Best and Worst Airports you've Experienced

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Based on comments from this thread: ask the girl who is stranded at the Detroit airport overnight - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board and rather than resurrecting a zombie thread from 2010, I thought I’d ask folks (many of whom, I presume, fly at least some places) what airports they have loved and hated over the years.

Mods, that 2010 thread was in the IMHO section, but I though that it made more sense here; if you disagree, please feel free to move it.

I have (not counting three grass fields in the Masai Maru) been to 94 airports on all six continents with airports, so I do have some familiarity with the topic.

Best Major Airports (US):

  1. Detroit: Well organized, with good movement between terminals and within terminals thanks to the internal tram. Note, this is for the Delta terminals, not the ‘other’ parts that other airlines were consigned to–they have been improved, I have heard, but the old Detroit airport of the 60’s-70’s was horrible.

  2. Atlanta. A lot of folks will consider me crazy for saying that, but despite the crowds (and there are always crowds), you can make connections from one end to the other relatively quickly given the layout and the superb subway system. Plenty of shops and food places, Delta has passenger assistance centers in each terminal, and the new international section is great.

  3. Charlotte: It barely qualifies, since the concurses are long and scattered and it can be difficult to navigate for a first-timer, but it has Rocking Chairs!! And that is a big plus in my book.

Worst Major Airports (US):

  1. Newark: Bad parking, bad check-in, bad crowding,…bad.

  2. Los Angeles: Mostly because you have 8 separate terminals and if you have to change flights, especially from one airline to another, you have quite an adventure awaiting you. Plus the anemities are so-so and the traffic horrible.

  3. Chicago O’Hare: Most because of the sprawl that makes getting from one flight to another a walk to remember (or forget). And despite having Wolfgang Puck, it’s eateries are very so-so, and the International terminal is a joke (or was in 2012) when it comes to services past the TSA point.

Best International Airport: Amsterdam Schipol. Yes, it has many of the same problems as O’Hare (extra-large terminal with long walks), but it also has dozens of shops and varied restaurants, a hotel, a casino, and a direct train route to Amsterdam Central station if you have a long-enough layover. And long -legged recliners for resting, if you can find them on the second level.

I’d love to add Singapore, but I was only there for 1 hour on an inbound flight so I can’t really speak to it.

Worst International Airport: Charles DeGaulle, Paris: Disorgainzed, expensive, rude, and bus drivers who think they are at LeMans. Been there four times and if I can help it, their won’t be a fifth.

London Heathrow gets an Honorable mention, although I personally have never had a problem there…but I can certainly see why folks could have one.
Most Loved Airport (and place/any size): Probably Las Vegas. It’s built to get many people in and out, it has lots of amenities, and slot machines!! Honorable mentions for Orlando (same as Vegas without slots) and my home port of Huntsville (15 min max check-in to gate).

Most Hated Airport: Memphis. Just a general gloomy athmosphere about it, maybe the low roofs and maybe the lighting, but I was never once happy to be there.

So, what say you about airports you have come to know and love/hate?

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LAX is the worst. It’s old, smelly and disorganized.

My two favorites are London Heathrow and Sydney.

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I’d say while I’d give Orlando my grudging second-place award, since it is clean and uncrowded (even when there are a lot of people there is still plenty of room), other than those two aspects it doesn’t seem much better than others.

Las Vegas, on the other hand, not only has the aforementioned slots (and I don’t even like slots but I do appreciate the option), but I heard horror stories about the long line for cabs, and the line is physically long, but moves very quickly and is well-organized instead of catch-as-catch-can. And my taxi driver said that it was a huge weekend for cabs, so normally the line is probably even faster.

One thing I don’t like about Orlando and Vegas, though, is lack of foot travel options. Orlando is so far away from anywhere that it probably doesn’t matter, but I was seriously considering walking to the LV monorail to avoid the $20 for a cab or having to figure out the bus system, but it didn’t appear that one could even do that.

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I’ll second the nominations for Detroit and Atlanta being excellent. JFK’s new Terminal 4 is pretty great, as well, though JFK as a whole leaves a lot to be desired.

McCarren Airport in Las Vegas is another favorite. Very well designed, easy to move through, and centrally located in the city.

My most hated include LaGuardia and LAX.

