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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Airports: best, worst and why?
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
I'm on countdown now for a quick trip back to see family in the UK. I'll be flying out of Kenya from Jomo Kenyatta airport, which I don't mind but a friend of mine really hates.
I like airports:I've flown a lot and from childhood being in a departure lounge signaled either a new adventure or longed for home coming.
But...airports come in many shapes and sizes so best, worst and why?
Best: Heathrow terminal 5 because it is still shiny and new and the ceilings and lighting add to the ambiance and the staff were friendly (terminal 4 isn't too bad but the others are revolting)
Worst: Njili Kinshasa DRC not because of poor infrastructure which I don't mind in Africa but because of appalling organisation and a really scary sense of desperation amongst both staff and passengers with shouting, pushing and grabbing. I still shudder.
What about you?
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
Posts: 693 | From: UK/ Kenya | Registered: Apr 2013
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Cancun on a Saturday afternoon can be a nightmare. Most week long resort deals go Saturday through Saturday, so you get stuck in a customs line with everyone else who is going to be anywhere in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, or any other part of the Mayan Rivera all that week. You thought you were going to beet the crowds by heading down the coast and not staying at an all inclusive? Fat chance. If you ever find yourself flying there, do yourself a favor an book on any other day of the week. Or just go somewhere else.
That said, Mexican customs is always a bit of a trip. When you get to the head of the line (about an hour after you got off of your airplane on a Saturday), they inspect your declaration form, and then you have to push a big red button attached to a traffic signal-type device. If the green light flashes, you are free to go. If the red light flashes, you just got picked for extra scrutiny.
[ 27. June 2013, 18:13: Message edited by: Og, King of Bashan ]
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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cross eyed bear
Shipmate
# 13977
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Posted
Frankfurt. It's the size of a small town, with no windows and absolutely no signs. The shuttle between the two terminals has the cryptic name of 'Skyline', quite clever, but not what you'd expect to have to look out for when searching for the shuttle stop.
The last time I was there, not even the air stewardess I asked could help me find my way. The time before, changing from Frankfurt Airport Station to a bus, it took the combined efforts of three coach drivers to find my stop.
Shudder.
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"One false step in my direction, you'd better believe in the resurrection" Stillgoe & Skellern's "Mrs Beamish"
Posts: 120 | From: Southern Germany | Registered: Jul 2008
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The Weeder
Shipmate
# 11321
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Posted
Khatmandu Airport, in Nepal. Most alarming!
Small, with arrivals and departure in the same small area. As we collected our baggage, I noticed the sign at departures. Can not remember the exact wording, except it informed passengers that rifles, spears, large arms etc, must be placed in the hold.
Presumably, small arms were permitted on board.
As we left the tiny airport, the first thing we saw was that there was a fully armed guard on every street corner. Little soldiers, with weapons as big as they were. Very unnerving.
In fact Nepal was lovely, peaceful, warm and welcoming. The only real risk was the determination of the older lady street sellers, who would pursue you shouting at you to buy their wares.
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Still missing the gator
Posts: 2542 | From: LaLa Land | Registered: Apr 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I think the first time I saw an actual factual machine gun was in Paris-CDG airport. Despite our gun culture, law enforcement officials carrying anything other than a pistol are a rare sight. The only time I have seen it in an airport around here was probably a month after 9/11.
My brother used to live in Germany, and his girlfriend at the time loathed Frankfurt. She always advised people to stay far away. That is probably the case with any country's largest airports. I have never had too much experience with Atlanta, but I know lots of people in the States hate it.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
I have never had too much experience with Atlanta, but I know lots of people in the States hate it.
The problem with Atlanta is its size, and that you have to take the train from terminal to terminal even when changing planes on the same airline, sometimes.
Atlanta is not as bad as JFK, though, which is the US airport I hate the most. Again, sheer size, the fact that the terminals are so far apart from each other, the fact that you have to leave the terminal and cross the road to get to the train between terminals, the age and condition of the terminals, the distance away from midtown Manhattan that JFK is and the hassle of getting to and from . . . I could go on and on!
Here in Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport is actually quite nice, although driving is a headache. Unless you know exactly where you're going, and how to get there, you're likely to drive in circles around the airport multiple times until you figure out what lane you have to be in to access the ramp you want.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Cochin [COK], our local airport, is high on my list of good airports - it is modern, well designed and fairly efficient.
