i gotta thank rick for the idea. anyway i’d really like this forum to talk about large airports that serve as hubs to passenger airlines i.e. jfk, ohare, hartsfield, heathrow, charles degaulle etc. the best design feature i’ve ever found is in dubai international airport dxb, they have a hotel and mall built into their airport. the worst ever feature is the loudspeaker or PA system at ohare. it sounds like a lion gargling with some snow in the back.
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) going directly into San Francisco International Airport is by far the best feature I’ve ever experienced. It’s fast, easy, convenient, and pleasant. You even get beautiful views of the Bay.
I don’t know about worst, but I hate the little trams you have to take to get to the terminals at Washington Dulles.
I love airports with lots of good shopping opportunities.
Is this really a GQ?
When an airport is buiilt as a hub (Denver, Chicago, etc), the configuration is much different than that of terminal airports (El Paso, Wichita, etc) that don’t usually serve as transfer points.
Terminal airports (not to be confused with airport terminals) are designed to get passengers from the plane to the parking lot or rental car area as quickly as possible. Modern airports that were designed to serve as terminals include Kansas City and Dallas-Fort Worth. Dallas-Fort Worth now serves as a hub, but it doesn’t function well for that purpose; gates are on only one side of a corridor, making trips between gates extremely long.
Airport planners would consider the best hub airports those places that allow passengers and baggage to move between flights in the shortest time possible, and allow planes to get from the gate to the runway, and vice versa, quickly and efficiently. Amenities such as malls, hotels and so on are afterthoughts. The new Denver International Airport may be the butt of a lot of jokes, but it’s an excellent hub. It takes forever to get in and out of the airport if it’s the beginning or end point of your flight, but it excels at its job as a hub. The layout of DIA was inspired by Atlanta Hartsfield, which is also considered an outstanding hub airport.
I hate airports that don’t have:
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Shops/restaurants after you go through security.
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Free luggage carts (now that none of them have lockers).
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Convenient access to their downtown area.
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Water fountains.
I’ve been in some dinky out-of-the-way airports that were better designed than some of the major ones.
One huge design flaw is a hub airport without a smoking lounge within the secure area. With less than an hour to kill between connections having to go in & out of security to smoke (because you can’t do it on the planes) is a huge inconvenience.
Any big city airport that does not have jetways in the 21st century is inexcusable. Yet, San Jose, CA (11th biggest city in the country) has just this design flaw in their “old” terminal (and only American & Southwest are in the new terminal).
The low ceilings (a la St. Louis & San Antonio) are also a major design flaw. They give the impression that you are in a bus terminal, plus it makes the long hallways seem all the more long.
An observation deck where you can watch the planes take off and land (a la Minneapolis) is a huge design plus in my book…but they aren’t very common.
Widespread and Accurate Clocks, preferably attached to the ceiling in the middle of the walkways.
Good design = any airport not JFK
What an insult to visitors and an embarassment to NYC natives our airport is! Designed by idiots, run by idiots.
I haven’t been in the Kansas City airport for about 14 months, but up until that time, the airport was divided into multiple security zones. If you were changing planes and your connecting flight was more than four gates away, you had to exit security and rescan. Each secure area included three or four gates, and nothing else. If you wanted a drink while you waited for your flight, you had to exit security to get to a bar. If you needed to use the restroom before boarding your plane, you had to exit security to get to a restroom.
When I changed flights in MCI, both gates were in the same concourse, just a few gates apart. Even so, I:
Exited security.
Went through security at my gate.
Learned my flight was delayed.
Exited security.
Went to the bar.
Went through security at my gate.
Still about 1/2 an hour to boarding.
Exited security to use the restroom.
Went through security at my gate.
The security staff was quite nice, and we got to chat a bit. Even so, it was a headache. They may have fixed things since.
My vote: Runways.
(This thread should probably be moved to IMHO, since there are no factual answers. Nonetheless…)
One of the worst design mistakes is an airport in which you have to keep changing levels to get where you want to go. For example, you get off a plane on a jetway, which is, of course, on the second floor of the terminal. Then, to get to other gates, you have to go downstairs. Then, to get to baggage claim, you have to go upstairs, cross a large lobby area, then go downstairs again. Then, access to public transportation is all on the upper level. Even with escalators, it’s a PITA; if you’re in a wheelchair, it means having to find the elevators, which are often hidden and/or out of order.
BTW, the “people movers” at Dulles will eventually disappear, or at least become optional. They’re working on a tunnel to connect the main terminal to the mid-field terminal, so there will be moving walkways and some sort of rail system underground. The people movers were a lousy idea from the get-go - they add 20 minutes to every trip. I can’t imagine whatever possessed the designers.
