny snacks, It wasn’t much worse than the US Airways Lounge near the B gates. Here’s a quick video of what we found before the TSA strip-down:

Tell us your favorite spots at Phoenix Sky Harbor in the comments!

Tagged as: Barry Goldwater Terminal,  Jake Redman,  modhop,  Phoenix Sky Harbor,  PHX,  Terminal 4.