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Airport cardio: Hoofing it to the gate

The long connector between Denver's main terminal and Concourse A. (Image: Jim Glab)

The long connector between Denver’s main terminal and Concourse A. (Image: Jim Glab)

Sure, you could take the moving walkway or people-mover or even hitch a ride on one of those little golf carts — but some big airports allow passengers to get in a pretty good workout if they walk all the way to the gate.

USA Today looked into the maximum walking distances inside some major U.S. airports, and the results can be exhilarating (if you’re in shape) or daunting (if you’re not).

For instance, the newspaper found that a passenger at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson who hoofs it from the front of the domestic terminal to a gate in the international terminal will log more than two miles, but there’s a train for that.

The walk from the end of Concourse E to immigration at Concourse F at ATL is a long haul (Map: Delta)

The walk from the end of Concourse E to immigration at Concourse F at ATL is a long haul (Map: Delta)

What’s really irritating at ATL is arriving at International Concourse E, then having to walk through the sterile concourse, then through a tunnel under the tarmac to immigration and customs facilities located in terminal F. Not fun after 10 hours in the air, whether you are fit or not. The situation is so bad that the airport has employed cheerleaders along the route telling passengers how much longer they must walk. (I noticed this after a 14.5 hour Korean Air A380 flight from Seoul to Atlanta last fall. Here’s my Trip Report on that. )

The longest hike at San Francisco International would be from Gate 55 in Terminal 2 to Gate 101 in the International Terminal, the newspaper said, which is a little over three-quarters of a mile. And at Denver International, a walk within a single concourse — the B concourse — from one end to the other is 3,300 feet, or more than six-tenths of a mile.

If you’ve got time to kill at Chicago O’Hare, walk from Terminal 1’s Concourse C through the tunnel and out to the end of the L Concourse in Terminal 3, and then back again, and your FitBit or iPhone will tally more than two miles.

Readers: What’s the farthest you’ve ever walked in an airport, domestic or foreign? Which one was it?

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