What's the worst airport in America?

I fly around a fair bit and see quite a few airports. The worst, without question, used to be the old Detroit Metro airport. However, it was recently demolished to make room for wonderful new hubsite facility for Northwest.

So in my opinion, the worst airport in America is Philadelphia International, which is old, cramped and plagued with delay problems. The food selection isn't that good, and it's not just a connection, it's an adventure. Runners up are Memphis and Washington-Dulles.

is a shitty trip

Newark sucks big time...Philly is bad too, however they have a new US Air terminal thats pretty nice. However I did experience a delay at Philly that was about 6 hrs long. We were on the plane and we had to turn back because of mechanical problems. I was stuck there all alone (I was only 15 or 16 at the time) and boy was I pissed. They kept telling us 30 min more and I must say the airline people were really rude, granted it wasn't their fault but still they were not nice!

they already got your money, so fuck ya !!

Mainly getting there. Total nightmare.

Infinitely worse.

And you think its hard to get to LaGuardia? You have no idea.

Nothing worse than an airport w/o decent access to public transportation.
Well, I'll have the pleasure to sample the Newark-experience next week.

I've been in and out of at least 70 airports in the U.S. and Canada, and it's clearly the worst i've been too. Possible other candidate is the old one in Denver.
The Professor

love Burbank

Almost no hassle, and can get downtown faster than from LAX.

I usually fly out of Ontario.

Dallas also blows - crowded and annoying.

Named after Poppy, and has a statue of him greeting you at one of the gates. Besides that, it is the filthiest airport I have ever been in, and I have been to plenty in 3 different countries. I was at Detroit's a week before Houston and it wasn't all that bad in comparison.

Taxiing can take 25 minutes. Connections are bound to be at opposite ends of distant terminls. With conncections to everywhere as the needless hub that it is, its gonna be affected by every delay from Miami to Cedar Rapids.

Oh, and it is in Dallas. That in itself would be enough.

And Zombywoof, ya got strong points with Houston.

Once on New Year's Eve 1978, when there was snow and ice. We were one of the FEW planes to de-ice and leave that day. Didn't change planes either, so didn't go inside.

The other time was in the summer of 1989. My connecting flight to Seattle was the very next gate over, literally the adjoining door in the waiting area - so I didn't have to scramble, nor wait very long. Neither experience was bad, and my exposure to the terminal was brief. Lucky I guess. It was 100 degrees that day, the complete opposite weather of my first visit.

One spring day a co-worker and I were enroute to West Palm Beach, on a biz trip, thinking if we got the 6AM flights from Seattle, we'd be in for an swim by evening...But our connecting flights were in DFW.

Got connection OK and a damn thunderstorm came through just as the plane left the gate. Whole frigging DFWshut down for 5 hours!

Finally arrived in FL about 10PM. My co-worker's flight was also caught on the tarmac too. So much for even thinking about having fun...

But I have never flown through DFW since then...

And it will in time.

Impossible to navigate with a car, impossible to find the rental return, you then take the shuttle to the terminal, listen to a crappy distorted recording telling you what terminal your flight is. When you get out at terminal 'B', you realize the tape said 'C', and you get to run for a half mile with all your luggage.

Flying international through LAX is a close second...

I flew back from New Zealand through BOTH DWF and LAX last December.

Worse flying experience of my life - missed connections, lost luggage, asshole Customs and TSA personnel, clueless airline counter people, endless train ride at DWF, only allowed ONE drink at the Delta Crown Room (fundie bartender - go figure) - the whole nines yards...

Everywhere you turn you see "Don't mess with Texas" memorabilia.

Oakland was stuck in the 1970s last time I went through there. It was like being in a 1970's Burger King, color-wise.

I was scared to even piss in the bathrooms in Houston. Oakland's is boring, but the only problem it has are the A's and Raiders merchandise. :P

I usually connect through Dallas. :shrug:

I made Pitt fly though Houston on his way to Austin though. I had to make sure to give him the full Texas experience.

I got off my plane, strolled past baggage and was in my rental car {right out front) in about 15 mintues. It was ugly as crap. I wanted a paper crown!

