Best…O’Hare
Worst by a long shot Antalya, Turkey
That’s interesting. Istanbul, Trabzon and Adana were all nice when i was there (about 3 years ago now).
I do have to agree with the poster above about Paris. When I was stuck in Entebbe for 8 hours in the middle of the night I was not thinking “gosh, I’d sure rather be in Paris”. I think the people that designed CDG in Paris also did Nairobi. Someone should stop these people. 
Amen, brother. Heaven help you if you’ve got carry-on luggage for yourself and a sleepy toddler or two and you have to travel among different terminals. There are NO signs to help you get from one terminal to the next, and the path you have to take in at least one case (sorry, I don’t recall the terminal numbers now - it is a nightmare I’d rather forget) leads you through a parking lot. Nor are there always carts available to help you schlepp stuff.
Moreoever, when you are waiting inside the terminal, it is FREEZING at some of the gates.
What’s really stupid about it is that it would be so easy to ameliorate: how about color-coded signs, and strips of paint on the ground outside to help people navigate? As expenditures go this one is trivial, and it would alleviate so much stress for harried travelers who are in a rush and can’t find where they need to go.
The worst? I’d have to say Las Vegas.
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Not sure if this has changed recently, but this airport used to have the most liberal smoking rules in the United States. People smoking everywhere.
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Not as many people travelling on business. Thus, you have a lot more intoxicated and clueless people at the airport. Frequent business travellers know the drill, once a year tourist or convention goers, not as much.
I don’t fly very often, so I don’t have much to add except that the airport in Anguilla is charming.
We got off our connecting flight from San Juan (where a bum trying to shine my shoes had a seizure and foamed at the mouth - sorry, those pictures didn’t make it into the photo album of the trip) and were greated by a couple of scruffy dogs and a cinderblock building that couldn’t have been much bigger than 200 square feet. There was one staff person for the entire airport and she had her head down on the counter asleep. She woke up, said “Welcome to Anguilla” and promptly went back to sleep. The rental car had our name written on a piece of paper stuck under the windshield wiper and about 5 big roaches (not the insect) in the ashtray. A cold six pack of Carib Beer was in the back seat and the keys were in the ignition.
I came in here to say that at least in Philly you can get a cheesesteak that’s better than anything you can get in Orlando, while not as good as a classic Northeasterner (they had good cheesesteaks in Fredonia NY, too, until the Bomber House closed down.)
And Philly also has electric outlets in the gate areas, (that you can use to recharge or run your laptop!) But I admit I’ve never flown into or out of Philly, just through, so the security or baggage might make up for these two plusses.
And w/r/t Logan, I’ve never driven to or from it, but at least the T goes right to it. In this aspect it beats Dulles.
Speaking of which, I forget if it was Dulles or National, (cause it only happened to me once,) but my nomination for the worst airport is the one in the DC area whose security is between the terminal wings, forcing you to take a shuttle between terminal wings…and the shuttle actually goes across the aircraft taxiing area, meaning that it only goes across once every 15 minutes or more. You could easily walk that distance in 5.
My worst to fly into is DC Reagan National (DCA), especially when the landing pattern is from the northwest. The approach over the river and around restricted airspace makes the Death Star trench run look gentle.
Worst: I still maintain that Philly is. Familiarity breeds contempt, I guess. It’s dirty, idiotically arranged, and everything is always delayed.
Best: Albuquerque’s not bad. Free wifi scores huge points, and they’ve even got tables set up with electrical outlets so you can sit and use your laptop, do work, whatever. The baggage handling system is also, IME, remarkably fast - there have been times when my checked bag has been on the carousel by the time I get there. Plus, it’s easy to get around, but then again it’s only got two terminals, so that’s kind of a given.
Bonus answer: Denver’s not terribly friendly, I find, but gets points for the wacky conspiracy theories about it.
That’s Dulles. They are putting in underground walkways now, and when I was there last a couple of months ago, I could walk it in about 3 minutes.
Aside from the shuttles, I’ve always preferred Dulles to National or Baltimore for my local airports.
Logan. The only reason I use Logan is that is just down the road from me. The layout is bizarre, the staff are friendly in that special Boston way, and the available services are always sub-par. But, it is easy to get to if you live a short drive up 1A.
I don’t understand all the hate for Philly. Any time I had a flight that ended or began there, it was the best part of the trip. Of course, the fact that the other airport involved was Logan, and that my destination was Trenton might have something to do with that.
My favorite is easily Schipol.
The worst? Either Logan or Ronald Reagan International Airport in DC. Never been to Philly. Flown to Detroit many times, and I actually think Detroit’s airport ain’t all that bad. Of course, I’ve only use the new NWA terminal. You got the cool indoor monorail (or whatever it is) that can transport you from one side of the terminal all the way to the other. The food choices aren’t bad. All in all, not a terrible airport by any stretch. Plus, as far as airport hotels go, the attached WestInn may just be my favorite.
