Airports-Best and Worst

jonny68

What's the best and worst airports you've been to?

Best= Dubai,spotless clean,not overcrowded and the shopping is top class better than any other airport ive been to,honurable mentions also to Gatwick and Madrid airports,JFK isnt that bad either.

Worst=tough one this,i was gonna say Crete as it's filthy,and very stuffy with little or no air con, Frankfurt Hahn is also a right dump but bloody Bournemouth is the worst,like a cow shed when i was there a few years ago,truly awful.

Macers

Best: Amsterdam Schiphol - Model of efficientcey and seemed very well laid out. Very rarely head bad remarks about it

Worst: Probably Heathrow. Long walks between terminals and never liked it from the start - always dreaded flying there

Just my 2 cents...

Saruman

Pittsburg and Chicago (O'hare) are the worst i have been too..
Too big, no directions.. security is just stupid, no one who works there knows were anything else is and in o'hare.. the international terminal has almost NOTHING once you go through security.. a few stalls with sambos and some duty free stalls.. its crap!!

Best: Las vegas!!
Only because its small and very easy to get in and out of.

mikedragon32

Best: I loved Bangkok airport. It's a real global crossroad with people of all nationalities going about. Loads to do while you wait six hours for your connecting flight. London City airport is pretty good too.

Worst: Southampton, security is idiotic and you have to have booked your taxi in advance or queue for hours, unless it's changed in the last year or so.

netwhizkid

Of all the Airports I have flown through,

I found Dublin to be the worst, It is like a sardine can is way too over crowded, I think they should build a massive new Airport out in Co Meath or some where in the Commuter Belt and build a huge new 4 lane motorway and don't toll it. A 4 runaway Airport served with easy Motorway and a direct Rail connection into the heart of Dublin, Also add Mainline Rail access all this could be done by the Dublin Airport Authority with Public Money and keep the Private sector out of it.

As for the Best Airports I have been to I would say that JFK ranks as one of my favourite, another I like was Lanzarote in the Canaries, it was fairly large and not at all crowded. This was in 2003 so it might have changed I dunno.

dave2pvd

Best:

Atlanta, Denver, Schiphol

Worst:

Dublin*, Newark, Heathrow, Gatwick, O'Hare


* The most stressful airport nowadays. Totally overcrowded - it's like a cattle mart, only more claustrophobic. Dublin desperately needs a 2nd airport. Or a brand new one!

jjbrien

The previous poster said Newark was one of the worst he has ever been to. I have to disagree as american airports go and my cousins who live in New York, Newark ranks as one of the best in the United States.

Heres my best and worst:

Best: Newark, Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare is better than LHR for connections, Toronto Terminals 1 and 3, Copehagen and Olso.

Worst: Toronto Terminal 2, London Heathrow :mad: , Stansted for its location, Los Angeles, San Franscico (only the domestic and canadian termials the international one is decent) and New York Laguardia:eek:

Ruu_Old

Best: London City, straightforward and easy to manage through.

Worst: Dusseldorf (Weeze), in the middle of nowhere and 1hr away from the city centre (thank you very much Ryanair). Chicago O'hare is a nightmare, too busy and Heathrow is no better.

smashey

Best - Changi (Singapore) & Schiphol

Worst - Dublin & Plovdiv

jjbrien

There is one stinker if an airport that Ruu reminded me off Frankfurt Hann. By far the most out of the way airport I have ever seen. It baiscly is an aircraft hanager that they put a few partision walls in and called it a terminal

Ruu_Old

jjbrien wrote:

There is one stinker if an airport that Ruu reminded me off Frankfurt Hann. By far the most out of the way airport I have ever seen. It baiscly is an aircraft hanager that they put a few partision walls in and called it a terminal

Haha Weeze is absolutely tiny, probably similar. We were damn lucky to catch the only bus going to the city center at the end of the day.

SoBe

i thought ohare was fairly good

heathrow sucks big time,has to be the worst in the world

sixpack's little hat

Best I've been in would be Dallas Fort Worth. It was very clean and spacious with a tram/train on the upper level so it only takes minutes to transfer between terminals/gates.

elivsvonchiaing

Best: KLIA - Kuala Lumpur - everything was on time that day - also I think a lot of thought went into the airport design to make it feel like a lazy airport - the illusion of a quiet airport while its not.

