International travelers, rejoice! The world's busiest airport is debuting a billion-dollar solution to the much-griped-about entry procedure for Atlanta-bound passengers.

The screening hoops international travelers have long faced to escape the confines of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have led veteran traveler Nancy Megehee to avoid bringing anything more than a carry-on along on long-haul trips. Arriving back in Atlanta was just too much trouble.

"If you're going to walk the concourse, you have to clear your luggage to walk through. Typically, what I'm doing is carry-on, but I still have to go pick my bag up and have my bag re-examined by the TSA," Megehee said.

That was one of the annoying quirks of an airport that handled nearly 10 million international passengers last year. Before May 16, even international travelers whose final destination was Atlanta had to pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints and recheck checked bags after clearing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to leave the airport.

That's because there was no way to exit the international security zone to the outside world without crossing through the secure domestic terminal. All that duty-free fine wine had to get stuffed back into a traveler's luggage to avoid violating the TSA's 3-ounce rule. Then add a trip to the baggage claim to pick up checked bags before exiting.

With Wednesday's opening of the Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal, six years later than planned and at a higher-than-expected cost of $1.4 billion, there will be much beyond the new ease of exiting to admire and celebrate: the natural light-filled structure, lovely views of airplanes taking off to foreign lands and taxiing to the new terminal gates, new retail and restaurant choices, art installations, a swanky new Delta Sky Club and technology charging areas that recognize the ubiquitous use of smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices.

The logistics of getting to and from the terminal might present the biggest challenge. The new terminal is accessed via a different highway than the rest of the airport, and the city's rail service connects to the original terminal but not to the new international gateway. Shuttle buses will run around the clock to connect the old and new facilities.

While we wait for international travelers to test Atlanta's newest terminal, we asked noted architects, airport operations executives and other travel industry experts to share what they look for in a world-class airport's design and features.

An airport must nail down the basics: security, federal processing, technology, retail and restrooms, said Bill Fife, an airport consultant who has worked in positions with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including a role as deputy general manager of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Make security obvious and easy

Whether travelers are taking off from a home airport or landing in a foreign land for the first time without speaking the language, travelers want airports to make the process clear.

Do they have time to get snacks before security, or will the security lines be too long and stressful? If they're landing for the first time in a foreign country and don't speak the language, do they know where to get their bags, clear customs and get to their hotel?

"People want to know where they're at, every step of the way," says Jason Clampet, senior online editor at Frommers.com.

After Clampet flew into the Copenhagen Airport last fall, he noticed a big clock above security that showed how many minutes it would take to get people through the process.

"It said one minute, and I didn't believe them, but I was through security in 52 seconds," Clampet said. "Whatever they said it was going to be, it was good to know. "

When airport architect Mark Leininger landed at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, and went through security, he watched a video showing the procedure of showing one's passport to security, getting a picture taken and other details of the process.

"You want to make security seem like it's effective and people understand what they're doing, not just being treated like rats in rat maze," said Leininger, associate director of the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who has worked on Boston Logan International Airport and the current redesign for Delta's terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Reducing the stress of flying

Cramped security spaces, lack of light and too much noise can contribute to an already-stressful flying experience, where travelers often have to remove much of their clothing in public before being allowed to head to their respective gates.

"You're often in an absolutely lightless space with low ceilings, and usually the occupancy rates are in excess of what the building's mechanical systems would allow," said architect Simon Smithson, who worked on Madrid Barajas Airport's Terminal 4 project.

The use of natural light, enormous windows to show people where they're heading (to the plane or to customs) and acoustics to dampen the sound of thousands of travelers and workers can contribute to a nicer flying experience, said Smithson, project architect on the Madrid airport and a partner at the architecture firm of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in London.

"We designed a nice, generous space with some sort of natural light so people would see how the process is working," Smithson said. "We also used light to let people inside the building know the time of day outside." That helps fliers landing in a different time zone to reorient their body clocks.

Get me something to eat

Many travelers heading to foreign ports are too squeezed for time to pack their own snacks, and some want more than the usual fast food options that will just sit in their stomachs on a 10-hour flight. Careful placement of restaurants with seating and to-go options along the walk to a traveler's gate can minimize the stress that hunger will cause.

Some winners: Fife applauds the design at the JetBlue terminal at Kennedy Airport, noting that customers can pick from many options and pay at the same registers. Frequent traveler Charles Kunz loves the local restaurant options at the San Francisco airport's international terminal.