MY Favorite or Worst Airports! and WHY!

[metallicat]

I dislike Phoenix. That place is ugly!

[Bigtime]

Best:

Vancouver: Clean, modern, lots of great local area art. Only downside is the ridiculous distance from domestic to transborder you have to walk right now.

Toronto T1: The distinction MUST be made in Toronto between terminals, the older T3 is showing its age. T1 is everything a big modern airport wants to be, big high ceilings, lots of space, great signage and wayfinding. However they need many more food and entertainment options for a terminal of that size.

Denver: Been through it a few times, one of the benefits of building from scratch with lots of room is the simple layout of the terminals. Easy to get where you need to go.

Saskatoon: Yeah I know what your thinking, but it is actually a very nice little modern airport for a city its size. My only complaint is the small washrooms in the departure areas past security.

Worst:

Heathrow: I can't even remember which terminal it was (definitely not the new T5), but connecting from the Calgary flight to the Delhi one it seemed like nothing but line after line after line after line.

Buenos Aires EZE: Uncomfortable, barely any good places to sit down and rest. Definitely skip this airport if you are planning to sleep in it overnight to catch a flight the following morning.

Delhi: Pretty sure that the new terminal that opened not too long ago is beautiful (seen pictures online), but the original one that we used was typical India. Nuff said.

LaGuardia: Sure it's a dump, but nice and close to NYC.

LAX: Can go die in a fire, I hate it and make a point of avoiding it at all costs.

In-Between

Frankfurt: Always a mess of construction, yet somehow the signage is really good and always seems to get you to where you need to go. Plus the awesome old-school departure boards in the main halls are a great touch. Also any self respecting avgeek just loves an airport with so many countries represented and widebodies galore departing all the time.

To be determined

Winnipeg: Will be flying into the new terminal for the first time in October, I can't wait to see how it is. Although almost anything was an improvement from the old terminal building.

[MRCboicgy]

Worst: OHare, Atlanta, Pearson, anything in New York and Heathrow

Best: Hong Kong, Vancouver, Singapore

[Table 5]

Best.....

LaGurdia: Yeah it's ugly as hell and I always think the plain will miss the runway and plunge into the water......but its way faster than JFK (it ALWAYS has delays and even taxiing can take 30 minutes), and really convenient compared to the other two.

Honolulu: Love the open concept, and the overall laid back attitude of the place. Can't help but feel good.

Vancouver: Modern, fairly efficicent, and great amenities.

Schipol: How a big airport should be. Modern, tons of amenities and restaurants, and great wayfinding.

Regina: Nothing special, but it was great to be in such a relaxed airport. I swear I was the only one there for at least an hour. I had bored security agents pretty much begging me with their eyes to pick their lane so they would have something to do.

Barcelona: Like most architecture in Spain, just stunning. About 20 years ahead of what we consider to be modern.

Ohare: It's big, but it does it well. Would much rather fly through Ohare (or Midway) than Toronto.

Paris: The new terminals are beautiful. Lots of walking, but fairly efficient for a big-ass airport.



Worst......

Boston: Worst wayfinding signage ever. I almost always get lost in this confusing and ugly hellhole.

Heathrow: Terrible on all accounts. Ugly, slow, and having to transfer between terminals is always a pain in the ass. It's only worth it if you have the pleasure of going to London.

Toronto: It used to be ugly and slow. Now it's just slow.

Munich: Always lineups and delays. Nice but no thanks.


YYC is in the middle for me.....it's fairly efficient and pain-free, but the amenities suck once you are past security, and the overall dowdy brown everywhere is a bit of a time warp.

[Icon]

Gotta agree with LAX being horrendous.

The retro feel mixed with some new construction, and the fact that there's a lot of open-air pathways in Honolulu's airport is pretty nice... the "being in Hawaii" factor likely swings me to be more positive about it in general tho, so grain of salt.

[Northendzone]

wow, 2 pages in and no mention of Cancun?

i beleive that we were in terminal 3 of LA and it was kind of dumpy, i am assuming that celebrities do not leave via this terminal.

international departures in calgary is awful, you get to look thru the glass at a multitude of food choices, while trying to decide between harvey's or starbucks.

[Tyler]

Favourite:

Palm Springs

[bc-chris]

i've flown very little, however, my favourite airport is an easy pick....

calgary - it's the only airport i've been to with a "fanatic" AND if i'm flying in to calgary, it means i'm going to a flames game!

