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Name that Airport
The Travel Critic · November 23, 1998

Charlton Heston Airport. Michael Jordan Airfield. Bill Clinton International. None exist today.

But they're worth considering, given all the airports out there with dull names. The new IDs won't catch on, though, unless they're a good fit.

Take Washington D.C.'s old National Airport, which is now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. As in the two-term president. "If you live in Washington," says inside-the-beltway resident and frequent flier David Kirby, "you don't call it Ronald Reagan. It's still National Airport here."

Houston renamed its Intercontinental Airport for George Bush two years ago, but I haven't heard anyone refer to it as Bush airport. Heck, there are still some folks out there who call New York's airport Idlewild instead of John F. Kennedy International Airport. (The airfield was rechristened by New York's city council in 1964).

My point is that airports randomly named for politicians are about as memorable as those bagel and cream cheese breakfasts American Airlines parcels out to its passengers. The new monikers tend to be insipid and inappropriate.

Why not give travelers a chance to name their airports? People who use these terminals day in and day out are far better suited to matching a facility to an appropriate personality. The Montreal, Canada-based International Air Transport Association, which approves the three-letter airport designator codes, doesn't have a problem with that. The nominations would be collected and passengers could vote.

It worked earlier this year in San Francisco, in a round-about way, when the San Francisco Chronicle asked its readers if San Francisco International Airport should be renamed to honor former Mayor Joe Alioto. An overwhelming majority of respondents voted "no."

Alioto International doesn't work for me either.

But Charlton Heston International, now that's a different story. Jim Haynes, president of the Commercial Traveler Association in Atlanta, can see it.

"Yeah, they should rename Miami's airport for him," he suggests. "Because you never know if you're going to get shot when you land there."

The actor's outspoken opposition to gun control and his high-profile job as president of the National Rifle Association complement the historically trigger-happy airport, Haynes argues.

Perhaps. But it would have been more than appropriate a couple of years ago, when criminals were using tourists for target practice. Since the Miami-Dade police formed its special Tourist Oriented Police Unit in 1994, there's been only one fatal shooting, according to Miami Police Sgt. Michael Lytle.

Sharon Wingler favors sports heroes over silver screen heroes, at least when it comes to her airport. The flight attendant and author of Travel Alone & Love It: A Flight Attendant's Guide to Solo Travel thinks Chicago's busy O'Hare International Airport should be renamed for basketball icon Michael Jordan.

"He's known the world over. When you travel overseas, and you say you're from Chicago, people say, 'Oh, that's where Michael Jordan is from,'" she says. OK, besides the fact that no one really knows or cares who O'Hare was (he was Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the WWII naval aviator), what does Chicago's airport have in common with the sports superstar?

"Not much," admits Wingler, who is based out of ORD. "Jordan is fast. I can't say the same for O'Hare."

They'll probably never name an airport for Air Jordan, especially as the NBA strike continues with no end in sight. But Bill Clinton will get his own airport sooner or later. I think we should be allowed to determine which airport.

A number of readers have suggested Denver International Airport. It's large, like the president. It has had some troubled times, much like Clinton's second term. Scandals and broken promises marked Denver's early days, not unlike Clinton's last couple of years in the White House.

And still, the gleaming new terminal has won over many travelers, who like what it's trying to do.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator and author of A Bridge to Nowhere: A Year in the Florida Keys. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.