I agree with you except for “dirty”. A dull airport in the middle of nowhere. I almost had to look at my boarding pass to remember where I was.
I went to St. Thomas, USVI, and it was a long red-eye, so I think I slept most of the way in. The first evening, sitting at a beach restaurant for dinner, I watched a big jet land. OMG. That’s not much runway. I commented to the woman next to me, and she said yes, there were only a few pilots that were qualified to land and take off there, and her husband was one. (She flown in with him for their anniversary). I do know that when we went to leave St. Thomas, we sat on the runway a long time while they “balanced” the cargo hold–I figured it was all the wet towels, sand and rum, but I’d never heard that term for a delay taking off any other time.
Re: Atlanta. I harbor an extreme hatred for that airport. In the early 90’s my parents were flying back east with a layover there. Dad had Alzheimers and needed Mother’s assistance in the bathroom. Mom asked that I call to find the “family” bathrooms. Woman who answered the phone laughed at me and was very rude saying Mom could take him in the men’s room and what the hall was my problem. LAUGHED at me. I must have written 25 letters to everything in Atlanta I could think of.
I do like the Indianapolis airport–bright and airy.
I has been a while but I recall that San Diego has a similar view. Wave at the office workers as you fly past the downtown.
I came in to mention the Indianapolis airport and see I was ninja’d by 2 posts. It may not be the best by any objective measures - but I just love flying into it as a business traveler. It is big and roomy, so you never feel cramped or part of a herd. It has good food options, plenty of restroom space, and efficient security. A big thing for me is how easy rental car pickup is - and Indy is a piece of cake. It’s maybe a 2 minute walk from baggage claim to the rental cars and you can be in the car and on the road within 10 minutes of getting off the plane. Finally - it’s close to downtown and the various expressways - so wherever in Indy you are going, you’re not far away.
Another airport I like is Reagan National. Again maybe not objectively good - but I like it because its very easy to take public transit to wherever you’re going. Food isn’t necessarily that good - but I love being able to sit at the gate and watch the planes takeoff and land. That for me offsets the cramped quarters, odd layout and sometimes slow baggage claim.
ABQ has some excellent breakfast burritos - so that’s nice.
Salt Lake City has great views - which helps.
Atlanta is my home airport - so I like it because, pretty much regardless of where I am, if a flight is canceled, I can always find other options to get home. There is always some flight from somewhere going to Atlanta. And the airport itself is pretty well organized and easy to navigate. However - the bathrooms are terrible - too small and what’s with the single entrance/exit that forces everyone to do the rollerboard 2-step as they pass each other in the entrance? Also - woe be the traveler with a type connection if their flights are on different concourses.
In general - as a business traveler, I don’t like airports where it takes a long time to get to the rental cars. So San Francisco and SeaTac both score low points for me.
Also - my experience with Minneapolis varies dramatically based on my connections. If I’m staying on big jets, then its fine. But if I’m transitioning from jets to commuter flights - the tramp to get from one to the other is dreadful.
I’m thinking that Saba could use a high-speed conveyor belt.
About the duty free shops and places to eat, my experience there taught me that you’re half right. It was one of the worst airports I’ve ever visited for that reason (at least the terminal I was in).
I want to make a distinction between the worst airport and the worst airport experience. Worst airport is a tie between O’Hare and LAX. You’d think in a food town like Chicago, they’d have decent food concessions. Very few good places to eat though and they MUST have some kind of algorithm that lands everyone from the farthest possible gate from their connection–and yes, you have to walk.
LAX is just a nightmare. Surly staff, long lines, not well thought out lines (I always have to stand in line in a habitrail bridge over the street. Everything seems old and worn. No free wifi.
Best DFW. Good food service, good bars, helpful staff, easy transport gate to gate.
Worst Airport experience however is Reykjavik. Food was terrible, no comfortable place to sit, gates in hallways vs. open terminal areas, everything is expensive. All of this is explainable though–food is probably just my American tastes. Reykjavik is pretty isolated so food selection is probably hard and expensive due to transportation requirements, small airport with limited traffic, so not a lot invested in the airport. So since not intentional or due to neglect, I can’t say they are a terrible airport, they just dont’ make it pleasant to be there.
Just got back from LAX. Hadn’t been there for probably 35 years. It’s only gotten worse since then. Traffic is a nightmare, massive amounts of people, and really, really shitty and expensive food: $12 for a sandwich with two slices of turkey and a tired piece of lettuce.
I note that PDX now has an airport version of the Pok Pok restaurant, which has won many accolades in the city. If you pass through there, give it a shot.
I’m not a frequent flyer, and most of my trips end at tiny airports like Alexandria LA or Shreveport LA, both charming tiny walk-down-the-stairs-to-cross-the-tarmac airports. This is also horrifying weather country. This means my experience lies mostly in what airports are interesting while waiting hours for a connection. So Dallas-Fort Worth is awesome if it is six hours 'til your connection.
