Airports:Best and worst

[DeeDub]

Wasn't Shannon Airport where the Irish Coffee was created? Or is that just a legend? (The other contender is San Francisco.)

The legend around here is that Irish Coffee was invented at the Buena Vista on Hyde Street, SF. (See http://www.thebuenavista.com/irishcoffee.html) The controversy lately has been over whether changing the Irish whiskey they use has ruined the original recipe.

Back on topic, I prefer small airports generally. I think it's the sprawling size that puts larger airports (LAX, O'Hare, DFW, Atlanta) on the bad list.

Aside from the complications added by homeland security and ag checks, Kona Hawaii airport is easy to get in and out of and has a style that fits the surrounding area.

I found Islip NY an interesting little airport. Only problem was the runway was almost too short, so the pilot had to stand on the brakes to avoid going through the fence at the other end.

 

[Fletch]

I'll tell you what they did to Westchester Country (HPN) at White Plains. For 50 years local real estate interests held back any development on the airport site. This former WW2 Army airfield still had one-story wood frame buildings for terminals. The Skytop diner and bar was a hangout with some character - you expected to see biz-jet pilots and baggage monkeys downing a cuppa in there. But the place was terribly overcrowded and under tremendous pressure.

By 1995 or so a new terminal was built, slightly later an adjoining parking ramp. The new HPN is of course a huge improvement on the old, but no better than any small two-gate airport anywhere. The Skytop was relocated to the 2nd floor, too out of the way, really, and the funky charm is of course gone. Not much to eat or drink on the ground floor. Worst of all, the PA system is hopelessly inadequate. In a not-too-big building, you ought to be able to hear every announcement clearly. Especially in the secure waiting area, where the PA is frequently unintelligible.

 

[Haversack]

I second the Baron's remarks about Dulles. I recently had to fly in and out of Dulles with some collegues and we were in need of both food and liquid refreshment. After wandering though about three of the terminals, I noted that all of the commercial spaces were of the exact same shoebox size. All the restaurants & bars were narrow and shallow with no windows. Being small, they could only hold about 30 people each, (and then only with the use of a shoehorn). This was quite a change for us from the West Coast where airports like SFO and PDX have some spacious, well-lit eateries and elbow-bending joints. Places that you can sit back and relax while waiting for your flight without having a crowd of people waiting for your seat.

Another we all noticed about Dulles were all the signs that stated that the prices of the vendors at the airport were no higher than those of the surrounding area. I suppose that this was to make you feel better about opening your wallet.

I do like SFO and PDX. They've both managed to accomodate the TSA screening without completely taking over the entire terminal. Still, my best airport experience has been Sydney for being very friendly and very efficient. Getting off a fully-loaded 747 at 6 AM after a 14 hour flight and leaving the airport at 6:30 AM with bags in hand after clearing customs with all the airport and immigration personnel smiling and cheerful made a big impression on me. This was a couple of years after the Olympics so I figured that they had figured out exactly how to do it right.

Haversack.

 

[Girl Friday]

DFW, I would say it fits in both categories. Best because I know the layout, I work about 5 minutes away, so I am frequently called on to be the designated "airport taxi". The lay out of the place makes it easier to find your terminal by which airline you are flying. And worst, because if you are dropped off at the wrong terminal, and your flight has changed, it could take an hour to get to where you are supposed to be...at which time you have most likely missed your flight. Of course, that could be user error...calling ahead or listening to the AM station for arrivals and departures is always a good idea.

 

[Babydoll]

Don't care for DFW. I have to fly through there frequently for work, and it's such a pain to get to ground transport, or to the terminal from ground transport. Same with JFK. Just not user friendly.

Faves? SeaTac (not just 'cause it's home), and Anchorage was surprisingly easy to use (despite the lack of restaurants open at 7 on a Sunday morning).

 

[Spitfire]

Best: Copenhagen...Sorry, but it is.[huh]
Worst: Havanna for one.
Heathrow is always total chaos.
JFK - especially comming in. The emigration counters and the people behind them...

 

[JazzBaby]

Best: Copenhagen...Sorry, but it is.[huh]
Worst: Havanna for one.
Heathrow is always total chaos.
JFK - especially comming in. The emigration counters and the people behind them...

The US emigration counters working at Shannon are really nice. One guy told me I'd have to get my toe up to the fingerprint scanner because he needed a toe-print.

