GROWING CONCERN LAS VEGAS' MCCARRAN IS AN AIRPORT STRETCHING TO ACCOMMODATE.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

LAS VEGAS - Boom? A megaton detonation is more like it.

In 1985, there were a just more than 50,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas. A dozen years later, that total had more than doubled. And then the Bellagio, the Mandalay Bay, the Four Seasons, the Venetian, Paris and the Aladdin opened.

As each new, dramatically themed resort swung wide its doors, new waves of curious visitors came streaming into the gambling mecca. And its overachieving little airport scrambled and wheezed to keep up.

Give it some credit, though: McCarran International has done a commendable job of keeping pace with demand that has increased exponentially.

For the most part, air visitors to Las Vegas will find it a traveler-friendly place, primarily because when the time came to build remote satellite concourses, airport officials had the foresight to link them to the main terminal with rail shuttles. Depending on the airline you pick, you might still have to endure one of those interminable walks to baggage claim (mitigated only slightly by moving sidewalks), but McCarran generally doesn't have the overbuilt feel of the sprawling airports in other urban locales.

It currently shepherds about 440 inbound flights per day - with Southern California starting points accounting for nearly one-fifth of those. If you're soon to be on one, here is your guide to the place:

UPON ARRIVAL: The concourses that are directly linked to the main terminal are A and B, which means if you arrive at either of them - particularly if your gate number is in double digits - you've got a long walk to baggage claim or ground transportation. A and B service a hodgepodge of airlines: Alaska, Allegiant, America West, British Airways, Champion, Continental, Frontier, Omni, Sun Country and US Airways.

If you chose Southwest - not having any objections to its cattle-call boarding operations - you'll encounter much more favorable conditions. The airline has the run of the C concourse, which is slightly removed from the main terminal. Most of its gates are linked to the main terminal by rail shuttle, the remainder by moving sidewalk.

The shuttle ride is a short one - but passengers arriving at about two dozen gates in the A and B concourses have to traverse roughly the same distance on foot.

Here's a dirty little secret that airport officials probably don't want you to know: If you arrive at certain gates in the C concourse (including C1, C2, C19, C21, C22, C23), keep an eye out for a shuttle that has just arrived and is offloading passengers. Although signs will direct you on a circuitous path to the loading doors on the other side of the car, the exit doors near the gates remain open until the shuttle is ready to leave, so you can easily step through them after the outbound shuttle passengers have gotten off.

Distant D concourse, which is connected to the terminal by a long rail shuttle, houses a number of longer-range carriers, including American, United, Delta, Northwest and Hawaiian.

CONNECTIONS: Because this airport has had to spread over such a vast area to keep up with Las Vegas' growth, connections can be an absolute bear if you fly in on one airline and have to connect to another line in a different concourse. There are no shortcuts: You have to find your way to the main terminal, then branch off in another direction. The rail shuttles can help in speeding you along, though.

Las Vegas, however, is not a common connection site for air passengers. Airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey noted that connecting traffic accounts for only about 20 percent of McCarran's passenger business.

RENTING A CAR: Plan on getting on the bus. Although there are rental-car counters in the airport's cavernous baggage-claim area, you have to catch a shuttle to an off-site lot to pick up your car. But at least these are close to the airport and convenient to Paradise Road, the designated mad- dash route toward the Strip.

The airport's future plans call for a consolidated rental-car facility, with generic shuttle buses serving all customers. (That should reduce the requisite frustration of seeing three Avis buses go by while you're waiting for one bus to National). The facility is targeted to open by mid-2003.

CATCHING A CAB: Las Vegas is a very cab-friendly city. The Strip has expanded so far south that the airport is practically an appendage to it, which means there is not a staggering fare to get to many of the popular hotels. Also, the newer casino properties on the Strip stack up along a stretch of about four long blocks, distances that can be managed on foot or with a modest cab fare.

The taxi queue at McCarran can be alarmingly long, but it is efficiently run and seems to move along fairly well at all but peak (Friday, Sunday) times. You can find its staging area by following the signs out some side doors of the baggage-claim area.

Once there, try not to think of Disneyland. Specifically the Autopia. You line up in an area of switchbacks demarcated by chains. Then you're sent with other passengers to stand at designated, numbered spots along the sidewalk. Before long, a string of cabs comes tearing into view, screeching to a halt at each of the marked spots.

At busy times, Grey said, it's not unusual for 900 cabs to service the airport in a single hour.

WHAT'S DISTINCTIVE:

First chance to take a chance. Last opportunity to beat the odds. Yes, there is gambling in this airport, specifically banks of slot machines in every concourse.

You might notice that public-address announcements declaring the terminal a smoke-free environment are played frequently, every few minutes. That's because so many visitors are accustomed to puffing away with impunity on a casino floor, and this environment certainly resembles one at times. There are glassed-off areas for smokers, however - with more slot machines, of course.

Before you start dropping coins, though, be advised of this fact: Those machines generate $25 million in annual revenues for this airport.

The enormity of some of Las Vegas' hotels can mean interminable waits at check-in. Some have responded by setting up front-desk stations at McCarran. If you're staying at Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Flamingo Hilton, the MGM Grand, New York New York or Paris, you can check in at the airport and ride a shuttle to the hotel (your baggage will be transferred to the hotel and placed in your room). This will get you to the tables or the showroom or the restaurant sooner.

Another service is CAPS, which allows outbound passengers to check their bags aboard flights from their hotels, while also being issued boarding passes. This can spare you the numbing wait in some of those check-in lines. Participating hotels: Aladdin, Bally's, Bellagio, Flamingo Hilton, Imperial Palace, Las Vegas Hilton, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Paris, Riviera, Sahara. Participating airlines (not counting charters): American Trans Air, America West, Canada 3000, Delta, Southwest, Sun Country, United (check-in at Alamo car rental customer service counter only), Virgin Atlantic.

Also at McCarran: A 24 Hour Fitness center opened a year ago and now serves in excess of 500 nonmembers a month. Workout clothes are available for purchase, shoes for rental. ... Airport merchants are not shy about trading on local themes. In the newer D concourse, there is an Area 51 store, featuring alien and science-fiction merchandise, as well as the Prickly Pear Cafe, which features a Red Rock Canyon motif.

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

Even the airport welcoming sign is glitzier at Las Vegas' McCarran International.

Map: McCarran International Airport