Letters to the Editor
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One thing I loved about the Raleigh-Durham airport
There was a used book store. People who had finished reading books on flights could sell or exchange them. I don't know if it's still there, but it was a great idea.
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SJC
You would think Silicon Valley's airport would be better; you would be wrong.
First, heaven forbid you are picking someone up curbside and miss them at terminal A (which houses Southwest and AA) and have to circle around. You're then forced to proceed past another terminal (not to mention the 'international' terminal that seems to be finished, but not open yet) and head all the way back around.
Second, anyone who has traveled through this airport on the morning before a three day weekend has undoubtedly enjoyed queing up in the parking garage. Yes, that's right. SJC's terminal A has a very pleasant skywalk that mostly doubles as a place to stand in line. And during busy times, the line typically goes out into the parking garage. Granted, I don't think they designed this airport prior to all of the new security regulations, but for all of the gates for Southwest and AA in terminal A, there are four xray machines total.
Third, the bottleneck at terminal A is where the ticket counters for Southwest and AA meet, along with the aforementioned lines for security. During peak times (which in my experience seems to be prior to noon pretty much any day of the weak), they have literal traffic guards stopping people who are trying to go to the ticket counter to let people in the security line move forward. Really, it is a piece of work.
Fourth, after four years, the new direct on-ramp onto the freeway is finally finished. But it only lets you go southbound.
Fifth, terminal C is similar to Ontario airport (see previous posters' comments). Small, low-ceilings, etc.
I encourage anyone traveling to the Bay Area to do yourself a big favor and head straight to SFO.
Portland is also nice, complete with lots of public transit.
And I like DFW as long as you're not trying to change flights there and can land in terminal D.
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Schipol?
Surprised there was no mention of Schipol Airport in the Netherlands. Apart from being pretty far from Amsterdam, everything about the airport is fantastic.
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A vote for Portland
Portland, Oregon (PDX), has got to be one of the best in the US. Great architecture (huge glass canopy over the drop-off drive), wide and tall terminals that keep it from feeling crowded, great local restaurants and shops (at in-town prices), light rail in the terminal to downtown, car rentals at the terminal, etc., etc.
Also, whoever said Sacramento (SMF) is a gem has clearly never traveled through Terminal 2 (vintage 60s or 70s - but the bad part of 60s & 70s design) or rented a car there. Why a town as small as Sacramento needs a car rental center so far away from the terminal is beyond me - it adds 20 minutes coming and going in hot 100 degree weather.
And everything bad written about OAK is right on. It's a shame (and the off-site car rental is even worse than Sacramento).
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DEN-SFO
Gitland says: "The Bad: Denver, what a stupid place to put an airport-snow, wind summer thunderstorms everyday, ugh. Dumb design for limitless space to build. Living on the West Coast, I refuse to fly United because of Denver's airport-delays cancellations etc."
Um, where should Denver's airport be? Arizona? (Here's a tip: make your connection through DIA as early in the day as you possibly can, especially in summer.) Denver will never be world class, though, unless and until there is a fast train line to civilization.
Which brings me to SFO. BART now enables travel between the airport and downtown in less than half an hour for $5.15, and the new face of the International Terminal is great. San Francisco can be proud; and yet I'd expect nothing less from America's finest city.
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PDX, Portland OR
Can't believe PDX wasn't mentioned. Great midsized international airport. New and nicely done. Easy in and out. Your rental car is like 100 yards from the terminal, good food, good book stores, completely glass-sheltered load-unload area, easy drive in and out of the city, very close long-term parking.
I also like Frankfurt (though I think I remember long walks), Zurich, Copenhagen and Singapore (good food).
LAX is definitely awful, of course when compared to Lahore it is not so bad, but it should be held to a higher standard, shouldn't it?
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What About Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
The airport itself isn't bad, but there are a lot of factors that have combined to make it a place I hate to fly out of. (Preferring Greenville-Spartanburg or Chattanooga, which is gorgeous, elegant, and unhurried.)
I've been griping on my blog about Hartsfield because of the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get into the airport. Yeah, so it's pretty good once you get in. But from out here it's a two-hour drive in, often there is no parking that is not offered by a private vendor (which, of course, there are no signs to), and unlike most other airports Hartsfield has pooled all of its security stations into one giant station. It can take up to an hour to go through the act of shuffling around a massive line, taking off your shoes, and all the other stuff.
It's definitely not in line with Dakar, Senegal, but it's wildly and irritatingly inconvenient.
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Chicago - Lagos - Paris
For all of O'Hare's problems, the fact you can get a Berghoff's reuben and rootbeer makes up for it all.
Lagos - Anyone who ranks Dakar below Lagos has never had to make an international to national connection there. Two different airports, the international one a concrete shed full of thugs and pimps, the national one a cinder-block shanty full of more of the same. Bribes to 'security' personnel a matter of course.
CDG - The CDG experience was summed up for us on a recent transit as we debarked, ran the gauntlet of gendarmes at the end of our rame, cast about wildly for a means to get from 2E to 2F, found the shuttle, took a meandering tour around the outskirts of the entire terminal, arrived at 2F, found our gate, then boarded another shuttle that took us back along the same route to our plane, which was parked at 2E.