World's Most Hated/Loved Airports

[Guest fountainhall]

Time perhaps to reflect that despite all the comments about Suvarnabhumi, there are many worse airports out there. This is from a relatively recent CNN poll.

 

10 Worst Airports

 

Paris, Charles de Gaulle

LAX

London Heathrow

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Manila, The Philippines

Nairobi, Kenya

JFK

Kathmandu

Perth, Australia

Sao Paolo International, Brazil.

 

http://edition.cnn.c...nngo/index.html

 

I have only been through 5 in the last 5 years – Paris, LAX, Heathrow, JFK and Kathmandu. I now totally avoid LAX and JFK for international flights. I’ll fly in to another airport and then take domestic flights. Paris was very overcrowded. Heathrow Terminal 5 is generally not bad. Even Kathmandu International is OK, but the domestic terminal is far worse than a pigsty. Utterly disgusting!

 

Another CNN poll lists the10 Most Loved Airports

 

Hong Kong

Singapore

Seoul

Munich

Ushuaia, Argentina

Tampa, Florida

Zurich

Victoria, Vancouver Island

Montevideo, Uruguay

Auckland

 

http://www.cnngo.com...airports-981939

[Bob]

That's maybe why I'm rather fond of "Swampy" (because LAX is out there!).

[KhorTose]

 

 

 

 

Darn it, my whole life was reading your avatar

[Guest thaiworthy]

That's maybe why I'm rather fond of "Swampy" (because LAX is out there!).

 

I'll never forget one time at LAX, I had just entered the terminal building and was proceeding to security. There was an escalator, manned by an agent and examining everyone's documents just as you got on. At the top there was another agent, also examining documents just as you got off! Not sure of the logic in this, unless perhaps to prevent a security risk by passengers boarding the escalator midway!

[ChristianPFC]

I don't pay much attention to airports, I wouldn't know how to rate them.

 

The only thing I can add that it's quite far from Charles de Gaulle railway station to terminal (the one the railway station is for), it takes more than 15 minutes.

[kokopelli]

Christian, if you were ever in LAX or JFK you would know the difference between good and bad. They both are the worst. If you landed in JFK you would turn around and return to France.

[Guest fountainhall]

More recently constructed airports usually score by having the rail stations in or under the terminal building, although some older ones like Heathrow have still managed to get their main transport facilities within the airport complex. To me, Hong Kong seems the ideal as the Airport Express platform is no more than a one-minute walk on the same level after exiting the customs area (and also at the same level for arriving passengers).

 

If you landed in JFK you would turn around and return to France.

 

I am always amazed that no US gateway has an international transit area. About 8 years ago on a One World round-the-world ticket, I wanted to fly from Tokyo to Vancouver. Canadian Airlines (One World) had recently gone bust and been gobbled up by Air Canada (Star Alliance), and JAL was not then in One World. So the only way was either to make a considerable backtrack to Hong Kong and take Cathay Pacific, or take American to DFW and connect (another long routing). Unfortunately I was not aware of the lack of international transit facilities at DFW and so got caught up in a long queue to enter the US, only to exit again about 30 minutes later, a hugely frustrating experience I vowed never to go through again!

[kokopelli]

Seattle/SEA in Washington State/USA does now have a rapid rail connection directly from the airport to the down town area of the city. Very modern and enjoyable ride.

[Guest snapshot]

Yep... I can testify, Perth Airport does suck. 

 

On the other hand, I actually look forward to passing through Singapore and Hong Kong airports... they're actually a nice place to spend time and chill out with friends. 

[KhorTose]

Seattle/SEA in Washington State/USA does now have a rapid rail connection directly from the airport to the down town area of the city. Very modern and enjoyable ride.

Wait a year or two and it will soon go all the way to the University of Washington via the gay Capital hill area.

[Guest abang]

Thank you for liking Changi Airport, Singapore.  Yes, Singapore (government) works very hard to stay on the list and SIA is still among one of the better airlines I had travelled.

 

If you (fellow forummers) ever need to do a visa-run, consider Singapore.  The budget terminal is closed for renovations till 2017 and now, all flights leave at Terminals 1, 2 and 3.  And the duty-free shopping - need I say more ?

[Guest fountainhall]

And the duty-free shopping - need I say more ?

 

With the Sing $ so high, is Changi still a good airport for duty-free shopping?

[Guest]

Why are all the best and worst the really large airports?

 

Luton should make the 10 worst just due to its dreadful passenger drop off facilities and queues.

Also, the miserable LCC terminal at KL ( a contrast to the main terminal).

 

I quite like Phnom Penh.  Any airport that can get my check in luggage to the conveyor within about 10 minutes of the plane coming to a halt deserves a special mention. 

[Guest fountainhall]

Any airport that can get my check in luggage to the conveyor within about 10 minutes of the plane coming to a halt deserves a special mention. 

 

If Luton had as few flights as Phnom Penh, I suspect it might also be able to deliver the bags far more quickly 

 

Seriously, though, I think airports like Singapore and Hong Kong get the bags up faster than many because they are relatively new, they're more compact, they were designed with expansion in mind and are continually upgraded. Plus, as small territories, their governments long recognised that economic survival depended absolutely on air travel. Older airports have had to expand far more haphazardly, seemingly without any realistic long term plan.

[Guest]

On my one arrival by air at Singapore, it  took about 40 minutes to get to the front of the passport queue.

Actually, it would have been even longer, except I spotted one queue which was about half the length of the others, as that particular "all other passports" sign was in Chinese, Japanese & Malay, but not English.

So no idea about how fast their baggage handling was. 

[Guest thaiworthy]

If you want to judge an airport by its ediface, here's one for you to love. But perhaps they should have sought out a second opinion about using an airplane to cover Mercury's junk in this relief over the entrance to the old Hobby Airport terminal in Houston.

 

[kokopelli]

That was a good one !  Little doubt that the sculptor knew what he was doing. Perhaps the original had Mercury in all his glory and the sculptor was asked to cover him up and did so in a very clever manner. Sure beats a fig leaf.

[KhorTose]

That was a good one !  Little doubt that the sculptor knew what he was doing. Perhaps the original had Mercury in all his glory and the sculptor was asked to cover him up and did so in a very clever manner. Sure beats a fig leaf.

Yes, but it sounds strange to say, "check out the size of the fuselage on that guy."

[Guest Jovianmoon]

Time perhaps to reflect that despite all the comments about Suvarnabhumi, there are many worse airports out there. This is from a relatively recent CNN poll.

...

 

Perth, Australia

...

 

Oh come now! Perth Airport's pretty bad I'll admit (pity me, I used to work there), but it's nowhere near as bad as Canberra Airport. What a dump. And Canberra's our national capital! What impression does that give to the world? Fortunately most international visitors to the east arrive at Sydney, which isn't too bad.