[Bertuzzied]

The best airport for excitement and scenery was the old Hong Kong airport. You are flying in with huge apts and skyscrapers next to you. It was scary as hell. Also when you took off from the airport.... the end of the runway was the Pacific Ocean! yikes. I think over the years and a million take offs the only plane to land in the ocean was a Air China flight.

I have to say my favorite airport now is Incheon in Seoul. Just because of the amount of hot korean babes working there!

[EYE_Overstand]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

The best airport for excitement and scenery was the old Hong Kong airport. You are flying in with huge apts and skyscrapers next to you. It was scary as hell. Also when you took off from the airport.... the end of the runway was the Pacific Ocean! yikes. I think over the years and a million take offs the only plane to land in the ocean was a Air China flight.

I have to say my favorite airport now is Incheon in Seoul. Just because of the amount of hot korean babes working there!

i love hot korean babes 2! haha. Seoul was a good airport. i have only been through it 2 times.....

All kidding aside, i have flown in and out of SFO (San Fran) probably 4 times and i'd like to say that it has never been a bad experience .... but also not great.

[Canada 02]

Good
Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Cape Town, the new terminal at Heathrow, Munich, San Francisco

Bad
O'Hare - lost/delayed/mis-directed bags 8 times at ORD
Both in NYC
Johanesberg

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by EYE_Overstand

i love hot korean babes 2! haha. Seoul was a good airport. i have only been through it 2 times.....

All kidding aside, i have flown in and out of SFO (San Fran) probably 4 times and i'd like to say that it has never been a bad experience .... but also not great.

Who doesn't love hot Korean Babes? Even girlysports is infatuated with them! hehe

Favorite Airlines:
Korean- my last trip to Asia we flew them and they were awesome. Great selection of shows on their tv, great video games and they had the best korean beef noodles I had on my entire trip! Yes airplane food!

Japan- Not only great food(and hot stewardesses) but they have this camera built into their landing gear. so it was amazing to see when you are about to land.

Worst Airline:
Air Canada- What do you get when you get overzealous union members.....? hahahaha I will always choose Westjet over them even if Westjet is doubled the price.

[morgin]

Where is it you guys are going in YVR that makes it rank so highly?

Every time I've been there, it's on a westjet flight. I've found the concourse westjet uses is pretty bland. Pre security is a little better but I guess I haven't checked it out as much. The check in hall is kind of disorganized and the signage from the canada line to domestic check in needs to improve.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by morgin

Where is it you guys are going in YVR that makes it rank so highly?

Every time I've been there, it's on a westjet flight. I've found the concourse westjet uses is pretty bland. Pre security is a little better but I guess I haven't checked it out as much. The check in hall is kind of disorganized and the signage from the canada line to domestic check in needs to improve.

it's not. Calgary's airport is better than it. And considering its located in Richmond, it's blasphemy they don't have any good chinese food in there.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Who doesn't love hot Korean Babes? Even girlysports is infatuated with them! hehe

뭐라구? (mwuh rah goo?)

[undercoverbrother]

Good:

Cape Town, Barbados (all open air, and poor security, we walked out and onto the Concord).

Bad:

O.R. Tambo International Airport (craphole, like the rest of the city)
Philadelphia, dirty, and loud. Just nasty

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

뭐라구? (mwuh rah goo?)

what the hell? hahaha. do you do a search on CP for "korean" every 10 minutes? hahaha. that was fast!

[GirlySports]

No I was reading about airports! There's only been 30ish posts in this thread!

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by EYE_Overstand

The Bad:

Portland and Seattle

For how under rated these 2 cities sometimes seem to be... their airports are so small and out dated. I had to spend 6 hours in seattle (weather issues) and 3 hours in Portland, and both seemed to lack in quality food and drinking holes and just sheer comfort.

I thought the main terminal in Seattle was decent. In the food court area they have two really good seafood options in Anthony's and Ivars. Outside of that I'd agree there isn't much. I guess 6 hours would really annoy you as you can only have so much Clam Chowder in a bread bowl.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I thought the main terminal in Seattle was decent. In the food court area they have two really good seafood options in Anthony's and Ivars. Outside of that I'd agree there isn't much. I guess 6 hours would really annoy you as you can only have so much Clam Chowder in a bread bowl.

I was stuck there for 6 hours too. and yes they CHARGE for wifi!