By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer
Many Working Well Massage clients travel for business. Aside from cramped airplane seats, long waits in security lines, and walking for miles on concrete terminal floors, air travel requires sitting for long periods, breathing in stale recycled air and can be dehydrating. Where do weary travelers go for relief while waiting for their planes to board? Well, you can go to the airport bar and have a cocktail, beer or cup of Starbucks finest, but keep in mind that alcohol and caffeine are both dehydrating. Health conscious travelers go to an airport massage station, spa, oxygen bar or get a pampering manicure to pass the time and help their bodies adjust to air travel stress. And then they drink plenty of water!
What Services Do Airport Spas Provide? from By Anitra Brown, at About.com
• Chair Massage — The most common service is a seated or chair massage. You sit fully clothed in a special chair that cradles you face while the massage therapist works on your back and shoulders.
And you can get a chair massage for as short as ten or 15 minutes. It is great for working out kinks before they turn into hard knots! These are sometimes available in small “kiosks” right by the gates.
• Oxygen Therapy — You sit in a comfy chair with a two-pronged plastic tube up your nose, usually for 15 minutes, getting oxygen scented with essential oils that help you relax or boost your immune system.
• Other popular services are manicures and pedicures. Facials are more unusual, but sometimes available. A few places offer full salon services — cut, color even highlights.
Massage and Spa Services at U.S. Airports
Here’s a list of some of stress relieving services compiled from articles by Harriet Baskas of USA Today and Anitra Brown of About.com:
• Austin- Bergstrom International Airport Knot Anymore offers chair massages
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has two Destination Relaxations — one is a chair-massage kiosk on Pier B and the other a full-service store on Pier D that offers table and chair massages, as well as foot and hand rubs.
• Boston Logan International airport
The Jetsetter Mini Spa offers chair and table massages, manicures, pedicures and facials.
Boston’s Logan Airport also has Polished, in Terminal C, just before the security checkpoint at Gates 25-36. Polished offers foot, hand, back, neck and shoulder massages, manicures, pedicures, make-up applications and men’s grooming services.
• Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has the Backrub Hub, offering neck and back massages in Terminal 3 (by the American and Delta gates). Massages also are offered at the full-service health club at the O’Hare Hilton, accessible via pedestrian tunnels from the terminal.
• Denver International Airport is served by two locations of A Massage Inc. You can get a haircut or massage (chair or table) at the location on Concourse B. The other is in the Main Terminal, on Level 6.
• Detroit Wayne County International Airport-OraOxygen
This airport has an underground passage with a trippy light show and New Age music. If you need more, the OraOxygen Spa by Gate A45 gives oxygen treatments, as well as facials, manicures, pedicures,a and massages, including foot massages and a 90-minute hot-stone massage. You can even take showers.
• Indianapolis International Airport
The post-security Enroute Massage and Spa (formerly Passport Travel Spa) offers manicures and pedicures, chair and table massages, and a new 20-minute, three-technician, three-service treatment (the “3 in 20”) that offers time-pressed travelers a neck and shoulder massage as well as hand and foot treatments — all at the same time.
• John F. Kennedy International Airport- Elemis Travel Spa and XpresSpa
While the Elemis Travel Spa in Terminal 7 offers complimentary massages to British Airways’ top-tier travelers.
XpresSpa in JetBlue’s new Terminal 5 offers passengers will find pay-as-you-go services ranging from head, foot, leg, back and shoulder massages to manicures, pedicures and facials.
• Las Vegas-McCarran International Airport
Oxygen treatments are also available at here at three Oxygen Bar locations.
• Miami International airport
The Jetsetter Mini Spa offers chair and table massages, manicures, pedicures and facials. The Miami branch also has a sleep pod for napping.
• Nashville-The Massage Bar
Heat therapy, foot massages and a variety of seated massage services.
• Newark-D-Parture Spa
d_parture spa offers chair massage, spa pedicures combines with massage, and cuts, color and manicures. d_parture spa has two Newark airport locations: Terminal C at Gate 92 and Terminal B across from the Duty Free shop. In addition, The Terminal B location offers oxygen therapy and has a private room for full-body massages and European facials.
