lucielou

Best - Schiphol
Worst - Prestwick

RufusTFirefly

I can love going through an airport that gets me in and out quickly and efficiently in a pleasant atmosphere--as compared to really bad experiences in poorly designed or operated airports. My heart is big enough for airport LOVE!!!!!!!

walkinaround

>>>>
My favorite airport in Europe is Munich. Its so nicely designed and has a lot to keep you busy if you have a delay.
>>>>

i agree that munich is a well designed airport, however, they fell down with most of the toilet facilities. you enter through a small door with people at the two sinks on either side of a tiny vestibule room, then there is a second door to enter the main toilet room.

within the tiny vestibule, you have people trying to enter the toilets, trying to wash their hands, waiting to wash their hands and trying to exit...all carrying bags. there is hardly space for the vestibule door to swing into the sink area, even when there are no people. a nightmare of poor design in an otherwise carefully designed airport--how could this happen. these are the toilets closer to the gates which do get very crowded when flights are leaving.

Kate

Koh Samui in Thailand wins hands down as a tropical outdoor airport - check in in an open air bamboo hut, sunbath on the grass while you wait for your plane, get shuttled to the plane in an old cart painted with palm trees. And it has the advantage of being small, so queues are minimal. Check it out:
http://www.kohsamui-info.com/transpo.../airplane.html

Worst - any of the biggies, I hate crowds, Heathrow is pretty awful, although the shopping's great.

Ivan_Drago

Worst: Shermetevo Moscow, Dulles DC
Best: McCarran Las Vegas, Changi Singapore.

CarolA

I found Singapore to be very nice.

I actually don't mind most airports, it just part of the cost of travel.
That said the two WORST have got to be MIAMI and JFK. (Miami would be an acceptable airport in a third world country, but that's not where we placed it!)

Also low on my list are DFW (Only well designed IF you are staying in DFW) and Kansas City (Any airport that requires you to go thru secuirty to get to a bathroom has problems!)

trafaelwyr

I've been to the following airports:

Shannon (Ireland - as a 5 year old & lost my teddy bear there)
DFW
Love Field
San Antonio
Midway
O'Hare
JFK
Philadelphia
Heathrow
Gatwick
CDG
Zurich
Athens (old and new)
Mykonos (would this really count?)
Cairo

Best = Zurich
Worst = JFK (what a dump)

They've recently opened a new International terminal at DFW. I haven't been there yet but it's supposed to be top notch.

StephCar

I guess I am in the "not really in love with any airport" category. I actually do not give them much thought, unless it is ORD and than I plan on just being delayed, cancelled, or completely stranded. I also bring plenty of food since the choices there are limited. CDG stands out as another place I do not really enjoy, but then I am usually just happy to be there so I forgive the airport. Same goes for LHR, I don't enjoy hanging out there but hey, I am in England.

I guess MSP and Detroit in the US have been the lastest airports that I don't mind being stranded in.

richardab

Its always fun to arrive at Burbank which still does not have Jetways and deplane from the front and back of the plane into the California sun. Its a small airport so your lugges is delivered fast onto open air carousels.

Songdoc

I did some of my best Christmas shopping at airports in Amsterdam, London (Heathrow), and Rome.

There are too many nondescript, boring airports to even begin to list them.

tledford

Best = Zurich - Clean and efficient and they have chocolate shops. I also like John Wayne if you can stand the take-off.
Worst = Dhahran - the machine guns, passport checks and baggage searches are
scary

U.S. airports:

Albuquerque
Atlanta
Boston
Buffalo
Charlotte
Charleston
Chicago O'Hare
Cincinnati
Columbia
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Dulles
Greensboro
Honolulu
Houston
JFK
John Wayne Orange County
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Lexington
Louisville
Maui
Miami
Nashville
Newark
Norfolk
Ontario CA
Orlando
Pensacola
Phoenix
Portland
Raleigh Durham
Reagan
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Tucson

Outside US:

Cabo San Lucas
Dhahran
Dublin
London Heathrow
Prague
Rome
Tahiti
Vienna
Zurich

Mels15

Oh no, now I'm terrified to go to CDG. A few in my group are on different flights and we will all have to find each other there too. This should be interesting.

adeben

I want an airport to be easy to get to and from, relatively painless in which to wait, and efficient in processing me on and off a plane. Changi Airport at Singapore meets those requirements best. Amsterdam and Frankfurt are probably the best of the European. Elsewhere, Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine is excellent except for the absence of a metro connection.

odesseus

The best are;
Athens
Dubai
Sydney

The worst

Charles de Gaul !!!!

Worktowander

Schiphol is tough to beat, I think.

But where is Boston Logan on the worst-dressed list? Wow, that place is a mess -- visually, operationally, everything. Blecch.

Here's what I'm comparing it to:

Minneapolis
O'Hare
Midway
Reagan National
John Wayne-Orange County
DFW
Detroit
Sioux Falls
SUX (Yes, that's really Sioux City's airport code).
Des Moines
Cedar Rapids
San Francisco
Fort Dodge
Houston
Kansas City
Boston Logan

Outside U.S.

Gatwick
CDG
Manchester
Dublin
Schiphol
Montego Bay
Cancun
Acapulco
Mexico City
Rome
Venice

Worktowander

Forgot LAX. Have to keep my list complete

PatrickLondon

Liked:

London City (because it's small and on my doorstep)
Sydney
Vancouver
Kansai
Tegel (because the only time I went there they didn't bother to put any customs or immigration staff on, and I sailed straight through as though it were an internal flight)

Disliked:
JFK (admittedly, this was donkeys years ago)
Karachi
Izmir
sundry ex-military charter flight zoos in the Mediterranean when the flight's delayed

Can see the efficiency of, but slightly overwhelmed by:
Munich
Frankfurt
Dubai
Singapore
Narita

I've been to lots of others I can't remember, so they were obviously OK.

fisches

Like: Portland, OR
Madrid
Medford, OR
Coos Bay, OR (it has 1 gate)

Dislike: Detroit
Frankfurt, Germany
Vancouver, Canada

Kiwi_acct

Best International Airport for me is Singapore. Though of the small airports, Aitutaki in the Cook Islands is great. It is a hut in a field next to the runway. Your luggage driven out to the plane on the back of a ute (pickup)

Worst is between Heathrow and Mumbai. But at least at Mumbai the staff make an effort.

dina4

My favorite airport is the one on the Big Island in Hawaii. Mostly because it doesn't feel like an airport at all--practically the whole thing is outdoors.

I'm arriving at CDG in June, and didn't realize it had such a bad reputation. Any tips on how to manage well there?