Worst & Best Airports

[XXX-er]

A guide I skied with told me when they were in Katmandu or one of those airports-doesnt matter but 3 guys were looking at the x-ray machine to scan the baggage, when buddy went to the washroom the door was at an angle where he could see the screen,

it was blank cuz the m/c was broken

[rideit]

Wow, I’m near the SkyClub in LAX. Two huge police dudes in full regalia just woke up a scruffy looking kid that was sleeping on the floor…sounds like he has been sleeping in the Delta terminal and hiding out from security for over four days. He definitely seems scared, and is trying not to answer any questions directly. I feel really bad for this kid, he is probably not going to have a good week. I can only imagine what his back story is.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Pre 9/11 there were people who lived/squatted in LAX, I guess it's a lot harder now.

[rideit]

Sounds like his family reported him missing on the 4th of November.

[Not DJSapp]

Damn, that's gotta be a sad story.

As for best airport, Terminal B at Sacramento was built post 9/11 with a lot of the security stuff in mind. Lots of room for people to move about and enough restaurants to feed passengers stuck past security.

Worst: Ontario. Never a smooth departure or landing, and the terminal is void of all services. Maybe 1 fast food burger is open, and only until 7pm. Entire place is built like a strip mall and rental cars are a long bus ride away.
Runner up for worst: Lihue. Flew out of there in July of this year. The security line was wrapped around the terminal. No like work is real for the TSA there.

[muted reborn]

A guide I skied with told me when they were in Katmandu or one of those airports-doesnt matter but 3 guys were looking at the x-ray machine to scan the baggage, when buddy went to the washroom the door was at an angle where he could see the screen,

it was blank cuz the m/c was broken

That airport is complete chaos. I saw a policeman bitch slap a guy in front of me who was trying to push his way inside the main door as a mad rush of people were trying to get inside.

The worst was being stuck behind some hiking tour group or big expedition that have seemingly 20 bags per person and only one person in the group knows the plan or speaks the language.

And when you finally get on your flight you have the comfort of knowing it's one of the sketchiest places to fly in the world.

[Ted Striker]

In many ways KONT only exists as an IFR alternate for LAX.

[dunfree]

Most US airports have the archetectual splendor, clietele, cleanliness and culinary inpiration of a 1970's inner city Greyhound Bus Station. As the scruffy US airports have aged poorly the airport benchmarks to beat air overseas. It is sad when the Dehli airport has a wow factor with the koi ponds and palm trees that is totally lacking at any US airport. The Incheon airport in Korea with the indoor pine forests is another stand out.

For all the La Guardia haters (including me), LGA does have nicer toilets than the Chitwan airport in Nepal, so there is that.

“Modern” third world is a showcase airport so you can fool the rich farang and siphoned $$$. I ended up sick as a dig transmitting that nice Delhi airport, fuck it.

[teleee]

That is a particularly nice Sky Club Lounge. I'll toss out ATL though for Sky Club options though, there's one on each concourse so if you're so inclined you can hit them up like a pub crawl, and the one in Concourse F has an outdoor patio where you can watch the planes that's really cool.

Yep been to all the ATL sky lounges they for sure win in the convenience department, SLC takes the prize for the nicest though - including the outdoor area where you can watch the planes and the new construction going on

[LegoSkier]

Shout out to STS and SBP. My family is in Santa Rosa and divegirl's in San Luis Obispo so with direct flights from Seattle, we regularly fly into both.
STS (Charles M Shultz Airport) has the one good sushi place, just opened an outpost of Costeaux French bakery, and has the giant Peanuts character statues.
SBP has a great outdoor lounge area between security and the gates. You can chill on nice Adirondack chairs outside in the sun while you wait for boarding.
And wine flies free out of both back to SEA.

[neufox47]

I gotta say DFW is my favorite. I can’t think of another that has as good of restaurants.

Midway is my least favorite. It got a little bit better recently but for a while the restaurant’s literally all had the same menu, they just changed the names.

US airport over hauls should be part of a stimulus package.


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[The AD]

Can we talk about the airports where it seems like you're taxiing forever? DIA is pretty bad. ORD too. I went through Vancouver last month on the way back from Europe and my flight from there to Seattle seemed like it taxied forever, but part of that might have just been it being the last leg of a very long day in the air.

[ex-powderbroker]

billy bishop in toronto is the best. land on an island, couple escalators and then you’re downtown. i don’t think there’s anything else quite like it.

[zartagen]

Can we talk about the airports where it seems like you're taxiing forever? DIA is pretty bad. ORD too. I went through Vancouver last month on the way back from Europe and my flight from there to Seattle seemed like it taxied forever, but part of that might have just been it being the last leg of a very long day in the air.

LAX. I swear we taxied around the full perimeter of the airport before arriving at the gate, where we then had to wait for 30 minutes for it to clear.

[Ted Striker]

LAX is typically fast out / slow in. YVR is the opposite. ORD is just congested all the time.

[skiballs]

Worst, Dulles no food to speak of and massive security line.
Best, COS never busy, long term parking to gate takes 15mins including tsa check point.


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[Adolf Allerbush]

Damn, that's gotta be a sad story.

