OT: Favorite and Least Favorite Airports

Agree that DTW is really quite good.

Worst for me is Charles de Gaulle in Paris.  That place was clearly designed by someone actively consuming red wine direct from a bottle.  Round and hard to see what's inside with a significant bottleneck.

DTW is great - so convenient off the highway, laid out well, easy drop-off and pick-up. We Michiganders are lucky to have that as our main hub.

The Omaha airport is also awesome. I have a daughter living there, so we fly there a few times a year. Close to the city, very convenient car rental, no fuss for anything.

Airports I hate: Both Chicago airports, Denver, LGA and most especially LAX. Renting a car there is the worth thing ever.

I echo the DTW sentiments, really good airport

Have generally had favorable experiences at MSP

PHX after the renovations has been way better, but the security lines are still shockingly long at times. Also the train to the rental car place takes forever and is a really long walk

At LAX the new Delta terminal is better, but traffic around the airport is awful and the rental car center takes forever

The new SLC is very nice and seems similar to DTW in terms of layout and amenities 

DTW is fine, not sure I'm a fan of the single long concourse concept though, especially for a hub. It's a long walk/train ride from the middle to the end which means half the food options are basically out of the way. Not sure there is a better design without giving up other advantages (like the parking and quick security) but I always think about it. 

I flew in and out of Austin in the spring, and while the airport isn't bad, it's way too small for the volume Austin gets now. The city outgrew the airport, it feels like. There were people everywhere, way more cramped than I think it should have been.

Favorite - both NYC airports have recently completed major renovations and are now great in terms of dining, comfort and other things I care about. DTW is also good.

Worst - Kansas City, and I don't think it's particularly close.

I have much less flight experience than most around here.

PIT - Very easy to navigate and travel to and from the airport is simple.

CRW - A very niche pick since most people aren't going to travel to or from Charleston, WV. The airport is on top of a mountain. So there is an added level of terror for those that are already nervous to fly. Still a great little airport outside of the fear of miscalculating the runway.

It's remarkable how much DTW has turned it around in the last 20 years.  It used to be a total dump and now is really nice.  

CDG in Paris is definitely not my favorite.  Confusing layout, understaffed and those who were in place were not very helpful (and I speak French, it wasn't due to any language barrier).  I've had much better experiences at other airports in France (Bordeaux, Nice, Paris Orly).

Lots of business travel over the years.. here's my thoughts:

FAVORITES

• DTW is my favorite airport to fly in / out of-- both the terminals now are easy to get in and out of, food choices are pretty plentiful, the tram in the Delta terminal is wonderful and highly underrated / underused, and the ground crews for the most part know how to work through a weather issue. 
• DFW-- very easy to navigate, food choices are probably the best I've encountered, and the tram system can zip you around the airport pretty quick. Baggage claim is super easy
• CMH-- Even when I was working in Dayton for the USAF, Columbus was my go to airport. Parking is easy and cheap, the terminal was easy to get in and out of, plenty of seating, lots of flights to different cities, and functional food options.

HATES

• All Chicago airports-- for a city that has architecture downpat, their airports suck ass. Concourses that are about 20% too narrow for the people, horrible design at Ohare, just a bad vibe overall at Midway (not to mention prices up the pooper for basics), and recently, I've noticed the vendors all close down at like 8pm-- you're a major international airport and your Starbucks closes at 8pm? No bueno. 
• DEN post COVID-- pre-COVID, DEN used to be one of my favorite airports, but ever since COVID, the security process is horrible, luggage service is worse on retreival, and there's like 40% less rental car buses. I used to be able to take an early morning flight from Detroit / Eastern CONUS into DEN with no checked luggage and then get my rental car and be able to drive to Colorado Springs for meetings by 830-9a easy. Not anymore. Plus it seems like United, Frontier and Southwest have all cut back their evening departures back to the East Coast so that you have to be on a 6p or earlier flight to avoid a redeye. Cuts into the work day.
• Heathrow-- Hate with the fire of a thousand burning suns. Terminals for departure and arrivals all are undersized and poorly laid out, no matter what anyone says, the transport to Central London has no good options, and I generally hate the UK check-in desk layout no matter what airport. If I have to fly into London, I try my hardest to get into Gatwick, or Stansted. 