Manchester [MAN] takes forever to get baggage off-loaded.
Bucharest [BBU, I think] was fairly scary back in 1994 but may well have changed by now.
Kathmandu [KTM], yes, pretty chaotic but then we had come in overland from the west and were sort of used to the Nepalese Way before we got there.
Singapore [SIN] is the most efficient airport I've ever been to but a bit soulless, a bit like Singapore itself.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
I am so NOT looking forward to flying out of Atlanta on July 18 to Seattle. First of all, I've heard Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson is staffed by morons and it's so huge. Secondly, I've never flown before and one of my sisters told me yesterday that the seats on Delta are very narrow. I weigh about 260 pounds and I have this horrible picture of me having to sit with one butt cheek held off the seat for the entire flight! God, I wish I had made Amtrak reservations instead but three-four days on the train isn't my cup of tea anymore.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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David
Complete Bastard
# 3
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Posted
Cairo is a bit of a nightmare, you have to fight off people so they don't carry your bags. Also too many machine guns on display for mine.
My short Dubai review is in two parts. Prior to opening Terminal 3 (at the end of 2008), the facilities for 3 classes of travel were approximately as follows:
1. There were occasionally seats available in the Emirates first class lounge.
2. There were never seats available in the business class lounge, but most people had sturdy enough cabin baggage to sit on.
3. The Economy Class lounge was on the floor in the terminal, unless people could get a seat in the Irish Pub in a Box.
The duty free shops, on the other hand, were egalitarian in their price gouging.
After T3 was opened, the 1st class lounge was enormous, and mostly empty. Not sure about business class, it wasn't open in T3 last time I was through there. Economy was the same, just more floor space.
As far as I know, the duty free shops haven't changed their policy of charging like wounded bulls.
Sydney is probably the biggest ripoff of all, parking is charged by the second and costs more than the airfare. It also seems that every flight I get out of there takes off to the north, and every flight in lands to the south. As people who know the layout there, this adds at least 20 minutes to every flight. Also, the duty free shops are an outrageous ripoff. For example, there's not a single item in the the grog shop that I can't get cheaper at the local bottle shop, so if you're flying in to Sydney don't buy duty free in the airport, and if you're flying out buy it at your destination.
Singapore is pretty good. It has a swimming pool on the roof, and last time I was there they had a 110" plasma screen on display, very impressive. The bastards also stole 2 bottles of champagne from me.
Heathrow is a nightmare. Edinburgh is worse. I have less than fond memories of both places on multiple occasions.
Every other airport comes under the heading of "neither good nor bad", and it's a long list whic I won't bore people with. Still, a boring airport is not the worst thing in the wold.
Posts: 3815 | From: Redneck Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by David:
Heathrow is a nightmare. Edinburgh is worse. I have less than fond memories of both places on multiple occasions.
I agree about Heathrow - but what's the problem with Edinburgh? It's expanded a lot in the last decade, but it's still a small airport, with only one fairly compact terminal.
Probably the airport I be disinclined to revisit is Skiathos. Mainly because, owing to the mountainous character of the rest of the island, the runway had to be fitted on to a very narrow strip of flat land. Very, very narrow. And the baggage handling system seemed to consist solely of Costas, who paused for a drag on his ciggie between each suitcase, while we stood around in the terminal, watching and waiting.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
The only thing I remember about Kathmandu was the landing. We came in on a small propeller plane, having been on a flight round the Himalayas, and the pilot appeared to fly at the mountain at the end of the runway before turning 180 degrees to land. Very exhilarating.
My worse experience was Ben Gurion, Israel in the early 1990s where I was chosen as the person in our group who needed irrational interrogation by a man with a gun so that he could then compare my answers with that of my 4 companions. Lots of 'Point to Yad Vashem on the map to prove you are a tourist' with me replying 'but Yad Vashem isn't on that map!' Continue ad nauseum for one hour, with brief interludes where he expected me to produce bus tickets from the previous week ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
[ 28. June 2013, 06:41: Message edited by: Heavenly Anarchist ]
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
JFK has to be my worst yet. I arrived there earlier this year to find they had put on a mere 7 passport controllers to check 2000+ passports. We were all crowded into one windowless room, where the concept of air conditioning was given a nod by the setting up of two large fans. The quietly sweltering queue shuffled along, and it took me - who was about half way down it - a full two hours to reach passport control.