Worst: Beauvais - it is a cattle shed. I've already sworn I'm never flying ryan air again - and have been seduced back - Michael O'Leary needs to change this airport or re-vamp it before I'm ever going back to Beauvais tbh!

monkeyfudge

O'Hare is easily the worst I've ever been to... the staff are a bunch of thick f*cking assholes too.

I mean what sort of American hasn't heard of Ireland?

seamus

I have to say I like Heathrow. It's never been completely crammed when I've been in it (and I've been through it 12 times this year), and there are cafe's everywhere. Dead handy.

I couldn't say what the best is. I don't really recall many airports...

The worst though is definitely Malaga. The main hall is constantly packed, there are about fifty seats for 500-1000 people, and there's not much chance of decent food. Once you go through the gates, it's packed again, the food costs five times what it should (I paid €10 for egg and chips once), and the only flight information screens are at either end of the shopping areas. I just hate it

Creamy Goodness

have to say alanta, it was so cool there when i was waiting for a connecting flight.

dave2pvd

Cremo wrote:

have to say alanta, it was so cool there when i was waiting for a connecting flight.

Here here.

Busiest in the world, yet one of the most efficient.

p.pete

Best: Munich - lots of technology and automation. Kerry - for it's lack of the same, only place where I missed a Ryanair checkin and the security went and grabbed someone to reopen the desk

Worst: Heathrow - departure area to dublin sucks (though they do have different departure areas which are better) and getting from arrivals to the bus I have to take is a trek also (it used to be handy but they changed it).

mikedragon32

Yes, Beauvais is terrible for travelling to Paris, but great for travelling to areas north of Paris.

Plus, the fact that it's a shed means you deboard the plane, go into the shed and your bags are already there! Pick them up, straight into a taxi and 5 mins later you're at the train station to enjoy the beauty of the European rail network.

seamus

seamus wrote:

I have to say I like Heathrow. It's never been completely crammed when I've been in it (and I've been through it 12 times this year), and there are cafe's everywhere. Dead handy.

I agree.
Those that complain about LHR should try a really horrible one like CDG or BGI but at least BGI has aircon,CDG does not or at least it doesnt work too well.

The BA terraces lounges are nice in heathrow,far better than the EI one.

pucan

Best: Hong Kong - for awesome scenery on the way in, top class eating and shopping, loads of space reclining chairs, lounges you can pay into for a couple of hours with showers &gyms etc.....

Worst: Dublin

Superman

I'm a povo and haven't been to many places but best cheap airport has been eindhoven, very relaxed and not all agro and noisy, also real easy to get to train station from, Vancouver is also really nice too.
Worst has to be LAX on a domestic flight to Seattle, it was defo the ghetto terminal, with a loada graffitti in the toilet and a ****ty mc d's for food!
Biggest culture shock airport is Cairo, taxi drivers walk up to the gates to get a fare and you can buy your visa off a number of vendors, you can nearly haggle over it if you like.But while saying that sharm el-sheikh airport isn't too bad.

jjbrien

Atoner real stinker of an airport exsists right here in our own merry own country and no its not Dublin. Waterford airport has to be one of the worst airports I have ever seen. No baggage belts only a rack with wheels I have seen better in an argos store. Only one small little crappy cafe and to add inslut to injury you have to pay a fee at checkin for airport improvment.

jonny68

I cant believe someone mentioned Gatwick as one of the worst,definitely not,ive been in Gatwick over 100 times and compared to Dublin it's top class.

FlutterinBantam

best KLIA/Jan Smuts in JO'burg/Chicago O'Hare/and Minneapolis


Worst.... Dublin/ kampala Intl/ Harare Intl/Luanda and Kinshasa

Saruman

You know.. its strange.. i do not find Dublin that bad! The only bad thing i can honestly say is the choice of food once you go through security is shocking... and when you land it always takes at least a half hour before you get your bags.. and thats if you are lucky...