As for best airport, Terminal B at Sacramento was built post 9/11 with a lot of the security stuff in mind. Lots of room for people to move about and enough restaurants to feed passengers stuck past security.

Worst: Ontario. Never a smooth departure or landing, and the terminal is void of all services. Maybe 1 fast food burger is open, and only until 7pm. Entire place is built like a strip mall and rental cars are a long bus ride away.
Runner up for worst: Lihue. Flew out of there in July of this year. The security line was wrapped around the terminal. No like work is real for the TSA there.

The Sacramento airport is one of the most overbuilt airports I've ever experienced. WTF. Does it really need a train? It's smaller than PDX, both the City and the airport. It makes zero sense other than someone convinced the airport they would eventually become a hub for some airline. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, just really huge for the little amount of traffic it has.

Another airport that is completely overbuilt is Indianapolis. It's motherfucking huge for how little aircraft fly through there. Again, nice airport IMO, but just unnecessary.

Pittsburgh airport is depressing. US Air went away and that fucker is a huge ghost town of an airport. CVG is similar.

SEA TAC and PDX are brutal right now with all the construction.

I don't mind ORD...I know, I'm an exception. MDW is dece. LGA is nice now. Newark still sucks. JFK also sucks. Logan is a dump IMO. DEN is huge, but it's pretty decent. LAX sucks but they're at least trying to fix it.

Got diverted to Louisville when someone had a panic attack and my flight emergency landed that was bound for CLT. That airport is not nice...especially when you are there for 12 hours. Found some decent BBQ in Louisville though.

But the reason this thread got my attention was because the OP said Love Field is nice...WTF? That is one hellhole of an airport IMO. I guess it's nice in that it's a small shithole so it's easier to navigate than DFW, but it's not nice. The AA lounge in DFW is decent at least...Love Field? Da Fuq?

I could go on about airports...they're pretty cool in general.

[riser4]

Can we talk about the airports where it seems like you're taxiing forever? DIA is pretty bad. ORD too. I went through Vancouver last month on the way back from Europe and my flight from there to Seattle seemed like it taxied forever, but part of that might have just been it being the last leg of a very long day in the air.

FRA. Seems like a 45 minute taxi no matter what. That's actually taxiing and not standing still waiting for a gate.

[Shredhead]

The key to getting thru security at ORD is to go to Terminal 2.

[bw_wp_hedonism]

The key to getting thru security at ORD is to go to Terminal 2.

The key to a pleasant experience at ORD is to never fly through there, ever. To call it third-world would be insulting to the comparatively lovely airport in Bangui.

[hawkgt]

saw a mention of KC, that is a shit airport for sure with the 3 C terminals of old but they are working to replace. Will see how it comes out.

DIA security sucks for avg Joe, will see if recent changes help out. I like DIA though as I fly alot of direct in the US and works out pretty good.

[plugboots]

Can we talk about the airports where it seems like you're taxiing forever? DIA is pretty bad. ORD too. I went through Vancouver last month on the way back from Europe and my flight from there to Seattle seemed like it taxied forever, but part of that might have just been it being the last leg of a very long day in the air.

I use Flightradar24 to track flights and I was picking up Mrs. Plug at ORD and I see that she’s landed, and I’m seeing the plane move towards the gate. Cool.
I’m waiting in the cell phone waiting area, so I start to pull out, and then the plane stops on top of that airplane bridge over the road for 30 minutes.

And I’m sorry but any fucking airport that has one of those trains that doesn’t have another way to get to the gate so I can bypass the fucking train, sucks.

[plugboots]

Trains suck.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

So we flew through SLC to LAX yesterday, can confirm the SLC Delta lounge is very nice but the hike to B gates sucks balls. LAX presently looks like Dresden after the firebombing.

I can also confirm large LDS families still meander 8 and more abreast while moving through SLC, a very effective blocking move for any and all people caught behind.

[BmillsSkier]

ATL is a pain. It’s so spread out.

Well you can't fit the country's busiest (and world's second busiest) airport in a postage stamp lot.

I'm biased but I think ATL is insanely easy. Park right in the garages front of North or South Terminals, Precheck/Clear line is smooth sailing and right onto the plane train to your concourse. Escalator up and you're dead center. Low numbers to your right, high numbers to your left. As mentioned Sky Lounges at every concourse too. You can go from garage to booze in your hand in as little as 15-20 minutes.

Pittsburgh airport is depressing. US Air went away and that fucker is a huge ghost town of an airport. CVG is similar.

Man, CVG is depressing. I used to fly out of there in its heyday when it was a Delta hub and Delta's commuter airline, Comair was headquartered there. Place was so hoppin that they built Comair their own standalone terminal, and then it went under and Delta chose DET over it.

You go through there now and its nothing but two shuttered terminals and a grab-bag of discount airlines like Sprit. Gross.

Speaking of DET, I'm reminded that they have a particularly generous, but small, Delta Sky Club at the end of the terminal with the peoplemover thing. Self-serve good booze. We took off out of there a while back for a bachelor party in Amsterdam and helped ourselves to coffee cup sized-pours of Woodford for the flight. The lady attendant just kept bringing out more bottles.