Born from a missed connection at Denver International
It started the way most good ideas start — with a problem. A missed connecting flight at Denver, a confusing terminal layout, and an information desk that pointed us in the wrong direction. Twice. That was 2024.
We spent the next hour in the wrong concourse, watching our gate close on the departure board. By the time we figured out the train system between concourses, we'd already missed our flight, blown a hotel reservation, and had a very strong opinion about airport signage.
That evening, we searched for a simple, clear map of Denver's terminal layout. What we found were PDFs from 2019, stock-photo-laden travel blogs that never actually walked the terminals, and official airport maps designed more for architects than passengers. Nothing showed us what we actually needed: where to go, what's near each gate, and how to get between terminals without a civil engineering degree.
So we started building our own. First Denver. Then Atlanta. Then Los Angeles. Each guide drawn from actual terminal walks, real photos, and verified gate-by-gate information.
Our mission is simple: make every airport easier to navigate by creating the most accurate, practical, and frequently updated terminal guides on the web.
How we build each airport guide
Every AirportMapHQ guide follows the same five-step research process. We don't copy-paste from other sites or rely on secondhand information. Each guide is built from primary sources and, whenever possible, verified on the ground.
We start with official airport authority documents, FAA data, airline terminal assignments, and published construction or renovation plans. This gives us the structural foundation — terminal count, concourse layout, gate numbering systems, and current capacity.
We build custom SVG terminal maps from scratch. No stock images, no screenshots of PDF floorplans. Every map is hand-drawn digitally to show the layout passengers actually experience — gates, restrooms, food options, security checkpoints, and inter-terminal connections.
Airlines change terminals more often than most people realize. We cross-reference current airline-terminal assignments with real-time flight data and airport authority announcements to ensure every guide reflects what's happening now, not six months ago.
Parking rates, shuttle routes, train connections, rideshare pickup zones, rental car locations — these change frequently and are often wrong on other sites. We verify every detail against current airport and transit authority data.
Before any guide goes live, it's reviewed for accuracy and clarity. After publication, we monitor for terminal changes, construction updates, and airline relocations. When something changes, we update the guide — usually within days, not months.
What we believe about travel information
The travel information landscape is cluttered with affiliate-first content, AI-generated filler, and guides written by people who never left their desk. We think travellers deserve better.
We'd rather have 16 correct airport guides than 200 wrong ones. Every fact is sourced, every map is verified, every guide is maintained.
We skip the "Atlanta is a vibrant city in Georgia" intros. You're here because you need terminal information — that's what we give you.
Airports change constantly. We monitor construction, terminal reassignments, and airline moves — then update our guides to match reality.
We're not affiliated with any airport authority, airline, or booking platform. Our recommendations aren't for sale. We tell you what we'd tell a friend.
Our promise to get it right
Airport information has a short shelf life. Terminal renovations, airline reshuffles, new transit connections, and seasonal schedule changes mean that a guide accurate in January might be wrong by March.
That's why every AirportMapHQ guide displays a "last verified" date at the top of the page. This isn't the date we wrote it — it's the date we last confirmed every detail is still correct.
If you spot an error, an outdated detail, or something that doesn't match your experience at the airport, please let us know. We take corrections seriously and typically update guides within 48 hours of a confirmed report. Reach out at our contact page.
How we stay independent
AirportMapHQ earns revenue through contextual advertising. This means ads you see on our site are based on page content and your interests — not because an airline or airport paid us to recommend them.
We never accept payment to feature, rank, or recommend any airport service, lounge, parking facility, or transportation option. If we say Terminal B has the best food options, it's because we walked every terminal and compared them. Our editorial decisions are made independently of any commercial relationship.
We believe this independence is what makes our guides trustworthy, and we intend to keep it that way.
Use our data — just credit us
We're happy for journalists, bloggers, researchers, students, and content creators to reference our terminal maps, airport data, and guide content in their own work. All we ask is that you link back to the original guide as your source.
You can reference us using the following format, or any standard citation style that includes a link to the source page:
"[Airport Name] Terminal Map & Guide." AirportMapHQ, [year]. https://airportmaphq.com/[page-url].html
Write for AirportMapHQ
Frequent travellers who know an airport inside-out make the best contributors. If you fly through a specific hub regularly and want to help us build or improve a guide, we'd love to hear from you.
We're especially looking for contributors with ground-level knowledge of airports we haven't covered yet — people who know which concourse has the best coffee, where the quiet spots are, and which security line moves fastest at 6 AM on a Tuesday.
Check our Write for Us page for contributor guidelines and current openings.
Got a question? We're here.
Whether it's a correction, a partnership inquiry, a media request, or you just want to say hello — we read every message.