Maybe im just lucky enough not to have used it when its very bad. Sure it can be packed but much less so i have found than most of the US INTL airports.

killbillvol2

Best:
Kerry (where else can you have bacon & cabbage while you wait for your flight?)
Moscow (super-efficient, especially for transit passengers)
Schipol (it just works)
Atlanta (pleasant for a "layover")
Bangkok (hate to leave it)
Shannon (park in front of the terminal and baggage reclaim in minutes)
Riga (check out the whiskey shop!)

Worst:
Dublin (overcrowded kip)
Heathrow (see above)
Izmir (toilet)
Glasgow (I'm biased because I was stuck there for 9 hours though)

jrey1981

Prefer smaller airports - Bristol and Jersey are not too bad, although I might have just been there when they were quiet.

Worst would be anywhere you get lots of holidaymakers going to places like Malaga - eg Dublin, Stansted, Gatwick, Manchester - and Heathrow, where BAA seem to enjoy punishing Aer Lingus & BMI passengers by making them walk for a good 20 minutes to the gates.

nialo

Best: Copenhagen - great airport. clean, easy to get around, great shopping and quick response times for baggage..

Worst: Beauvais

Aura

Best - Koh Samui Airport, by far the coolest airport imaginable! outdoors and palm-filled. Deserves Carlsberg sponsorship!!
Have to agree that Atlanta rates well too, especially considering the size of it.
And getting the BART straight out of San Francisco airport is quite a treat too.


:eek:

Worst - Stansted. Cattle, cattle, cattle!!
Found Doha, Qatar awful too. No facilities at all worth talking about!
Must say Shannon is pretty grim too and find it pretty freaky to be surrounded by US service men in Camouflage!

penexpers

Best
Eindhoven : spotlessly clean, not busy at all, excellent and reasonably priced food options.

Barcelona : Very clean, spacious, excellent airside shopping and eating options.

Worst

Dublin : overcrowded cattle mart. Takes all the pleasure out of flying.

spurious

Best - Changi in Singapore, and I had a soft spot for the old Hong Kong airport, with the terrifying approach past people's windows.

Worst - Khabarovsk in Siberia. Like a hut from an old 50s spy movie, and with retro that are not supposed to be 'retro' furnishings.

Tazz T

Athens is probably my fave - plus the metro finally goes there.

Mytilini in Lesvos is a mare.

City of Derry is nice and quiet. Agree with other posters - Dublin needs to be expanded quickly or it's going to become really bad.

Frankfurt is too big, takes about an hour and a half to get from check in to your plane.

Beavais is a shed a thousand miles from Paris.

HarryD

Best: Changai (Singapore) - sleeping area, showers, swimming pool, spotless, wi-fi, and lovely air con (nice to get away from the humidity outside)

Worst: Moscow - long queues, rude staff, terrible food, terrible decor.

peter1892

Best - Copenhagen - spotless, efficient & quiet!

Helsinki was pretty good too, and very easy to get to from the city (considering there's no rail link to it, just buses).

San Francisco - best American airport I've flown to/from.

Geneva & Zurich get an honourable mention for the excellent public transport links (local & mainline rail) that serve them, what else would you expect in Switzerland?

Worst. Manchester, Paris De Gaulle, Malaga. In fact I'll say Malaga was the worst of the lot of them. JFK was awful in the mid 1990's but it's very good now.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Virtually all Ryaniar airports are cowsheds. Anyone been to Lubeck? The shops after check in are banned from selling drinks becauset he restaraunt complained, and you can only get to the restarant before chekcing in. Brilliant. Only refreshment was the watercooler. The also have a weird habit of putting ONLY the arrivals screens in the departure hangar.

Best...? Liked Copenhagen for it's effiiency and clenliness, much like the city itself. Not a fan of airports in genreal, though.

Ruu_Old

Aura wrote:

Best - Koh Samui Airport, by far the coolest airport imaginable! outdoors and palm-filled. Deserves Carlsberg sponsorship!!
Have to agree that Atlanta rates well too, especially considering the size of it.
And getting the BART straight out of San Francisco airport is quite a treat too.


:eek:

Worst - Stansted. Cattle, cattle, cattle!!
Found Doha, Qatar awful too. No facilities at all worth talking about!
Must say Shannon is pretty grim too and find it pretty freaky to be surrounded by US service men in Camouflage!

