Worst & Best Airports

[Name Redacted]

Wichita blows.

FIFY, at least if you are there you are leaving.

Portland has the best. DIA is actually a pretty awesome airport for the volume it handles, it's still not bad.

I was pretty unimpressed by the airport in Puerto Vallarta. Felt like I was in some shitty american mall in the midwest, Bubba Gump's and all. Half the lights were out, low battery beeps coming from like five smoke detectors in the terminal. I had to laugh because I know that sound all too well.

ETA: I grew up flying out of ALT all the time so my standards are pretty low.

[stfu&gbtw]

Almost any little regional is great. I've flown through Harrisburg, Aspen and Augusta, GA a bunch of times... Easiest thing ever... Just flew through KEF for the first time and that was also super easy. Actually landed 30 minutes late on a 50 minute layover and managed to deplane, clear customs, and make the next gate with time to spare. Incredible.

Worst? JFK, EWR, CDG, ATL, DUS, and LHR all get a mention. But the top spot easily goes to FRA. What a cocksucker of an airport... Made the mistake of flying from FRA to Berlin recently, arriving at FRA by train from Koln. I don't remember the exact count, but to go from the hauptbahnhof to check in there were something like 10 elevator/escalator rides, all going back and forth between two levels. One elevator had a door that was too narrow for the luggage carts, so you'd leave the cart at the top, load all your shit into this cubbyhole of an elevator, go down one level, unload all your shit off the elevator, find another cart. The designers of the airport seem to have been on a mission to dispel the notion that the Germans know anything about engineering.

[PNWbrit]

Prince Rupert. School bus to "terminal" out on island via ferry. Luggage goes in an old u haul van.

Geneva... such a shit show. always.

[riser4]

Almost any little regional is great. I've flown through Harrisburg, Aspen and Augusta, GA a bunch of times... Easiest thing ever... Just flew through KEF for the first time and that was also super easy. Actually landed 30 minutes late on a 50 minute layover and managed to deplane, clear customs, and make the next gate with time to spare. Incredible.

Worst? JFK, EWR, CDG, ATL, DUS, and LHR all get a mention. But the top spot easily goes to FRA. What a cocksucker of an airport... Made the mistake of flying from FRA to Berlin recently, arriving at FRA by train from Koln. I don't remember the exact count, but to go from the hauptbahnhof to check in there were something like 10 elevator/escalator rides, all going back and forth between two levels. One elevator had a door that was too narrow for the luggage carts, so you'd leave the cart at the top, load all your shit into this cubbyhole of an elevator, go down one level, unload all your shit off the elevator, find another cart. The designers of the airport seem to have been on a mission to dispel the notion that the Germans know anything about engineering.

Yes, but did you go to the grocery store in the basement? OMG. Could they put it in any more of an obscure place?

[BmillsSkier]

If we're talking great regionals I'd have to give it to SAV/HHI. It's like being in a golf pro shop and quick as hell to get through.

And there's a golf course out front that's lit up with stadium lights - a great way to kill time before a flight.

[Rontele]

St. Petersburg Russia. Biggest shit hole.

[GiBo]

How is it that all you well traveled people don't know that you never refer to John Wayne Airport as anything but "The John"? Got hammered there on the way to a Vegas wedding once. Nice airport.

[The AD]

My bad. Please substitute Long Beach for John Wayne in previous post.

Yeah, Long Beach is such a cool throwback. Walk onto the tarmac to board or exit your airplane. I actually had a flight there a few years ago where we boarded a 727 from the air stairs in the back of the airplane! Then you've got the outdoor baggage claim and you simply walk across the street to pick up your rental car from an outside parking lot. It's awesome. Honorable mention to Fresno which also has a nice little airport.

[abraham]

The designers of the airport seem to have been on a mission to dispel the notion that the Germans know anything about engineering.

Have you heard about the new Berlin airport and the clusterfuck it turned into after they started changing the plans during construction?


Least favorite might be Flughafen Weeze/Niederrhein, middle of nowhere, easyjet or ryanair only (?), gotta walk through a maze of a shop to get from check in to the gate. The flight was cheap though.

[Rip'nStick]

I used to commute from Portland to John Wayne in Orange County on a regular basis and didn't mind it much at all. Good, clean, easy little airports.

Also used to go LAX to Dulles International once a month. Different story altogether.

[MakersTeleMark]

For a regional, TUC can't be beat. So easy, clean, convenient, and friendly.

[encore]

I like the Jackson Wyoming airport. I love walking onto the tarmac and seeing the Tetons!

[RockChalk]

MSP FTW, while it can be spread out if you have a connecting flight to make, everything else is prime.

SFO is such a shit hole from terminal to terminal, Virgin/United term is unreal yet the Delta/Frontier/SW terminal is borderline 3rd world

PHX is set up awkwardly but is so close to Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale that it is probably the most efficient airport I have flown in/out of and it is by far the cheapest airport I have ever lived near.

