Airports you love & hate ....
 

Following from another thread, give your best and worst airports + those you have had the pleasure (or not) of visiting :

Mine -

Best = Singapore
Worst = Jakarta
Visited =

Aberdeen
Adelaide
Alice Springs
Amsterdam
Antigua
Athens
Atlanta
Bali
Bangkok
Barbados
Barcelona
Basle
Blackpool
Bologna
Bordeaux
Bremen
Bruxelles
Budapest
Cairns
Carcassone
Chicago
Copenhagen
Detroit
Dominica
Dublin
East Midlands
Edinburgh
Exeter
Frankfurt
Fuertenventura
Geneva
Girona
Glasgow
Gothenburg
Gran Canaria
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (St Francois)
Guernsey
Hong Kong
Ibiza
Inverness
Jakarta
Kuala Lumpur
Lanzarote
Larnaca
Lisbon
London - Gatwick
London - Heathrow
Los Angeles
Luleo
Luton
Madrid
Marakesh
Marseille
Martinique
Melbourne
Milan
Minorca
Montpellier
Munich
Newcastle
Newquay
Nice
Nimes
NY - Newark
Oslo - new
Oslo - old
Ovda
Paris - CDG
Paris - Orly
Penang
Prestwick
Rome
San Francisco
Seoul
Singapore
St Lucia
Stansted
Stockholm - Arlanda
Stockholm - Bromma
Sydney
Tai Peh
Teeside
Trollhattan
Turin
Vienna
Warsaw
Zurich


Peter

Well, it looks like you've seen your fair share of 'em. Of the airports I traverse somewhat regularly, I really like Detroit for its variety of restaurants, its people watching, its ease of getting around, etc. I also like the World Clubs there.

I don't much care for Minneapolis, Memphis, Atlanta, Chicago-O'Hare, Boston or LAX among the large domestic airports I've frequented. Among the smaller domestic ones, I really like Louisville (KY), Central Wisconsin, and Boise for nice facilities and general efficiency. Among smaller international ones, I like Tortola and Nevis--again, great people watching and pleasant facilities.

The only major non-US airport I know at all is Schipol (sp?), which I've found quite pleasant on my few trips to Europe.

I love Norfolk, VA

Almost a park-like setting surrounding the airport, and even inside it hardly ever seems to be the noisy stressful place most airports are.

Favorite airport: Copenhagen. Why can't US Airports figure out how to do lighting that actually relaxes you?

Least favorite: JFK. More than once I was convinced that at the end of this long hallway with seven-foot ceilings was an abbatoir. I also really enjoyed meeting visitors and watching them stand behind glass for two hours, on a DOMESTIC FLIGHT. And being in a terminal in the busiest airport in the biggest city in the richest country in the world at 6:01 PM and having NO OPEN SERVICES of any kind, not even a cup of coffee (the espresso cart had just shut).

mpprh -

If you thought Jakarta airport was bad, you'd love Pekanbaru! After countless trips through the airport we fondly call "Peckers", Jakarta was a breath of fresh air.

Changi (Singapore)is my all time favorite. Dubai would probably come in second - not for the airport so much as the posh airline lounges. Peckenbaru (Indonesia) and Saudi Arabia's Dhahran International Airport (the old one) are at the bottom of the barrel.

I can't begin to list all the airports I've been through (although mpprh has done an admirable job), but the bad ones tend to leave a lasting impression.

As for US airports - I dislike LAX and O'Hare immensely and I like McCarren (before the non-stop construction) and DIA.

Agree with above poster about JFK. No services, even in international departure area where many flights are leaving in evening. We flew Boston-JFK-Cairo, and stupidly hoped to get something to eat at JFK before evning flight to Cairo. I hope that there was food in some other area of the airport, but we were not about to go searching for us.

And we found more helpful people that spoke English in Cairo than at JFK!

Also think Dulles is a pain. A few fast food joints and its linear layout means a simple gate change or connection means walking forever in a straight line, rather than branches off central area like normal airports.

For big US airports, I like Charlotte, Denver.

TPA is by far the best US airport, and it does not have an AA lounge, so it says a lot right there :-D.

KBL (Kabul, Afghanistan) - the worst. Just the ride from/to the airport is an experience.

I also love ORD, FRA, HKG.

I don't like LHR, CDG, MIA (it's getting better, but the walks between the terminals are just killers).

Been to many more, too long of a list, but the above stand out in their respective categories more than others.


Reporting from Santiago, Chile, which btw, has, what seemed like a nice airport, but I have not departed from it just yet, so no report.

With JFK, it really depends on which terminal you're in. The Delta terminal, for example, is a mess. But the international terminal that opened a few years ago is nice. And American just opened a new terminal.

A tie among 3 for worst: JFK, CDG, and Frankfurt.

Best? Have't been to one yet. But Vienna wasn't bad, just because it took so little time to get through the airport.

DFW is great if you live here. No long hallways ala ORD before you get out the door. Just don't check a bag.

Worst: DFW if you have to make a cxn. True Skylink is nice but traversing to 4 terminals for the same airline is frustrating.

AAFrequentFlyer....You say FRA is one of the best.

Underhill....You say FRA is one of the worst.

Go to your respective corners and at the sound of the bell come out punching.

BTW, I like (haven't been there in many years) FRA. I saw my first 747 there in 1970.
((D))8-)

This thread got me to thinking, and looking at my world atlas. I won't list them, but I've touched down at 73 airports on 5 continents.

Favorites: Zurich, Tampa, Vegas

I also love Koh Samui Thailand and Aitutaki Cook Islands (I love the "open air" airports)

Least favorites:
OHare, FRA (and I'm on my way there once again in about 10 days), SJU, no luggage carts!!

Favorite: Zurich for it's selection of fine cholocates. :-)

I'm traveling in April and I was not too pleased when I learned that on the return, I must go LHR/ORD/AUS instead of my usual route LGW/DFW/AUS. The reason I was not happy is that LHR and ORD have traditionally been among my least faves. But instead of whining about it, I've decided I'm now on a mission!! My mission is to look for the nice things about these 2 airports and change my attitude. AAFF has already reminded me of the great Chicago pie, (I plan to bring home several slices and have them for dinner later). So all I have to do now is to find something I really like about LHR, then mission accomplished. ((y))

During my time in Asia, most of my flights had a stopover in Hong Kong. To save money I spent 3-5 nights in the airport (not consectutively of course) instead of leaving the airport and finding a hostel. I guess this would probably my favourite because except for the cleaning ladies, it's very quiet at night nobody bugs about spending the night. No fear for safety either. It's HUGE and very modernized. There's actually rooms where you can take naps and showers but I was too cheap :-P