Oh, and although this isn't directly JFK's fault, it was a nightmare to find my way back to at the end of my stay, owing to thoroughly inadequate subway signposting. Given the option of Newark's easy train access and its comparative newness and efficiency, I will pay to avoid JFK in future.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Emendator Liturgia
Shipmate
# 17245
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Posted
Worst Airport: I am quite surprised that no-one has mentioned LA/Tom Bradley Airport - it is freakingly bad. Yes, been through JFK as well, but don't think it compared on the negative scale like LA. We've had numerous scares at LA - like the time people in wheel chairs were being asked to stand and go up the escalator because the lifts had been broken for a few days. The staff always seem disinterested, the arrivals hall was so packed it felt like being in a cramped sardine can. Next trip we'll go to the US via Asia and fly directly in to SF or somewhere, - avoiding LA at all costs (also, given the state of the lounges there, an extra reason to avoid like the plague.
Please don't get me started on Heathrow or CDG (even had a hold up at CDG while the gendarmes blew up a bag which had been left for too long, and yes the gendarmes were carrying machine guns. Now, never mind the fact that airport security held us up getting to check-in, rude/obnoxious/ looking-down-their-nose BA staff told us we were 5 minutes late .... fortunately, when they saw that we were ongoing international First Class passengers (using points, not money)they realised their problem (and the plane didn't even start boarding to 15 minutes later.
Best Airport: that's a toss up between Singapore and Hong Kong - probably leaning towards HK. Haven't been to either since the lounges were done up, so looking forward to trying them out in 2014.
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Don't judge all Anglicans in Sydney by prevailing Diocesan standards!
Posts: 401 | From: Sydney, Australia | Registered: Jul 2012
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
Toronto Pearson is a nightmare. And the redcaps charge 10 dollars a bag to push around on a trolley! When I finally did put my jetlagged head around to find my connection home, I had to wander for 15 minutes until some passing airport person took pity on me and pointed me in the right direction.
Actually I don't mind terminal 3 in Heathrow. It's a doddle, except for the mad dash to your gate when it opens. I just remember the help desk near Dixon's.
Edinburgh was a charmer. I was out in 15 minutes or less. That was on the domestic side.
YOW is completely simple (but that's my starting and ending airport at all times).
Vancouver is large, and confusing, but once I got my bearings, easy peasy.
Pittsburgh is my worst nightmare. I landed there once, was told my connection departed in 30 minutes on the other side of the terminal, then had to wait 20 minutes for assistance to get there. I bought a book and hunkered down til the next flight out in 8 hours.
Delhi is a traveller's nightmare; as is Mumbai. I pay extra to go through Bangalore, which is modern and efficient (and actually understands the concept of service)
I like COK. Except for the year baggage handling dismantled my wheelchair and strewed the parts all over the conveyor belt.
Frankfurt is soulless. Auckland is not to0 bad. Christchurch (pre-big earthquake, but post small earthquake] was a mess. Sidney is a complete rip off as mentioned above. Perth was a very well organised airport. I spent several hours in Singapore once, but was based in the business class lounge and so relatively isolated and comfortable.
The least said about Dubai the better.
[ 28. June 2013, 08:50: Message edited by: PeteC ]
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I loathe Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. The security is frequently chronically understaffed and it takes forever. Last time I spent nearly an hour getting through and they weren't taking anyone's shoes off them because they didn't have the time. (They had to hold the plane because a half-hour after the scheduled boarding time half the passengers were still missing.)
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Emendator Liturgia
Shipmate
# 17245
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I loathe Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. The security is frequently chronically understaffed and it takes forever. Last time I spent nearly an hour getting through and they weren't taking anyone's shoes off them because they didn't have the time. (They had to hold the plane because a half-hour after the scheduled boarding time half the passengers were still missing.)
From experience it has only been American airports as a rule which which have required passengers to take their shoes off, or use full body scanners...
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Don't judge all Anglicans in Sydney by prevailing Diocesan standards!
Posts: 401 | From: Sydney, Australia | Registered: Jul 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Heavenly Anarchist:
My worse experience was Ben Gurion, Israel in the early 1990s where I was chosen as the person in our group who needed irrational interrogation by a man with a gun
Husband had to attend conference in Tel Aviv once. When asked what he had been doing in Israel, he enthusiastically offered to repeat his presentation, for which he had the slides and notes if they could just give him a moment to set up his laptop.... He got processed fairly quickly.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Emendator Liturgia:
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I loathe Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. The security is frequently chronically understaffed and it takes forever. Last time I spent nearly an hour getting through and they weren't taking anyone's shoes off them because they didn't have the time. (They had to hold the plane because a half-hour after the scheduled boarding time half the passengers were still missing.)
