Worth The Wait

The U.S. ushered in the dawn of mass jet travel — and the country has many dilapidated airports to show for it. The good news is that passengers tired of dank, aging facilities can now look forward to more comfortable journeys, with the fruits of a late 1990s terminal-building boom finally being realized.

A slew of ultra-modern facilities has been unveiled in 10 American cities, including Seattle, Miami, Detroit, New York City and Los Angeles. The latest and swankiest is Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's $1.4 billion Terminal D: a sprawling, 185,801-sq-m structure that brings élan to the world's third busiest airport. Used almost exclusively by international passengers, the state-of-the-art, 28-gate terminal is home to carriers like American, British Airways, Korean

Air, Lufthansa and Mexicana Airlines.

You can expect the requisite smattering of smart shops and bustling outposts of upscale local eateries, as well as wi-fi access throughout and a security screening center with three walk-through explosives-detection machines capable of processing 2,800 passengers per hour.

For meetings and layovers, a posh 298-room Grand Hyatt Hotel should take care of your needs. It's not all business, however: to enliven the commodious space beneath the building's almost 25-m ceilings, the airport has added paintings, multimedia displays, mosaics and such large sculptures as Crystal Mountain, above. But to many, the real work of art is Terminal D itself.