Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Favorite airport is our local airport "Ontario Internatiol" at Ontario California. It is small and very easy to get in and out of and security is very quick. We have never had to wait more than 5 minutes to get through security.
The worst experience we have ever had was at Vancouver International in Vancouver Canada. The restrooms were filthy, baggage was slow and we had to wait almost 2 hours to get on the Airporter Bus.
Burbank (BUR) and Sacramento (SMF) are small and in need of upgrades. BUR in particular would be a bad place to have to wait for a delayed flight, old and crowded.
SMF did get a new terminal in Oct of 2011. Pretty big, nice, clean. I haven't flown out of it, only dropped off and picked up from. Much nicer than the old one. It replaced the old Terminal B - which was really crappy and straight out of the early 60s. Terminal A still exists, but everything that used to fly there - SWA, American, Hawaiian - moved to the new building. Most of what was in the ancient terminal B moved into the old terminal A (and Frontier doesn't go to SMF at all any more)
The best: Finding a western-style (sit-down) toilet in the Marrakesh airport.
The worst: Arriving so late to the boarding area (not by my fault) that the check-in clerk had to turn around and see if the plane had taken off or not. Thankfully, it hadn't, and a call to the plane was all I needed for them to send out the flight attendant to check my ticket.
Other than the TSA (who are always understandably pissy), my experiences at airports / with airport staff have been nothing but positive.
Worst Domestic: Chicago O'Hare - I've never had a flight leave here on time, if at all. Constant delays and cancellations!
Worst International: Possibly Kathmandu. They used to search luggage by hand which meant any valuables in the suitcase would disappear, never to be seen again. Otherwise Nassau, Bahamas.
Best Domestic: Minneapolis for shopping altho I wish they'd install a moving walkway! And their security checkpoints can be horrendous.
Best International: London-Heathrow Terminal 5
Having DLH as my home airport, most of my flights have been through MSP, and I would agree that the shopping there is nice. If you ever have a long layover, try to board the Hiawatha light rail station (in the airport) to the Mall of America, probably about 15 minutes away via light rail. You'll need to go through security, of course, but there are luggage safes in the airport, and as long as you lock your baggage up in one of them (and pay the nominal price), you shouldn't have too much trouble.
Best airport domestic: DEN (it's a little big, and the concourses are long, but it's a smart airport, with 3 parallel runways which can be used simultaneously)
Worst airport domestic: IAD - Dulles (big, old, looks like temporary school buildings, not connected via Metro yet)
Best airport international: YUL - Montreal (compact for being international, double customs (US and Canada) more "compact experience" than at Toronto)
Worst airport international: CDG - Paris (connections often are in different terminals, which are far apart and long walks or crowded bus rides, sometimes even within Air France)
I was in MIA a couple years ago. It's the crowds and chaos there. Same thing as EWR. New, but chaotic.
Ok well that is true, especially if you are doing an International flight to a Domestic flight.
I think that is one of the reasons people hate MIA even now with the new modern terminals. So many people are flying international flights and International to Domestic connections suck no matter where you are flying.
Had a lot of trouble in Seoul for a connecting flight due to the fact that the people I was traveling with bought duty free alcohol in NYC in the terminal. They told us no liquids were allowed on the plane (even though it said duty free on the bag and common sense should tell them that it is impossible to bring a liquid for a connecting flight unless it was bought inside of a terminal past security). Instead of throwing away $200 in booze we had to go out, check in our bags at reception with the booze, then go back through security all over again.
Lesson learned: buy duty free at your arriving airport to avoid any issues.
Best airport: I've been to so far is Tokyo Narita.. very well laid out terminal and great if you have a layover. Friendly and organized and so typically Japanese - they even have an in transit pod hotel for a reasonable price where you can get some sleep and a shower in between connections!
Worst airport: JFK (i've been to many U.S, Canadian, International airports btw) - i've been to two terminals 1 and 7 and both were decrepit - signage and layout bad but what struck me was how RUDE staff were across the board. Check in, baggage agents, train station staff and worst of all TSA security staff. I mean I know TSA is not supposed to go out of their way to be friendly and they have a job to do but WOW - they completely went out of their way to be rude and treated people like cattle! Bad experience I will go out of my way to avoid connecting at JFK!
YVR - The airport is nice and new but the worst customs/immigration in the world. Unfriendly people and not a good experience.
LAX - going from domestic to international is ridiculous and outdated. The airport needs a refit badly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
