Take advantage of free booze, slot machines, and secret sleep rooms in between flights.
Outside the Las Vegas drome , I watch a young holidaymaker looking at a green postbox - shape receptacle near the Terminal 1 entrance . We ’re not in customs , but I still ask him if he has anything to declare . “ No , I finished off my stash at the hotel , ” he says , scurrying off before I get the chance to ask if he was joking .
There are at least 10 so - called pardon box bolt to the concrete atHarry Reid International Airport , set up in 2018 for travelers to dispose of “ prescription and amateur drug ” before take off . Alocal third - party waste - disposal servicechecks the container twice a hebdomad and chemically return any narcotic unusable before sending them to a landfill . It be Clark County $ 1,500 to have each boxwood installed — not counting a $ 75 weekly armed service fee — to assure that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas .
Critics havepointed outthat the corner are a bit misleading , given that recreational skunk is legal in Nevada . But generally speaking , Vegas is looking out for you — even at the aerodrome . Harry Reid International Airport welcomes more than 50 million passenger a year with roughly 550 inbound flights a solar day . It ’s formally the eighth - busiest airport in the United States , but unofficially the No . 1 airport in the human race for cutting the bullshit and celebrating the Wild West intent of Nevada without too much opinion .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist | Getty Images
Want a crapulence first thing in the morning ? Grab a margarita from the takeaway return at the Jose Cuervo Tequileria in Concourse C or canned John Barleycorn from the Beer , Wine & Cocktails To - Go viewpoint in Concourse B. In fact , if you ’re arriving in Las Vegas , Liquor Libraryis one of the first things you ’ll see when the escalator clause descend into the luggage call areas . The store is in full stocked with beer , wine-coloured , and spirits . Prices are n’t cheap , but it ’s known for handing out free sample throughout the day ( Wednesday through Saturday in Terminal 1 and Wednesday through Friday in Terminal 3 ) with schedulesposted online . A tourist is decidedly doing Vegas right if they ’re chugging a detached shot of Tito ’s between landing and picking up a suitcase .
“ Most of [ the tourists ] are here to celebrate birthday and anniversaries , ” a brand ambassador for topically distilled Vegas Baby vodka explained on a recent Saturday . “ So everybody ’s already in the mood . ”
Drinking, smoking, and post office boxes
The barkeeper at the Budweiser Lounge in Harry Reid has a joke he likes to tell freshman like me . “ You came at a good time , ” he pronounce . “ We have a special . If you do n’t like it , you still have to compensate for it . ”
Perhaps because I ’m a unspoiled sport and laughed at his joke , Andres volunteer me a shooter for one-half off . I prefer instead for an Old Fashioned made in classic airdrome style with a wooly orange wedge and a maraschino cherry to sweeten ( or some might say ruin ) my Woodford Reserve . asunder from the comics on stave , the Budweiser Lounge is notable for the fact that it still allow smoke . The only rule is that you have to purchase one item , even if it ’s a succus or a snack , so as to light up .
Harry Reid stay one of just six airports in the country that still allows smoking indoors , and after a few minutes of chatter , I learn that my bartender used to work near the C gates at Barney ’s Lounge , where he say the smoking is more intense and engorged . His wife would tell him that even his underclothing smelled of smoke after a shift there , and he took to wearing a masque .
If drinking is n’t one of your vice , Harry Reid boasts more than 1,400 expansion slot machines , which havegenerated more than a billion clam in revenuesince the first ace kill up in 1968 . There were two payouts at the airdrome slots that exceeded $ 1 million in 2023 and one already in 2024 , on January 14 . So becoming a millionaire while wait for your boarding group to be called is potential .
But you do n’t need to roll the dice while deal with airport surety . Vegas is among the growing number of aerodrome withMailSafe Expresskiosks near the TSA line , which can be used to transport home a fancy knife or other items from your carry - on that are n’t illegal but do n’t pass off the examination of an X - beam political machine either .
Building a better airport
If you want to have it off how much LAS drome prioritizes convenience , just look at the location . Harry Reid sits alongside the Strip and is just a little drive to the Convention Center , Sphere , and reasonably much anywhere else you care to go in the tourist corridor .
At one fourth dimension , LAS was substantially small , and even as it ’s expand over the years , you’re able to still blob some of the end of its past — if you know where to look .
“ If you go into the A and B gates of Terminal 1 and look up , you ’ll see the dome that was the original 1963 clam - shaped terminal , ” says Daniel Bubb , former original , air travel expert , and author ofLanding in Las Vegas : Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Tourist City . “ It was pretty cool to maintain that . And from there , it turn into what it is today , the 8th - busiest airport in the United States and the 15th - busiest in the world . ”
The bequest of the airport and the account of Las Vegas airmanship are documented at theHoward W. Cannon Aviation Museumon the second level of Terminal 1 . There you ’ll find a pitch propellor from a Cessna T-50 Bobcat and a reproduction of a red 1956 Thunderbird that was a fixing at the airport in the ’ 50 and ’ 60s for Alamo Airways , along with many other artefact detail the history of line traveling in Sin City .
Or just count above the belts at baggage claim and you ’ll see an even more imposing piece of story : the Cessna 172 that set a record for the farseeing continuous plane drive . The aircraft remained in the zephyr for virtually 65 days , refueling by vaporize low and connecting to a truck that sped along a ironic lake bottom .
Pumping irony
There are more than 18,000 employee passing through Harry Reid in a twenty-four hour period . Yet only a few of them take reward ofZeroLevel Fitness , named after its location below the first - level baggage claim in Terminal 1 .
It ’s a full 13,000 - square - foot fitness center with innocent weights , machines , cardio equipment , kettlebells , and a studio schoolroom with balance balls and spinning machines . “ This place has n’t changed much in 20 old age , ” an employee told me while get in a few set of his own at the weight wheel .
The workout country feel worn - in but fair and well preserve . Few traveler know the gym even subsist , but it ’s a great means to stay busy between flight delays or burn off small calorie from some of thatairport food , which includes the only Moe ’s Southwest Grill in Nevada and one of only two Quiznos leave in Las Vegas .
In another perk , ZeroLevel Fitness has three rest rooms , which can be book for a minimum of two hours with access to the gym included . The accommodations are minimally decorated but well-off enough if you do n’t mind the occasional sound of weights bed around on the gym floor . The quietus rooms are strictly for one person at a clock time , so do n’t get any funny ideas .
Looking ahead
Unlike the water layer at Lake Mead , Harry Reid International is on pace to reach capacitance in a few years . There ’s always the choice to work up on the internet site of the demolish Terminal 2 , but plans are in motion for asecond major commercial-grade drome , south of Vegas in the Ivanpah Valley , which is expected to cost $ 12 billion , pull in it the most expensive construction task in Nevada history . By cautious estimates , it would afford in 2037 .
irrespective , Harry Reid International is n’t drop dead anywhere . It will proceed to operate as the aerodrome Las Vegas deserve — a place where you could eat , toast , smoke , and gamble while stimulate in a good workout , celebrating history , and squeezing in a nap if needed . Just remember to drop off any drug before you head to the bar .
