What is your opinion of U.S. airports? (worst, airlines, international flights)

[Tdallas]

As a frequent business traveler, I've grown to love some airports and hate others. Here are a few of my opinions:

O'Hare- I try to avoid this beast at all costs. It's big, busy, and requires long walks. The stores aren't that great and Chicago is notorious for bad storms (both snow in the winter and rain in the summer) that cause delays. I've never understood why United and American decided to put their main hubs in a city with such unfavorable weather for air travel. If I have to fly to Chicago, Midway ismy preference.

LAX-not bad, but sorta expect more from the second largest city in the country. I wish it was also easier to connect between the terminals and the International terminal is outdated and looks more like a bus station.

Pittsburgh-probably one of my favorites. It's clean, shopping and food is plentiful (parts of look like a mall), and it's easy to navigate. Very impressive.

Atlanta-this is a busy beast too, but much easier to navigate than O'Hare. It's been refurbished a lot in the last year and is pretty modern. They're also building a rental car facility with a monorail, which is pretty cool and new upscale shopping is being added. The fact that you can take MARTA from the airport to downtown is also a plus.

Denver-reminds me a lot of a smaller, newer version of Atlanta's airport. Pretty nice overall

Kansas City-an outdated design and probably one of the worst airports in my opinion

Miami-the American Airlines concourses are nice, but the others are old and run down. Customer service is terrible, not that there are a whole lot of choices. Traffic around the airport is horrible.

DFW-I've only flown into the Delta terminal, which was really old looking. I'm sure the American Airlines terminals are much nicer.

LaGuardia-old and ugly. I would expect much more from the greatest city on earth!

Dulles-I really hate those huge people-mover things.

Detroit-one of my other favorites. It's clean and modern, there are a lot of shops, and it's easy to navigate. The music they play on the walkway between the terminal and the Northwest concourse is cool.

[FlightAttendant]

I like PIT, PBI (West Palm Beach), CLT (Charlotte), DCA (Washington DC Regan), and MCO (Orlando).

I dislike LAX (tired), DTW (Detroit)..too sprawling, ORD (too big and old looking), IAD (Washington Dulles)...ditto on the people mover thing, PHL (Philadelphia)..a sprawling and inconvenient place to change planes and DEN (Denver)..just so big.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Random notes:

I love the dramatic vista flying into SFO, and I've had good luck with flights there, too.

I've had bad luck with connections at DFW, but that was awhile ago, maybe it is better now.

DEN was my former home airport and it usually worked pretty well for me, but it is indeed big.

SLC seemed nice and workable, and ATL is busy but seemed to work okay.

[cb at sea]

What's with the people movers--if you walk on them, you get there twice as fast--but most just stop and stand, like it's an amusement park ride! ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!
We like Richmond International, and Reagan National, just for the ease of it. Dulles and BWI are horrendous, because (mainly) of the shuttle to parking--it adds an hour to your trip!
LAS is a nice airport, and Charlotte absolutely sucks! Why do you arrive at a gate 2 miles from the connecting gate???? Makes no sense!
There's my rant!

[missionhome]

I have never had to connect at LAX because I only depart and arrive there since I am a So Cal resident, but I constantly hear it is one of the worst airports to connect between airlines at. A connection between one airline is a breeze, but two is hard.

For example, easy connection: Fly on one airline, say United for example, into LAX from Philadelphia. You arrive in Terminal 6 or 7 which are connected and have a short walk to your other gate for your United flight to Sydney in Terminal 7.

Difficult connection: Book flight on Aircanada.com for an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to LAX and then a codeshare flight with United from LAX to Melbourne. Air Canada flight arrives in LAX at Terminal 2 which is NOT connected to Terminal 6 and 7 where United is. You must walk or catch a shuttle to Terminal 6 or 7 and go through security again to get to your flight on United.

Basically, LAX is one of the easiest airports for a connection all on one airline, but one you are switching airlines it can be complete hell.

[Alter]

Originally Posted by Tdallas

Detroit-one of my other favorites. It's clean and modern, there are a lot of shops, and it's easy to navigate. The music they play on the walkway between the terminal and the Northwest concourse is cool.

Wow you can tell you don't fly through the old L. C. Smith terminal. What a dump! Complete with leaky ceilings (buckets catching water) and so dirty I wanted to burn my socks after I removed my shoes and took a few steps through security.
Guess the new terminal is scheduled to open next week? Sure looking forward to that.

So much can vary at a lot airports depending which terminal you come into.

[mattyj46]

I really like SFO (San Francisco International), easy to get around, great airport.

[Mar0]

I agree that SFO is nice...it seems very well kept.

I have bad memories from O'hare so that taints that one.

I also don't really like LAX, it seems like it should be so much better.

The philly airport is the worst in the world (and I lived outside of philly up until last yeaR). It has some good stores/restaurants but the service is awful and your plane is ALWAYS delayed. UGH.

I love Orlando- it makes me happy, especially with all the excited kids.

The Lihue airport here in Kauai is perfect. The people are SO nice and it is the perfect (small size). The Honolulu airport is kind of old and I am so sick of waiting for planes there. I wish there were more food outlets. I don't really care for the Kahului airport, and the Kona airport reminds me of a bus stop (no lie).

I really like the Phoenix airport too, it seems nice and up-to-date (at least the US terminal). Plus, I feel like the lines go quickly.

Finally, my favorite airport is Narita. The service is impeccable (standard for japan) and there are many food outlets. Maybe its just that I love Japan...

[Freezer41]

SEA is easy to connect thanks to the underground tram I got from N satellite gate to S satellite gate in 10 minutes

ORD is another favorite because once past security you can walk to the other terminals

SFO was on my top but now I have been experiencing more delays there and I noticed problems getting to the international terminal from Terminal 3

DTW - NWA terminal is too long

DEN - never been delayed there but aircraft cannot use auxiliary power unit on the ground so the aircraft was quite warm

[Marcian]

LAX - what a dump of airport, old. Transfer from one terminal to another is major undertaking. In my case this summer came from EWR to terminal 6, got my laggage, then moved it to terminal 4 thru security again and wait for the next flight. The worst seating benches probably 40 years old, no cushing at all. Also from prior flights to LAX - if you are renting a car good luck with waiting for the shuttle and then going like 30 min for the location. I got lost quit a few times late at night (it was before GPS).
DFW - not bad - security in is only once, changing planes is OK, there are 5 terminals all of them connected by a monorail. One odd thing is a long distance from touch down to the terminals and from terminals to take off.
LAS - I was only once, old airport. My only memories are the smoke and slot machines in the terminal. I did not change planes.
EWR - my home base airport. Never changed planes, always in and out.
Approach by the car is not bad, parking could be bad, delays of the flights usually bad on arrivals, not bad on departures. This airport is getting really busy very close by capacity to JFK. It got 3 terminals, there is a monorail between the terminals.
JFK-mainly international flights, always big delays, getting to JFK is absolutely nightmare at any time of the day, never changed planes at JFK, parking could be a problem.