This seems like a pretty fun thing to do.
If you have a long layover at the airport, why not enjoy some of the things that Las Vegas is famous for: entertainment, nightlife, clubs or dining at a restaurant run by one of the many celebrity chefs?
But alas, few flights have long layovers at Harry Reid International Airport.
In fact, Reid is recognized as one of the country's premier O&D airports, meaning “origin and destination” airports.
This means that for a vast majority of flights, Las Vegas is the destination and not a stopover on the way to another destination.
For years, when it was known as McCarran International Airport, it was the second largest O&D airport in the country behind Los Angeles International Airport.
Today, Reid slipped to fourth place behind Los Angeles, Orlando International and John F. Kennedy International in New York, according to a Reid International spokeswoman.
To qualify for a stopover, an airport must generally be an airline hub. The closest airline to having a hub in Las Vegas is Reid's busiest commercial airline, Southwest Airlines, which offers numerous connecting flights through Las Vegas, many of which depart from destinations on the West Coast and Reno to airports on the East Coast.
But Southwest has for years prided itself on its fast airport turnarounds, arguing that a plane in the air is more profitable than one on the ground.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is another airline that capitalizes on round-trip flights. It works to bring passengers to Las Vegas and put them up in local hotels, a strategy that generates two revenue streams.
National Airlines, a Las Vegas-based low-cost airline, operated at McCarran from 1999 to 2002 and was the champion of long layovers. National Airlines used the airport as a hub, connecting cities across the United States via Las Vegas, and encouraged layovers. It offered passengers the opportunity to stay in Las Vegas during transit at no extra cost, allowing them to enjoy our city as they traveled from Los Angeles to New York at a leisurely pace.
Although the chances of enjoying a stopover in Las Vegas are limited, here are some tips to make the most of it:
— Find out where and how to access taxis and book transportation in Las Vegas. Taxis run 24/7 from the airport, and Uber and Lyft are available from the Terminal 1 parking lot.
— Know your schedule. It can take over an hour to get through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines when the airport is busy. That means you may need a layover of four hours or more to do something fun here.
— Make reservations. If you go to a restaurant, chances are you'll have to wait for a table unless you have a reservation.
— Know a little about the geography of Las Vegas. From the airport, it takes less time to get to the Strip than from downtown Las Vegas, for example.
— Choose activities that are not time-limited. There are many museums to visit in Las Vegas, where you can take a tour, see a few things and then return to the airport.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
