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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The terminal, one room with an antiquated security machine, was deserted two hours before our flight was to depart. The lights were off, the bar was closed, and there was no sign of life until fifteen minutes before boarding. We ate in the airport restaurant, a pre-Soviet building twice the size of the terminal, with marble staircases and a gigantic chandelier. Our meal came with silver, and two air traffic controllers, reeking of vodka, chatted us up, not understanding our problem with their pre-flight drinking. The best was when the ticket-counter worker told my 5’10” friend that women were not allowed to have exit row seats because they cannot possibly operate the emergency door. Our coveted seat was then given to a man half my friend’s size.
Sure they added a mile long terminal for Northworst, named after a man whose level of corruption and cronyism would have made him feel right at home in Chicago or Africa. But if you're flying anything other than Northworst.. welcome to the third world right in the heartland of America.
I pulled up to wait for a friend to arrive and a Wayne County sheriff deputy drove up and told me to move my car.. I responded that my pickup would be here shortly and the deputy popped the snap on his holster. I moved. this was pre 9-11. I suppose a $20 would have sent him on his way.
Easily the worst airport in the 'civilized' world.
The airport in Roanoke, Virginia really is very nice and I am just tickled that you mentioned it!
One expects horrors in the third world, but I would like to give a big black eye to Philly's airport...
No where in the US or Europe have I seen such a filthy, noisy establishment that lets its runway employees rove around like street gangs--eyeing up the 'marks' as I have seen at PHL.
Counter employees hide behind desks (literally), and will ignore you standing right there in front of them...
Additionally, watching airport security screaming in in bad Philadelphia English at non-english speaking people to "...GIT YA DAMN SHO'S OFF NOW OR'n ELSE...."
And what is the deal with everyone getting on the PA system at the same time and trying to speak over one another??? That and get the worst English speaker at the counter to babble into the mike to boot!
Also the gate change game. Here are the rules:
1) Change gates for all late flights mulitple times.
2) Do not announce the gate changes.
3) Abandon all counters within the visible horizon
4) Do not update the filght monitors
5) Then be nasty when people board the plane because YOU are holding THEM up.
As it is the US Air HQ--USAir deserves 99% of my rankle.
So, while you far off travellers grate against facilities in impoverished nations, I have this: What the hell did you expect?
The greater crime is the PHL, the Heathrows and their ilk are Tier One or Two facilities that are run worse that a third world airport.
Before it was razed and the new terminal rebuilt at enormouse cost, the old terminal was little more than a bus station: filthy, crowded, pathetic considering the surrounding wealth. Baggage claim was an outdoor concrete bunker with a hole bashed through a wall from which your luggage emerged.
on the plus side there was an observation deck, which was fun for spotting, but if you actually had to fly to or from there it wasn't very pleasant.
VIS gets honorable mention, but its main problem is that it's tiny and there's no place to sit, the air smells like cow shit (but that's the case throughout the Central Valley), and if you want coffee or something better have brought your own; otherwise it's not terrible. dunno if United Express still serves this stinking hole or not...
oh, HNL also could use demolition and rebuilding. Dark, damp, claustrophobic, worn-out.
but no US airport will ever be as bad as the old DTW, except maybe PHL.
When you said world's worst airport I thought for sure you were going to say Paris CDG. Granted I have not had the travel experience that many have had, but my transfer through CDG was among the worst travel experiences I have ever had. My flight from Luxembourg was a little late, parked out on the tarmac to be bussed to the terminal, long security lines, non-sensical layout, stupid bus system between terminals, more security... I ended up missing my connection even though the plane was still there and the door was open. One woman was so hysterical they finally let her board so I was actually happy to miss the flight. The Washington Post's travel blog had an informal survey like this a couple of months ago and the consensus seemed to be the CDG was terrible. I think some travel agent group had ranked it as one of the 10 best in the world or something and we all cried foul.
For "best" surprise I would say Tampa. Since they fixed it up it is actually quite nice. Free wi-fi throughout the terminal, relatively quick check-in, the little trains that go from the landside main terminal to the airside terminals are quick and fun... And the best part is it takes you away from Tampa!
A couple of years ago after flying all over Europe and enjoying their quiet airports it was a huge and unpleasant piece of culture shock to be subject to the hell that is now the Atlanta airport.
While I was gone they had installed new flat screen T.V.s and Bose non-directional speakers. The speakers are so bass heavy and the volume so loud that ear plugs barely damper out the warbling CNN. Even without the added loop tape of bad music, incessant announcements, horns from the carts transporting old people, and jerks yelling into their cell phones and everybody's blood pressure would go up.
You used to be able to get away from it in the restaurants, but the terminal is now so packed with people that even getting in one of them is very dicey, and chances are the restaurants will be blaring ESPN or FOX in any case.
The traditional social contract in the United States was that you could do whatever you wanted as long as you doing it didn't interfere with others. This meant that the burden of proof was not on people who wanted peace and quiet, but was on those making loud noises. In Atlanta this bit of the philosophical foundation of our country no longer holds I guess.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
