Marty

We've all had layovers in nightmare airports, you know, the ones where nothing is open, and the 6 hour old coffee is $4. My question is, which ones in the US do you not mind (relatively) spending a little downtime in?

g

Pittsburgh

spending time in the mall is always OK

same with Heathrow, the duty free shopping always keeps me entertained.

Diane

I actually enjoy the shops in the Portland International Mall. And the food court's improving.

gail

To turn the question around a little - Kennedy in NYC is the worst! We flew in on a connecting flight from Boston last spring to catch an 11PM 12-hour flight overseas. Arrived around 7 PM and could not find anything to eat. Fewer employees spoke English than we found in Cairo and many bathrooms were locked. No one knew anything when we asked directions, even at the "information" booth. The guy at Air Romania (I am not kidding) ended up giving us directions. On the other hand, we were stuck in Charlotte for 12 hours a few winters ago with a weather delay and, while not fascinating, found it to be clean with comfy seats and reasonable food.

bj

I would never have expected it but Philly has a really nice airport. Tons of shopping and nice rocking chairs all over. Encountered a really ditzy waitress but all in all, a very comfortable layover.

ginny

Minneapolis is not bad at all. Plenty of shops, restaurants, brewpubs, etc.

Cindy

Charlotte N.C. - it actually has rocking chairs to sit and watch the hustle and bustle.

mark

Agreed, Minneapolis is a "good" place to get stuck. Denver isn't bad either.

Worst has to be Detroit. Everything is closed by 8pm.

John

Las Vegas...slots...

kam

Add Zurich and Frankfurt to the European list. And, yes, Pittsburgh--a really good design. The new SFO International terminal is nice, but not the domestic side.

dan woodlief

I always liked Pittsburgh best, except for the constant annoyingly loud pages and carts (beep, beep, beep).

xxx

Check out this website Sleepinginairports.net. Enjoy!

anon

San Francisco.

Mel

I like Newark (yes, Newark), because the hotels are close and the free shuttles can get you to them in an instant so you can have a meal in a decent restaurant (I didn't say great!) or a drink in a nice lounge, catch the shuttle back to the airport, get dropped at your gate and you're on your way.

O'Hare, in my opinion, has the WORST International terminal. Only one place to eat--a food court with just a few choices and all of them full of overpriced, unhealthy food.

Ted

Another vote for Pittsburgh. Something about it (other than the obvious). It just seems very user-friendly.

John

I actually think O'Hare has improved enormously - it's still awfully busy, but really pretty nice. Vegas is fun in a pro-addictictive-behavior-enabling sort of way.

My votes for abysmal - St. Louis, LAX, Honolulu.

KT

For the museum-oriented, SFO has some really interesting temporary exhibitions (art, history, anthropology). And now you can actually get real food in the international terminal.

JFK and Detroit used to be tied in my book for Closest to Hell, but I haven't yet used the new terminal at Detroit.

Joanne

Hate LAX; love SFO.

And Dan we were thankful for the beep, beep of the carts in Pittsburgh--had we not had this service we would have missed a connecting flight the gates were so far apart. I hadn't been in Pittsburgh airport for years and was amazed at how it had grown and spread out. Didn't see much because we were so pressed for time, but guess it would have been okay for a layover.

Honolulu Airport is kind of fun too.

Lots to do at Heathrow but not necessarily the greatest in terms of changing gates for connecting flights or changing terminals.

I was under the impression if an airline delayed passengers for more than 10 hours they had to put them up in a hotel. This happened to us last summer in Hawaii.

j

xxx

It's a good thing that people like SFO, since you're likely to have to spend extra hours there just trying to get out. Everytime I fly into San Francisco, I seem to find myself facing delayed flights. I've been delayed atleast 2 hours on each trip to actually having to spend the night in the airport. No airport is exciting enough to have to endure an entire night.

Stephanie P.

Marty:

I live in Pittsburgh and have gone to this mall many times before 9/11. I haven't been back because I haven't used air travel since then. In 1997, I went to Charlotte and the airport is very nice too w/alot of shopping and a Cheers bar to boot. I know that Pittsburgh County gov't officials want the prices in the airport to be equal to that of a town or city where that store/restaurant would be regularly with no price hikes.