For a few seconds I actually believed him :eusa_doh:

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Don't care for DFW. I have to fly through there frequently for work, and it's such a pain to get to ground transport, or to the terminal from ground transport. Same with JFK. Just not user friendly.

Assuming DFW is Dallas/ Fort Worth, that may be true, but they have excellent Barbecue!

Now that it has gotten its act together, I rather like Boston's Logan. Also Philadelphia International is very nice.

Denver Int. (DIA) has been very good to me. I love the architecture and the little subway you get on to get your bags. It sure beats the old Stapleton.

Marco Polo airport in Venice once put me on a transit bus along with all these other people to drive us 40 feet out of the terminal to the plane, but this was back when it was only one terminal. The new Marco Polo is beautiful and very modern, since it is only a few years old. It's still a pain to get down to the Lagoon though and they still make you get on buses. They love to load from the tarmac in Europe.

Most airports I sort of breeze through and forget. Perhaps the best allow you to do so.

I do reserve a certain amount of animosity for LAX.

 

[Mojito]

Worst: O'Hare. Possibly unusual circumstances, but we were delayed and shunted back and forward between different departure gates for hours. By the time we got on the plane and they announced there would be turbulance, I had such a vicious headache I was rather hoping we'd crash and I'd be out of my misery.

I've never really had problems flying out of LAX, but I'm generally so knackered by the time I get there nothing much is going to phase me. Although I did raise an eyebrow at the two check-in clerks who thought my British passport an excellent reason to start discussing why they felt the 'Brits' were 'still sore' about the American Revolution. I briefly tossed up either giving them a line in my broadest strine accent or attempting to disabuse them of the notion that the British still bear a grudge dating back to 1788, but they probably wouldn't have recognised either the Aussie accent or the lack of any lingering resentment. I just smiled sweetly and let them get on with it.

Hurghada Airport in Egypt is an 'exciting' experience. No airport security - the x-ray machine was broken! Not even manual bag checks. But it didn't stop the security guards asking for a bit of bakeesh.

The airport in Yap (Micronesia) is a blast - it was completely open on all sides, and the concrete floor was painted red to disguise the beetlenut red spit. I think they did have a working x-ray machine or did do bagchecks, however.

Best airports:

Osaka: Sparkling clean, and excellent transport between gates and terminals.

Shannon and Cork in Ireland - never been held up there, and there's always a last-minute chance to stock up on Lir chocolate.

Singapore - huge, lots of shopping, well organised - the only criticism I could make is that it's so big and overwhelming through its variety that it can be a bit much to deal with during a long-haul international flight.

Bangkok is one of the most improved airports since I first visited many years ago - it also has some good duty free going.

Dubai is another clean, well organised, good transit point, with good duty free options.

 

[Babydoll]

Assuming DFW is Dallas/ Fort Worth, that may be true, but they have excellent Barbecue!

Yes, they do. Last time I went through, I brought home four pounds of it and stuck it in the freezer. When the Mister gets homesick (he's from Texas), he can pull some out and defrost it.

 

[WEEGEE]

Shannon , Ireland

Originally posted by Mojito

Shannon and Cork in Ireland - never been held up there, and there's always a last-minute chance to stock up on Lir chocolate.

In 1997 I landed in Shannon the next thing I am out on the street never going through security or getting my pasport stamped. It took me almost a 1/2hour of wandering in and out of the airport to find someone to stamp my passport. Security back when.lol

 

[Kt Templar]

Hong Kong airport is great, so big and spaceous. You can check in the centre of the city then ride to the airport on the high tech train then waltz into the airport with just your hand luggage your passport aand your boarding card. Very convenient and much less stressful than normal airports.

Vancouver Airport is nice too in a quaint sort of way.

Heathrow and Gatwick are so 70s and really grubby now.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

People here in the midwest try very hard to make travel accomodations that do not include the Denver airport. Big and confusing, lots of missed flights.

I have had my luggage misplaced twice in Chicago.

I try not to fly now, but, if I do, prefer smaller airports and airlines.

karol

 

[Smithy]

The best for me is Frankfurt - clean, well organised, helpful and polite staff, good grub in the caf?©s and restaurants and good beer! Plus very smoker friendly. I had to wait here for several hours a few times and it's always been good. Runner up would be Oslo.

