Traveling with infants or children is often not only stressful in the air, but on the ground. But one lounge at LAX stands out as the superior choice for parents or guardians traveling with young children.
The oneworld lounge in the Tom Bradley International Terminal has a dedicated area for children. Unless I missed them, that’s more than any other lounge at the airport. The nearby Star Alliance and Korean Air (SkyTeam) lounges certainly do not have any. Nor do the Etihad, Emirates, or the Los Angeles International Lounge.
Sometimes we arrive at the airport early or have long layovers between flights. When traveling with children, how nice it is for a designated room to run around and play in. You’ll find the room adjacent to the main dining room hidden behind a curtain. It is large, leaving plenty of room for children to run around in.
My son kept himself busy for 90 minutes here. That’s impressive for a two-year-old with a limited attention span. We had the room to ourselves for the first hour and were joined by two other toddlers for the final half hour. It gave little Augustine a chance to practice the virtue of sharing (note to self: he needs more practice).
CONCLUSION
I was quite appreciative for this room and family-friendly amenity. For those worried about noise, it’s a perfect place to cordon off children in…the rest of the lounge remained tranquil.
> Full Review: Oneworld Business Class Lounge – Los Angeles (LAX)
Heathrow has a great hidden kids play area. It’s in one of the older terminals, either 2 or 3.
Yeah, the T3 play area at LHR is small but fantastic. Follow signs for baby play area. Among other delights there is a bouncy room full of foam toys with an oversize bobby you can topple (it’s hard to describe but it’s amazing).
Honestly if you were a parent blogger and just wrote blog posts with quick tours of the kid-related fun at each airport where you showed up early for a flight or had a layover you’d get plenty of hits. Now that I have a kid I keep an eye for which airports have fun public places for kids.
BOS has a nice set of “Kidports”, There’s a little bit at SFO out by the 80 gates (they’re trying!) and of course the SFO Centurion Lounge kid area is a welcome relief from the congestion of the rest of that lounge. There is essentially nothing in the airside parts we’ve visited at MCO (though The Club has a small kids room and the landside aquarium at the food court is cool). FRA has several nice play areas.
ORD had a great “kids on the fly” play area but it’s erased from their web site and Google Maps says it’s permanently closed? — bummer if so.
Sometimes what is fun isn’t necessarily a play area. I bet my kid would have loved LAX’s Encounter restaurant (sadly closed) and might have liked watching planes from the observation deck (which was open the 2nd weekend of every month as recently as fall 2018 but seems to have been permanently closed).
As someone with a severe allergy to children, I find this information invaluable. Thanks.
LOL, +1
God, I don’t know how parents do it. I feel like spraying my computer monitor with lysol just after looking at that picture. I’m not even a germaphobe, and I love kids, but I feel like as a dad I would constantly be spraying my children with disinfectant. Guess that’s why I’m not a parent lol
Maybe that is why I have another cold…
Oh goddddddd don’t say that. FWIW I found a couple great items to travel with (again, I know it seems like a germaphobe and I promise I’m not). I travel with BAC-D Hand Sanitizer (for my hands) and SONO Disinfecting Wipes (for tray tables / seat headrests, etc…). Both are pretty heavy duty, but I’ve found them to be gentile on my skin. The hand sanitizer especially leaves zero residue, and comes in a thick credit card size container, so it’s easy to keep in your pocket. Both are also available through Amazon prime, and I *knock on wood* made it through a winter of travel without so much as a sniffle.
Congrats to you. I’ve been hit with one cold after another.
There’s a nice play area in DAL not far from the security checkpoint, just before you reach the main food court. I forgot what it’s called, but it looked like there were a fair number of aviation-related foam/block toys to mess with.
P.S. don’t feel bad, Ashok hasn’t figured out this whole sharing thing yet, either…
We will be using this lounge for a few hours before qantas flight back to Brisbane in a few weeks. I have two kids aged 9 and 10. Is there an area catering for their age group?
Not really, but wi-fi is fast if you have a tablet or laptop to keep them occupied. They should run out the terminal to get their energy out before the flight. Perhaps they enjoy planespotting?