From experience it has only been American airports as a rule which which have required passengers to take their shoes off, or use full body scanners...
I've had my shoes taken off me at Roissy before. On that day I'm sure it was just because they were so understaffed.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Emendator Liturgia
Shipmate
# 17245
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I've had my shoes taken off me at Roissy before. On that day I'm sure it was just because they were so understaffed.
Been through CDG three times now - apart from their losing my luggage twice, have never had to take my shoes off - perhaps they were understaff each time?
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Don't judge all Anglicans in Sydney by prevailing Diocesan standards!
Posts: 401 | From: Sydney, Australia | Registered: Jul 2012
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I forgot about several fairly dreadful places:
- Jeddah & Riyadh will both be nice [or at least better] when they are finished;
- Kuwait is best not mentioned lest I go into a seizure - I think they must especially train the staff to be rude and obnoxious as they are so amazingly good at it;
- Colombo is pretty bad but I'm sort of used to it these days.
Shoes come off at all those places and even sometimes at Dubai.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Keflavik (Iceland) has won awards for being nice and it is. It's just located in a moonscape.
Late-night arrival at Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) on a flight from Europe (where the streets are paved with gold) is scary.
Quito's historic airport is scary for having to land at high altitude with a city on three sides and a mountain on the fourth.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Kittyville
Shipmate
# 16106
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Posted
Christmas Island (the one in the Indian Ocean) was interesting - it's a visual landing, so if it's foggy, the planes go back to Singapore or Jakarta or wherever and you get your exit stamp crossed through and you have to try again another day. And no one works at the airport full time, so the Customs official who stamps your passport on the way in turns out to be the barmaid who serves you a beer in the pub later that day.
Sydney is indeed awful, but the Qantas lounges are pretty impressive compared to some I've been in elsewhere. Neither JFK nor LAX does well in that regard.
Posts: 291 | From: Sydney | Registered: Dec 2010
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Emendator Liturgia:
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I loathe Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. The security is frequently chronically understaffed and it takes forever. Last time I spent nearly an hour getting through and they weren't taking anyone's shoes off them because they didn't have the time. (They had to hold the plane because a half-hour after the scheduled boarding time half the passengers were still missing.)
From experience it has only been American airports as a rule which which have required passengers to take their shoes off, or use full body scanners...
The most rigorous security experience I've had was at Coventry airport, on a flight to Jersey, back in 2009. I'd flown back from America the day before (from San Francisco to Birmingham), and Coventry was by far the worst. Shoes off, security patdown with a scowl on their face, a strong sense they thought we were all potential terrorists. This was in the little portakabin shack that housed their passenger facilities. I wonder who they thought would bother to target such a tiny airport?
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
...The Baginton Liberation Front?
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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New Yorker
Shipmate
# 9898
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Posted
Damn! Reading this thread really makes me seriously jealous of all the places people have been. Oh, to have the time and cash to travel so widely.
As for my, humble and limited experience, the New York area airports suck the most. LGA: dirty and any threat of rain causes multiple hour delays. JFK: dirty and the world's worst baggage claim system. Newark: chaotic; it needs traffic cops in the terminal.
I acutally like Atlanta probably because I lived there so long. It's big but has decent basic services. My hometown airport, Lovell Field, is rather nice, too.
Posts: 3193 | From: New York City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Many years ago I used Bubaque Airport on the Bijago Islands in West Africa.
The runway was a grass strip; the pilot had to make a low pass overhead first to make sure it was free of cows. Once a man walked out of the long grass and sauntered across the runway directly in front of a landing plane. The pilot managed to "go round" but was not amused, and refused to return till the grass was cut down.
The terminal facilities were nil: just a concrete shelter like a bus stop. You either bought a return ticket before flying out, or purchased one on board the plane.
The aircraft used were Douglas DC3s or HS748s - although I once managed to hitch a ride on a Russian-built air force helicopter.
I also remember a refuelling stop in the "wee small hours" at Sal (Cape Verde islands) en route from Lisbon to Bissau. The white earth and bright lights made it feel like Moon Base 1. The wooden "steamer chairs" in the transit lounge have, I'm sure, long gone.