They have a lovely pamphlet on art in the airport! Murals, floor designs. installations, statues and paintings. It told about each artist’s vision, why the airport adopted this vision and where to view it. I really had a great experience each time I was stuck there.
I also will tell you if you have printed info in one hand and you are studying a floor mural then every couple of minutes someone will ask if you need help. Dang friendly folk and the also the BBQ joints are everywhere! Place smells like heaven.
I second Colibri’s comment in that thread. You probably were in the wing away from the mezzanine with al the nice food court. When I was there this past January, at 8am there were a few places that served coffee and breakfast-type things, not just sad hot dogs, so I’m not sure what was that.
And it is still waaaay better than Miami. I hate Miami. The AA lounge makes it slightly better, though.
After seeing the lengths the Tampa airport staff went to give the little boy with the lost toy tiger a memorable experience, I have to re-nominate them for one of the best airports out there.
Best: Honolulu, because when you get there, you’re in Hawaii.
Worst: LaGuardia, just all-around scary.
This is all actually in reference to MCO (Orlando). I missed the edit window.
I don’t know that I have a “best”, I can’t think of any airport that I look forward to spending time in, but I do have a “worst” - Port Au Prince, Haiti. Hot, crowded (they don’t have many flights in and out but seem to schedule them all at the same time), poorly laid out, con men and pickpockets abound, getting transportation is both difficult and dangerous, just an all round nightmare of a place.
But they have a band!
Last time I was there, I flew in not too long after the earthquake, and it was pretty rough.
My daughter was there again last year and said it was much better.
Sometimes, people wonder how to improve tourism in Haiti. Completely change the first hour of arrival would help tremendously. Between hot, crowded, unorganized, scammy, and running the gauntlet once you get outside into Port au Prince proper in all its glory, I think most tourists would turn right around. I’m not sure I blame them.
Still hate Fayetteville more.
Worst:
Heathrow - rude, unhelpful employees. Confusing at one point as well, IIRC I was flying something like “Continental, operated by United” (or whatever, I just see the latter bought the former). Those two airlines were of course in separate terminals, with no indication about where I was supposed to be. Sleeping there sucked.
LAX - terrible design. Like a horseshoe. In order to switch flights and terminals the last time I was there, I’d have to a) exit security, or b) board a completely packed to the gills bus (was standing well in front of the line, pressed against the door. The bus travels on the runway, where there were helpful signs telling the driver to yield to planes(!)
Miami - only went there once and had to sleep overnight. Dirty and dark as I remember it, the duty free people were rude.
Best:
No, there is only least bad. Skimming above, Charlotte, SLC, Denver I’ve been to a few times and they’re fine. If I had time in Denver I’d want to find allthe weirdstuff there.
Kansai Airport, which serves Osaka, Japan, is quite nice. It’s the only Japanese airport I’ve hung around in, because even when I’ve fly into Tokyo, I’ve flown back out of Osaka. I even stayed in the airport hotel there in 1996, and that was excellent. There’s an excellent mass-transit rail system that whisks you into town when you need to go there.
I can’t say New York’s JFK is bad, but I was disappointed. It seemed so bland. I guess I was expecting something more.
JFK is really six airports that happen to share a common tarmac. Every terminal is completely different and some are vastly nicer than the others. They have thankfully finally demolished the old Terminal 3 (formerly TWA Worldport) which was falling apart, had a leaking roof, and was infested with bats. The space was used to expand the new Terminal 4 (for Delta’s international and transcon ops) which is very pleasant and has tons of amenities.
The old Terminals 8 and 9 were replaced with a shiny new Terminal 8 for American and Oneworld partners. It’s one of the largest airline terminals in the world and is very modern.
But there are still duds like the horrendous Terminal 2 (formerly attached by a pedestrian bridge to the demolished T3, now used for Delta regional flights.) T2 was opened in 1968 and it shows. No consideration for security lines, basically no amenities, dilapidated. Pro-tip: Since Delta uses both T2 and T4, there’s a shuttle bus that connects them. When I am unfortunate enough to have to fly out of T2, I enter the airport at T4 and go through security there, and spend as much time in that terminal as I can until I have to take the bus to T2 and get on my flight.
Terminal 7 is another old one (build 1970) and used by British Airways. It’s not as bad as T2 or the old Worldport, but it is crowded and unintuitive.
Terminal 5 is reputed to also be quite good, but I’ve never been there, because fuck JetBlue.
(Can you tell I fly out of Kennedy a lot? 
I’m on a first-name basis with some of the Sky Club hosts by this point.)
Worst:
CDG - Charles De Gaulle, Paris
EBB - Entebbe, Uganda
Best:
MLE - Male, Maldives
DXB - Dubai, UAE
Oh, it IS better than it was. It has imporved a great deal over teh last 5 years. The problem is that my description is of the improved terminals. At least now one isn’t directed by a menacing security guard with an AK-47 strapped to his chest to board an overcrowded, non-air conditioned bus in order to reach customs and baggage claim. At least that is an indoor walk past the armed guards now.