Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Chandler: 2014, casinos, to live)

[Obrienlester]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

I wish there was just one big terminal with all the major airlines.

Dallas love would be ideal for you.

[43north87west]

I like it. A lot. There are a lot of crappy airports out there. PHX has easy in and out, it's easy to get around, has good access to public transportation, and the weather helps flights arrive and depart on time. I use it twice a week, so if there was a major flaw, I'd probably know about it. The location is perfect; in the center of the area instead of on some corner outlying fringe. It's as good as DCA in terms of location. But the best part of PHX is that it works, unlike so many other airports where everything is all crapped up all the time.

Over the years I've heard a lot of remarks about how nice of an airport we have. I usually agree.

One thing I just thought of is the nice views. It reminds people they're not in DFW or some other place with virtually no identity.

[Potential_Landlord]

I like PHX too. The lines are usually small. In all the years I only missed a flight once because of the security lines. It has direct link to Europe (London) which like a lot. The drive / ride there and back is uber-easy (pun intended). From my experience airports get worse the bigger they are. My worst experiences are in NYC and Chicago. Not sure but the added complexity from the bigger size seems to make it worse. Maybe also the weather.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Detroit's airport dated? Detroit has one of the more modern airports in the country. Say what you will about the city, but it's one of my favorite airports to fly through.

In all fairness, most people remember Detroit Metro as the Davies and old LC Smith Terminal as the new terminals have only been around for the past ten years or so. Those terminals were narrow, and had grossly inadequate services. While flights out of DTW represent well under 5% of my lifetime flights, I have missed more connections heading through the airport than any other. I will give the airport another try sometime BUT generally, I fly to Cleveland as the fare are more competitive from Phoenix.


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Back to the question, I really like Sky Harbor as it is a first class operations. I have only flown out of terminal 4 and that might impact my satisfaction. However, I prefer to fly put of Tucson as security takes under ten minutes and the airport is far more compact. The $3 economy parking is also a plus.

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by Obrienlester

Dallas love would be ideal for you.

Love Field isn't even a major airport anymore since DFW replaced it, only three major airlines serve Love.

Other major airports have one big terminal and the separate terminals at Sky Harbor can create a headache.

Thank goodness for Skytrain, that connection has reduced the hassle of the separate terminals.

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

Other major airports have one big terminal and the separate terminals at Sky Harbor can create a headache.

Thank goodness for Skytrain, that connection has reduced the hassle of the separate terminals.

While many major airports have one huge terminal, I can think of a bunch off hand, with numerous terminals.

LAX has 9 different terminals, ORD has 4 terminals, JFK has 6 terminals and DFW has 5 terminals.

[jlawrence01]

^^^


Love Field is in the 43rd largest airport in the US in 2013 from 48th in 2010. Their passenger traffic is up 50% since 2003. Of course, it helps that the largest domestic carrier is at that airport.

[Valley Native]

Sky Harbor's centralized location is positive in most aspects. I wouldn't want a DIA styled airport here. Since Phoenix is so big and spread out, a new airport would have to be built in some extremely far flung location that would make commuting a major hassle. I like the fact that Sky Harbor can be accessed by inner city freeways, light rail/SkyTrain, Super Shuttle, etc. Consider also the taxi services, and how much more costly they would be for commuters if Phoenix's international airport was way out in the middle of nowhere (taxi drivers charge by the mile). Overflow airports like Mesa Gateway can be out in no man's land, but Sky Harbor's location is fine as it is.

Probably the only negative about the centralized location is it has a way of restricting the height of downtown highrises... however, that's mostly due to the FAA. Downtown can & should have much taller buildings, including a tall observation tower in the form of the Phoenix Bird that could be an iconic symbol for the city. But oh no: thanks to the overly intrusive FAA, as well as NIMBYs who can't stand anything blocking their mountain views, we have a rather dwarfed skyline for a city our size.

[Renegade007]

Sky Harbor is the best airport in Arizona.... I'll leave it at that.

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by phenomenon

I hate to break it to you but Phoenix is not even on most international tourist's radar. I love living here and the city provides a good standard of living for cheap, but it's one big boring, bland suburb from a tourist's perspective. Arizona's biggest draw is the Grand Canyon, which most people visit from Las Vegas. So the reason we don't have more international flights at Sky Harbor is due to lack of demand. I'm surprised we still have the BA flight direct to London although I'd imagine it's a bit expensive for most of us.

It's too bad Phoenix is not attracting more international flights. I noticed Las Vegas just got a direct flight from Beijing China. That's huge for them. I guess they'll need to bring in more international travelers, as they're fleecing their domestic drive-in customers from CA and AZ ( with resort fees and now PAID self-parking).

Las Vegas-Beijing direct flight lands for first time - CBS News