Michael

Since most of us at one time or another have had to travel through an airline's hub airport, I thought it might be interesting to find out people's thoughts on the vairous hubs throughout the nation. It can be any criteria, from terminal layout, to upkeep, friendlieness of employees, how quickly they get you in and out etc. My pick for best is the America West at Phoenix. Granted it was several years ago, but I thought it was real nice in there. Worst TWA's hub at Lambert Int'l in St. Louis. Hey guys it's called mopping the floor, try it sometime.

Gary

Best: BWI (Baltimore) Small enough to be efficient, large enough to serve a lot of people on a good selection of airlines. The shot from plane to rental car counter to luggage to the rental car is the fastest, most convenient I've seen for that size of airport.

Worst: DFW I don't know if it was ever "good", even when new. It's overly congested, and the number of parallel runways combined with the maze of taxiing lanes causes me nearly to become apopleptic during every late arrival and departure I endure. If American gave out miles for taxiing, or for waiting in a line of airplanes, I'd never have to buy another ticket.

Michael

Oops, how could I forget the Airport that no claustrophobic person should go to. Wayne County in Detroit. Raise the roof people. Literaly.

Cali

I like Mpls./St. Paul Airport. It has food in each area as well as newstands and there are shops and restaurants in the center. It is convenient and nice. I dislike Detroit Metro and Kansas City the most. Metro is just a zoo and KC doesn't have anything there - hard to even find any food.

James

DFW may have extra long taxiing times, but at least they opened a new car rental center that includes more than just Budget, Hertz, Avis, and National. Now I don't have to go off the airport grounds anymore to rent from Dollar or Thrifty.

susan

You got me at a weak moment as I've just come back today from St. Louis and the dreaded Lambert International. It was hot as Hades and we were 15th in line...that was WHEN we actually got to line up. There's simply no good way to get in or out of that airport. On the other hand, my experiences with DFW have been positive.

arjay

Is that possible?? Five replies and no mention of the dreaded ORD (Chicago's O'Hare), where delays are rampant. And as the saying goes, when O'Hare sneezes seems like the rest of the nation's air traffic catches a cold.

dan woodlief

I haven't been there in a few years now, but my favorite is Pittsburgh. With the exception of those stupid constant intercom announcements.

guy

as far as getting in and out of the airport i have to say Atlanta. maybe it is only because that is the one i go in and out of most of the time. traffic around the airport has gotten to be outrageous. parking lots are full alot of time. once inside the airport you have to walk miles to get to your gate and the pedestrian traffic inside the airport is just as miserable as the automobile traffic outside. lately i haven't had alot of delays as far as take off times, but somehow i think i have just been lucky because other times it has seemed to happen every time i take a flight out. coming into the airport, often late at night, for some reason the planes always go to the last gates on the terminals, even though you can see that most other gates are open. i have no idea how they decide. so then you walk your marathon to get to baggage claim, which takes AT LEAST 15-20 minutes, and then wait for another 40 minutes for your luggage to come up. can it possibly take that long? didn't use to.

let's face it, air travel has gotten to be a miserable thing!!! used to be something people thought was a luxury, no more!!!

it's been a while since i have flown in to DFW but i always liked that the baggage claim was near the gate you came into.

Chuck

Worst-O'Hare-O'Hare and O'Hare.
Best-I like Greater Cincinnati

ann

I agree with the negative comments concerning St.Louis-Lambert International. St. Louis is VERY hot and humid in the summer and it's hotter inside that damn airport than it is outside!
I think McCarren International in Las Vegas is the best because they are equipped to handle large amounts of people unlike DFW or O'Hare.

Jim C

Delta has one of the best one medocre and one of the worst.

SLC is great, it's small, relatively uncongested and surprisingly few weather delays even in winter. It's getting better for amenities in advance of the 2002 Olympics. I has a reasonably safe place outside place to take a walk between flights if you are like me and can't sit still.

Cincinatti is OK, except that with only one departure runway (9/27) in use most of the time departure delays are very common at peak departure times (7:15 PM is particularly bad). I have seen times when you are 15th in line and there are no departures at all on the Southbound runways. Noise control I guess.

