Letters to the Editor
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the ever-uglier A380
So now the A380 is "the worst-looking piece of industrial design ever conceived by human beings"?
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Wyoming
Years ago, air traffic control at the Laramie airport was a guy with binoculors on the roof yelling, "yep its safe to land." The parking lot featured random parked pickup trucks (with fully loaded rifle racks). Other than the ATC guy no one seemed to work there so no one knew whose trucks they were. It was possible however to have hot welcome back sex with your cute U of Wyo boyfriend while waiting for your luggage. Off loaded by the ATC guy, binos firmly at the ready.
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PIT
I always thought Pittsburgh was well laid out - the "airside" terminals form a big X.
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Kona? What are you smoking?
Yes, Kona is all open-air and has little huts. It also has a lack of staff (and obvious lines) for check-in, ONE greasy restaurant (the only place to eat) with indifferent staff, no wifi, barely a cell phone signal (regardless of carrier), and no real comfortable places to sit besides benches that are vulnerable to rain and wind.
I've been to worse, but I've always been very disappointed by Kona. At least the Honolulu airport has comfortable amenities AND beautiful little tropical courtyards.
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blowing up jfk and the news
you could blow up jfk airport but not by blowing up a pipe line that has jp8 will only burn in the place where it was blow up you would need mass exploitation not even a plane load would do it the news just make a big thing out of it if only the news would tell it like it is not blow it up so they can sell their air time just tell the truth because most people don't know what is going on and little about this kind of think and other also but they will beleave the news and most of the time they are wrong so as to blowing up jfk no 2or3 men can do it as for the news one should only beleave only about 1/4 of what they say the gunslinger
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LHR
Yeah, Heathrow isn't so bad. And if you travel in business or first class there is a fast track security queue and a fast track immigration queue for non-EU citizens (if the US did this, I would go there a lot more).
But if you're flying within Europe, 99% of the time it is better to fly from City airport. Tiny and crowded with businessmen with overly developed senses of entitlement, but you can rock up half an hour before your flight if you have to.
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Amsterdam has a good airport, so does Copenhagen
I travel a lot and I like Amsterdam and Copenhagen airports. I have missed every flight when I go through Charles de Gaulle so I never do that. Ditto Heathrow. I fly to Gatwick or London City. Also, why is it security people in US airports scream a lot? You don't see that in Tel Aviv and European airports.
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My definition of worse has changed
After reading this fantastic article and the descriptions of the horrible airports in Dakar and Mumbai, I don't know that I can complain any longer about domestic US airports. Loved everyone's comments, though.
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No love for KUL?
I nominate the new airport in Kuala Lumpur (KUL) as one of the nicest airports - very clean, lots of shops and restaurants, and a very pleasant experience. It compares well with SIN and other newer airports in southeast Asia that have been mentioned.
My home base is IAD and I agree that it belongs on the "worst" list - not just because of the Star-Wars era people movers, but mostly just because it is so damn UGLY! The newer "B" terminal is nice enough, but the C/D terminal (one l-o-n-g hallway) is abysmal. Low ceilings, dirty floors, bad food, and nothing to look at or do if you are stuck waiting for any extended period. No WiFi (not even the pay-as-you-go type) except if you hover near the doors of the Red Carpet Club (where they have conveniently omitted any public seating).
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Stop hating on CDG and start hating Islip MacArthur
They lost my luggage, a large amount of luggage, but worked furiously in their own French way to track it down and hand it to me inside of 2 hours. Had that been an American airport, the attendant, Consuela Kwanisha Thompson, would have shrugged, ignored me and called the cops.
Islip MacArthur located in central Suffolk county, LI looks on paper to be a good airport. Small easy to get to, compact. But the problem with Islip is that they too think of customer service as a criminal act. The airport's official policy and you can look it up, is, if they lose your bags and you declare you want to speak to someone about it, they call airport police to escort you out of the airport.
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No mention of ATL?
I can't believe no one has yet mentioned the busiest passenger airport in the world - ATL. It's not a bad airport, actually, but nobody had the foresight to make the terminals wide enough for a people mover, so it's a long hike from Gates 1 or 33 at the ends of the terminals to the escalator. You pretty much have to pack a lunch and put on your sneakers if you're planning to go from the parking lot to the ends of Terminal E.
I hate hate hate JFK. It seems like it was built completely on the spot, with no blueprint or plan, just "hey, let's put a gate here now." It makes zero sense (as does CDG, which ought to be burned to the ground).
LGA is not bad, but some of the terminals are just really dingy and depressing.
Second on the love for Schipol. What a clean, tidy airport and the easiest airport-city connection I have ever seen.
The Kuwait airport is OK but feels like a giant cave.
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The Airbus 380...
Or as airline employees affectionately refer to it, the "Airbus 180" (because you push back....and then turn around and return to the gate).
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DFW, O'Hare
As a couple of people have said, these days D/FW is actually pretty decent. Not great, but for a hub as busy as it is, not all that bad. The food's a lot better than it used to be, too, although that could be considered damning with faint praise. The new tram actually works really well, and there are plenty of monitors, etc. Still have to pay for Wi-Fi though, which is a crock, unless compared to...
Chicago. Not only are your chances of an unplanned layover approximately 1:1 (or at least mine seem to be), the only place to even pay for wireless is on the floor outside the Admiral's Club, where you hover with a small crowd of disaffected travellers who are likewise unwilling to pay $50 for the privilege of sitting comfortably while paying another $15 for access.
Worse yet, there are no plugs within easy wireless range, so you see the people who are there for hours on end in a strange, ritualistic orbit between the plugs (to recharge) and the doors (to get back online).
Sure, you could just put the laptop away, but what else is there to do? Apart from drinking $8 beers, that is, which isn't the best hobby tired travellers can engage in.