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Global Traveler announced on May 1st that Miami International Airport (MIA) won its Best Airport for Layovers Award during the 13th annual Leisure Lifestyle Awards. I’m quite surprised by this as I have never found Miami to be an airport where I enjoy spending time. It’s the busiest airport in the United States for international freight and the second busiest for international passengers, but I’ve always found it to be a bit depressing.
A survey was conducted from September 2024 to January 2025 around the best of leisure, luxury, and lifestyle travel. The survey was published in the magazine, as an insert within subscriber copies, as a direct mail questionnaire, online, and was also emailed. Respondents chose Miami International Airport (MIA) for some reason across this criteria.
The airport is undergoing a beautification project that will cost upwards of $9 billion. So far, it looks like they’re slapping up some murals to brighten up the normally fluorescent lit, 1990s office building vibe. The airport is projected to reach 77 million travelers and more than four million tons of freight by 2040. The project (when complete) will include: a redevelopment of Central Terminal concourses E and F, an expanded South Terminal (concourses H and J), renovated Concourse D gates, and two new hotels.
Anthony’s Take: This all sounds good, but I still think of the airport as being filled with the Bud Light Lounge, Pizza Hut Express, and similar eateries along with the old Avianca lounge, and hangovers in my youth. Maybe someday it will be after this project is complete, but I’m not sure how MIA is a good layover airport currently.
(Image Credits: Miami International Airport.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
2 comments
Best for really short layovers. 🙂
I forget which survey you posted about a couple of months ago that had some less believable results than this. I generally don’t use MIA these days but have some rose tinted glasses about travel there many years ago so I’m biased. One big plus is the La Carreta there where I can still get real Cuban food, in an airport no less.