[ 28. June 2013, 14:03: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Madurai airport [IXM], just over the mountains in Tamil Nadu used to be your basic tin shack and the ground staff changed uniforms depending on which plane was coming in but they seems quite efficient.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Emendator Liturgia:
Worst Airport: I am quite surprised that no-one has mentioned LA/Tom Bradley Airport - it is freakingly bad.
I agree. I hate flying through LAX. It's cramped, has too few seats at each gate and a can't-get-there-from-here layout. Add in the even-more-overpriced-than-usual food that sucks more than most airport food (with long lines to get it) and you have a nice idea of what hell must be like. Its one redeeming feature is that the people watching is better than at most airports. I'm convinced that every wierdo travelling by air on any given day is being routed through LAX, regardless of source and destination.
I liked Rome's Ciampino airport. It's small and security was a breeze. Then you walk out to your plane and up the rollaway steps. It's kind of fun in a nostalgic way. I remember travelling that way as a kid. The only thing missing is a PanAm stewardess. I'm sure it would get old if I had to fly in/out of there often.
The strangest one I've been to was Dulles in Washington D.C. back when the "mobile lounge" truck things were more widely used there. That was an interesting way of moving people.
I don't mind Atlanta. It's huge, but it's well designed and signage is excellent. I've had some really tight connections there before and have been able to make them because the hallways are so wide that you can run from gate to gate and not be stuck in a slow moving crowd of people like LAX and other cramped airports.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by New Yorker:
Damn! Reading this thread really makes me seriously jealous of all the places people have been. Oh, to have the time and cash to travel so widely.
Me too. It also makes me appreciate that being kind of cramped and having sucky food at LAX is the worst airport I have to use. It's definitely a 1st world problem.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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LutheranChik
Shipmate
# 9826
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Posted
Detroit Metro isn't bad...it's an oasis of order and cleanliness in a poor, rough city. (I also like the walkway through the tunnel with the light show...I may be a rube, but it's pretty cool. There's a really nice Westin hotel on premises too.) The traffic through/around the airport can get annoying, but I suppose no more so than anywhere else.
We found O'Hare scary in terms of location, traffic volume and confusing in layout; decent dining choices, though. Ditto LAX -- I remember standing in the check-in and TSA lines for what seemed like hours. LaGuardia: Tatty and a little scary. JFK: My only lasting impression was that their shopping areas were nicer than average. (We always seemed to be going to NYC during terrorist alerts, so my mind wasn't on aesthetics when we were at the airports.) Minneapolis' airport was very nice; we spent about a three-hour layover just enjoying wandering around. Orlando has a decent airport...clean...not in the thick of the metro/theme park areas.
Sidebar: If any of you ever travel in Michigan, don't be afraid of the small regional airports. Two of them, MBS (near Saginaw and Midland) and Cherry Capital (in Traverse City) are new and shiny and non-gridlocked, and to me are worth paying a little extra to fly into/out of if you don't have to be in the metro Detroit area.
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Simul iustus et peccator
http://www.lutheranchiklworddiary.blogspot.com
Posts: 6462 | From: rural Michigan, USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amorya:
I wonder who they thought would bother to target such a tiny airport?
In my experience tiny airports often have tighter security precisely because they are perceived as soft spots. Getting into the Channel Islands from outside the UK is quite a security-theatre-like experience for similar reasons.
Oh and Shannon in Ireland is quite fun too, because it is unique (or almost, I think) in having US immigration facilities before you board the plane. Quite a big airport that has rather shrunk in importance since it has no longer been needed as a translatlantic fuelling stop.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by monkeylizard:
The strangest one I've been to was Dulles in Washington D.C. back when the "mobile lounge" truck things were more widely used there. That was an interesting way of moving people.
Agreed. I hate Dulles for that very reason. By contrast, I love National (sorry, I refuse to call it Ronald Reagan), as the Metro takes you right to it without having to go outside between airport and Metro station.
I agree with the comments made about LAX. Again, though, it's the Metro thing that I dislike the most about it. When they built the Green Line they made the decision not to route it through the airport. You have to take a shuttle bus to/from the Metro station, and you can die of old age waiting for it. And God forbid you shouldn't retain your Metro ticket to show when boarding the "free" bus from the station to the airport -- no tickee, no ridee!
