I would say that actual feet on the ground would let you say, with some qualification, that you visited that city. If you got off the plane, wandered through CDG terminals, then boarded a plane to another destination, then you visited the NE suburbs of Paris. Not really a substitute for a few hours layover that would allow you to take the Metro into Paris and see the sights, but sufficient in my book.
I think if you drive through a place, it counts. You’re on the ground, you’re traveling through. But a stop in the airport? No way. Many airports aren’t even in the city they serve, such as Bangkok’s main airport of Suvarnabhumi, which is way out in Samut Prakan province.
I count it as places I have been but when in the the telling I qualify it as saying I was only in the airport.
For me the cities I have been only in the Airport are Amsterdam and Houston.
When I was a kid, my family was staying on Cape Cod. One day we took a ferry over to Nantucket. We walked around for a few hours, and had lunch, then left. Last year I did the same thing on my own.
Have I been to Nantucket?
A few years ago I got off of a plane in Philadelphia. I left the airport, crossed the street and went into a restaurant. I had lunch, then went back into the airport, through security, then got on another plane.
Have I been to Philadelphia?
[QUOTE=Robot Arm]
My opinion is that airports don’t count. That doesn’t change my list much. The only places where I’ve been to the airport but not the city are Amsterdam, London, Dallas, Atlanta, and Puerto Rico.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=elbows]
I once flew to SE Asia via Amsterdam as KLM was a great deal.
[/QUOTE]
See? It’s always Schiphol. Next time you stay for a beer and to see Amsterdam, mkay? No more cheating. 
Yes you’ve been to Paris, and you’ve visited Paris, if you were at an airport in Paris. If you’re worried about misleading people you add “…but only at the airport”. I don’t see how this can be difficult to understand.
I’m another who considers airports a sort of generic international territory. If you haven’t passed immigration (or, for a domestic flight, passed the big red line that says THOU SHALT NOT RETURN PAST THIS POINT), you’ve not been there. Once you have, sure, you can say you’ve been to wherever, but if you never leave the terminal it’s not worth much.
I would only consider this to be true if you were that guy stuck in limbo there for years. But probably not even then.
Depends, did you meet a certain man there?
Is the airport in Paris? If yes, and you are at the airport, then you are in Paris. Where’s the problem here?
The problem is airports don’t count. Period. And is the airport even in Paris? I don’t know in this case, but many are far away from the city they serve.
I did see a guy with an enlarged ear canal. Was that him?
Airports have never counted. And Charles de Gaulle Airport isn’t even in Paris.
Counting airports is like saying I’ve been to Greenland because I flew through its airspace.
If the airport isn’t in Paris it doesn’t count. But if the airport is in a city, and you’ve been in the airport, then you’ve been in the city. If you think it doesn’t count for some illogical reason then you say “…but only at the airport”. Otherwise you are misleading in your statement.
Airspace doesn’t count because to ‘be in a city’ means setting foot there, which means having your feet on something solid which through any number of connections is attached to the ground, not flying over it.
I like the distinction between “been” and “visited”. I have a goal to go to every US state. I currently count Missouri, although I have only been to the airport. If I ever get close again, you can be assured I will drive through, and maybe even visit, to “firm it up”. As a motorcyclist, I absolutely count driving through, or into, a state as both visiting and being.
I’m really interested in hearing about a physical property of the universe that allows one to not be in a city when they are in the airport of that city. It must be pretty cool. Where would you be then?
I have stayed in the neighbourhood and can confirm the observation.
The last time I “was” in Amsterdam I took a train from Schiphol to town, a taxi to my hotel, went for a little walk to find somewhere to eat, back to the hotel to sleep, a tram to the railway station in the morning and back to Schiphol again. I consider this having really been in the town as little as when I spent five hours at O’Hare.
Often it is called the “city limits.” There are any number of international airports that exist as seoerate entities from the city they are physically located within. They have their own police, fire and services. They contract with the city for some of these, but they aren’t part of the city’s budget.
In the airport.
My standard is at least two meals, with a period of wakeful activity in between. An overnight layover sleeping at the airport hotel doesn’t count, but it’d count if you were out clubbing all night. Grabbing a burger at a roadside McDonalds doesn’t count, but spending a day between night trains does.
Anything less is still having “been” there, technically, but needs to be qualified by an explanation (“I spent a night in Addis once” or “I spent three hours wandering around Chicago.”)
Why? Because when people talk about having “been” someplace, they aren’t actually interested in what space your body has physically occupied. They are interested in sights you’ve seen, people you’ve met, cultures you’ve experienced and interesting things you’ve done.