Commissioners approved a study about extending the 4-mile, $650 million monorail system from its southern terminus at the MGM Grand to the airport, which is on a pace to serve more than 44 million passengers in 2005.

Currently, the monorail operates along the east side of several Las Vegas Strip resorts. The train stops at stations at the MGM Grand, Paris-Las Vegas and Bally's, the Flamingo, the Imperial Palace and Harrah's, the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and the Sahara.

In addition to an extension to McCarran, monorail officials are looking at a line along the west side of the Strip that would serve even more hotels.

MGM Mirage Chief Executive Terry Lanni is a monorail fan. He recently told the Las Vegas Sun that extending the monorail to the airport could get tourists to their Strip hotel rooms faster and eliminate traffic congestion.

Long taxi lines at McCarran are a growing problem during the airport's peak hours, and Lanni said Arizona Sen. John McCain recently spent nearly an hour in line to get a cab at the airport.

Last week's approval of the study does not guarantee that the line would ever be built. Monorail officials are estimating that an extension would cost between $100 million and $800 million. Monorail officials are hoping a decision on extending the line could be reached by the end of next year.

Approval of the study sets the stage for thinking about what's on the horizon at the airport if the line is approved.

Dennis Mewshaw, McCarran's planning manager, said airport officials already are considering the prospects of having the monorail at McCarran.

Among the questions raised about an airport-Strip monorail link is whether passengers would be willing to schlep their suitcases from the baggage claim area to the airport monorail stop and then from the monorail stop to the hotel front desk.

Mewshaw said airport planners have already looked at the issue.

"In order to make the monorail a viable option," Mewshaw said, "you have to separate the passengers from their luggage."

That's why McCarran officials are looking at hotel check-in sites at the airport and off-airport check-in programs at the same time as the monorail infrastructure itself.

Mewshaw said MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, the companies that operate the most Las Vegas hotel rooms, already have check-in stations at the airport to accommodate guests staying at their numerous hotels.

Under the ideal scenario, luggage coming off the plane would be routed directly to the hotels so that passengers don't even have to bother with it. But for those who claim bags at the McCarran carousels, the hotel check-in sites would be an intermediate stop before going to the monorail.

Under current broad plans, the monorail would have two stops at McCarran, one just north of McCarran's baggage claim area, the other at the yet-to-be-built Terminal 3.

McCarran officials are just about to go to bid on the first project that eventually would lead to the construction of Terminal 3 -- the redesign and relocation of Russell Road near Maryland Parkway. The project, expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2007, also would relocate utility lines.

Terminal 3, which would serve international and domestic flights when it is completed in 2010, would be located just north of the existing D gate complex.

When Terminal 3 is built, it would be connected with an underground people-mover, similar to the above-ground trams that run between the main terminal and the C and D gates. Mewshaw said there also would be a pedestrian corridor about 900 feet long linking Terminal 3 with the D gates.

But back to the monorail. Terminal 3 and the monorail stop that would be a part of it haven't been designed.

The stop at the north end of the baggage claim area presumably would be elevated, so passengers claiming their bags would go up an elevator or escalator and hop the train and head for the Strip. Mewshaw said the area north of baggage claim currently is a limousine pickup point on the ground level.

For the return trip from the hotel to the airport, McCarran officials are working to develop off-airport check-in systems so that hotel guests can check their bags and get their flight boarding passes before leaving the hotel. That would eliminate hauling luggage onto the monorail and waiting in line at the airport.

McCarran officials are working with federal authorities to develop a system that complies with security regulations for passengers with luggage.

Mewshaw said Orlando resorts already are offering baggage transit arrangements for tourists.

"We feel like we're pioneers here, but Orlando already has a similar service for the Disney resorts," he said.

The convenient access envisioned with the monorail and baggage transport systems could be a whole new selling point for conventioneers.

Imagine boarding a plane in St. Louis at 7 in the morning and routing your suitcase to your hotel room, flying to Las Vegas, getting off the plane and picking up a hotel room key before boarding the monorail and getting to the Convention Center in time for the show's opening.

A conventioneer could spend the whole day at the show, catch the monorail when the show closes for the day and go straight to the hotel room where the suitcase is waiting.

After catching a nap, the conventioneer could be ready to enjoy what Las Vegas is famous for.

Now that's a visitor experience.

In other tourism news:

What is being called the official documentary of the city's centennial observation will be shown on PBS in two parts Monday and Tuesday nights.

"Las Vegas: An Unconventional History" will be aired as part of PBS' "American Experience" series on KLVX, Channel 10, at 9 both nights.

An award-winning documentary film team wrote, directed and produced the show, narrated by film star Michael Murphy.

Ironic, isn't it, that the show will go head to head with NBC's "Las Vegas," which will have local icons Robert Goulet and Lance Burton as guests in Monday's episode.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.