Earlier quoted context omitted.
100% agree, the international arrivals area is dreary and depressing. And slow. Get off the plane, go directly to a shuttle bus, drive around a while, then go in and wait in what was clearly never really intended to be an arrivals area. I gather than there are so few international arrivals that it will likely never be upgraded, but I sure would love to see the fancy face scanning electronic passport reader kiosks lik…
It's a miracle that Portland has direct international service at all. They probably had to bodge on the customs area after the place was built to pick up that route to Vancouver. Also good to keep in mind that a lot of older airports seem kludged together because they were. Fifty years ago passengers were screened at the gate. Then they invented central screening. Then they invented TSA and stopped letting non-passen…
> they invented TSA and stopped letting non-passengers into the terminals
I'd like them to uninvent that. I so fondly remember when family could take you to the gate, and meet you when you came home. Now that planes have impenetrable doors, I don't think we need to keep up the absurd level of "security"