Then there's Atlanta, what can you say. It's about as bad as it gets, with the crush of people, limited ATC ability to handle the volume of traffic (particlularly during the stormy season which lasts about 11 months as best I can tell) and the unbelievely long walks for connections. I will go way out of my way to avoid Atlanta.

Pat

No favorite but a vote for Atlanta as the worst. It's too huge. Plus when I was pregnant they were the only airport where they refused to hand search me instead of my going through the metal detector. (I know it probably wasn't a risk but hey it's my kid.) They even did a hand search at Gatwick in London with no fuss at all.

Bob Brown

We recently flew to Baton Rouge from Atlanta via Houston because of ticket price. I liked Houston Intercontinental. Easy to ride the train from the commuter gates to the long flights area. Big waiting areas etc.
Salt Lake City's terminal is nice too, as is the new Denver terminal. And Seatac is not bad either.

I agree, Atlanta is big, and getting to the gate on a tight time squeeze is a long, anxiety-provoking dash unless you fly United. The international terminal is so far out that is seems like it is in Savannah!! On the other hand, your gates are on a straight line ahead of you! The other bad part is that the airport parking lots are often filled to capacity, and the off airport lots are not cheap.
Phoenix makes my list of "not so great" as does Washington National, now Ronald Reagen. And for some reason I never fell in love with Logan in Boston.
But my least favorite of all is not in the US of A. It is northeast of Paris!

Don Smith

My choices for best hub:
Southwest Airlines at Dallas-Love, it's quick, convenient and the people are always freindly.
Worst hub: Denver, I wanted to sleep there overnight when I missed a connection. The people working there looked like they were fresh out of prison and didn't know how to smile and be polite.

guy

oh yes, the people who work in the atlanta airport. i forgot about them. the rudest people you will ever met. they don't have to be nice. the only thing those people who have contracts for business at the atlanta airport have to do is pay the mayor and the city council members enough. currently the mayor is trying to have the contracts for many of the airport vendors extended through the next mayor's term. his term is about to be up and he can't run again. so i suppose he is trying to get one more contribution to his retirement plan before he goes. oh yes, these same vendors were large contributors to his last election. i'm sure even larger than we know.

Lily

BEST: Pittsburgh

Cindy

Best is definitely Baltimore. Medium-sized, so easy to handle. Great airport parking lot, i.e. cheap and good bus service. So far, I've always found a space. No huge jam to get in like LAX. Best of all, it is served by Southwest, so there are great fares to be had anywhere Southwest flies because the other carriers drop their fares to compete.

Worst -- oh, there are so many contenders. There is the Northwest hub (Minneapolis?). It was like a bomb shelter. How old is that terminal, anyway? The bathrooms were truly dreadful. LAX is in the hunt for the awful white-knuckle traffic to get inside. Dulles is moving up the list for the horrendous cab lines (45 minutes) you can encounter on what seems like a random basis.

Well, I guess you have to decide what honks you off the most. I can't handle grinding traffic getting in and out of the airport. So LAX wins.

lisa

I agree that Pittsburgh's is really nice! Lots of good shops and places to grab a bite. Charlotte is pretty good too -- open and airy (I like the rocking chairs in the center where the concourses meet). I don't like Detroit or Dallas, but the new low was flying Northwest through Memphis -- the narrowest, most crowded little hallways I've ever seen in any airport (reminded me of an elementary school, with low ceilings), and it didn't seem very clean. Its only redeeming quality was the barbecue being sold near my boarding gate -- delish!

Gary

Cindy:

I know from previous posts that you're not a big L.A. fan or a car person. I don't know if you've been here since the new freeway was finished--if one plans carefully, the traffic is not nearly as bad as before.

HOWEVER: the parking is the worst I've ever seen at any airport. The garages haven't been expanded in accordance with increased travel. Worse, the the remote lot is a nightmare. The "convenient" shuttle takes an agonizing aisle-by-aisle excursion to the terminal, aggravating already-stressed passengers who are trapped in a metal sauna-on-wheels.

In conclusion, I guess I agree with you. But it's my home airport, not my connection hub. Therefore, since I so dread my encounters with DFW, where I have five times spent the night as an unwilling guest, it still gets my vote. On the other hand, I would certainly prefer sleeping on the floor of the DFW terminal than that of LAX.