What are your favorite/least favorite airports?

I'll start us off, LaGuardia is the worst airport in the US. To those who’ve had the luxury of never setting foot in LaGuardia, allow me to provide an overview of the amenities:

  • Highest rate of flight cancellations and delays in the US
  • No convenient way to get to the airport through mass transit
  • Scuffed floors, stained carpets
  • Many bathroom stalls don’t even have working locks

LaGuardia is so bad that during a 2015 speech about infrastructure, then-Vice President Joe Biden told a Philadelphia audience:

“If I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York, you must think, I must be in some Third World country.” People laughed. “I’m not joking,” Biden said. People laughed some more.

LaGuardia has one redeeming factor though, according to Brian Kelly, founder of the Points Guy website:
“LaGuardia gets me to my gate incredibly fast, I can get to the airport 41 minutes before my flight and be fine. That’s impossible at most big-city airports,”

What are your favorite/least favorite airports to fly out of, and what makes them so great/terrible for you? Are you more concerned about efficiency of travel, or general aesthetic/cleanliness?

Link to article: Why You Should Love America’s Worst Airport

 
Best Response

Not a big fan of LGA, But I agree with you on MSP. I cant think of a time where I had a bad experience there and I've flown in and out of there since I was a kid. I like LHR. TBH though, I don't fly often enough to comment on things like through time to the gate. When I go to an airport I'm more affected by infrastructure quality and minor amenities. That's why I like LHR and MSP.

But I really think MIA and LGA are two of the crappiest airports I've been in. They are just run down, dilapidated, and dirty. Last time I was in MIA (about 2 months ago) in one of the terminals, they had constructed improvised funnels on the roof and fastened plastic tubing to them in order to divert leaking water from dripping on the the travelers. They literally had one plastic tube running down into a large planter with a tree in it. The dirt had become so saturated that the water had leaked out of the drain holes in the bottom of the planter and stained the carpet in approximately a 3 or 4 foot radius. It was so pathetic.

 

SXM/Princess Juliana Airport

When you arrive, you arrive to paradise. It doesn't hurt you get to see all the idiots who get thrown into the water from the airplane.

JFK -is the worst Airport in NYC. Having to deal with belt or van wyck traffic is a nightmare. LGA takes about 20 minutes, 30 in traffic. EWR has a bad wrap, but really easy to get to by public transportation.

 

Pittsburgh airport is stupid big for nothing. TSA line at the Cleveland airport blows.

IMO, the airports I hate are the smaller ones. Limited flights and service. Ohare blows because it's so far away. I can literally get there and to my gate in 20 minutes and there are a ton of admirals clubs.

 

LGA is the worst.

How the fuck am I supposed to get there without having a cab drive me without stupid amounts of traffic? It's fucking terrible. And it does feel like a third world country.

I'd rather fly into LAX.

DIA, LAX, SNA, Honolulu, BTR, ONT are better.

Fuck even the Bangkok airport is better than LGA. Jesus Christ.

 

Favorite might be SeaTac just because I've spent so much time there and like the layout of the foodcourt/ like Bigfoot BBQ and riding trains to baggage claim is pretty fun.

Least favorite would be a tie between Portland and Denver. Got stuck in Portland one time because the plane we were supposed to be on froze and it took them a while to warm it up. (Small Plane). Hate Denver's airport simply because it's so far from the city it's basically in Kansas.

westcoastrepresent

 

Beijing's is pretty nice as well. Definitely the best subway I've ever ridden on.

"Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence." - Thomas Sowell
 

Who the fuck spends any more time at private airfield than necessary? You drive to the hangar, park your vehicle inside of it, get out of your vehicle, walk maybe a hundred yards, walk up a few steps to get in the plane, sit down and drink. That sure as fuck beats any first class lounge.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 

The international terminal at DFW is super nice though imo. When doing the $2B renovation to all the domestic terminals, I wish they would have opened up the concourses a bit for more room. It's Texas after all...you don't really get that "big" feel you're supposed to.

 

Anytime you're connecting domestically at ORD, chances are you fly United, and chances are you may be going from a smaller to bigger plane, meaning concourse D,E,F,G to B,C....which is a hike, sometimes under time pressure. No good.

For smaller airports I love SAV. I go down there often for leisure and it's no-nonsense. Ubers are waiting right outside baggage claim and the town square-esque common area always gives me a smile.

For Larger airports - DEN or MSP. Both are sizable for their market, yet the airports are well maintained and control passenger flow well.

FWIW - no one has mentioned ATL on here as a bad airport....do we all just not fly through there?

 
CreditMunich:

Is ATL pretty bad? Its one of my connections in a couple weeks. As long as they have a good food selection I'll be happy

While busy as hell ATL is one of my favorites by far.

