The films below were partially filmed at the airport. For most of them, you can still get to the exact location they were filmed at:

• Up in the Air (with George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick)
  Filmed during the day. A ‘walkway’ scene was filmed in the D1 to D14 gates section (which unfortunately is currently closed – but you can see “into” it from the main D concourse)
• The Mexican (with Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini)
  Filmed after hours; one scene was filmed on top of the escalators area in terminal 1, concourse D
• Ocean’s Thirteen (with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon)
  This is the film with the most precise location at the airport as you can clearly see the gate in the scene: it’s gate D26. We were told they shot there for one day but if you are looking for the “lucky” slot machine you see in the movie, then you’re out of luck as the film crew brought that with them. By the way the D26 area is also a nice spot to peak over at the new terminal that’s currently under construction.
• Rush Hour (with Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker and Ken Leung)
  Filmed in terminal 2
• Fools Rush In (with Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek and Jon Tenney)
  Filmed in terminal 2

Interestingly, we were told there were numerous reality TV shows that were also filmed at the airport. They include Paris Hilton, M.C. Hammer, The Kardashians, MTV Real World and the season finale of The Amazing Race 2009.

Unfortunately if you think spotting one of these movie or TV stars at the airport is easy we have to disappoint you. Because the airport has an entirely separate area for high rollers and (super-)stars, the chance of you spotting someone famous is very slim. However, those who still want to be among the crowd and therefore do arrive at the public side of the airport are most likely to exit through the limo pick-up area on level zero. Don’t hold your breath though! But do let us know when you spot one – good luck!

 [Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by work the angles]

Let’s look into that a bit closer: there are actually quite a few movies filmed at least partially at the airport according to IMDB and Wikipedia. Personally, I still remember the scene at the end of “Ocean’s Thirteen” when Danny Ocean played by George Clooney, Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan and Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell meet for one last time near gate D26 in terminal 1. There is also another scene with the famous three, this time outside the terminal as documented by the People’s magazine.

Other well known movies filmed on location were “Midnight Run” back in 1988 or “Rush Hour 2” and “The Mexican“, both in 2001. Probably the two most famous films partially shot at the airport, however, were “21” – the film about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting, released in 2008 and Martin Scorsese’s 1995 classic “Casino“. Rounding off the list is a James Bond film from 1971 with Sean Connery called “Diamonds Are Forever“.

And if you wondered whether the airport ever featured in any games, the answer is yes: in 2004 the airport was featured as “Las Venturas Airport” in the famous “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas“‘ which sold over 21 Million copies worldwide, according to Wikipedia. And the airport also featured in a more recent game: “Fallout: New Vegas” which is set in post-apocalyptic Las Vegas and was released in 2010.

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by mkoukoullis]

It certainly was a musical week as another airport reported adding “tunes” to its facilities:

Travelers at Reagan National Airport [IATA: DCA] are hearing more than jet noise. The Washington-area airport has a new, lunchtime concert series.

wrote Kake news.

Another story this week was that New Delhi (IATA: DEL) finally launched it’s metro service to the airport after having missed the original deadline by 4 months. Oh well, what’s four months anyway?

Then there was the type of disruption no one wanted to read about: New Zealand’s Christchurch was hit by a massive earthquake on Tuesday and consequently its airport (IATA: CHC) was shut completely and then later reopened for domestic flights only. It has since fully re-opened again.

Across the Tasman, things weren’t as bad but Australia’s second biggest airline, Virgin Blue, faced another check-in glitch causing massive disruptions to about 150 flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Then there were news of Spanish unions threatening an Easter airport strike, Las Vegas’ McCarren Airport (IATA: LAS) planning on opening a a new terminal in 2012, Munich (IATA: MUC) increasing its capacity to Frankfurt’s levels through a new terminal 2 satellite and of Geneva (IATA: GVA) unveilling the world’s first mobile passenger terminal. But the most interesting piece I picked up this week was the FT story about bed bugs on British Airways flights. Hang on a minute, didn’t I just book that BA flight from Las Vegas to London? D’oh!

Safe travels and read you again next week!

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by downeym]

But enough praise for this wonderful crazy city, after all, this is an airport blog and not a boring destination guide. Nor is it my personal diary, so let’s get down to business:

I trust it already came through in my video review last year, McCarran airport (IATA: LAS) is not your usual airport. But who would expect this in Las Vegas anyway? Surely you expect the airport to have slot machines everywhere, and it does, but did you know that it even features a language course vending machine? It’s true: in the A and B gates departure lounge, you can purchase Rosetta Stone language courses in every language from Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew to even, yes, you guessed it, English. For little more than your winnings at the Blackjack table on the Strip ($299.99) one of these courses can be yours!

But if study is not your thing and perhaps you’re dealing with the legacy of a huge night before, you can cure even the worst hangover with something perfectly greasy from the guys at the “Great Steak” outlet before the gates B17-25.

Maybe you’re still thinking about the scantily clad ladies dancing on the speakers of the XS nightclub at the Encore? Then probably a sweet, dice lollypop is what you are looking for: You will find it at “The Candy Shoppe” in the middle of the A and B gates lounge.

Finally, if you’re trying to be good to make up for some recent, umm, “indulgences” why not go crazy with a fine selection of fruit and nuts from the “Las Vegas Fruit and Nuts” store.

Hey, who said airports are boring?

Viva Las Vegas Airport!

Airport Name	Las Vegas McCarran International – Terminal 2
Website	http://www.mccarran.com/
IATA Code	LAS
Design
Shopping
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[Image from Flickr - some rights reserved]