I am baffled by anyone who would rate Heathrow highly. What a pain in the ass (excuse me, arse) that place is.

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I’m surprised that someone else likes Heathrow; I expected more hate for it.

I agree mostly with Sydney, albeit I spent and extra 5 hours there due to airline mechanical problems, but a very impressive duty-free and lots of dining choices.

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There was a plan once upon a time to extend the LV monorail the the airport, but it will probably never happen given the state of the monorail’s finances.

The dispatchers in Vegas do run the taxi line very efficiently. It’s never taken me more than 10 minutes to get a cab, and that’s on a bad day.

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Newark is probably the worst I’ve seen.

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Best: London City. Tiny (but international), neat quick, just enough shops and not too many, super-up-to-date technology that speeds things up, great disability assistance, extremely easy transport connections. I’ll pay more to fly from there.

Worst: Luton (an internation airport that’s counted as a London airport). Bigger than it needs to be, dirty, disorganised, terrible - dangerous! - disability assistance, hardly any useful shops, old tech, miles from anywhere. If I have to fly from there or not go I choose not to go.

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The best

  1. MSP(Minneapolis-St Paul)- Yeah, I have to hand it to my local airport here. I’ve spent a lot of time here and it’s got a lot to offer like: Light rail transport to and from downtown Minneapolis then to downtown St Paul as well as to the Mall of America. It also has a pretty significant shopping area and good dining choices beyond just fast food. Most of the gates have lots of charging areas if not iPads at almost every seat in some gates.

  2. IST (Istanbul)-Maybe it’s because it was a great vacation. Maybe it was the Sky Club that had wonderful couches to spread yourself out on and actually be comfortable. Maybe it’s the worldly clientele with interesting stories to share. I don’t know, but I actually loved the time there.

  3. AMS (Schiphol)- I’ve been here enough where I know all of its quirks and bumps. This is a great airport to have a long layover in. You can pop on a train and head to Centraal quick enough, or relax in the small and cozy rooms at Citizen M. There’s shopping, a good market (Albert Heijn) and although there have been recent changes in the security protocol, it’s still one of the best.
    The worst

  4. ATL (Atlanta)-There’s so much annoying about this place. Maybe it’s because it’s a connecting hub for Delta and the connections are never fun. It always seems to involve at least 15 minutes of taxiing to a gate, the transfer to the gate I want always involves going down the pits of hell, grabbing the cramped monorail to another stop while people slam against the doors trying to make it in time, and then rushing down a concourse of crappy food options. Although, they do have a lot of Sky Clubs, so there’s that.

  5. FCO (Rome)- Seriously, does it need to be this far out of town and expensive to get to Rome? No.

  6. CAI (Cairo)- In and out was just a bit of a hassle trying to find where to get the Visas or being stuck in a room for 45 minutes after security to wait for a bus to take us to the plane.

  7. CDG (Paris)- Fingers crossed to anyone who has ever had a tight connection in this airport. We had a 70 minute connection and arrived breathless to our connecting flight to Warsaw. This airport was not meant to be flown through.

  8. MCO (Orlando)- From the location’s lack of light rail to all of the important places to the sheer amount of crabby children and their spoiled and entitled parents, I loathe this place so much. Couple that with the forced traffic jam that they have for the security lines and the whole place makes me want to fly into another city and find another way to get to where I’m going.

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My only experience with changing planes at MSP involved a gate change, where a whole planeload of us had to make a long, long trek from the original gate to the new gate, and had to do it fast. And it was strictly walking - no internal transit, no conveyer belts, no nothing.

It wasn’t the longest trek I’ve ever had to do in an airport, but it wasn’t all that far off. And it’s the only time I’ve ever had to move that far, that fast, in an airport, aside from times I’d simply arrived late.

But you can rest assured that not only is TSA protecting the premises, but that open-carry enthusiasts will be doing so as well! So you ought to feel extremely safe, even if you’re just changing planes. Since after all, the aforementioned enthusiasts may not be able to bring their weapons into the secured parts of the airport, but if they see the need, their bullets can easily jump that divide.

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I wonder what airport ranks worst in terms of mooks who stand still on conveyer belts.

Airport workers should arm themselves with cattle prods.

