Yep, I think it took about 15 minutes to get through security both times I was there. Very good experience.
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BEST airport you've ever been to?
- Thread starter hitme
- Start date
Yep, I think it took about 15 minutes to get through security both times I was there. Very good experience.
I love my state's airport, Denver International. Everything is easy to get to, security is easy to get through (and doesn't tell or cop attitudes like other places), good variety of places to eat, and we've got a fucking haunted demon horse welcoming everyone to our awesome state.
I also really liked New Mexico's airport, Boston, Portland, and Love Field in Dallas. Simple to get in and out of while having some variety to it gets points with me.
I also really liked New Mexico's airport, Boston, Portland, and Love Field in Dallas. Simple to get in and out of while having some variety to it gets points with me.
Opposite ends of the spectrum - Singapore for being modern and huge and magnificent. St George regional airport in Utah for being extremely small and pleasant even though I will likely never need to go there again.
Special Shoutouts:
3. Any small tropical island airport that's really just a desk by a jungle field like Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.
2. Haneda Airport, Tokyo, for being, you know, IN TOKYO as opposed to Narita which while efficient is incredibly far away from Tokyo. Not only are there sometimes bargain flights to Haneda, you actually gain a full day back in Tokyo since you can take a cab or Uber to get there instead of sacrificing a full day for (yes, yes, quick efficient) train travel to an airport that is not even remotely close to Tokyo. See also "Reykjavik" airport, which is also unreasonably far away from Reykjavik. The upside is that you can plan your return trip to stop at the Blue Lagoon hot spring tourist trap (which is still pretty cool especially if you're there early).
1. Newark Liberty, for contextually improving every other airport on Earth because "hey, this dangerous corrupt wartorn Somali airport may be literally life-threatening and fly infested, but at least it's not Newark Liberty." And this psychopathic hate-filled Al Qaeda kidnapper is much nicer than the Newark Liberty TSA staff.
Special Shoutouts:
3. Any small tropical island airport that's really just a desk by a jungle field like Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.
2. Haneda Airport, Tokyo, for being, you know, IN TOKYO as opposed to Narita which while efficient is incredibly far away from Tokyo. Not only are there sometimes bargain flights to Haneda, you actually gain a full day back in Tokyo since you can take a cab or Uber to get there instead of sacrificing a full day for (yes, yes, quick efficient) train travel to an airport that is not even remotely close to Tokyo. See also "Reykjavik" airport, which is also unreasonably far away from Reykjavik. The upside is that you can plan your return trip to stop at the Blue Lagoon hot spring tourist trap (which is still pretty cool especially if you're there early).
1. Newark Liberty, for contextually improving every other airport on Earth because "hey, this dangerous corrupt wartorn Somali airport may be literally life-threatening and fly infested, but at least it's not Newark Liberty." And this psychopathic hate-filled Al Qaeda kidnapper is much nicer than the Newark Liberty TSA staff.
Jewel is its own structure but in the middle of the airport and all the terminals has passage to it. It's basically a giant mall/amusement park. I don't know if they accept other currencies. I was there last week and used Singapore dollars for any venues that didn't take a credit card.
Munich is pretty nice. Frankfurt is good too.
The airport in Vancouver BC is pretty cool, esp when you first walk off the planes that huge open atrium is impressive... at least it was ~15 years ago when I flew thru.
Logan in Boston sucks. Dulles sucks. Reagan sucks. Kennedy sucks. Newark sucks x 100. Logan has gotten bettrr, It's where I primarily fly. Used to be horrible and perpetually under stupid construction. Now the construction is mostly done and it's not a shit hole, but it's still too small for the # of passengers going thru.
Oh, Orlando airport departures are *the worst* ridiculous huge lines thru everything, and just utter chaos of families trying to get thru these understaff, undersized areas.
For small regional airports, there's one in Worcester MA USA that only does a handful of flights, Southwest Florida, Orlando, Philly, NYC and Detroit. The airport has no amenities but because your flight is the only one flying that hour/time of day you just walk thru security and you have the whole place to yourself. Plus near free long term parking (I think it's $3/day), and the baggage claim is always only your flight and it takes 2 seconds. Only drawback is (aside from being a small airport with no real amenities) is that it's not convenient to any highway. 10-15 min drive thru residential neighborhoods to get there.
The airport in Vancouver BC is pretty cool, esp when you first walk off the planes that huge open atrium is impressive... at least it was ~15 years ago when I flew thru.
Logan in Boston sucks. Dulles sucks. Reagan sucks. Kennedy sucks. Newark sucks x 100. Logan has gotten bettrr, It's where I primarily fly. Used to be horrible and perpetually under stupid construction. Now the construction is mostly done and it's not a shit hole, but it's still too small for the # of passengers going thru.
Oh, Orlando airport departures are *the worst* ridiculous huge lines thru everything, and just utter chaos of families trying to get thru these understaff, undersized areas.
For small regional airports, there's one in Worcester MA USA that only does a handful of flights, Southwest Florida, Orlando, Philly, NYC and Detroit. The airport has no amenities but because your flight is the only one flying that hour/time of day you just walk thru security and you have the whole place to yourself. Plus near free long term parking (I think it's $3/day), and the baggage claim is always only your flight and it takes 2 seconds. Only drawback is (aside from being a small airport with no real amenities) is that it's not convenient to any highway. 10-15 min drive thru residential neighborhoods to get there.
