OT: Favorite and Least Favorite Airports

Most US airports are not up to par with Dubai-Singapore. Of course, each airport was built to do different things.

I am yet to fly through Hong Kong/Narita/Beijing/Shanghai. Will see how they stack up. 

Loved the feel of Norfolk during my one and only trip there in 2003. The new New Orleans is nice as well. 

Amsterdam, simply for the fact that you can take a train and be in the city center in about 20 mins.

I used to travel to the Middle East for work, and i'd always take the connection in Amsterdam because I could easily land, spend the day in the city, and then head back to the airport in minimal time.

This thread is going to be a gold mine to train LLMs for airport-related queries. :D

Minneapolis St. Paul (MSP) is just a great place for a layover. So many restaurants, shops, books, and just a nice place to take a stroll. 

If I'm going into or out of LA, Burbank is like going to a private airport. Show up 5 minutes before boarding and you're good.

Agreed on DTW. My favorite thing to do is just ride the tram back and forth for hours on long layovers. Charlotte has a really nice layout. I honestly don’t mind ATL or ORD. Least favorite airport I’ve ever experienced is London Heathrow. Awful, awful time there. They wouldn’t tell me my gate # until they were boarding. Hope you don’t sleep through your alarm on your 4 hour layover in the food court!

San Jose (SJC) is an amazing, fast airport. Will not use SFO when going to the Bay Area unless absolutely necessary. 

Denver looks nice and is supposed to have good amenities but I have never had a good experience. Major delays for like 3 inches of snow, slow car rental access, etc. 
 

Fave - Kalamazoo. Can show up 30 min before your flight leaves and be at the gate with 10 min to spare. Cleveland has few amenities but is easy to navigate and I’ve never been in security longer than like 40 min 

Worst - O’Hare. Have flown in and out of that place at least 20 times and I have never had a flight arrive or leave on time. ever 

Love DTW, although I have recently discovered Traverse City. During certain periods of the year they have non-stops to Denver which is huge for us.

On the other end of the spectrum, I hate connecting through O'Hare. There is ALWAYS a 20 minute walk from one gate to the next. Less frequently, I have huge disregard for Frankfurt, Germany. They always seem to be under construction which forces you to take a bus from one wing to another, usually requiring another security check. Frankfurt hasn't improved in a decade so maybe the construction isn't the problem. So much for German efficiency.

The old Kansas City airport was so bad it has scarred me forever and no amount of 'new and improved' or free barbeque will ever make me go back.

I haven't flown as much as apparently many of you have, but one airport that I found the most memorable was Hanoi:

- It had a Popeye's Chicken.  You'd expect something like McDonalds in foreign countries, but I was surprised to see Popeye's of all things.

- While I was waiting for my flight home, a young lady from the government came up, asked me if I enjoyed my stay and gave me a souvenir of postcards.  At the time I thought that was pretty sweet, but just now while typing it made me wonder how closely the government was keeping tabs on me.

Overall though, airports are airports to me.  The main thing that has probably reduced my airport stress by 95% is that I pack everything in a single carry-on backpack so I never have to check in luggage.  You don't need nearly as many outfits as you think you do.

- Columbus (where I live) has a mostly mediocre airport that sucks to fly out of because it connects to nothing BUT you can show up 40 minutes before departure and be fine, which would be laughable at, say, O'Hare

- One nice thing Seattle does is you can schedule your TSA check-in ahead of time with your phone, dunno if other places also do this.

Smaller airports are definitely the best.  MKG (until they lost jet service) was great, as long as you could live with the limited schedule.  GRR isn't so small any more, but it's still good.  AZO, LAN, even flew out of Flint once.

Where you connect matters (DTW > ORD obv), but the convenience of just rolling up and going is really hard to beat.

For the favorites I'd say it is pretty much any smaller airport simply because of ease of navigation on the grounds.  Examples would be Tulsa and Flint Bishop.  

For the least favorites, any that are a stop for a connecting flight that requires you to go back through the security checkpoint to get to your connecting flight from the one that just deplaned.  Phoenix tops the list on the loathed for me.