Over in the Pit version of this thread, I’m hearing much nastiness over Chicago Midway. I didn’t have a problem there when I went through Midway last month, other than the usual issue of arriving at the end of one concourse and my connecting gate being at the far end of a different concourse. (Also, I was impersonating a zombie when I landed, 4 am subjective time as I recall, so I wasn’t paying attention to amenities.) What’s the dope on Midway as a bad airport?
Let’s see, I’ve been to most of the airports nominated for worst here. I haven’t been to Logan since about 2000, but it never occurred to me either way until I read some of the posts. Same with Phoenix, but I’ve just made connections there. DIA is closer to Baltimore than Denver, and also closer to Minot, can’t handle snow, but is otherwise ok. Honorable mention has to go to Oahu. I run marathons, I’ve walked all over O’Hare and DFW, but I swear I never walked as far as I did making a connection in Oahu - at midnight, so I could sit around for a few hours with nothing open. In descending order, my big three are:
3) LAX. Ever have to change airlines there? You just have to know which of the six terminals to go to. There is no information in the AA terminal about the flights at the US Air terminal, or even that there are other terminals.
2) Philly. Ugly, dirty, always under construction. So bad, I actually fly to Newark instead.
- DFW. The English language is insufficient to approach how much I hate this airport. Nothing like seeing a young AF, possibly a pilot, Lt. next to you clutch her teddy bear while the rest of the AF guys many of whom are pilots on their way to San Antonio, hold their breath while the plane comes in for a landing moving every way an airplane can unintentionally move. And that’s when it doesn’t close due to wind shear. It was under construction for an eternity. Nothing like running from A to C and back again 'cause the weather kept your plane from landing, and now you have 10 minutes to make a connection, and the trains are busted. At least one stall in every men’s room is overflowing. In fact, I think Satan rented it out when hell needed more space for frequent flyers in the nineties. Meanwhile, heaven used it for more space for airport construction workers who enjoyed a nice, safe, cozy career involving no labor but fondling power tools.
Best airport? Mid-size cities are always the best.
3) Lihue. Sure, there is no air conditioning, and they check for fruit and such, besides the usual security stuff, and a longish walk with too much luggage to the rental cars. But what the hell, you’re on Kauai.
2) Santa Barbara. In and out in no time, you’d have to leave the city to walk any distance. And, you are in Santa Barbara.
- Colorado Springs. Newly redone, easy in and out, usually decent art work. Best of all, you are in CO.
What theories?
Do you mean “user friendly” or that we just don’t speak? (Hey, we’re a mile above sea level here – some of us have our hands full just breathing!)
Best…Bangkok International
Worst…Philadelphia
Not a theory, this is well documented, dude!
DIA is actually a fine airport - tons of good places to eat, spacious, comfortable. The TSA lines look a lot worse than they really are due to the Piggly-Wiggly layout - they actually move quite fast unless you get behing the guy/girl on her cellphone who doesn’t grasp that the line keeps moving even if you’re not looking forward.
No, it can’t handle 30" of snow and 40 mph winds on a wide open tarmac, but what do you expect? It does just great in a regular snowfall.
I haven’t been through Midway in almost a year now, but at the time it was still undergoing some renovation. My biggest complaint was that when they expanded it they turned what had been a relatively reasonable walk to public transit access (made even easier with a people-mover for part of it) into a trek through the parking lot which wasn’t clearly identified.
On the other hand, the renovations did increase the terminal amenities. It’s still nowhere near as good as O’Hare, though, which I agree is one of the best airports I’ve ever been through.
I only went through Denver once, but lines were incredibly short: even if they were all the way full with travellers it still would have been a short wait. And this was the week they decided to prohibit liquids on flights – the news reports even showed the Denver lines – but when I got there it was fast.
Orlando, OTOH, can be really slow, too. You just never know when there’s gonna be a huge TSA line in the morning (during the afternoon it’s usually managable.) Sometimes it’s a halfhour+ during the middle of the week, sometimes Saturday Morning you can get thru security in 15 minutes or less. But you always have to add more than 30 minutes just in case it’s one of those days.
I’d like to know this, too. I fly out of Midway several times a year, and I consider it rather easy, stress-free airport. The only downside is the walk to the El, but otherwise, it’s got plenty of amenities, a decent selection of food, and is clean and efficient (in my experience).
Any of those that require you to go through security as you move between terminals–even if you’ve already cleared security at the other terminal, or at the airport where you boarded your first flight–deserves serious consideration on the list.
One problem with Midway is that they practically roll up the sidewalks at night. Come through there too long after the dinner hour and the place is like a deadzone.
I see other people have nominated the opposite…so I’ll throw out there that Knoxville, Tennessee’s airport is lovely and relatively stress-free.