Here’s What Passengers Are Saying about the Transformed PIT

As passengers and their family members walked through the new landside terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) for the first time, many stopped for photos of the ceiling’s starry lighting fixtures, copper-colored steel support columns and Alexander Calder sculpture hanging from its central lookout point.

As Dave Delachevrotiere dropped off his bag and made his way toward the security checkpoint, he couldn’t stop gawking at the interior.

“Very, very well done,” he said. “We’re visiting from San Francisco, and I actually wish that [the San Francisco airport planners] would have taken some notes on how to do things right. Everything’s great.”

Tuesday, Nov. 18, was the transformed airport’s first day of operations. Delachevrotiere took an Uber to his inaugural flight and said getting to and through check in took no time at all.

“The interior’s great,” Delachevrotiere said. “This is way improved.”

Nearby, Steve Wei waited in the TSA PreCheck line amid the throng of morning commuters. Wei didn’t mind waiting in the security line, knowing that there was no train trip beyond it.

“It’s moving fast,” he said.

Travis Alkek parked in the new Terminal Garage and came through the indoor connecting tunnel just after 5 a.m. Being early helped, he said, but parking was easier than ever.

“The airport’s nicer,” he said. “It’s cleaner, it feels nice coming in here — and you don’t have the little square tiles that all the suitcases are clicking and clacking on.”

Just after 5:15 a.m., passengers from United flight 794 — the first domestic flight to arrive at the new terminal — made it to baggage claim.

When Jie Qiu and her father, Zhenghua, left for San Francisco, they didn’t know that they’d return to a new terminal. It was a pleasant surprise, she said, and without the train between terminals, they made it to baggage claim three to four minutes after deboarding.

Leonard Tangban also said it only took him about three minutes.

“I could tell the difference,” said Tangban, who uses the airport two to three times a month. Above all, he was excited to see scaffolding removed and the airport’s finished form revealed.

“I think it’s good for the city and for the people who come to Pittsburgh for the first time. It’s a nice first impression,” he said.

Upstairs, Nancy Rusbosin and Linda James watched their sister, Carol, make her way through the security line, waving all the while.

“It’s beautiful, and it’s been so simple,” Rusbosin says. “This reminds me of the Santa Barbara area with all the lights up here; it’s so airy. It used to be you had to park and go on that long walkway.”

After James heard about the terminal’s opening last week, she convinced her sister to move her Monday, Nov. 17, return flight to Tuesday morning so they could all see the space together.

“When I was coming up the escalator, I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, Pittsburgh’s competing with the rest of the county,’” Rusbosin says.