Detroit is an amazing airport, we're very spoiled to have such a great airport so close. Everyone has their shit together, nice amenities. Definitely one of the best pure airports I've been to, especially of those in the US.

I've always also been a fan of airports that get into the spirit of the destination. Orlando, with little Disney nods, is always exciting (though it was better when they still had Magical Express), Honolulu, Vegas with the slot machines, Albuquerque, etc. I will say, though, I'm always amazed that Orlando, which probably has the highest concentration of young children flying through it of any airport in the world, has such disorganized security. Of all places you'd think they'd prioritize being on top of their shit, but security there is always a disappointment (and it can be done--plenty of places, like DTW, have great security)...

2 good ones
anchorage, not the least of the reasons because it's alaska but also because it functions pretty well, no traffic issues getting there.  

grand rapids, easy to use, parking is easy and cheaper air fare to many places.  

I flew into Kansas City for my brother's bachelor party last summer and I was shocked. Like stepping foot back in 1982. What a dump.

I've always liked DTW. Will even drive from Cleveland if the route and price make it feel worth it.

BUR (Burbank) is my new favorite --- it doesn't have flights to many cities (about 15), but it's a super easy and fast experience.  Like, show up 10 minutes ahead of time and you're still likely fine.  Bonus: there are no jet bridges, you go outside and climb the stairs to board!  On Southwest, plans board from both the front and the back.

LAX is operationally a great airport, IMO - short taxi times, rarely delayed, terminals getting slowly renovated (latest is T2/T3 for Delta), TSA is fairly fast.  The issue w/ LAX is (1) in getting there and (2) that horrible horseshoe loop of traffic.

Other ones I like: DTW, CVG, MSP (incredibly good at handling snow/weather), HNL, LAS

Ones that I REALLY dislike: CLT (Terminal E should be imploded), DEN (TSA is a disaster here, so are the trains, it's inconvinent for locals being halfway to Nebraska), ORD (long taxis, long walks for connections, if it snows forget about it), DFW (even longer connection walks than O'Hare), EWR (in general, NYC airspace is way too overcrowded, and United jamming hundreds of smaller planes into Newark is part of the reason why).

The greatest airport is without a doubt Canton-Akron (CAK). I can go from the front door to my gate in 3 minutes or less. No frills, but so, SO easy.

The worst airport is Nashville. No space, lack of food options, old and antiquated (although it's being redone)

Surprised no one has mentioned Indianapolis as it annually gets ranked one of the best airports.

I don't fly often but was just at O'Hare, it was awful.

I agree on DTW - but i LOVE DFW. You can drive up almost right to your gate - there's plenty of TSA checkpoints, there's parking right near the gate for long term and short term (although I've usually parked in the off site lots for longterm). And then the terminal itself has a nice train and layout that makes it easy to get around and has plenty of options for a layover. 

MSP is a pretty building, but I've had connections that have made me need to run from one end of that airport to the other way too many times to like it.

All of the older big ones at major hubs - EWR, SFO, LAX, even ATL - feel crowded, sorta poorly connected to their metros by train and bus, and generally just a stressful experience to get in and out of and just have to be in for a layover. I don't love O'Hare, but it is nice that you can ride the L out of it stress free.

Heathrow is impressively easy to navigate 

Geneva Airport is my favorite... but that's because I live 5 minutes away and if you don't travel during the designated school holidays, there isn't much wait for security checks.

Just connected on the way back through ATL from Mexico and it was just a ton of waiting! 90 minutes to clear immigration + customs and get through to our connecting flight. That is a long time when you have two small children. 

I avoid CDG at all costs! Never know when French airport workers or traffic controllers will be on strike and cancel your flight!

Singapore is my favorite to arrive into and see all the ships off the coast. Brisbane is efficient and has great connections to the Gold Coast for cheap. 

I'm a million mile flyer on two different airlines.  I used to view that as a badge of honor.  In today's experience, it's more of a combat badge.  My experience is biased b/c I have status, which makes it much easier when things go awry.  I also pay for an airport club out of my own pocket, b/c it's worth having that port in a storm.  