[RShea]

John Wayne is sweet. Bit of a throwback feel. Outside baggage claim. Thought I was back in the 1970's.

I am a fan of any airport that I walk out on the Tarmac to board the airplane. Binghamton Airport has a nice terminal with one flight daily to Philadelphia. No crowds, no security. Perfect.

I hear more complaints about connections through Philly - lost baggage, missed connections, cancelled flights, etc. than most any other airport over the years that is used for a hub. Not sure if that is because of the Airline (USAir now American Airlines via the merge- but there are or were other main hubs for that carrier that did not have Philly's rep.)

[lionelhutz]

You must not have had to find a bathroom to take a dump in. STFU says he would rather shit in his own hand than use the bathrooms there. I have to agree that he has a point. Otherwise, Frankfurt is a decent airport that handles an insane amount of International traffic rather well. It just has far too long of a taxi to your terminal once you land and the bathrooms in the airport and the train station both suck (hard to find an open one, covered in feces, and often closed for "cleaning"). I am lumping the train station in because it really seems like they are part of the same facility, especially given that Luftwaffe has a terminal in the station, handles baggage and issues combo tickets for air and rail.

I have this problem with the Geneva airport. For such an insanely expensive country where everything is nice, the bathrooms in that place are worse than the ones you find on an NJTransit Train. Even the Star Alliance Lounge bathroom was horrible. To make matters worse, the TP there is one step down from office printer paper. Would have been better off using the tarmac.

[lionelhutz]

I hear more complaints about connections through Philly - lost baggage, missed connections, cancelled flights, etc. than most any other airport over the years that is used for a hub. Not sure if that is because of the Airline (USAir now American Airlines via the merge- but there are or were other main hubs for that carrier that did not have Philly's rep.)

It's because "fuck you, go birds." The people who work at PHL give zero fucks about you, your luggage, your flight, your kids...all of it can go fuck itself.

[The AD]

I am lumping the train station in because it really seems like they are part of the same facility, especially given that Luftwaffe has a terminal in the station

Luftwaffe, huh? Do they still use Messerschmitt 109s or have they upgraded their fleet?

[BmillsSkier]

yeah, the A330s that they got in the Lufthansa takeover just weren't cutting it.

[assman]

PHL pretty much blows

[Scrubadub]

Chaing in Signapore is the best in the world....I also like Nariata in Tokyo. Manila could the worst I have ever been to, makes LaGuardia look clean and nice

[bagtagley]

Worst is O'Hare. lionelhutz summed it up perfectly.

I like Palm Springs. Easy in/out (phrasing!), nice view when you step outside, and the outdoor section is pretty cool.

[LightRanger]

Like:
1. Long Beach- small, cool art deco terminal, easy in and out, Jetblue hub (love them)
2. John Wayne- blasting out of there is fun, easy in and out
3. Oakland/San Jose- easy in and out, I tend to avoid flying out of SFO if I can avoid it
4. Gatwick- easier than Heathrow

Dislike:
1. Charles de Gaulle- lost luggage because we had to run across the entire airport to catch a connection (after exiting the flight on a funky scissor lift), still didn't make the connection, and our luggage didn't make it to Edinburgh. Fuck that place.
2. LAX- for reasons stated

[teledad]

Singapore is awesome. Great cheap food and a movie theater in the terminal.

I've only had quick layovers there but Hong Kong and Seoul both seemed really nice. Not as big a fan of Tokyo (Narita) though the food is good. Haven't been to Haneda.

I like Sydney mostly because the customs guys always seem so ridiculously friendly when I'm getting off a 15 hour flight. "G'day mate! Enjoy 'Straya!".

Flew out of Amsterdam a few weeks after 9/11 and they were amazingly efficient on the security front, especially given the shitshow back in the states at the time. I think they scanned my carry-on three times and hand-searched it once and I barely had to wait.

[The AD]

I saw something in the Reykjavik airport a couple days ago I hadn't seen before. Rather than a stack of empty bins at the security checkpoint you have to take out, the bins are already on the conveyer. It seemed like an efficient system to me. They probably won't do it in the U.S. because it would take away the job of the person who stacks them up and returns them back to the other side of the x-ray machine every few minutes.

Is this system common? I hadn't seen it before.

[BmillsSkier]

I personally like Narita, and yes the food is fantastic.

The reason why security flows so well at Schiphol is that they're allowed to profile with common sense questions. You get asked where you been, where you going, what are you doing, and you're done.

In the US we have to detain that mom flying alone with two kids, a stroller, a carseat and two diaper bags because ya know, she might be the terrorist. Don't forget the elderly couple too - gotta subject them to 18 additional layers of scrutiny so we don't look like we're singling out people that look and act like terrorists.