Stuck in the airport on a long layover with the kids? Here's good news about traveler-friendly facilities and activities while you wait in the world's major airports. Stuck in the airport on a long layover with the kids? Here's good news about traveler-friendly facilities and activities while you wait in the world's major airports.

It didn't take a seer to predict an increase in air travel and a decrease in services, but it took a visionary to turn airports into fun entertainment centers. From Orlando to Singapore, new airport facilities can diffuse many of the negative experiences -- from jet lag to air rage to security waits and long layovers -- of plane travel.

Now, if you have to check in earlier than you ever feared possible, you can look at your airport layover as an opportunity to get to know another culture.

America's Airport Oases of Childhood

An "A" for effort goes to the following oases in an otherwise barren landscape of crowds, flight delays and aggravation. The Children's Museum of Chicago-designed playground in O'Hare International's Terminal 2 is the place restless youth can fuel a cargo plane, play pilot in their own cockpit, or just chill with LEGOs until departure time. Technology lounges in Terminal 2 and 50 touch-screen computers throughout the airport mean that kids can learn more about Chicago's attractions (courtesy of the tourist office) via interactive displays.

There's a PlayPort in Denver, upstairs near our favorite eatery, Wolfgang Puck's cafe. At Boston's Logan and Pittsburgh International there are equally impressive play areas for tiny travelers on the go. Boston also boasts about its healthy fastfood outlet called UFood Grill.

At Kahului on Maui, Hawai'i, the Maui Ocean Center operates an $80,000 aquarium whose colorful inhabitants help travelers pass the waiting time. Waits feel shorter, too, at Air France's chic Planète Bleue lounge for passengers age 2-12 at New York's John F Kenndy International in Terminal One. Four-legged baby in tow, head to New York's Vetport for Fido. Let the kids order their lunch via iPad at Delta's Terminal 2/3, where touchscreens soothe the soul.

The state-of-the-art JetBlue Terminal at JFK has an enormous food court boasting everything from fresh sushi, to organics at Cibo Express, smoothies at JambaJuice or those famous cheeburgers. Add in free WiFi, a day spa for massages or manicures, myriad shops and services, a Juan Valdez coffee concession from Bogata and that's what we call diversity.

Orlando International emulates Orlando the city, with constant makeovers and a miniature arcade, gift shops from every imaginable media giant, a 2,000-gallon SeaWorld aquarium, dozens of food outlets and a café where the staff performs to blaring music every quarter hour.

In Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International there's a station for the local rapid transit system, which will whisk you to the food, shop and entertainment complex, Underground Atlanta, in about 20 minutes. At Miami International you can shop at all hours, swim in the airport hotel's rooftop pool for a nominal fee, or snack on bocaditos and cafe con leché at Terminal D's La Carreta or Versailles cafés. Atop the spider-shaped Theme Building at Los Angeles International (better known as LAX), there's an observation deck and just below, the Disney-designed, space-age Encounter, an elegant dining room featuring global nouvel.

Recently, Cheapflights.com chose its top 10 most kid-friendly airports in America based on the numer of play areas, the number and quality of educational facilities (e.g. museums and local exhibits) and the number of entertainment-related venues.  Here are their picks:

1)     Chicago O’Hare
2)     Portland Oregon International
3)     San Francisco International
4)     Dallas-Ft. Worth International
5)     Orlando International
6)     Boston Logan International
7)     Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
8)     Las Vegas McCarran International
9)     Salt Lake City International
10)   Nashville International

Europe's Top Kid-Friendly Airports

At Amsterdam's Schiphol, you can bring the baby to a nursery full of cribs with fresh linens, or take her along to buy tulip bulbs, gamble, or tour the small -- but loaded with original Dutch master paintings -- branch of the Rijksmuseum. Don't miss the chance to taste poffertjes (great mini pancakes) and kibbeling (cod croquettes) washed down with the local genever cocktail or some chocolate.

At every visit, our family's affection for Schiphol increases. In the wonderful Holland Boulevard passageway between Piers E and F, arriving guests and millions of transit passengers can share in the country's art, culture and literature. The passage is broken into quiet living room spaces with couches and reading nooks; there's even a new Airport Library where passengers can read books in 29 different languages, listen to music, watch films and download these free of charge. Some spaces have fireplaces and workstations with electrical outlets, others have forest-themed kids climbing equipment; another has the Babycare Lounge.

British Airways operates a supervised creche at London's Heathrow, while at the low fare carrier's favorite stop, London Gatwick, families can check into the by-the-hour pod hotel called Yotel, where £45 buys 4 hours of compressed comforts. (There are also Yotels at Amsterdam's Schiphol and London's Heathrow.)

Enhanced lounges, such as the Air France Lounge at Paris Orly Airport (Orly West Hall 2) designed for unaccompanied minors, are stocked with diversions such as a PlayStation 3, TV and age-appropriate board games for young children. This airport and Charles de Gaulle have 60 baby-changing stations between them, as well as loaner strollers. A children's play area with climbing and jungle-gym-like structures occupies the Transit Lounge at Copenhagen's Kastrup. Madrid's Barajas International provides run-around play areas, and Moscow Domodedovo has a family playroom with slides and a ball pen, as well kid-friendly bagel vendors.