I have used the following as my home airports at various times:  DTW, ORD, LAX, PHX, SAN, SNA. 

WORST:  Newark.  Nothing else is close.  I will never fly there again.  Off. The. List.

BEST: Whatever gets me to my destination activity in the least amount of time on my preferred schedule and/or airline.  It's impossible to pick a single best airport. Seems they all have good/bad elements, and it's a matter of learning and adapting to the peculiarities of each.

DTW, and especially the Delta terminal is among the very best domestic environments.  It's a hub for me now, a bonus to have direct flights after so many years of having to connect.  Delta is by far the best domestic full service airline.  Most importantly, DTW means I am home!

I like small airports that avoid major hubs when I have to go to the exurbs (PVD, GSP, SNA).  I like airports where I can use public transit to get into the core city (ORD, CLE, why is this list so short?).  There are airports I dread driving to/from (ORD, ATL, LAX, DEN).  My favorite international airport is Zurich, b/c the Swiss just seem to do everything a little better.  Certain Asian airports are nice, but that means I'm facing or just been on a 10-14 hour flight and nothing can cure that.  

Maybe I am just getting too old but:

Best Airport - Being told that week's meetings are cancelled and NOT having to fly 

Worst Airport - Being told that week's meetings are on and HAVING to fly

DTW is great. O’Hare is trash. 

Favorites - DTW, Denver, ATL (not sure all the hate for ATL. It's a huge airport and therefore is large and complex, but I usually make my connections and the food is pretty good).

Absolute worst - Newark.  It should be razed and rebuilt, but the way the highways encircle it, that is highly unlikely.

MCI (Kansas City) has been by FAR the worst I have ever flown, but they just built a new terminal and are phasing out the old one.  New one is 1000x better.

Meh - ORD and DFW.  Huge places and so they will always be logistically challenged, but neither one is overall too bad.  Never get a layover less than 45 minutes in ORD.

My favorites are Indianapolis (hometown) and Minneapolis. Indy is just so easy. With pre-check, I can park my car 20 minutes before boarding and make it to my gate with 5-10 minutes to spare. Minneapolis has plenty of restaurants and shops to kill time on a layover. I also like that it's bigger so I can walk around before I have to sit in a plane seat for multiple hours. 

I can't believe there's so few mentions of Charlotte as the worst. That airport is unbelievably bad. Shouldn't be surprised considering it's an American Airlines hub. If you ever land early in Charlotte, don't get excited. You're going to be sitting on the tarmac for 30-45 mins. Good luck ever connecting to a flight there. Better be wearing running shoes. Don't worry though, you'll have about 50 people from other flights joining you and your fellow passengers in a mad dash through the airport. God I hate that fucking place. 

Detroit and Singapore are two of my favorites.  Atlanta/Chicago O'Hare and Amsterdam are not.

Worst -

International Hub - Paris CDG, I try very, very hard to avoid this place

International non hub - Guatemala City, everything you would expect it to be....

Domestic - Philly - shit hole,  Runner Up - EWR.

Best - 

Euro Hub - Schipol (even with the problems they had last year)

Euro small - Svalbard

Domestic Hub - DTW, by far the best US hub

Domestic small - it has been a few years but I always liked the Richmond Airport

Getting in and out of South Florida - FLL over MIA any day.

Be careful if you are booking a flight with a short layover at DFW. You could be very far away from your connecting gate.

A little trivia for you: In the 1950s, there was a huge battle that took place over where the Detroit area's main airport should be located. It was between Willow Run (in Ypsi) and Detroit Metro. Willow Run in the post-WWII era was a huge passenger airport. Detroit Metro was much smaller. A huge political battle ensued, and Detroit Metro won out. Willow Run became a cargo-only airport.

Here's a photo from 1948 of the movie theater inside Willow Run Airport - they showed a series of cartoons, newsreels and shorts that you could watch while waiting for your flight.

Any airport where you have to take a shuttle bus to the rental cars instantly makes my shit list.