Having gone through 1/2 dozen US airports at major cities what really gives a bad impression are the long lines at immigration on initial arrival and surly TSA agents on departure. Bad signage which leaves many people puzzled also does not help.

None of these things make me hate the USA though. There are far more important issues that generate hate.

The main problem with many US airports and the same n Europe is their age and decisions in the past not to implement continuous improvements. Part of that is also down to the numbers of passenger projections used. If you said in 1950 that JFK or LHR would be handling the number of passengers they currently do and you would need to build larger terminals and better facilities you would be laughed out of the room and send to the asylum.

It's easy to build a brand spanking new airport or terminal (like HKG) than it is to remodel an existing terminal and having to work around daily operations.