Worst Airports

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

Hands down Newark NJ. I believe its even rated one of the worst by the FAA

Beat me to it - a truly sad and depressing place to be.

Btw, Orlando is opening the brand new terminal - should help a lot.

[Tyga11]

Orlando has horrible security lines. Denver also sucks. Ohare flights are always delayed.

The best airport in the country is the one in Orange County. John Wayne. It’s one terminal and it’s never busy for some reason. I would pay more to fly there than lax

[SmokieRiver]

Absolutely hated arriving from India to Washington Dulles. Got put on their ‘people mover’ upon arrival to go passport control/customs. Nothing like tightly loading in a confined space of a bunch of travelers who just arrived on a long-haul flight from India. Felt truly like I was cattle and got claustrophobic since we were packed in there so tight. Will never arrive there again on an international flight.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by MunkyTool

LAX is a pretty bad airport when you think about the size, location and overall density of travelers. Traffic is horrible on a good day. Transfers are a pain regardless of what airline you take. Good luck taking a convenient ride share. I've been to overall worse airports but when you consider the scale and position LAX is supposed to serve, it's pretty pathetic.

I made the mistake of flying American out of LAX recently. They stick you at that infamous gate "52" which entails waiting in a long ass line to take a bus across the tarmac to a separate American Airlines terminal. Then have to take that bus again upon arrival.

I'm always gonna try for our regional airports from now on. Taken plenty flights out of ONT and it's such a pleasant experience.

[MunkyTool]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

I made the mistake of flying American out of LAX recently. They stick you at that infamous gate "52" which entails waiting in a long ass line to take a bus across the tarmac to a separate American Airlines terminal. What a mess just to board the damn plane. Then have to take that bus again upon arrival.

I hate that. I fly Southwest regionally for that exact reason even though most of my other flights are on AA.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

Orlando has horrible security lines. Denver also sucks. Ohare flights are always delayed.

The best airport in the country is the one in Orange County. John Wayne. It’s one terminal and it’s never busy for some reason. I would pay more to fly there than lax

Noise restrictions and a relatively short runway help with that.

[M_Six]

Our regional airport (CMI) is 30 minutes flight time from O'Hare. Two flights early in the morning and two late in the afternoon, so it's easy to get stuck waiting in O'Hare for longer than the drive time to get home from there. Plus flying out of the regional usually doubles the overall cost of the flight. Pre-pandemic, there were more flight options and it was pricey, but not nearly as bad as it is now. Plus the flights are delayed a good deal of the time or else they have trouble getting into a gate at O'Hare. We've given up on the regional.

Indy isn't bad and we usually try to fly out of there, but for non-stop to the east coast, O'Hare is a good option. Travel time door to door (home to destination) is about the same.

[paquet]

Another vote for Toronto Pearson (CYYZ) being absolutely horrid in a uniquely multi-layered way. *Everything* is shit, and I mean everything.

Confusing layout, delays everywhere, staffing, cost, process, bureaucratic shitheadedness, all combine to form a good way to become homicidal and/or suicidal.

[chassis]

CDG - crowded
MAD - too big
MXP - never know if there will be a strike
ORD - love/hate
LAX - long taxis and chaos in the concourse
ATL - train system takes too long
CLT - too sprawling
FRA - still can't figure it out after 25 years of flying in and out of here
YYZ - delays
LGA - delays
DTW - has been; it's a shadow of its former self in terms of flight availability

I like PHL and EWR, they are acquired tastes after living in the area.

[BayMoWe335]

All US airports are pretty bad. Been to pretty much every major city and not impressed with any.

[Turkish Pickle]

logan is Ass with a capital A. a rat ran in front of me inside the building while i was trying to go to my flight. plus it's in boston

o'hare is a little too big to get around. especially if flying united and your flight is parked in any of the C-gates, you're practically fucked if you're in a rush. it's also a pain to drive to/from, and public transport at night is just asking for trouble. united in general is terrible, yes, but what really sealed the deal on never flying with them unless i absolutely have to was when i went to their lounge in terminal 1 and got charged for a blue moon. the whole concept of airport lounges are free food and booze.

SNA is nice because its a small place, plus the wine bar there is really nice. MDW is close to the city, especially in the mornings it's a really easy drive.

