Back in the day, I used to escape cold winters in Washington, D.C., by flying down to the sunny climes of Naples, Florida, to visit my godmother. Because it was so cold, I’d need to drag my winter coat with me for the beginning and the end of the trip — which was always a big pain. My Florida flights were always full (because who doesn’t want to leave the cold and snow for sun and temperatures in the 80s?) and so were the overhead bins. The lack of space forced me to sometimes wear or sit on my coat. Every time I did that, I wondered why airports didn’t offer coat checks for snowbirds like me.
Thankfully, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) has heard my cry. Back by popular demand, the airport is offering its coat check service for the fourth year. Working with airport concessionaire Paradies Lagardère, locals flying to warmer weather can check their coats inside the Summerfest Marketplace’s pre-security location for only $2 a day, or $10 per trip.
This means you no longer have to wear your bulky coat, gloves and other unneeded items on the plane when escaping to warm-weather locations. It solves the problem of trying to stuff your winter coat into your luggage. It frees up space in the overhead bins on airplanes. Not to mention, it saves you from looking silly when you get off the plane in Cancun wearing a T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops and a big puffy coat.
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Milwaukee will offer nonstop flights to cities in Florida, Arizona, California, Mexico and the Caribbean this winter, making this coat check service convenient for travelers. Airports Council International-North America, which represents airports, recognized Milwaukee’s airport for this unique service in 2020.
This isn’t the only airport to ever offer the service. Frankfurt Airport (FRA) also allows travelers to leave winter coats behind during warm-weather getaways. From October to April, the airport charges around 50 cents per day, per item, to store jackets and coats next to the luggage storage service at Frankfurt Airport’s Terminal 1, Concourse B (arrivals). For a short stint in 2014, JetBlue offered a coat check amenity at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Here’s hoping a simpler version of that comes back and we have coat check service at more airports.
