What is the best/worst airport you ever visited and why?

21 comments

  1. PDX is the friendliest.

    DFW is fairly well organized for its size.

    JFK is the worst. Bad when you need to cross the street to get to your gate, and even worse when the sidewalks are blocked off for construction.

  2. I haven’t flown that much since Covid started, but I’m fond of old good Frankfurt.

    Mostly because of the sausage stands, 9.95 1l beer mugs and the abundance of seating with power outlets. It used to have free coffee and newspapers around Lufthansa gates, but that fell by the wayside in the 2010s.

    Munich is OK. Vienna is OK. Amsterdam, Milan, Stockholm.

    Worst would be Rhodes. Felt like a shitty bus terminal. Catania was pretty bad as well, but I’ve only used those two a couple of times.

  3. Best is probably Singapore. It’s just impressive what they did with the space. Well organized, clean, entertaining enough.

    Worst? Hard to say but currently with the overall experience it has to be Madrid. Oh, your flight has been canceled twice. Just *take the fucking bus over the highway to the other terminal* and fly to Brussels in a few hours because we cannot figure out what to do. Let them handle it.

  4. Worst so far – Narita. Big, but empty, poorly ventilated.

    Best – new Istanbul airport.

  6. Best: Luxembourg. Just so damn small and easy to navigate, no mile-long walks to and from terminals, no huge crowds. The new Berlin airport is also nice, pretty well organized and clean. Bigger though, with all that comes with it.

    I haven’t really encountered any truly awful airports. DFW was pretty exhausting because of the sheer size, but overall still okay.

  9. Best is one in Japan that I forgot the exact location of, worst was by far Manchester (that place did everything possible wrong to the extreme).

  10. Best by far, and I admittedly haven’t been outside the US, but….Burlington, Vermont. So much space, so few people. After the sardine cans that are Charlotte, Atlanta, etc….fuck, it’s wonderful.

  11. I hate DFW. I always get stuck there when trying to leave the rental car facility. DEN and ATL are also awful. I’m also not really a fan of LHR.

    The good ones are the smaller ones. ROC is nice as is BUF.

  13. Best one I’ve been in was Tokyo, I had a 9 hour stopover and it was actually almost too short.

    What, the staff at LAX were ambivalent or ignorant. The girl working the counter at the newsstand was the most helpful person in the place, but the staff at O’Hare seemed like they were painfully constipated and they were determined to make it everyone’s problem.

  14. Hands down, LAX is the WORST airport I’ve ever had the misfortune or flying through. O’hare and DFW are bad, but have NOTHING on LAX. You can’t get from one part to another (i.e. catch a connecting flight for example) without leaving the security area. So, if you have a tight connection through LAX, you’re hosed.

    The BEST airport I’ve ever been to is either Changi (Singapore) or Sydney. Changi has more amenities and is actually a nice place to be for a while. Sydney has fewer amenities, but is easier to navigate.

  15. Geneva airport on the Saturday ‘changeover’ days (people going to/from the French alps) is such a shitshow I don’t know how they do it. LAX shuffling between terminals is garbage. Pittsburgh PA is kinda old feeling.

    Best airport? I love Palm Springs, Burbank, Canyonlands and Honolulu airports because they’re open air and fun to pass through. San Jose (CA) for the efficiency.

  16. Worst was St. Lucia (memory fresh in my head.)

    Tiny airport, poorly laid out, and is an hour and a half minimum from any hotel across winding mountain roads. The security scan is one very old machine next to the customs officers, so the line doubles back on itself across the entire airport, then heads out the door.

    People fight their way through the line to go check in, because it cuts across every door, and on top of that they don’t accept digital boarding passes (and don’t tell you that until you wait an hour in line), so you have to go through the process twice.

    The airport clearly was designed for the occasional island hopper plane, and not thousands of people trying to leave on the afternoon flights. It was a damn zoo, and when our flight got canceled it took them 2 hours to get enough staff back to the airport to find hotels for everybody before the airport closed.

    Best IMO are the new terminals at JFK. They’re a huge PITA to get to, but that’s the city’s problem. The Delta lounge there is absolute fire: open bar with a bartender to mix you cocktails or serve craft beer, a GOOD hot food buffet, and comfy seats. Plus they post the live security line durations online so you can plan before you go, and since it was all newly overhauled, it’s clean and modern looking.

  17. Worst so far would be O’Hare. Old, super crowded, and they delay and cancel flights all the time. It may be better after the renovations though, that place definitely needs an update.

  18. Best and worst for me are both in London, UK.

    The best is London City. You can take the (cheap) train direct from the centre, there’s never any queues to check in or to go through security and there’s loads of waiting space. You can literally step off the plane and be in the middle of London in about half an hour. Only problem is not that many flights go there as it’s mainly a ‘business’ airport.

    The worst is Luton. To get there from Central London, you have to take a train for 45 minutes which costs £15 each way, and then you have to line up, often for 15-20 minutes, for a shuttle bus to take you to the actual terminal.

    The terminal itself is tiny for the amount of flights going from there and is always super crowded with nowhere to sit, there’s only a handful of bars and restaurants (which you usually have to queue for), and the staff are always rude and look like they hate their jobs. I had a 6 hour delay there once and was so bored and tired by the end of it. Fuck Luton.

  19. Best: PHX – Its large; wide corridors; very clean

    Worst: LGA – dirty; staff all have that NYC asshole; always delays.

  20. Best airport: Hong Kong. Great amenities, food options are decent, they even have a complimentary nap room where you can catch some Z’s before a long flight.

    Worst: LaGuardia. Have to pay for Boingo wifi, food options are expensive and trash, airport just looks awful overall.

    Varadero airport in Cuba is a noteworthy mention, but to be fair it’s a small airport in a country that isn’t exactly rich.

  21. worst – LAX. disorganised, takes forever to get through immigration. And when they are done processing American citizens, they get people form the back of the other passport lines to go through tthe american lanes. FU the people who have been in line 90 minutes already.

    Best – Changi. I can be in a taxi 15 minutes after the plane lands with my luggage. For late flights and connections stores close at midnight and still food and other options around. Plenty of space to walk, find somewhere to sit, decent food.

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