A year and a half ago, I was one of three adult chaperones for a team of eight middle-schoolers (and two younger siblings) who were travelling on Southwest between Nashville and Albuquerque. We had 40 minutes to change planes in Kansas City, and it was lunchtime. We wanted to get all the kids through security and get our boarding passes as quickly as possible, but we needed to feed them all as well. We ended up herding them through security, getting the boarding passes, and then leaving one adult with them and sending two back out to get food and drinks for the group, so that everyone didn’t have to go through security again. The security people refused to let us back in with the pizza boxes and bottled drinks. After about five minutes of pleading and whining, they finally agreed to let us take the food through as long as they could x-ray it first. We barely made the flight.
I still hate MCI and I’ll do everything in my power to avoid transferring planes there.
Bad design feature: only one access ramp per gate so that ALL passengers and crew have to enter and exit (oh, pardon me, board and deplane) through a single door (seems to be universal in the United States)
Good design feature: two access ramps per gate for larger planes so that both forward port doors can be used (seems to be universal in the rest of the world)
Bad design feature: insufficient waiting room at the gates so that people waiting for planes block people trying to move to, from, and between gates (outstanding example of airport with this feature: Hartsfield; example of airport without this feature: National?)
Bad design feature: traffic pattern designed so that everyone entering and exiting the terminal by foot will have to cross paths with every vehicle stopping at terminal to deposit or pick up passengers by car (outstanding example of airport with this feature: Hartsfield; example of airport without this feature: San Diego)
Bad Design Feature: Too noisy. Reduce noise by minimising large, hard and flat surfaces to reduce the amount of echo. Dunno if it’s actually practical though.
Reminds of my one and probably only arrival visit to the Santiago, Chile airport (I was on the way to visit my sister and her family who are now back in the U.S.).
Arrivals left the plane on the second of three floors. I then went down a staircase with everyone else from the flight to the first floor where customs and baggage claim were. As I was continuing on to another Chile city on a different flight, I had to get my suitcase from baggage claim then take an elevator to the third floor, which is where all departures occur, and check in for the other flight there and turn over my suitcase to go to that plane. (First floor was the only access to and from the parking lot.)
I didn’t mind having to haul around the suitcase, but having to shuffle through all three floors of the building was kinda irritating. Other than that it was a very nice building.
There is a long list of bizarre things wrong, profoundly wrong, with the design of the enormous new Denver International Airport. All I can wonder is: what the hell were they thinking?
I second Washing Dulles as the worst. After a long flight, the last thing one wants to do is stand in line to exit the terminal. Those shuttle busses are a pain in the ass!!
they were under intense pressure to finish the project ASAP
Not sure if this counts as a design flaw, but hate the fact that I usually can’t find a place away from the damn televisions!
Why does CNN or MSNBC have to be blaring at me from every corner? I once had to spend most of the night in O’Hare, and the TV’s were on the whole time really loud. It was like water torture.
Recently I was at Lambert International in St. Louis, and they had the afternoon talk shows on all the TV’s. That day they were talking all about prosititution. With videos. At one point I saw a group of kids around one of the many TV’s in the terminal watching this crap.
Why can’t I be left in peace to read my book while waiting for a flight?
I am a frequent traveller and DIA is my home airport - I wonder what you feel are the things “profoundly wrong” with it. In my opinion, it is one of the most efficient and attractive airports in the country. About 50% of the time, your bags arrive at the carousel before you do. This never happens anywhere else I fly, which is almost anywhere in the country.
Wherever you are in the airport, you can get food and/or drink close by, there are moving walkways in all terminals, and if your flight is delayed they have inexpensive “business centers” with high speed internet and phones.
Poor Design:
Another vote for the multiple change in levels. At the new Northwest terminal in Detroit, you have to go down and then up and then down again. When you’ve got a lot of luggage or a stroller, that’s a lot of elevator rides, and sometimes you have to wait for several “trips” before you can go on.
The fountain in that terminal sucks, too. It’s beautiful, but the splashing water is incredibly loud and that bounces off the glass and tile.
I HATE that almost none of the bathrooms have sinks low enough for children to reach. I swear every airport bathroom must be designed by a childless man. Same with drinking fountains. It is very hard to hoist or boost a kid up when you are laden down with carryons.
Also, all too often bathroom counters are designed in such a way that water gets everywhere and tends to just sit. That leaves no dry spot to set your purse or whatever down while you wash hands.
Chairs arranged in such a way that there is no good way to form a “line” for boarding.
Good Design:
“Zoned” luggage claim so that people can get their luggage close to the gate.
Family bathrooms.
Children’s play areas (love Minneapolis/St Paul!).
Numerous outlets for laptops and the like.
Food courts with many choices and lots of seating.