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Gardermoen (Oslo, Norway) ranks pretty high for me. After the recent expansion and automatic luggage pass-through at least (Norway is not part of EU).
Spaceous, rustic Scandinavian style & modern, if you want some quiet there are large halls to walk off to, no small passages in general. Very clean.
Spaceous, rustic Scandinavian style & modern, if you want some quiet there are large halls to walk off to, no small passages in general. Very clean.
Detroit Metro, specifically the McNamara Terminal that Delta operates out of.
Denver is also nice but a hassle to get to in some respects. At least there's express busses there.
Denver is also nice but a hassle to get to in some respects. At least there's express busses there.
Same here. Also had one of my top best burgers from a restaurant there.
Light rail goes out there too. But I'd agree its location hurts it.
If you want to get to the Ueno area. Narita is actually faster than Haneda. Also you can reach to most hot spots directly without dealing with switching public transportation.
Yeah, the A line (sponsored by my employer!), but the location was also probably necessary to avoid what happened with Stapleton when Denver and Aurora built up all the land around it. Putting it out by Rocky Mountain Arsenal is at least going to prevent that.
All hail Blucifer
Problem isn't just the distance - it's the amount of effort and the specific types of travel to Tokyo for work - we almost always stay in Shinjuku for business reasons - if we're traveling in a group and flying from Narita, everyone wants to go early to avoid "missing a train or being delayed" which is natural if they haven't done it before. Because the main flights from narita to Seattle all happen in the late afternoon, then we have to set off in a big clump. If we were staying near Tokyo station it wouldn't be so bad, but it would still be a production. Whereas with Haneda, we can just chill and have brunch, do some shopping, then hop in a car or multiple cars in a civilized fashion with no trains or station switching. And no responsibility for the other travelers who're nervous about negotiating the trains to the airport.
If I were on my own and in charge of my own destiny I'd be much more relaxed about grabbing a later NEX, but it's still a long trip. I've also found that my colleagues and traveling companions think they're in Tokyo as soon as the fields give way to city. You can see them thinking that surely we must be pulling into the city any moment now....
To be fair the NEX is a pleasant, relaxing ride that puts you right at your terminal, but again, when you're there for business, that whole morning of shopping or eating is at a premium compared to leisure travel. And of course you get about a half day messing around when you arrive at narita, getting bags, train tickets and so on.
Oh and one other weird thing - for some reason the equipment to Narita is more likely to be a Dreamliner or a380 and that makes a HUGE difference on a flight that long. Anyhoo I'm being pretty granular and anal here.
YYZ without a doubt.
Walk off the plane, hop on the train, and you are in downtown in around 30-40min.
Walk off the plane, hop on the train, and you are in downtown in around 30-40min.
Best is the U.S. I've been to are Phoenix and Denver. Worst are LAX and Newark.
My favorite international ones were Singapore and Heathrow. Didn't care much for Hong Kong, but I only had a quick layover there. I also didn't have a great experience at the much-loved Vancouver airport, but that was probably due to construction work done for the 2010 Olympics which were just around the corner.
My favorite international ones were Singapore and Heathrow. Didn't care much for Hong Kong, but I only had a quick layover there. I also didn't have a great experience at the much-loved Vancouver airport, but that was probably due to construction work done for the 2010 Olympics which were just around the corner.
Of course I'm mostly speaking from a public transportation perspective but even for Shinjuku we are talking about 1 1/2h vs 50min (with the Keikyuu and Yamanote lines) - using the more expensive express bus you could be in Shinjuku in 30min though.
And that's already the worst case for Narita. The Skyliner for Ueno would be faster than even taking a car from Haneda.
At the end I don't think any of the two airports are making a big difference. I wouldn't pay more to get a flight for Haneda instead Narita for example - despite the fact that my next flight to Tokyo goes over Haneda.
I think your experience tends to be shaped by whether the airport is in your home country. Heathrow is a breeze if you don't have to go through customs, for example, and the facilities are great. But I don't know how they treat visitors and how long lines are etc.
Has to be Queen Tamar airport in Mestia, Georgia.
Cool design and breathtaking view over the Georgian mountains. Also one of the very few airports where I cold actually walk from directly to town (which is about 2 km away). Flying in and out of there was one of the best plane trips of my life.
Cool design and breathtaking view over the Georgian mountains. Also one of the very few airports where I cold actually walk from directly to town (which is about 2 km away). Flying in and out of there was one of the best plane trips of my life.
In the US:
Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Denver.
I haven't flown internationally since 2007 other than Cancun last year (which was ok I guess), so I can't really comment.
Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Denver.
I haven't flown internationally since 2007 other than Cancun last year (which was ok I guess), so I can't really comment.
In the US, Phoenix. Especially the food game. They've added most of the best restaurants in Phoenix (Fox Concepts). The food game is so strong there that the wife and I go there for dinner. The restaurant-court in terminal 4, outside security has an amazing lineup of top end restaurants. Rather than wait hours at the regular locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Gilbert to eat we skip the lines and dine at the airport.
My votes for US airports would be Phoenix Sky Harbor (Terminal 3/4) and Austin-Bergstrom. I remember liking Denver too, but haven't been through it in ~15 years or so.
Maybe it was a bit of a contrast effect because I expected it to be run of the mill, but I loved the Minnesota airport. Great food options, iPads everywhere to browse and order meals, interesting shops, clean and well maintained - it's a hidden gem.