[ 28. June 2013, 15:04: Message edited by: Amanda B. Reckondwythe ]
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
US customs poke their noses in a lot of Canadian airports, as well - Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver come to mind.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
As a rule I detest airports, but while it's some years ago now I like Marco Polo (Venice). Compact, efficient and the indoor water-taxi rank is a nice touch.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
The only time I have flown into and out of Detroit was via Wayne County and on the way in the queue for passport control was L-O-N-G and S-L-O-W but I got through in the end then straight through the tunnel and into Canada.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
Worst - Calicut in India. Sheer mass of people, no air con and interminable queues
Close second - sorry to say this but pretty much any American Airport. I am disinclined to visit a country that makes me wait a long time to get in when I've got the VISA, the letter, the security clearance up front. Customer service - none available?
Best? East Midlands Uk closely followed by Bristol. Clean, staffed by people who smile and are ready to help. I've landed, collected bags and been in the car in under 20 minutes.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Possibly the smallest I've flown out of is Kirkwall, on Orkney. It was on (of course) a very small plane, with a full complement of passengers. This was a problem. They unloaded everything that could be spared - including the drinks trolley (Noooooo!), and eventually cajoled a couple of passengers into taking a later flight. The problem was the absence of a good, howling gale to help us get airborne.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
You haven't lived until you've flown out of Sarnia, Ontario. Our flight was delayed for several hours because of fog in Toronto. Sitting in security area was not a problem, but the coffee machine and the toilet were in the main part of the airport building. After the first few left and had to be rechecked into the secure area (with smiles and apologies), the rest of us just unloaded what we had in our pockets and left it with security. After a while, even belts with buckles were left behind.
Kapuskasing, Ontario is so small, that the security is in Timmins. Everyone off!
I will report on Kitchener, Ontario to where I am flying next week, if this thread is still going.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by monkeylizard:
I agree. I hate flying through LAX. It's cramped, has too few seats at each gate and a can't-get-there-from-here layout. Add in the even-more-overpriced-than-usual food that sucks more than most airport food (with long lines to get it) and you have a nice idea of what hell must be like.
I've never found LAX too bad. There's nothing actually positive to say about it - it's an airport - and I agree that the food choices are sadly lacking, but I've always got around it fairly efficiently, without long security lines.
On the other hand, I will do almost anything to avoid having to fly through Frankfurt am Main.
Austin, TX has a good airport - everything works efficiently, and there are decent food choices, but I might give top prize to the enormous slab of thick-cut hot-smoked salmon in a bun that I had for basically no money at Stornoway Airport a few years ago.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
East Midlands Uk closely followed by Bristol. Clean, staffed by people who smile and are ready to help. I've landed, collected bags and been in the car in under 20 minutes.
Ha! Have you flown in there lately? Arrivals at East Midlands is ok but not departures. The evil "pay extra and beat the queue" option that is available only before you actually see the queue, that usually doesn't get you there any faster, and that doesn't apply if you plead lateness in which case they fast-track you anyway. Then the way they send you through a veritable labyrinth of duty free shopping before you get anywhere near a plane ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
PeteC I was thinking US immigration in Europe. Nothing against Toronto from my perspective. Very straightforward (having just missed this by 24 hours).
[ETA and at Bristol we nearly lost a jar of mincemeat on the basis that it was "suspended in a liquid"... I managed to go out of security and get it in our hold luggage, but only just]
[ 28. June 2013, 17:19: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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mrs whibley
Shipmate
# 4798
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Posted
Worst - never been to a truly terrible airport, maybe I'm just not that well-travelled. Luton and Birmingham city can have rotten queues for the x-ray machines and Geneva, Berlin and (I think) Schipol are organised so that there is very little to do in Departures after the X-rays. Luton baggage handlers apparently send your bag to Reykjavik between the plane and carousel.
Best - Edinburgh, where the baggage handlers can sometimes ensure the bag beats you to the carousel; Heathrow, which is a nightmarish behemoth but has good signage; London City had very friendly staff the one time I went through; Shetland Sumburgh which feels like a smallish taxi rank, with catering.
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I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous - Mike Yaconelli
Posts: 942 | From: North Lincolnshire | Registered: Aug 2003
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mrs whibley:
Luton baggage handlers apparently send your bag to Reykjavik between the plane and carousel.
That's quite a feat considering that Iceland's main airport is now Keflavik (see above). I have actually flown out of Rekjavik too. It only serves domestic flights now I think and is of the barn-for-a-departure-lounge variety.