Also in Newark, The Massage Bar in Terminal A offers 15-minutes of seated massage for $21 or 30 minutes for $39. Ten minutes of foot refexology is $15. A second kiosk location is in Newark’s A-3 connector.
• New York’s LaGuardia Airport
XpresSpa offers passengers will find pay-as-you-go services ranging from head, foot, leg, back and shoulder massages to manicures, pedicures and facials.
• Orlando International Airport d_parture Spa
The menu includes hair and nail services, as well as waxing, chair and foot massages, and facials.
• At Pittsburgh International Airport Polished offers foot, hand, back, neck and shoulder massages, manicures, pedicures, make-up applications and men’s grooming services. It’s located at the beginning of Concourse A, after security.
• Sacramento Columbus, Ohio-The Massage Bar
Heat therapy, foot massages and a variety of seated massage services.
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-The Massage Bar
In addition to heat therapy, foot massages and a variety of seated massage services, the Massage Bar offers happy hour discounts.
• Washington Dulles International Airport-The Massage Bar provides massage in a a kiosk on Concourse B.
Canadian Airports Spa Services
• Alberta’s Calgary International Airport-OraOxygen
A full-range of massage services, plus ear candling, showers and oxygen sessions, are offered.
• British Columbia’s Vancouver International Airport has three locations of Absolute Spa. Services include massage, pedicures, manicures, facials, and oxygen treatments. Absolute is located before the security gates in the International Departures area; past security in the U.S. Departures area; and in the Fairmont Hotel in the International Terminal.
International Airport Spa Services from Spa Index
• Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport-OraOxygen
A full-range of massage services, plus ear candling, showers and oxygen sessions, are offered.
• Cancun Airport-The Salon Spa at Cancun Airport, Terminal 2, A Gates
• London, England-The Molton Brown Travel Spa
British Airways Terminal 1 and Terminal 4, Departures Lounge. Complimentary spa treatments to British Airways customers traveling First Class and Club World, and gold cardholders.
• Frankfort, Germany-Frankfurt Airport (FRA)- Be Relax Spa
Terminal 2
Be Relax provides relaxation and beauty services at the heart of airports and business around the world. Day after day, Be Relax professionals provide support with our relaxation centers when you most need to take a break. Services are designed to be of short duration and without requiring appointments.
• Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)-Regal Airport Hotel Health Spa and Pool
Full menu of services, including gymnasium, fitness center, aerobics, sauna, steam room, massage services, spa beauty treatments. Connect from the hotel to the Passenger terminal of Hong Kong International Airport via the sky-way.
• Milan, Italy-Linate Airport (LIN) – Be Relax Spa
Be Relax provides relaxation and beauty services at the heart of airports and business around the world. Day after day, Be Relax professionals provide support with our relaxation centers when you most need to take a break. Services are designed to be of short duration and without requiring appointments.
• Paris, France-Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)
Be Relax Spa with locations in most terminals — visit website for individual phone numbers and email addresses for each CDG kiosk.
Be Relax provides relaxation and beauty services at the heart of airports and business around the world. Day after day, Be Relax professionals provide support with our relaxation centers when you most need to take a break. Services are designed to be of short duration and without requiring appointments.
Airport Massage Chairs
Even, Smarte Carte, the company best known for renting airport luggage carts, is getting in on the airport massage action. The company maintains self-service, automated massage chairs in about 30 airports, including Anchorage, Cincinnati, Dallas-Fort Worth, Reno and Pittsburgh.
Airport Nail Services
In addition to the spas mentioned above, travelers with nails in need can also visit one of the thirteen airport locations of 10 Minute Manicure or stop in at one of the three airport locations (Seattle, Sacramento and Dulles) of butter LONDON, a nail salon with a non-toxic product line.
Harriet Baskas writes about travel etiquette for MSNBC.com and is the author of the airport guidebook Stuck at the Airport and a blog of the same name.
Anitra Brown, Guide to Spas for About.com, is a journalist specializing in spas who decided to experience the other side of the treatment table. In addition to her writing, she is a licensed esthetician in the states of New York and Arizona and has worked at several luxury resort spas, including Alvadora Spa at Royal Palms in Phoenix.
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