Feature request title:
Arrival/Departure Passenger Zoning
Description:
It should be possible to zone certain areas of the airport as only permitted to be accessed by arriving and/or departing passengers (default is that spaces are accessible to all).
For example, a baggage collection area could be zoned as only for arriving passengers, while the check-in area before security would be zoned for only departing passengers. This could also be used to direct passengers to follow certain pathways around inside the airport
I am aware of the International zone, however, I feel like it should be possible to segregate arriving and departing passengers for domestic type flights as well.
The effect should be such that when a passenger select an object for interaction, only those which are either unrestricted or match their arrival/departure category should be considered (in the same way and in union with how secure/non-secure or staff zoning already works).
Once an object has been selected as eligible then when a path is found it must not pass through any incompatible zones (same as secure/non-secure and staff zoning works). A pathfinding alert could be raised if a passenger managed to select an object but then can’t get to it, or if it’s a non-critical object (e.g. seating) then just abort the attempt to use it and apply penalty to airport experience.
Why it should be implemented:
This would make it a lot easier to control the flow of passengers in many cases; for example to avoid arriving passengers walking out through a boarding desk space, or just to keep certain spaces for different purposes.
For example in the screenshot below, I have a check-in space and baggage claim area in moderate proximity. In the current setup with the baggage claim inside the secure zone, I often find the seating is packed with departing passengers who, for reasons unknown, refuse to sit closer to their gate (there’s plenty of seats). If I move the secure zone exit, I then get passengers waiting for bags sitting in the check-in area, or passengers waiting to check in sitting in the baggage claim.
This would make it easier to see that there is insufficient seating in a given area as passengers would be found standing in that area, rather than having spilled over into a nearby area where they should not be.
Images, references or additional content: