Sure, they can always grab a Maryland mug or an Orioles T-shirt or a few postcards before boarding the plane.
But BWI airport travelers who really want to take home a taste of Maryland now stock up on its most famous delicacy: succulent bits of blue crab meat, hon.
For the first time, visitors to Baltimore-Washington International can purchase pasteurized crab meat, frozen crab cakes and stuffed crabs at Just Plane Crabs, a little shop next to the airport's observation deck.
And the pride of the Chesapeake -- you won't find any Virginia or Texas variety here -- is getting around like never before, taking flight in insulated, carry-on packets guaranteed to keep the crab meat fresh 24 hours.
Already, brisk business has prompted the store to plan a new, separate shop nearby, Chesapeake Catch and Carry, with a broader array of fresh bay seafood and regional foods to go.
Just Plane Crabs owner Melissa M. Fulton declined to provide totals, but said sales at the 10-month-old store doubled this spring with the addition of crab.
The store, in the airport's Gallery Market Walk between Piers B and C, had sold just about everything crab -- crab mallets, crab seasoning, crab T-shirts, crab bibs, crab cookbooks, furry crabs and plastic crabs and chocolate crabs -- everything except the real thing.
Which begged the question Fulton and airport employees say they heard dozens of times a day:
"People would come in the store and the airport information booth and say, 'Where can I get Maryland crab meat? Where can I get those Maryland crab cakes I keep hearing about?' " Fulton said.
"The Maryland crab cakes are famous all over the world. I said to myself, 'I've got to do something about this.' It was crazy, I mean, that it in this environment, this international airport, we don't have fresh crab meat and crab cakes people could take home."
Fulton said as much to the Maryland Aviation Administration, which owns the airport; Host Marriott, which manages retail merchandising there; and the state Department of Agriculture's Seafood Marketing program.
All agreed, and gave the store the go-ahead to create Maryland's answer to Boston's Logan International Airport, where Maine lobsters have been big sellers for years.
Beyond the additional revenue for the industry, selling crab meat at an airport with more than 13 million passengers a year naturally represents a smart marketing ploy.
