Airports

A few notes...

- I'm surprised by the disdain for MCI (Kansas CIty). It's actually one of my favorites (though it is definitely a bit North - I refer to it as Suburban Omaha International). You pull up to the curb and your gate isn't more than 50 meters away - and that's INCLUDING the check in desk. I also like the security. I guess it sucks if you sit at your gate 2 hours before a flight but I'll get something to eat, sit at the bar, etc. until I decide I'm ready to sit at the gate. Then, because each gate has it's own check-in, it's maybe a 5 minute wait to go through security. You can really time it however you want. Even the distance doesn't bother me much (and I live on the exact opposite corner of town). The whole way is non-busy highway with a 70 MPH speed limit so it's barely a half-hour. I'd much rather that than slog through 10 miles of Houston traffic over 45 minutes to get to IAH.

- Count me among the astounded that McCarran can't speed up their lines. From my experience, even Monday morning lines can be a 2 hour mightmare. The only times I've been able to avoid lines are the 1AM red-eyes. Even on my last one (a week ago) there was still a huge line of people at the sky-cap check-in. I asked the guy at the end and he didn't know why he was in the line. I marched right on in and checked-in at the electronic kiosk. Idiots.

- Miami is a crap terminal but I love the landing, on that narrow strip between the marshes.

- I also was in DFW Terminal D last week for the first time (3 times over the week actually) and was less than impressed. This was another example with not enough seats for the gates - especially at those weird corners with 3 gates - and the food sucked. This was also the first time I'd been at DFW since the tram was installed and that was a lot better than the old setup.

I did find myself wondering if they would let me shop at duty free for my flight to Tulsa since I was in the terminal. I mean, it's like leaving the country right? The duty-free there was also the first time I had ever seen a 4.5 liter bottle of Johnny Walker and 3 liter bottles of Beam and JD. So well done there. They were almost comical, like a giant baby bottle.

Internationally, my favorites were Shannon (Ireland) and Zurich. Shannon has a cool observation deck over the runway and the surrounding marshlands from the Shannon river estuary. Plus, it takes massive jets, yet only has 8 gates. I even slept there one night and there is a free shower if you know where to look.

Zurich is incredibly convenient to the city by road and rail and lines move fast (as would be expected from a city that caters to business travelers like no other).
 
Is it any coincidence that United continues to struggle? They must have the most unfortunate selection of hub airports of any major airline... LAX, ORD, DIA and IAD. Wow. That's awful.

No one's mentioned Dulles (IAD) yet. What an awful, awful place. Getting there is not even half the battle. Horrible check-in space, one (1) security checkpoint, and ridiculous army vehicles shuffling people from the main terminal to the gates on the tarmac. What a mess... and I have to fly out of there tomorrow
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Minneapolis-St.Paul (MSP) is pretty nice, but that worthless tram takes FOREVER! Don't get me wrong, it moves fast, but the last 3 feet take about 45 seconds at every stop.
 
I have to agree with the previous sentiments about the San Jose airport. It sucks! It's not just one aspect like the ticketing area or baggage claim or parking. The whole thing is messed up!

Norm Mineta should insist that his name be removed from it.
 
I love O'Hare. Its one of the single best people watching places on earth. I love that feeling of being in motion and caught in a swell of human traffic going anywhere and everywhere that airports give you and no airport seems to exemplify that more to me than O'Hare, except maybe Heathrow.

I should note that though I've been in O'Hare many, many times, its never been to go to Chicago, always to access other points so if getting in and out of the airport is a reason for the hatred then that may well be a valid point.
 
Terminal 4 (the discount airlines) for Sky Harbor in Phoenix is surprisingly excellent. Their selection of restaurants, both local and national are convenient, friendly, fast and front all of the gates. I love flying to Austin on Southwest because that means that i can get some Terry Bradshaw Cheese Fries and a double bloody mary at the Fox Sports Grill ... THE best one-two combination of on-the-go food in any airport i've ever been. Their Bloody Mary's are excellent.

The lines at the counters, for being one of the nation's busiest move incredibly fast. It is getting a gigantic renovation too, so its just gonna get better ... plus they will soon have a people mover/light rail extension. The rest of the main terminals (2&3) of the airport are complete shite.
 
Two of the US Airways hubs are excellent - both Pittsburgh and Charlotte. Their other hub, Philly, is a total mess.

Both CLT and PIT are fairly new, clean, easily navigable, and have plenty of decent bars, restaurants, and shops. And because they serve a relatively smaller airline, they're not nearly as crowded as other big hubs (ORD, DFW, ATL).
 
Gatwick is teh suck....I detest that place. Hell on earth. So is the Gatwick express....******* late sonofabitch made me miss my flight.
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Bush, once in E was fine. Got pretty drunk in there on my hour and a half layover. Getting to terminal E sucked, because the entire corridor I had to get through was under construction, and had wiring and **** all over the place. But E is nice.

That little Corpus Christi shack is terrible.
 
San Jose is my home airport. If you think the airport is bad, and you've only flown into terminal A (American / Southwest), try terminal C. There aren't jetways in that terminal. Yeah, that's right, you have to use the stairs-on-wheels.

