It used to be that if you arrived at the airport and realized you had forgotten to pack a yellow silk tie to go with your gray wool
suit, you were out of luck. The only clothing available was likely to be a sweatshirt emblazoned with the local sports team’s logo, priced at twice what you would pay outside the airport. And heaven help you if you neglected to pick up gifts for the family before catching your flight home, because the airport’s wares were usually limited to souvenir key chains and toothpick holders.

Fortunately, those days are over. In recent years, airport operators have wised up to the fact that travelers in transit, particularly those bored by long layovers or frustrated by unexpected flight delays, are ripe for little retail therapy. Today airports increasingly resemble sleek shopping malls and have started to promote themselves as destinations in their own right. Many airports now seek to compete directly with in-town stores, matching or beating prices for the same merchandise, all of which is great news for the weary traveler with only airport time for holiday shopping.

Although traditional duty- and tax-free areas still provide off-price bargains for people who are country-hopping, savvy airport marketers have come up with other incentives to encourage flyers to open their wallets. Several airports now offer the option of preordering items online to be picked up on the way through the airport — great for tight connections. Many also provide “collection service,” which lets buyers leave their purchases at the airport until they return from traveling.

Unfortunately, many U.S. airports lag behind their Asian, Middle Eastern and European counterparts in recognizing travelers’ shopping
potential. New York native and public radio travel expert Diana Nyad can’t understand why a hub like New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) doesn’t have more to offer. “When I expect to find upscale bookstores and high-end designer stores,” she noted, “I find virtually nothing more than newsstands and hot dog vendors.” Nyad prefers the retail options offered at the Orlando, Fla., (DWS) airport and says her favorite domestic airport is Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) for its innovative massage area.

Every frequent traveler eventually becomes something of an airport connoisseur, looking forward to visiting particular stops for particular services and products. Although William J. Moses now keeps his feet on the ground as CEO of Virginia’s Kluge Estate Winery, he formerly logged an annual 220,000 miles as an executive for Credit Lyonnais and later IBM. He says his daughters used to swoon over the hard-to-find perfumes he would bring back from Paris’ Charles DeGaulle Airport (CDG). Nyad, for her part, loves the tiny Havana Airport (HAV) for its selection of bookshops staffed by educated vendors.

With so many enticing retail options now available at airports, flyers need to remember they still have to transport their purchases home. Moses’ most memorable airport shopping moment, which occurred at the Sydney Airport (SYD), provides a case in point. “I purchased an Australian didgeridoo, a long wooden — some five feet — and hollow instrument, and had to try to get it on the plane and in the overhead,” he recalled. “Going through U.S. Customs was a trick!”

With that cautionary note in mind, what follows is a list of 10 airports that offer some of the best shopping opportunities in the world. Noteworthy for their retail design, the variety of purveyors, the quality of merchandise and their buyer-friendly incentives, these airports ensure a traveler never has to arrive home empty-handed.

And that yellow silk tie? Try the Tie Rack — there’s now one in nearly every airport worldwide.