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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
The small Terminal 1, primarily for domestic flights to locations such as Cayo Largo del Sur, features an outdoor waiting area, an oasis of cool grass and birdsong. With, of course, a bar.
Dakar sounds like a nightmare, but you might want to revisit Miami, which you mentioned as another hell hole.
I have been in and out of Miami about 30 times over the last three years and have always found it OK. They have been making constant renovations in all this time, both in the roads approaching the airport and in the terminal.
Check-ins are speedy, immigration and customs are nearly always a five minute walk through--even if you do have to walk about half a mile from the gates to get there (with some people mover belts en route).
Salsafied it may be, but at least there are a couple of Cuban restaurants where you can get something palatable, even if a lot of space is given over to dreadful fast food franchises. You can get a decent cup of coffee (where else in the US?) and the bean soups at the cafeteria are not bad. Not cheap, of course, but then what is?
Staff are generally helpful in either language--English or Spanish--and I can't say I have ever had a bad trip through there.
The opposite of what you described in Dakar. Clean, beautiful, serene, otherworldly. I got off the plane feeling drained and cross, and within moments the surrounding space worked its magic and I felt refreshed and content. Good design can do that.
Completely overwhelmed. Needs to be completely rebuilt, at four times its current size, because it is a major tourist airport. You will feel bad, because you thought you yourself discovered Belize, so what the heck are all these other Gringoes doing here???!
However, when you return in a week or two, for your flight home, you can find a nifty, calm cafe upstairs. And after you see the country, you can appreciate this little dinky airport in this little dinky country.
OK, to be fair, I am griping about SJC back in the dot com days. I spent way too much time there between 1999 and 2001. Now, imagine my disbelief, each time, at having to drag my carry-on and laptop bags up a set of those rolling stairways to board either Delta or United's 737s, and this is in high-tech Silicon Valley. Somehow, their renovations were all car related, including moving rental cars a bus ride away from the main terminal (Southwest and American got the newer terminal, so you always had to get on a bus to get a rental car). If my company's office was not a mile away from SJC, I would have booked all my flights out of SFO. At least they've got dim sum, Just Desserts, and the Body Shop in the United Domestic terminal.
Guatemala City Airport is pretty chaotic, esp. up front. Once you're through security, it's not too bad.
Casablanca used to be bizarre, but that was 20 years ago. I'm sure it's improved.
Santiago Chile must have improved, bec. when I was last there, it was awful. Something about Carabineros toting machine guns in the baggage claim was a bit nervewracking...
But that definitely does sound like the worst airport, mainly bec. of all the harassment by people. If you could have just sat on the floor and not been bothered, it wouldn't have been quite THAT awful...
was very disappointing considering what a major airport it is. It is said they are upgrading it.
Paramaribo's airport in Suriname sounds like a mini version of what you describe. Absolutely frightful, people harrassing, everything of mine was sorted through and some stolen, AND it's at least 40 km. away from the town and no taxis. I had to hitch a ride in.
Paramaribo is on my short list for World's Worst.
This airport wasn't built for the huge increase in domestic airlines and flights India has experienced in the last decade or so (there are about 15 domestic airlines or so right now).
It is particularly during the foggy season (Dec-Jan) when morning flights all get delayed for hours and you are packed in like sardines in the terminal. It would be easy to miss a flight here as they also like to keep departure times a secret until the last minute. Samosas and tea are about the only food you will find--there is a "Cafe Coffee Day" coffee shop--in the arrivals section however. And of course there is the usual Indian collection of touts with taxis, which you might have to endure if the lineup for a prepaid taxi looks like it will be an hour or so. Then there is the toilet without a toilet paper dispenser (for western style) or a tap (for Indian style), the (one) airport restaurant with horrible food and indifferent staff, and many other examples of "what were they thinking?" design common to India.
Granted it's been a few years since I've been through there but one incident I recall was during a power outage while sitting in the terminal, awaiting a flight to Budapest. [This was no "terminal" in any normal sense of the word: it was a dingy, reeked of Turkish tobacco and had nothing-- no food, no gift shop, no duty free.] There were men lingering about for no apparent reason, smoking, drinking raki and all dressed in dirty track suits. When the lights went out, one of the men hollered, "It's time to rape!" Not exactly the kind of image the Albanian tourism board would like to project.
Well-designed, modern, clean, efficient, and punctual. In passenger satisfaction surveys, regularly places at or near the top of the list. Europe's most punctual airport in 2005. A short walk from the gate to the taxis, buses, and parking. There's no train service yet, but a commuter line to central Helsinki is being planned. Three runways. Contains a full set of services, including a small transit hotel. Has been expanded several times since it was built for the 1952 Olympics, and the latest expansion is in progress, to cater for the growing Asia-to-Europe gateway service, and to accommodate A380s (which are not nearly as ugly as some sources keep alleging).
http://www.helsinki-vantaa.fi/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki-Vantaa_Airport
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