Kid-friendly airports ease terminal boredom

Aviation-themed play areas and museums make wait plane fun

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Stuck in an airport with kids? Your wait time might not be as dreadful as you fear.

Cheapflights.com's 2008 Kids' Airport Diversion Guide lists airports with play areas and aviation museums to keep your children occupied until boarding. Here are some highlights:

Toronto Pearson International: Kids can play in "Comfy cars" – interactive computer games – in Terminals 1 and 3 which also have play areas roomy enough for parents to relax.

Calgary International: Spaceport, a 5,800-square-foot free edutainment area includes a piece of moon rock on loan from NASA and a one-quarter scale space shuttle.

Vancouver International: play areas are found throughout the airport, and older kids can enjoy the video games in the food court in the Domestic terminal.

London Heathrow: Free colouring and activity packs are available at the info desks, and Terminal 3 houses the Jetterz Kids Club, a supervised play area for kids 5 to 14.

Frankfurt International: the Visitor's Terrace in Terminal 1 is full of miniature aircraft for kids to climb on, plus an airfield activity centre (fee applies) where kids can take inpanoramic views of planes coming and going.

Paris Charles de Gaulle International: play areas throughout the airport are equipped with ball pits, toboggans and mazes, as well as pay-to-play areas with pinball machines, pool tables and video games.

Hong Kong International: the Kid's Land play area in Terminal 1 includes four TV lounges and plenty of games, while the SkyPlaza at Terminal 2 has a movie theatre and an Aviation Discovery Centre.

Baltimore/Washington International: the main terminal has a children's play area in the Observation Gallery that includes an array of airplane parts, such as a wing, tail, wheels, even part of a fuselage and other play equipment.

Boston Logan International: Kidport in Terminal C has"hands-on interactive exhibits" including an airplane-climbing sculpture and a baggage-claim slide.

Chicago O'Hare International: the "Kids on the Fly" exhibit in Terminal 2, organized by the Chicago Children's Museum, has an air traffic control tower, a fantasy helicopter and luggage station.

Dallas/Fort Worth International: "One of the most innovatively kid-friendly airports around," according to Cheapflights, has ``Junior Flyer Clubs" in Terminals B, C and D where kids can play on their own runways, roadways, cars and planes.

Las Vegas McCarran International: an aviation-themed play area on the second floor of the D Concourse includes a mini-control tower and tunnel, and there's an aviation museum on Level 2 above baggage claim.

Nashville International: live music is performed on three stages and there's a children's play area in the Concourse Connector.

San Francisco : there's a free aviation museum in the new International Airport, and an SFO Kids' Spot in Terminal 3.