BUT: one specific section of o'hare takes the cake for me, terminal 5. the only star alliance lounge that exists is the swissair one (the SAS one was decent, but kinda shitty too), rarely enough space to take advantage of it, small lounge with only barbecue meatballs and cheese cubes.

best airport? istanbul airport. the turkish airlines lounge alone is enough to declare it the best i've been to. the only problem is it's too big to walk around and be on time

[ASAP]

If we are talking worldwide, I've been to many-

Frankfurt Airport - This is by a mile the worst airport I've been to in my life. It's insanely confusing, has the worst layout imaginable and you pass thru numerous absolutely redundant checkpoints for security. Nothing about this airport makes sense.

Paris CDG - This airport legit doesn't have AC in the middle of the summer... this is not a joke lol.

In the USA - I saw some complaints about LGA but LGA has been completely renewed, checkout the new terminal C and your opinion will change.

I think ATL is by a mile the worst - it's just simply too busy and can no longer handle the capacity. Some of the immigration lines on return from overseas take hours... its absolutely absurd.

I think MIA is actually pretty well organized no matter what anyone says... I've never had issues with anything there which is odd considering Miami in general is a total shitshow.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by chassis

CDG - crowded
MAD - too big
MXP - never know if there will be a strike
ORD - love/hate
LAX - long taxis and chaos in the concourse
ATL - train system takes too long
CLT - too sprawling
FRA - still can't figure it out after 25 years of flying in and out of here
YYZ - delays
LGA - delays
DTW - has been; it's a shadow of its former self in terms of flight availability

I like PHL and EWR, they are acquired tastes after living in the area.

I 2nd FRA - nothin about this place makes sense. it's a god damn maze

[floridaorange]

ATL = nightmare always agreed, but still not as depressing as Newark

Originally Posted by Tyga11

Orlando has horrible security lines. Denver also sucks. Ohare flights are always delayed.


The best airport in the country is the one in Orange County. John Wayne. It’s one terminal and it’s never busy for some reason. I would pay more to fly there than lax

^Sacramento is that way as well. I could hang out there for hours just enjoying the space

$2.8 billion should help Orlando catch up to the amount of travelers we now have.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by eluded

CDG

^This!

[Fly320s]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

Noise restrictions and a relatively short runway help with that.

Burbansk sucks to fly into/out of for pilots. Short runways, crossing runways, weird winds, high terrain around it, a bunch of GA traffic, small ramp space.

[wtwo3]

Worst airport I've ever been to was King Abdulaziz airport in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. Granted I haven't been there in over 5 years so not sure if things have improved, but I recall absolutely hating the experience. The staff was the absolute worst - incredibly rude, and they decided to take tea breaks randomly. We were in a long line trying to get through customs and the official decided it was a good time to go take a tea break, so we all had to scramble to get into another line.

And forget asking anyone a question. IF they speak any sort of english, they'll respond in a very rude manner. Then once you've collected your bags, you'll be hounded by people trying to scam you. One person even tried taking our passports. And issue with Saudi Arabia is you don't want to do anything even remotely offensive towards authority there - so not knowing exactly who's authority and who isn't is a recipe for disaster.

[floridaorange]

^Wtf really??

Puerto Rico it takes over an hour for a sandwich or burger to be served to you

[LivingInSalt]

Not enough of you have flown in and out of MCI and it shows

[keiridin]

I've been based (lived) out of ATL, ORD, and now MIA.

ATL is awful. Never liked having to take a train to gates

ORD is not bad but not many places to sit, club gets way too crowded

MIA is pleasantly surprising all around. The lounges are not terrible except Centurion which is the case everywhere. The other funny thing is, since it's MIA and everyone thinks it's so hot in Florida, the airport is beyond cold. The one downside is you are somewhat restricted to mainly flying AA.

[spazzyfry123]

I've always flown out of ATL, so I'm just numb to the idea that I need to leave 4 - 5 hours prior to take off to make my flight.

Arriving in ATL from international is a whirlwind. Can take hours and hours to get through security - UNLESS you are wearing a Braves hat. I've been singled out twice while wearing a Braves hat and skipped hundreds of people.

Pro tip of the day!

[Suds]

SFO, getting a rental car is Hell!