BIG CHANGES IN OPINION

• Salt Lake City is so nice now since the renovation. Terminal is big open and spacious with great food options, lots of room to roam, easy to get rental cars & luggage, and the return to East coast destinations are reasonable (a lot of post-6p depatures that aren't red eyes). 
• MCO (Orlando main)-- Used to only fly into here for vacation, now fly in for business. Big difference. If you're no checked bags and a premium rental car guy so you can skip the counter, it's actually not too bad to fly in / fly out and drive where you need to go, and there's tons of flight opportunities. But if you have to compete with the vacationers for resources at the airport, or you hate children and can't stand the constant kiddie flow (I have 3 kids so I'm pretty much immune now), good f*g luck. 
• DAY- used to be my home airport when I worked for the USAF in Dayton, and it was a roller coaster depending on what airline was coming in / coming out of operations at the airport, and what the City Pair routes / fares were for that fiscal year. Some years it was awesome and you could score cheap discount direct flights to DC, Orlando/Tampa, and Denver easily. Other years, it was literally cheaper (and sometimes faster) to have a meeting in Honolulu than in DC. I've done the DAY-BWI direct on Airtran / Southwest - sprint to the MARC station bus to catch the train DC Union Station then run across the lawn to get the Pentagon bus by the Capitol Hill offices more than I want to remember, just to save Uncle Sam $89.61 on airfare during Sequestration.
• Edinburgh- Just flew out of Edinburgh to get back to the States from a UK trip, and my Lord, this may be my favorite airport in Europe. Easy to get to, rental car check in to terminal is a five minute walk, super clean, check in attendants on top of it and helpful, security layout was actually intuitive and easy to get through, and a great layout post-security with food options, gate location, and signage. Boarding was a breeze and organized (unlike the general free for all that is Heathrow or Rome or DeGaulle). You can get from the airport to Central Edinburgh in about 15 minutes on a tram system for 15 pounds.. for the entire family. And that covers your public transit for the entire day as well. 
• Bay Area-- Used to be a SFO guy just because of flight options, but now I'm a San Jose guy. Much more easy travel experience from traffic to/from airport, rental car availability, airport layout. Big fan. 
• DC area-- so much of it is a crapshoot as to where I need to go. BWI is unquestionably the best airport in and of itself for service and airport experience (Duclaw Brewing Co in the terminal for the win!), but if you are tight on time for DC business, you basically pick National for in DC work, or Dulles for NoVa work. Even if I'm working in Tysons Corner, I'll pick Dulles over National, especially since the renovation a couple years ago. The signage and font though still remind me of Airplane! The Movie. If I'm anywhere in downtown DC or the Crystal City / Pentagon City customer area, it's National and I'll just suck it up. But I'll admit the experience at DCA has gotten so much better since I'm not flying the "Casablanca" gate on American anymore (experienced travelers know what I'm talking about-- the 17 flights going out of one gate with a bus to your tarmac commuter plane). 

SeaTac was clearly not built to handle the number of people who use it. Been actually yelled at by employees at Newark. Everywhere else feels great compared to those two.

Best:  Venice.  Pretty new, not too big, clean, close to the city, and you can get there via water taxi, which is a very cool ride.

Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) is the best I've ever seen.  Cool architecture, beautiful indoor gardens, great food, shops and amenities.  

Wichita has a Chick-fil-A and a bar. And one terminal. 

I love it. 