When Ryanair first started flying to Dinard, the capacity of the departure lounge was smaller than that of the 737 (I swear this is true). And I was once on a flight that got switched to a 737-400 from a 737-200 and which never got to Dinard there, because the slightly longer plane required an additional fire engine on the runway (in addition to the one they had)... We ended up being shoehorned into a tiny plane from another carrier.
[ETA oh and London City? Make sure you fly in on a nice day when the wind's in the east. Straight down the river past Big Ben!]
[ 28. June 2013, 17:43: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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hilaryg
Shipmate
# 11690
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by monkeylizard:
The strangest one I've been to was Dulles in Washington D.C. back when the "mobile lounge" truck things were more widely used there. That was an interesting way of moving people.
I refuse to fly via Dulles now - the time it takes to get off an international arrival thanks to the bizarre mobile lounges, plus the immigration hall has the longest queues of any other major east coast airport.
Immigration is a lot easier at Newark or Philadelphia, but then when making a connection the "domestic" terminals of these airports are a nightmare of tiny gates, not enough seats and lack of decent eating or drinking facilities. Particularly when summer thunderstorms create havoc in the schedules and you're stuck there for a while.
Best airports I've used are smaller ones due to lack of crowds and stress - Humberside in the UK (often the pilot will be at the end of the runway waiting to take off while the flight crew are still trying to run through the safety arrangements, its that quick), Manston (ditto), Nelson in New Zealand.
Posts: 261 | From: back home in England | Registered: Jul 2006
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Yam-pk
Shipmate
# 12791
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Posted
Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion: The three-hour interrogation I endured in 2004 (!); seeing the swarm of security bods grow ever larger around me was quite an experience, coupled with ending up sitting in a little room with the minutae of my luggage being gone through, listening to half-a-dozen young Israelis behind a partion yakkering away in Hebrew and hearing my name every so often. Apart from that, the new terminal three makes it a very shiny and marbly airport, reasonably easy to nagivatve around.
Heatherow: Hideously slow, third-world baggage claim system in Terminal 2, very embarassing to think this is the supposed gate-way to Britain.
Posts: 472 | From: The Grim North | Registered: Jul 2007
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Bucharest [BBU, I think] was fairly scary back in 1994 but may well have changed by now.
You'll be glad to know that it has changed beyond recognition, you wouldn't recognise it now. Not least they have *finally* (but only in the last couple of years) regulated the taxi services from the airport, so you're no longer harangued by rip-off merchants from the second you step off the plane.
The worst thing about Bucharest airport now is the rip-off charges for a small bottle of water.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The5thMary:
First of all, I've heard Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson is staffed by morons and it's so huge.
A high school classmate made the alumni magazine with an interesting story. He was trying to fly to Deli, and got bumped from a flight. He was standing in line behind irate customers, who were all dressing down the customer service rep. He felt so bad for the rep that he bought the guy a sandwich as a peace offering. When he finally got onto an airplane, he realized that he had "magically" been upgraded to business class. The guy he sat next to on the flight was making a film, and by the end of the trip, the classmate had a job offer.
Moral of the story: flying can be frustrating, but always assume the best about airport staff, and never assume that they are morons. Kindness can pay off.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
On reflection, I have friends who travel business/ first class/ are frequent flyers and so get to access the special lounges which I think might transform any airport experience but I don't know for sure as I haven't managed that yet.
Bergerac in the south of France was delightful, like landing on someone's farm and doing passports and bags in someone's garden shed. Flying there from Southampton too which was quick, efficient and friendly.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
Posts: 693 | From: UK/ Kenya | Registered: Apr 2013
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
quote:
Originally posted by Amorya:
I wonder who they thought would bother to target such a tiny airport?
In my experience tiny airports often have tighter security precisely because they are perceived as soft spots. Getting into the Channel Islands from outside the UK is quite a security-theatre-like experience for similar reasons.
Oh and Shannon in Ireland is quite fun too, because it is unique (or almost, I think) in having US immigration facilities before you board the plane. Quite a big airport that has rather shrunk in importance since it has no longer been needed as a translatlantic fuelling stop.
Montreal has a US CIS station, too.
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by hilaryg:
Best airports I've used are smaller ones due to lack of crowds and stress
Agreed. Sioux Falls, South Dakota comes to mind. Small, quiet, and filled with friendly staff, probably because it's small and quiet.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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