Frankfurt Am Main -- one of Europe's busiest layover points -- has both a play area and easy access to quick sightseeing via the excellent rail service on longer layovers. At Istanbul Ataturk International, guests flying with Turkish Airlines who have a long layover can take advantage of a free six-hour city tour given by the airport's hotel staff. 

Asian Airports Love Kiddoes

At Tokyo's Narita International Airport there are several nursery rooms between the gates in the Arrivals and Departures areas of Terminals 1 and 2. The rooms are co-ed, have a sink and wash-up area, two changing tables, an armchair for nursing moms and sometimes, a freestanding crib. Older children will be thrilled with the two Kids Parks -- cushioned play areas with crates of soft-sided blocks and plenty of seating for adults.

Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport provides 48 free, high-speed Internet ports in the Plaza Premium Lounge, a private lounge where you can entertain the kids (under-6s are free, over 6s pay a day use fee) with snacks and drinks, TV, magazines, online gaming and showers/nap areas for an additional fee. Familives love the LCC Terminal where low cost carriers from all over the world land, a friendly space packed with casual restaurants and games arcades.

At Hong Kong Airport there's also a children's play area, TVs at each gate, lots of shopping, and other fee-based facilities such as massages, beauty parlor, business center and napping lounges. This futuristic island airport offers a four-hour city tour to those with long morning layovers. Vigor Tours, at Arrivals Hall B, let's you load the kids onto an air-conditioned bus for a ride past Lantau Island, views of the longest suspension bridge in the world, the Central skyline, Man Mo Temple, shops (of course), and wonderful Victoria Harbour.

Thai massage is available at the former Don Muang Airport (now Bangkok Airport serving domestic and regional routes), where many of these private businesses have sleeping lounges. There is also a video arcade, kids play area, Internet access and even laundry facilities for those who can't sleep. At Bangkok's new Subarnabhumi International Airport, families can expect world-class shopping, dining and entertainment facilities such as gaming arcades and noodle shops.

Gimpo International west of Seoul, also known as SkyCity, is the city's long-established international gateway. It's the starting point for Korean cultural tours if your family has six hours to spare. Over at the city's newer Incheon International Airport, families will find Spa on Air, open 24 hours to provide free spa services to travelers. Drop by after you've worked out on the driving range or 18-hole putting green.

In Taipei, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau is offering free half-day tours from Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport (formerly Chiang Kai-shek) in Taipei for those with a seven-hour or more layover. The five-hour morning excursion visits a temple and the ceramics center of Yingge; the five-hour afternoon tour takes families around the city.

Airport Layover Heaven: Singapore Changi

We love spending time at airports, and we do adore Schiphol in Amsterdam.  But, the long wait picture gets better and better, with edutainment and entertainment options for all ages, especially at international gateways.

Singapore's Changi International is a piece of heaven, one of those airports that savvy travelers plan detours to, just to enjoy a long layover.  At Changi, surely a model for all future airports, they run a super-slick skytrain to fitness rooms and swimming pools, and a free city tour for those with a longer wait. 

Terminal 1 has a peaceful, Bali-inspired, heated rooftop pool and bar, open for a nominal fee.  Changi has two inexpensive, on-site hotels (book way in advance for these), a free movie theatre showing family fare, colorful Butterfly Garden, hundreds of shops, koi-stocked lagoons for strollers pushing strollers, and a wondrous food court.

New for 2010 is the 40-foot slide in the Arrival Hall (Level 1) in Terminal 3, whick requires a fee to ride. However, shops are giving away ride tokens with a minimum purchase, and the airport accommodates those on a tighter budget with a totally free slide -- albeit shorter -- in Basement 2 of the same terminal.

Innovative Family Layover Options Going Viral

The airlines aren't the only ones trying to maximize the wait time. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants families with a long layover to visit one of the country's 545 National Wildlife Refuges.

We love the idea that children and parents can stretch their legs and breathe deeply between airline flights. If you're stuck at Philadelphia International Airport, Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport in Bloomington, Denver International, or San Diego, go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website and research the low cost, educational and healthy excursions that can be accomplished in as little as two hours.

Though adventuring families may get a rush from thatch-roof airports where bags are claimed on the tarmac, the future will bring more of the amenities that frequent business travelers (and their children) demand.

More Entertainment Resources at Airports

InMotion Entertainment (800/DVD-TO-GO) serves 28 US airports (and NYC's Grand Central Train Station) with portable DVD players and a large library of new releases and family classics to rent and play, or take away and mail back.

Download your own copy of the complete 2009 Cheapflights Kids Airport Diversion Guide, which provides kid-friendly diversions for more than 24 domestic airports and 10 international airports, and carry it everywhere. A company that services airports with Internet access facilities has compiled another very useful guide to US airport facilities on its website: www.QuickAid.com.

At Executive Travel Sky Guides, you'll find links to the major US and International airport websites with notes about special facilities.