RFDMinnesota

I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this, but given that this is "The Delta Concourse" at MIA, it seems like the best place to post, despite not actually being Skymiles related.

I've been flying to South Florida regular since about 2010, and I'd say half of all my flights are in/out of MIA (with the remainder being mostly FLL and a little PBI) and over the years I've noticed the stairs & escalators up and down (to what I believe are technically floors 1 and 2) to be blocked by 'temporary' barricades. And although those barricades are still present, I see that they've actually dry-walled the space directly of the ends of the stairs and escalators, and I've gotta know: What's the story with those two levels? Does DL EVER use them? Were they ever used by anyone?

If anyone knows the history/story behind these, I would really love to know to satisfy my weird interest with any and all things abandoned...

(Two pictures of the area below)


MIA H Concourse Lower Level

MIA H Concourse Upper Level

SSF556

HMM...I have been flying to MIA since 2010 as well and wondered about these areas also. In for an answer.

SFTNYC

I learned about this a few years back so here goes / I could be way off...

When originally constructed, concourse H did not offer FIS/international arrival capability. The upper level was nothing more than a walkway to the gates further out on the concourse (perhaps with moving walkways) but the rationale for having such a setup always seemed odd to me. With the construction of the south terminal and concourse J (and addition of FIS), a number of the gates on the one side of the concourse (H2/4/6/8/10) were modified to allow international arrivals via the (now sterile) upper level.

I never knew there was a lower level as well! No idea what that could have been used for

ekozie

FWIW, via Wikipedia:

Re the first floor:

Looks like sheer laziness to not remove the vertical circulation and reuse the space. None of the concourse was int'l arrival capable until the 2000s.


First pic is 1994. Second is 1999.

RFDMinnesota

I’m struggling to find the difference between those two photos... hint?

xliioper

Looks like concourse was widened significantly along western side including additional gate waiting areas on that side. Eastern side looks to have expanded out a bit as well.

ekozie

The 3rd floor walkway was added as well.

bgriff

I have often wondered about this as well and had read the description on Wikipedia but found it lacking, but I guess that's as much as there is to the story. MIA has lots of odd concourse layout design choices (I'm thinking also of the train to the end of concourse E).

Various parts of the airport give the sense that perhaps at some point it had more functionality than it does now (like maybe allowing international transits without clearing US customs, which would have been particularly useful back in the days when Europe-Latin America nonstops were less common than they are now), but apparently that wasn't the case, and that seemingly all of these strange design choices were just to help people avoid walking to the ends of concourses which are actually pretty short walks by modern international airport standards.

ekozie

I think the problem was that the concourse was extremely narrow and had gates - with seemingly no holdroom areas before the mid-90s expansion. I can imagine trying to navigate the concourse with multiple departures boarding at the same time being extremely congested, hence the third floor "expedited access" hallway for the further-out gates.

Of course, a wider concourse with actual holdrooms is preferable, and that's what they built later on,

RFDMinnesota

Still irrationally enamored with this…. Must. Explore. (And avoid jail time…)

Wish there was ANY info on the basement/Level I


Any plans for these areas? I know I’m digging up an old thread but I flew into MIA for the first time in years and my inner child’s curiosity is up to an 11/10