Heathrow airport can be pretty awful at times, especially for international flights connecting in London. Terminal 4 is horribly overcrowded. Terminal 1 is huge. You end up de-planing in terminal 1, walking forever, going through security re-check (long line), then running to find your gate. Oh wait, they don't announce the gate numbers for flights until an hour before they depart, and it can take a good 15 minutes or more to walk to your gate from the screens. The 747's really shouldn't be using those tiny gates either, and they're only hooking up one jetway to that giant plane, so it takes well over 30 minutes to load a full flight. Forget on-time departures, and count on 'queues' for take-off clearance.

Berlin's Tegel airport is disgusting. It's run-down, and was another airport designed before security was put into place. Every single gate has its own security line, and there are no amenities past security. There's one restroom per gate. The rental car place opens at 7AM, yet there are flights that leave as early as 7AM ... do the math. All the restaurants are closed on Sunday.

I agree with the nice comments about Midland. For a small airport, they're pretty efficient and it's clean and open. I was stuck there once with a mechanical issue, though. Evidently American doesn't staff mechanics at that airport, so they had to fly some in from DFW. The restaurants there are ok, but nothing special.
 
been to a couple recently:

Toronto is transitioning right now or something. Had to walk like 8 miles from our arrival gate through the bowels of the terminal, then take a bus to another terminal (nice new one). The new terminal is really nice, though - lots of shops, etc., plenty of space to sit. Customs was fast.

Also had to walk a ton in Frankfurt to get from gate to baggage claim. Seemed pretty chaotic to me - tons of people all over the place. Couldn't figure out where we were going, kinda like a maze. The train station is really nice, though. Customs also very fast.
 
i have only been to a handful of airports ABIA, DFW, Pheonix, Dulles and LV... and ABIA is leaps and bounds better than the rest... talk about a **** hole Dulles was a pain in ***... huge "Mars Rover-esque" people movers that drive you on the tarmac from terminal to terminal..... takes forever.

is it true that Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world? I couls have sworn it was O'Hare or DFW.
 
I'm posting from the Midland airport now. Very nice, but when your flight gets cancelled, there's not much to eat/tv's to watch, etc. Nice west Texas ladies to oogle, though.

Favorite airport is definitely IAH Terminal E. Worst is Charleston, WV. The airport may not be all that bad, but the simple fact that it's Charleston, WV's airport makes it the worst.

San Antonio is one major metropolitan city that needs itself a respectable airport. That place is an embarrassment to a great city.
 
BTW, if any of you have been to Portland... The airport is ok but the approach down the Columbia River Gorge sucks.
 
Question about Las Vegas/McCarran. I haven't flown out there in about 2-3 years, but back then (is it still possible), there was a way to avoid that giant security line (this is for flying SWA). When you got dropped off at the main terminal, instead of going inside, continue walking on the sidewalk (south, I think) about 100 yards to the next terminal. That was the SWA main terminal, with a separate security checkpoint. It was smaller, but I swear I never saw more than 10 people in that line. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and does it still exist?
 
Chit,

I know exactly what you are talking about, and I had forgotten about it. The last time I used it was a couple of years ago as well, but there hasn't been any major renovation to the airport since then, so I would imagine it is still in operation.

I had forgotten about how miserable Washington Dulles (IAD) is. It was built with an interesting concept--no gates at all, just a terminal with people movers taking you directly to your plane. That would have worked okay if it were used only for its intended purpose: Washington's international flights. But when airlines started flying domestic flights in there (i.e., the day it was built), the plan became unworkable. And then they made it worse by actually building gates where there weren't supposed to be any. It's just a disaster.

As far as London goes, I actually like Gatwick over Heathrow. The fact that they don't post the gate number at Heathrow until an hour before departure is maddening. If you have a layover of more than an hour, you have to wait in this mall located somewhere in the bowels of Heathrow. There's no pub. And this is London, for chrissakes. I hate malls in the United States--I certainly don't want to sit in one in a damn airport in London. And then you have to run to your gate as soon as they post it, because there's no chance your gate is anywhere near the damn mall.
 
regarding the $100 cab fare from Narita. No one in their right mind would ever take a cab from Narita to Tokyo. They have a very good bus service that costs $30. Just look up your hotel and take the bus directly to the hotel (assuming your in a popular hotel), or take the bus to another hotel that is the same general vicinity, then take a cab. You can also take train directly from the airport to Toyko station, then connect with the subway or get a taxi.

The worst is LAX and CDG (I've got an 11 hour layover there next month.) Planning to pop in to Paris to kill time.

Connected from NRT through Detroit yesterday. That was a much better alternative than connecting through LAX.
 
Gatwick didn't bother me, the benches I slept on where reasonably comfortable compared to other airports I have slept in. Good selection of food and duty free as well.

LaGuardia can really suck. There just isn't much room at any of the gates. If you get stuck at the end of one of the terminals where 3 gates all are situated, it is absolutely awful. Wall to wall people, total disorder.

That being said, I prefer to fly in and out of there over JFK.
 
I've never had any trouble with Gatwick... although I'm usually pretty hammered when I depart/arrive there, so I probably just haven't noticed.
 
I live in Denver, and am using DIA on Tuesday to fly to Honolulu via SF (Never been to the SF airport).

DIA sucks if you have to go to terminal B, which is the United hub, because you have to use the train and that thing is awful. If you happen to get a flight in terminal A though, it's only about a five minute walk from the main terminal to get there, with zero lines at security and a nice view from the walking bridge.

Too bad DIA is way out east, though the E470 tollroad has made the commute from SW Denver (where I live) much easier.
 
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