Best and Worst Airports you have been to (Overall Experience)
Jan 9, 2013, 5:43 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Some hole
Posts: 2,783
Best and Worst Airports you have been to (Overall Experience)
Best: SIN, HKG, NRT
I have been to ICN as well but couldn't put in since I felt that dining options were limited and the washrooms looked tatty IMO. Although, the interior (like the hardwood floors) and laptop stations would have blown the above airports to boot.
Worst: MNL (From the moment you deplane to the moment you depart. Especially with that terminal fee and horrbile queues at immigration and baggage claim)
Cheers
I have been to ICN as well but couldn't put in since I felt that dining options were limited and the washrooms looked tatty IMO. Although, the interior (like the hardwood floors) and laptop stations would have blown the above airports to boot.
Worst: MNL (From the moment you deplane to the moment you depart. Especially with that terminal fee and horrbile queues at immigration and baggage claim)
Cheers
Jan 9, 2013, 6:10 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Formerly at PIT, now planted near MSP.
Programs: No flights since April 2019 (Medical Issues). Lost all my status.
Posts: 1,483
I'm only speaking for US airports. The best seem to be ones that have terminals that were built all at once; DTW, DEN, IND, etc. The worst seem to be the ones that have an extension added every few years; CLE, MCI, etc.
Jan 9, 2013, 7:43 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,784
This has actually been covered roughly a zillion times, for example: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...lown-into.html.
That notwithstanding, my best airport experiences were SIN, HKG, and DCA (Giving props to my home airport. Don't know why, but I love it...). My worst experiences are IAD (Slightly less crappy since they demolished the G concourse...), LAX, and FCO. DPS was close, but it is in Bali, so I'll give it a pass.
That notwithstanding, my best airport experiences were SIN, HKG, and DCA (Giving props to my home airport. Don't know why, but I love it...). My worst experiences are IAD (Slightly less crappy since they demolished the G concourse...), LAX, and FCO. DPS was close, but it is in Bali, so I'll give it a pass.
Jan 9, 2013, 8:30 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
I think the bad experiences are the ones that really stick with you. For me, recently, that means JFK and PEK. JFK because you have to walk 30 miles up and down and down and up to get to baggage claim and then if you are taking the airtrain and shuttle bus. Maybe that is a unique problem to the AA terminal?
PEK was a horrible, horrible experience when I transited through last month. Transfer security took forever because the agents made everyone remove every single electronic device (includign all cameras and camera lenses) from their carry ons to be placed in a bin. It was totally stupid and time consuming. Then when I arrived at the gate to board my UA fligth I was informed once i got to the front of the line that I had to go to the podium to get yet another boarding pass even though I already had one. And then they had another security gauntlet that required every pax to have their bags rifled through. No water bottles allowed onto the a/c. Don't know if that was a USA specific thing, a UA specific thing, or a PEK specific thing. But it was idiotic.
And of course CDG is just awful. Or it was the one time I had to transit through it and swore to never go there again.
PEK was a horrible, horrible experience when I transited through last month. Transfer security took forever because the agents made everyone remove every single electronic device (includign all cameras and camera lenses) from their carry ons to be placed in a bin. It was totally stupid and time consuming. Then when I arrived at the gate to board my UA fligth I was informed once i got to the front of the line that I had to go to the podium to get yet another boarding pass even though I already had one. And then they had another security gauntlet that required every pax to have their bags rifled through. No water bottles allowed onto the a/c. Don't know if that was a USA specific thing, a UA specific thing, or a PEK specific thing. But it was idiotic.
And of course CDG is just awful. Or it was the one time I had to transit through it and swore to never go there again.
Jan 9, 2013, 8:58 am
#6
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Actually it is common for many Asian airports with flights to the US. You will get the same jetway baggage search in HKG too.
Jan 9, 2013, 10:25 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 19
I left China via PVG, and had a similar experience. On my flight to Asia, I got rather dehydrated, so I bought a bottle of water post-security, before boarding my flight back to ORD. I paid close to $8USD for the bottle, and then had to throw it in the trash, because I wasn't allowed to bring it on the plane. Very frustrating!
Jan 9, 2013, 11:28 am
#10
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
I left China via PVG, and had a similar experience. On my flight to Asia, I got rather dehydrated, so I bought a bottle of water post-security, before boarding my flight back to ORD. I paid close to $8USD for the bottle, and then had to throw it in the trash, because I wasn't allowed to bring it on the plane. Very frustrating!
At least that has been my personal experience, YMMV.
Jan 9, 2013, 4:05 pm
#12
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YYZ/NYC/CDG/NRT
Posts: 171
Jan 10, 2013, 2:43 am
#13
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: DL DM, AA ExP
Posts: 189
Best - SIN and HKG and DTW (surprisingly I liked it)
Worst - CDG, DEL (the old one), LAX
BTW -- LHR, JFK, LGA aren't any particular joys either
Won't bother rating small airports ... as they are what they are.
Worst - CDG, DEL (the old one), LAX
BTW -- LHR, JFK, LGA aren't any particular joys either
Won't bother rating small airports ... as they are what they are.
Jan 10, 2013, 6:03 am
#15
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Singapore, Warsaw, Surfers Paradise
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold>>>Silver>>>Blue, Finnair Silver, Royal Caribbean Diamond
Posts: 5,174
Best: SIN on a global scale, BCN (new terminal) in Europe.
Worst: have never been to any dreadful airports, Larnaca (Cyprus) arrivals made me think I should arrived on an unmarked plane with a hood over my head. As for the most inconvenient airport that I've had to travel through in terms of the layout, moving about, etc., I'd give it to FRA. For the definition of boredom - though I haven't been there in over a decade - I still remember ORD.
Worst: have never been to any dreadful airports, Larnaca (Cyprus) arrivals made me think I should arrived on an unmarked plane with a hood over my head. As for the most inconvenient airport that I've had to travel through in terms of the layout, moving about, etc., I'd give it to FRA. For the definition of boredom - though I haven't been there in over a decade - I still remember ORD.