JFK, LAX, and LaGuardia and all burn in hell.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
 

Not sure if I've ever been in an airport that I wonder consider the worst, but LAS (McCarran) looks outdated and has terrible signage. Plus, if you want to take Uber, you have to walk completely across the airport to a little section of the parking garage that is very easy to miss.

My personal favorite is FRA (Frankfurt). It is always clean, security is always a breeze, and the signage makes finding everything easy.

 

Just flew into EWR tonight from San Juan. Typical Newark where we landed about 45 minutes late and then the baggage carousel broke.

SJU is garbage, can't handle the big vacation rush at all.

Singapore airport is exceptional (only been there once). Also, was very pleased with Hong Kong. Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown airports are all good as well.

 

thankfully haven't ever flown in/out of LaGuardia yet. Although one time my insane taxi driver drove me there instead of JFK (wonderful experience) so i did get a glimpse of just how horrible it is.

SFO is amazing, even given the occasional delays from fog or the fact that there's only two runways.

 

Favourites: Singapore Changi, Heathrow and JFK.

Recently, as I walked out of the plane in JFK, the first thing I saw was a huuuge gigantic poster saying: The place where human ambition is fulfilled - or something along those lines.

Although it was an ad from a tier 3 IB, I felt that it was befitting for NYC.

Lease favourite: I fear the monkey shits so will keep that to myself.

 

I got a new one for you guys: RDU (Raleigh-Durham). Very accessible to anywhere in the Triangle, new, clean, and security is always a breeze. NC has been staying a step ahead of growth, infrastructure-wise, so everything is a little better than it needs to be.

I love Seattle, but SeaTac blows. It was designed for a pre-9/11 Seattle, both in security and size. Once you get past security it's fine, but I've lost weeks of my life waiting in line there.

"Son, life is hard. But it's harder if you're stupid." - my dad
 
CreditMunich:
LaGuardia has one redeeming factor though, according to Brian Kelly, founder of the Points Guy website: "LaGuardia gets me to my gate incredibly fast, I can get to the airport 41 minutes before my flight and be fine. That's impossible at most big-city airports,"

So true. Took me 15-20 minutes once to go from the subway station to the terminal at LaGuardia. But the airport is a total dump. Add Abu Dhabi airport (and also Etihad for flying out of the US) to the s*ite list. LAX is time draining. Need to reach at least 3 hours before flight at peak times. The traffic surrounding the air port is a mess.

I think the Indianapolis airport is the best in terms of getting in and out, on time flights and cleanliness. I guess the only positive part of living in Indiana.

 

This isn't really true anymore with the construction going on. I've driven by LGA on my way to JFK at 5am on a weekday and the taxis are backed up onto the highway trying to get into the terminals. It's a huge wildcard so I avoid LGA until the construction is done. Plus its just a dump in general, although the new Delta terminal is nice. But anytime a flight is boarding it clogs up the whole terminal. And I've never walked past a women's bathroom that doesn't have a line out the door. Some of the terminals don't even have a bar. It also is the quickest of the 3 airports to get delays since the runways are so small. Seriously, its the worst. I can see LGA from my apartment and I avoid it at all costs.

JFK can easily take an hour to get to from/to the city, the VanWyck is a disaster.

My favorite goes to Newark. Once you get off Manhattan, its pretty quick to the airport. The United terminal is pretty nice, and it has large gate areas and big restaurants and bars.

 

Ohare is fine if you aren't connecting through it Midway has no decent food options, but that is about to change with the introduction of high end local restaurants Detroit is the nicest airport I've seen in the U.S. Salt Lake has irrationally long lines, even for TSA Pre and looks like it hasn't been updated since the early 80s Cincinnati has a clean and efficient airport but it's always empty St Louis looks like it was bombed in WWII and never repaired Denver is bigger than it needs to be and an hour from the city Kansas City might be further from its downtown than Denver LGA and JFK are just as bad as people claim

"I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people."
 

Out of the US: FRA, Zurich. I actually like LHR too.

In the US: I really like DFW especially if I'm flying out of D. The new upgrades to the other terminals are good too.

Not a fan of DIA because a) it's 45 minutes from downtown and b) even with the tram you still typically have to walk like a mile.

Also not a fan of OHR or MIA. LGA is a dump/there's not a lot of food but the proximity to the city is pretty ideal. Last time I was there, it took an hour from the time we touched down to when I walked into my hotel room.

 

Favourites: FRA, LHR; I also like LCY because you can get to the gate in no time and they have loads of plugs / usb connectors where you can charge your phone etc.

Least favourite: Addis Ababa airport....just awful. No shops or anything once you get past security, you just sit there, uncomfortably, in a large hall. Security's also a joke, I accidentally left a pocket knife in my hand luggage and got through without a problem.

 

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