Worst airport experience
 

What is your worst airport experience?

Mine was a very aggressive immigration officer in Libreville who demanded I give him some cash, or he would arange for my passport to "disappear".

I had no currency on me, so just had to call his bluff and hope for the best. Luckily more people joined the queue and could hear his conversation so he gave up and processed me through.

That sounds like a horrible experience.
Mine is Manila, just the entire experience of MNL is so bad nothing else comes close for me.

36 hours in CDG with the equivalent of $10 in 1998, due to a railway strike and being 22 years old.

Chris19992, Since I most likely will be traveling thru Manila this winter, I would like to hear details of what happened to you at the airport in Manila.

Not going into details, but a few years ago TSA @ JFK.

Bear in mind that MNL may have changed in the past year although unlikely.

An hour to get TO immigration due to the chaotic zoo inside then another hour to wait in the mismanaged queue while getting asked for bribes(sorry, "fee") by the security.

An hour to wait for an overpriced taxi then another hour if you're lucky just to get out of the airport campus.

When coming back to the airport be prepared to wait outside in the sun for an hour or two due to the massive queues and security that has no idea what they're doing.

Check-in areas are tiny and chaotic with zero organization, boarding areas just as bad.

Little seating, little air-con in an overcrowded dilapidated building where the staff keep asking for a "fee" and yeah, it's just a horrible experience.

Now I just pay the extra and go straight to Cebu, which is a much much nicer airport, no more MNL or stays in Manila for me

They fairly recently opened a new terminal (Terminal 1?). In November of 2014, my ride was waiting at another Terminal, where I had arrived all the previous years (Terminal 3?).

Either way: It took them 50 minutes (yes, fifty!) by car from one to the other Terminal. You should definitely take a close look at your itinerary.

i second Manila...
(1) 90% of taxi operators try to scam you... leaving the airport and going to the airport (even one hailed from the [formerly] Hyatt_
(2) old beat up terminals
(3) traffic around the airport
(4) transiting between terminals - virtually separate airports



the other bad experience i had was being marooned at DEL
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...i-airport.html

By far all major US airports (LAX, EWR, ORD among others), Kuwait city (KWI) and Istanbul (in absence of lounge access you cannot pay me enough to transit through IST).

Customs line after arriving at SYD International. On a bad day it can be more than an hour long affair. The whole airport is embarrassingly inefficient and pretty pathetic for what is supposed to be an international city.