Canada - Pearson International is Canada’s worst airport, again

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/08/pearson-international-is-canadas-worst-airport-again/

Toronto’s Pearson International has been voted the country’s worst airport, for the second time, in an online survey by FlightNetwork.com.

It seems that among North American airports, the bigger they are the worse they are regarded. This is particularly the case for older ones that are a mishmash of mostly outdated facilities (think LGA, JFK, ORD, LAX).

However, with YYZ, you have the strange combination of relatively modern infrastructure but it still has a lot of the shortcomings you would expect at a much older airport. The aforementioned slow-moving security is one, but the lack of food options hearkens back to the old days when you could expect a full meal in Y on a 90 minute flight... washrooms are also generally small and too few in number except on the international side. I won't even get into the US regional departures area which is a complete joke.

Anyhow, I think that the article is a bit unfair in that there are much worse airports. It's just that YYZ is a bit of a disappointment when you consider that it is the big kahuna among Canadian airports.

It seems that among North American airports, the bigger they are the worse they are regarded. This is particularly the case for older ones that are a mishmash of mostly outdated facilities (think LGA, JFK, ORD, LAX).

However, with YYZ, you have the strange combination of relatively modern infrastructure but it still has a lot of the shortcomings you would expect at a much older airport. The aforementioned slow-moving security is one, but the lack of food options hearkens back to the old days when you could expect a full meal in Y on a 90 minute flight... washrooms are also generally small and too few in number except on the international side. I won't even get into the US regional departures area which is a complete joke.

Anyhow, I think that the article is a bit unfair in that there are much worse airports. It's just that YYZ is a bit of a disappointment when you consider that it is the big kahuna among Canadian airports.

I think people are always going to complain about the big hub airports because those are generally the places where travelers are most likely to get stuck or have other problems.

For example, everyone always complains about O'Hare, but I find it to be a particularly good airport. It's got good transit links, reasonably decent stores and restaurants, a train to link different terminals if you don't want to walk... but because lots of connecting passengers tend to get stuck there during blizzards and thunderstorms, everyone hates it.

YYZ's case, I think, is much the same. I have to say I don't find the dining or retail options much better or worse than in most airports. The airport is reasonably easy to get to by TTC. It's clean and modern. The MLLs are quite nice. The only serious problem I've ever had there is chaos in the US preclearance area, but that's not really the airport's fault.

Perhaps I just don't understand what makes a good airport, though. I've seen the surveys that rank AMS as the next wonder of the world, yet I find Schiphol to be just an airport. I mean, yay - they have a supermarket! As if I'm going to be grilling a steak before my flight?

My complaint is that I have to pay AIF when connecting. Change that, and I would prefer it over YUL.

I don't think Pearson is all that bad. Compared to some of the US ones (LAX, ORD) that I've been to, it's far superior.

Compared to YYC, Pearson's got it beat, hands down.