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I like MSP and PDX (Portland, OR): easy to navigate and light rail.

Worst international: just about any airport in Africa; also, Gatwick in London and CDG in Paris. Most Euro capitals are okay, and I’ve flown into most of them on multiple occasions.

In the US: DFW (Dallas) because of the gigantic sprawl. Allow at least an hour for a connecting flight. I’ve never liked JFK, either. SEA (Seattle) is kind of grungy, but so is the music. We’re headed for LAX this week, so I’ll see if anything has improved there in the last 30 years or so.

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The worst I ever experienced was the Philadelphia airport circa 1994-95. Crummy food/services, immense distances to travel (for whatever reason, connections were always on the other side of the airport requiring long hikes between gates) and surly workers.
Thus is was a shock last month to find the place had been upgraded, with lots of shops, some good food and workers at these places making an obvious effort to be friendly. Plus, we only had to travel a short distance between gates to make a connecting flight.

Charlotte has good barbecue, which in itself earns high marks for an airport.

Newark in my experience is meh. Avoiding all NYC-area airports whenever possible is a good idea. Ditto Chicago and D.C.

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I’ve always found the tram system made it ridiculously easy to move around DFW. I’ve never had a problem making connections there.

Nope, it’s worse.

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McCarren in Vegas is great for arrivals/departures, but Fate forfend that you have to change planes there, as you may well have to leave the secure area and go thru screening again to catch your connecting flight.

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All of the old terminals are gone now, Delta basically owns the big McNamara terminal, but the North Terminal that other airlines use is pretty new and just about as nice. The old J.M. Davey Terminal (which Northwest used to use) was the pits; cramped, narrow, sprawling, with little natural light. Plus, your flight always seemed to be at the last gate of Concourse C, which meant a 20 minute walk after check-in. People actually gathered around and applauded when they started demolishing that terminal.

My least favorite is Kansas City. Not that the terminals are crappy per se, just that the way they were designed back in the day is totally incompatible with modern security requirements. each cluster of gates has its own TSA checkpoint tacked on, and the result left most all of the accommodations like food and restrooms outside of the sterile area. So if you need to go take a leak, you’ve got to go through security again.

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Worst non-US airport: YUL (Montreal). Dark, depressing, low ceilings, bleakness, desolation, plastic forks.

Poorly-placed US airport: IAD (Washington Dulles). Great airport, once you are there. Bad part is that it’s in the middle of generic suburbia with poor public transportation. A rail connection to the DC Metrorail system has been planned since the 1970’s and finally started construction a few years ago.

Great US airports:

BWI (Baltimore). Surprisingly small and cheery airport with short lines and only a few gates. It is on a rail line and also has buses going to Baltimore proper as well as DC.

SJU (San Juan). Not too far away from the city, with tall roofs, expansive windows, and plenty of tropical sun. What MCO should have been like.

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Could be. I only passed through there once and walked to my connection. Twenty minutes later, I was breathing hard and still hadn’t arrived at the gate. Plus, I was in a bad mood from a business visit. I’ll retract. :slight_smile:

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Best:

Burlington, VT. So chill. I begin to relax the minute the plane begins to circle on final approach.

Granada, Spain. Very laid back. Car rental clerks take siestas between arriving flights.
Worst:

Madrid, Spain. Huge, disorganized and the flight arrival/departure information monitors are cleverly positioned to face away from the seating. So you have to get up every 10 minutes to check if your flight has been rescheduled. Which it almost certainly has been. And not announced. And it’s now at the gate furthest from where you are. Now boarding, so RUN!

Montreal, Canada. Clean, modern and you gotta walk a mile to get to customs. Parking lot is a shambles. Highway signage and traffic circles leaving the airport are diabolical.

Philadelphia. Christ all mighty, why aren’t the terminals connected so you don’t have to walk outside?

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I don’t fly very often, but the ones that have stood out to me:

Louisville: small, very clean, easy to get around.

Denver: all I really remember is you had to take a train between buildings, and the smoking lounge was a full-on bar, with waitresses and TVs and everything. That left a very good impression, even though I don’t smoke anymore.

Miami: awful. I don’t know if it was because of construction or if it’s always like that, but when I was there, there were these very weird, labyrinthine, tunnel-like hallways between everywhere.