The worst for me is LAX - possibly the rudest airport I've ever been through and one of the least well organised. No offence to the Americans here but if I am flying between NZ and Europe I always ask to go via Asia now rather than having to go through LAX. Sadly I'm not the only one doing this now. Runners up would be Heathrow and Santiago.

 

[Harp]

The best for me is Frankfurt - clean, well organised, helpful and polite staff, good grub in the caf?©s and restaurants and good beer! Plus very smoker friendly. I had to wait here for several hours a few times and it's always been good. Runner up would be Oslo.

Frankfurt is great. Athens, last time- quite a mess. Honolulu is OK.
Rome, a disappointment. Heathrow, a nice place to shop. Charlie D', the
price for Paris, I suppose.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Now here's a thread I can sink my teeth into!

Lemme just flip open the logbook here and take a little trip down memory airway...you won't see too many big airports in this list, not because I don't fly into them, but because to me, they're all the same.

Local airports:
Chino (CNO), for the warbirds and greasy food at Flo's diner.
Catalina (AVX), for the carrier-like landing and take-off and the buffalo burgers, not mention the aerial tour of the island
Big Bear (L35), for Octoberfest and skiing
and of course, my home field, El Monte (EMT), where I got my private and instrument ratings.

Regional airports:
Las Vegas (LAS), because they let me park my airplane in Wayne Newton's hangar (dankeschoen!)
Santa Ynez (IZA), for wine-tasting trips
Gallup (GUP), because getting a rental car after diverting for weather took less than 3 minutes
Grand Canyon (GCN), for a magnificent aerial tour (in formation with friends) over the canyon!
South Lake Tahoe (TVL), for the lake, the mountains, the forests, and the Reno Air Races each year
Monterey (MRY), for (what else?) golfing on world-famous links
Santa Fe (SAF), for the Santa Fe Opera
Mariposa (O68) , for Yosemite National Park, a beautiful field in a gorgeous setting, a nice FBO, and a sweet old dog

Not-so-regional airports
Lake Charles, Louisiana (LCH), for great service and a very pretty little southern girl at the FBO
San Angelo, Texas (SJT), for a truly classic, giant, land yacht courtesy car
Raleigh-Durham (RDU), for one of THE nicest FBO's I've ever been in
Manteo, NC (MQI), for smoothly and efficiently handling hundreds of aircraft for a major event, the Centennial of Flight, December, 2003

And other odds and end:
Villa da Carrara, Italy - where I logged some helicopter time while flying over Tuscany
El Mirage Dry Lake Bed - ultralight
Kagel Mountain, L. A. - hang glider
The Colorado River - where I got my seaplane rating
Northwest of Phoenix - Balloon ride

I think I need to go flying

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I think my favorite, due to the complete efficiency, is Palm Springs. Every flight down, we walk off the plane, down to the baggage claim, and if our bags aren't already there before we are, it's never more than a 30 second wait. A few steps to the door, into a taxi and in 10-15 minutes, we're at the house. Almost as quick an easy on the return flights - haven't had to wait in line more than 5 minutes at security.

SeaTac always seems to have a 20+ minute wait in line at security. Returning, if the bags appear 30 minutes after standing waiting for them, it's a minor miracle. It's usually more like 45 minutes.

And I'd have to say my old hometown's Long Beach (CA) Airport would be a favorite as well. Known as Daugherty Field until after WWII, it appeared in Executive Suite, Best Years of Our Lives and Bachelor & the Bobby-Soxer, amoung other classic films.

 

[Novella]

Denver Int. (DIA) has been very good to me. I love the architecture and the little subway you get on to get your bags. It sure beats the old Stapleton.

I like DIA too - the whole mountain look is fun and the subway shuttle is so easy to use.

 

[Babydoll]

SeaTac always seems to have a 20+ minute wait in line at security. Returning, if the bags appear 30 minutes after standing waiting for them, it's a minor miracle. It's usually more like 45 minutes.

It took me less than 30 seconds to get through security when I flew out of SeaTac last weekend. No line! The wait for luggage when I came back was about 10 minutes. A lot better than the hour and a half I waited for my luggage in Anchorage. [huh]

 

[TheCelt]

The Celt

We had a light Dinner at a Diner close to Denver Airport, the food wasn't very good but, the ambiance was cool,