Yes they will be beating passengers in with a large rubber pipe next. Liverpool isn't much better, though not that busy. I suppose its just Liverpool.

jonny68

Some more good and bad from me...

Good-Amsterdam Schipol-very well laid out,lots of shops and minimum queuing
Doncaster-Small but extremly nice little airport deserves a mention
London City-Again a small but very nice little airport with no queues
Manchester-Clean,little or no queues and plenty of onward travel
connections.

Bad- Glasgow Prestwick Pokey little hole with hardly any shops and long
queues
Heathrow-Overcrowded and a manky looking airport
Moscow-grubby looking airport,rude staff,long queues and sh*t food
London Luton -filthy with long queues although there was building
work going on at that time so maybe being a tad unfair.

Dublin needs to get a second terminal ASAP or it will rank as being one of the worst although the food hall is fairly ok allbeit expensive.

tbh

Best:

Atlanta: As someone said, well laid out for a layover, bit of a pain to get out of tho.

Hong Kong: Gorgeous, gleaming, clean!

Barcelona: loads of shops and food and easy to get around

Seoul: Actually all of the Olympic cities I've been to have had brilliant airports.

Wost:

Dublin: Crowded and no-one has a clue where they are going. Have to wait ages for bags.

Cairo & Mumbai: horrible. IMO.

jester77

Best is easily Koh Samui... pure class and the way it should be done
Birmingham is not too bad, they have the museum upstairs with the first class plane seats, great when you have a long stop over for relaxing on!

Worst is Dublin until you get through the gate!
Heathrow is a nightmare, especially for getting tight connections!
Frankfurt if you are flying out from the end of the A gate, must be 2 a 3km walk, worse than Hethrow!

hc

Best so far is JFK NY, airy and not too crowded (when we were there anyway!)

Worst worst worst is Bourgas, Bulgaria. Absolute kip!

ArphaRima

Best: Schipol/Amsterdam. Koh Samui. Singapore not bad.

Worst: Hanoi. Dublin. Paris Terminal 1.

Lets just say I go to them all a lot.
But they are the Major League Worst. Africa will make you scream.

Wishbone Ash

Good small airports = Bristol, Cork.

My least favourite = deGaulle (Paris), Logan (Boston) Amman (Jordan- can't remember name).

Indira Ghandi (New Delhi) = facinating and traumatic at the same time.

Most amusing = Bournemouth. The same person appears to marshall the planes, polish the floors and pull pints. When we asked for pool cues we were given sweeping brush shafts!

jonny68 wrote:

Crete as it's filthy,and very stuffy with little or no air con,

It was airconditioned and clean last month when I was there.

Naked Lepper

Best:

Newark, Orlando, Stanstead

Worst:

Beauvais, Heathrow, Wasnt mad on JFK either,

Dellas

Best::

Athens new airport is clean ,airy , loads of shops and resting areas and great transport links to the city, train or bus and dead cheap too.

Dubai: Very clean and great shops

Frankfurt: Just a nice atmosphere and easy to get around. Great transport links to anywhere in Germany. Plane to train in 30 mins.

Worst::

Dublin - crowded,small,no rail link,you wait ages on bags,

bucks73

Best: Atlanta or Orlando

Worst: Dublin or Heathrow.

Stephen

From where I've traveled, Dubai and Schipol would have to be the best I've seen. I will reserve judgement on JFK - I was there a couple of years ago and there was major construction going on.

Worst I've been to is Damascus, an utter, utter dump. Its like stepping into the 1960's when you get off the plane.

Darren

Best - Chep Lap Kok (HKG), Bangkok (The old one, looking forward to seeing the new one), Sydney

Worst - Jomo Kenyatta (NBO), Narita (A bit like having Dublin Airport in Waterford)

irishflightnews

Hopefully the new Cork airport terminal will one of the best ones, once it opens.

nando

Worst I've been to is Gander in Newfoundland. It's really just a big army base but I was stuck there for nearly 3 hours during a charter flight stop-off from dublin to florida once. No people, no shops, no food, NOTHING! But that's what you get for a charter flight!

I also hate Beauvais!