Trippe the Light Fantastic

Slated to open in 2025, a new luxury terminal at Miami International Airport (MIA) will afford affluent travelers opportunity to bypass the inconvenient and demeaning cattle-call of Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) screenings in open-view of the Sunshine State’s plebeian masses.

What’s more, the new facility—which occupies Pan American Airways’ (Pan Am) former regional headquarters building—will offer monied-types an elevated, salon-style lounge experience replete with private suites, a landscaped courtyard, and private transportation to and from departing and arriving flights.

The luxury terminal will be operated by PS, a travel concern formerly known as Private Suite which operates a similar facility at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and intends to presently open additional such oases at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

In a statement, the MIA Airport Authority set forth: “To avoid the congestion at one of America’s busiest airports, PS MIA will offer members and guests an elevated lounge experience, the Salon and private suites equipped with a private balcony, or the landscaped courtyard for some final moments in Miami’s sunshine.”

The statement continues: “At boarding time, members and guests will be brought through on-site TSA screening before being driven to their commercial flights at any of MIA’s concourses, to board the plane directly from the tarmac via the jet bridge stairs. For those arriving at MIA, the full experience is reversed seamlessly, from tarmac pick-up through airport departure.”

At its LAX facility, PS offers well-shod travelers “all-access” annual memberships for $4,850. Members pay an additional $3,450 per-trip fee for private suites capable of accommodating up to four passengers, and a $695 per-person fee for access to the facility’s Salon lounge. Salon members pay $1,250 per-year, which works out to $4,650 per-trip for a private lounge and $795 per-person, per-trip for lounge access. Non-members may utilize the facility and its services on a waitlist basis, paying $4,650 for a private suite and $995 for lounge access.

Direct aircraft boarding costs all-access members another $3,450 per trip for up to four passengers, while Salon members and non-members are charged $4,650 for the privilege of being conveyed privately to their flights.

The MIA statement concludes: “Breathing new life into the former Pan American Airways Regional Headquarters, PS’s signature premium experience will celebrate the legacy of its historic new home, demonstrating architectural innovation, creativity and deference to the building’s past. Helmed by acclaimed architect Richard Heisenbottle, lauded for leading Florida’s preservation efforts, PS MIA will bring together a team of architects, interior designers and contractors experienced in historic preservation.”

Founded in 1927 by two former U.S. Army Air Corps officers, Pan Am began as a scheduled airmail and passenger service operating flights between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Under the leadership of American entrepreneurial visionary Juan Trippe, the airline evolved into the world’s principal and largest international air-carrier and unofficial overseas flag-carrier of the United States.

Until its dissolution in 1991, Pan Am epitomized the luxury and glamour of intercontinental travel. To this day, the airline remains a cultural icon of the 20th Century and elicits affection in the hearts of those who recall its blue-globe logo and the Clipper appellations and call-signs of its aircraft.

FMI:www.reserveps.com