Favorite is probably Denver. I like the openness, high ceilings, and have generally had good experiences connecting through there. (Note it has been a good 4-5 years since I last flew through there, and I read some things about security being insane there now.) Also, tons of fodder for conspiracy theories:

• Runways are aligned in the shape of a swastika (I actually noticed this once from the air, then looked it up and sure enough).
• Murals with odd depictions of death and destruction (with more SS symbolism).
• Free Masons symbology on the murals.
• Blue demon horse out front.
• Location almost certainly means there's some sort of underground government bunker there. Which makes everything else above that much more interesting.

I also like the Minneapolis airport. Clean, open, lots of food options.

Least favorites:

• Chicago O'Hare. I've missed more connections here than anywhere else combined. 
• Frankfurt, Germany. I've only flown through here once, but for such a large airport, it was very chaotic and unorganized. I've also heard lots of reports of lost baggage here.

Ford in GR is great. 10 minutes to get through security. DTW is also easy.

Key West is sweet because it makes me happy.

Denver is just stupid. Out in the middle of nowhere because a buddy owned the land. Long lines to get through security. Ugh 

Singapore. The hype is real. Telluride- thrilling landing and take off.
And Fort Wayne. No lines, close/cheap parking new amenities and direct flights to some places I frequent. Also about the same drive time wise as Detroit or Chicago for me.

My favorite is Tampa (current location). It's the wagon wheel model so each hub has it's own security, so it's incredibly efficient - never waiting longer than 10 mins to get through security even when there was a massive line. Plus the airport is very modern and nice. The layout honestly is a bit confusing if you're not used to it, but once you're familiar it's all very efficient. 

Toledo's airport used to be a good way to get to Florida. Anyone fly out of there recently?

Parking was cheap and yards away from the not so intense security and (four?) gates.

I’m at the Denver airport right now and it sucks. At least the security part and having to take a train to the gate. Also I had no idea that conspiracy theories abound about satanic cults and devil worship taking place underneath the airport. Hey, as long as my flight takes off on time, I don’t really care about that.

Favorites

Long Beach

Santa Barbara

San Diego terminal 2

Least Favorites

Las Vegas, some terminals

San Diego terminal 1

Detroit's is middle of the road for me I guess. 

I used to joke that O'Hare had a department in charge of making sure that passengers with connecting flights had to go the maximum possible distance through the airport. If they existed they were damn good at their job. Part of the problem was generally flying to/from Madison, though.

I use Pearson more often now. What annoys me about Pearson is getting home, and the assholes at baggage claim invariably dump half a dozen bags on the carousel and then no more for half an hour. The rumor is that they're filling the letter of a contract. On the bright side, the train (the UP Express) is quicker and more convenient for me than Uber or taxi.

Pearson definitely sucks, but O'Hare is worse.

Least favorite: Dulles VA

Most favorite: DCA, DC

Amsterdam.  Ever since spending 5 hours there, I've been thinking of moving there--meaning the airport itself.

Doha…end thread.

Anyone not voting MIA as planet Earth's worst and most ridiculous airport have probably just not flown through it yet.  May it be razed to the ground before you do.

Best - Singapore, Dubai, Zurich

Worst - O’Hare, Logan, LAX

Denver because of the Lizard People carrying their squares and compasses in the basement. 

I agree that we are very lucky in Detroit. Our airports used to be the worst. They were so gross and embarrassing.

i also like AMS airport and especially their new Sky Team lounges. I feel the most “at home” in those lounges. 

Fort  Wayne is cool. 

Indy is cool and Detroit is nice.

ORD sucks. LGA sucks. Midway is strange and scary.

Thanks.

I've always liked Calgary because it seemed to have been overbuilt for the Olympics.

I've been at a lot of smaller market airports, a few of which no longer have commercial service, just general aviation now. Probably the smallest was Iron River, basically no facilities at all,  but North Central/Republic used to fly there years ago.

I'm a big fan of DTW, much prefer it over the other Michigan airports...unless, of course, when you can't get to or from it because it's under water.