There are few places where the gap between the glamour of travel and the reality of it feels wider than an airport. PS Miami is designed to eliminate that gap almost entirely. The private terminal experience, which allows travelers flying commercially to bypass the main airport, has opened at Miami International Airport — bringing private security, chef-prepared food, chauffeured transfers and, perhaps most appealingly, almost no time spent inside an actual airport terminal.
PS Miami is the fourth U.S. location for PS, which launched in 2017 as The Private Suite and now operates at LAX, ATL, DFW and MIA. The concept is straightforward: you’re still flying American, Delta or whichever commercial airline you’ve booked, but almost everything surrounding the flight feels private.
Guests arrive at a separate PS facility rather than the main terminal. Luggage is handled, security and government formalities are coordinated away from the crowds, and when it’s time to board, a BMW takes you directly to your aircraft. On arrival, the process works in reverse.
In Miami, however, the setting is part of the story. PS has taken over the former Pan American Airways headquarters, a landmark 1960s building and Miami-Dade County Historic Site. The 34,000-square-foot space was reimagined by RJ Heisenbottle Architects and interior designer Cliff Fong, with original Pan Am insignias, gold paneling and reflecting pools preserved alongside terrazzo, marble, smoked glass and bold patterns that reference Miami’s tropical glamour.
There are two ways to do PS. The Salon is the more social option, geared toward solo and business travelers, while five Private Suites offer a completely enclosed, residential-style experience. Chef-prepared dining and spa treatments are available, and a central open-air courtyard makes the whole thing feel considerably removed from the airport a few hundred feet away.
The art is similarly specific to Miami. PS worked with Miami-Dade County’s Art in Public Places program to commission Miami-based Argentine artist Nina Surel, founder of all-female art collective The Collective 62, to create works integrated into the space, including a stoneware bas-relief mural and mosaicked reflecting pool.
“Miami is such a vibrant, international city, and we wanted PS MIA to feel like it belongs here,” says Amina Belouizdad Porter, CEO of PS. “You’ll see that in everything from the menu to the artwork by local artist Nina Surel. The goal wasn’t to recreate another PS location in Miami. It was to create a version of PS that reflects the character, creativity, and history of this city, all within the incredible former Pan Am headquarters.”
That Miami opening also makes sense strategically. MIA is one of the country’s busiest international gateways and a major connection point for Latin America and the Caribbean — exactly the kind of airport where skipping the usual check-in, security and terminal shuffle has particular appeal.
And PS is pushing the idea beyond the airport itself. PS Direct, expected to launch in Miami later this year, will add integrated door-to-door transfers between the aircraft and a traveler’s home or hotel, further shrinking the amount of traditional airport experience involved.
For travelers accustomed to private aviation, PS offers some of its privacy and convenience without chartering a plane. For everyone else, it presents a more intriguing proposition: keep the commercial flight, lose much of what makes commercial flying unpleasant.
At an airport as busy as MIA, that may be the ultimate travel upgrade.
