Houston airport made the walk longer so the wait would feel shorter

the problem

Baggage complaints would not stop

the move

Facing complaints about baggage waits it could not shorten, the airport moved arrival gates farther from the carousels so the walk consumed the wait.

the payoff

Same delivery time, complaints fell to nearly zero — the canonical demonstration that the wait, not the time, was the product.

filed under

The felt wait

was it genius?

same kind of clever

• 2011 · Haidilao (海底捞)Haidilao stopped trying to shorten the wait and turned it into a free salon and arcade instead
• 1955 · Manhattan office towersManhattan landlords fixed slow elevators with mirrors instead of motors
• 2008 · Domino'sDomino's turned an invisible thirty minutes into a progress bar people loved