It was a helluva lot easier to use than SFO - I used to take the BART to the station and then ride the free shuttle to the terminal. Early morning flights were so much easier than the ones at SFO.

Then SFO got the BART line down there and installed a PEOPLEMOVER!!! God bless the PeopleMover. There is a little walking to do but it was like an epiphany when I went to SFO after they installed all that stuff. What would usually cost me $20 cost me $4.70 instead AND I didn't have to ride around the city while we picked up other people (people who were still packing their frigging luggage, so we had to park outside their hotels at 5:00am). The only thing they could do to improve SFO is move it closer to San Francisco.

Now I couldn't give a damn about Oakland Int'l. It probably has to do with the San Francisco cabbie who bitched at me nonstop for making him drive all the way to Oakland (because I missed my alarm). There is a good burrito place close to the SouthWest terminal, by the way. Try the Chicken Apple Sausage burrito, it's the tops.

Crampped, and inconvenient. It's the worst, IMHO.

...but you have to put up with the "Show Me State Hello."

It's got kind of a kick.

Anyone?

I found Lambert to be easy to access. Short/long term parking right across from the main terminal is great. Also, as in some of the newer facilities it's not 70 miles out in the middle of some farmer's corn patch. Dallas/Ft. Worth is a real dandy. The airport train there belongs where the moon glows.

I swear to Gawd, there was, in the Continental (I think) terminal, an old airplane fuselage that transports you from one terminal to another. You walk in this smelly old thing, pick a grimy seat, the doors are closed and you bounce across the taxi way to the other terminal and doors at the other end open up. Its like a bunch of the maintenance workers were asked to solve the transportation of passengers issue and given a budget of $328.00 to solve it. Genius, yet so 1940's.

escalator and normally on the dead run too! My name isn't even OJ either. I don't miss flying one little bit.

When did you see something like that at Lambert???

on two different trips. My 4 year old was frightend of it and the second time, 9 mos later, she wouldn't go on it - we were late and I had to drag her on so we could make our flight.

We suck most!

Although, I've never seen it during the day. Landed at 2:00am; left at 10:00pm. :shrug:

I visit relatives in the Bay area often, and I'd rather fly into SFO anyday, even though Oakland is closer.

What a mess.

The best airport in the world though, is the new Ataturk Memorial Field in Istanbul. I had the luck of landing there right when it opened. A beautiful piece of architecture.

Best in the US? Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. That airport makes flying a spiritual experience. It reminds me of a church.

But I've only personally been to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago O'Hare, Cincinnati, JFK, Istanbul, Fargo, Oakland and San Francisco.

it becomes my least favorite.

Actually, I travelled a lot in the Marines, and my worst memories of airports are all about Dulles. The traffic in that whole area drives me crazy.

The shuttles you gotta take around- or is it the "subway".
Too much work, but good fast security.

San Jose has LAME security.

all airports suck, and it's just in the details how.

has NOT been demolished. Northwest built its shiny new terminal, but the other airlines are still in that awful old one. I was just there today. I usually fly in and out of Detroit on Northwest, this time I arrived and departed on United, and I was appalled.

Dulles was a wonderful airport in the early years, with that soaring gorgeous terminal and the innovative mobile lounges. Sadly, when the airport needed expanding, they went to a conventional kind of long hallway system, including taking the old mobile lounges to and from the new buildings. It takes FOREVER to get from the arrival gate to the baggage claim and even longer for the baggage to arrive.

Kansas City International is hands-down the best airport in the country. Plane pulls up to the gate, you get off, walk a couple dozen yards and your at baggage claim. Get your bag, walk another couple dozen yards and you're outside to get a shuttle bus for rental car or to a parking lot, or just a few more yards and you're in the short term lot, in your car and on your way home.

...although admitedly I've avoided Chicago in recent years so I don't know if it's improved. Some of the worst "connection nightmares" I ever experienced were in Chicago.

For a big airport its kind of cool. I like the light show en route to concourse C ("keep walking keep walking keep walking" - kind of like Revolution Number 9). There have good services right at the gate - you can buy sandwiches, etc.

Of course the flights are often delayed for weather, but hey that's Chicago.

It's the worst airport in the nation in terms of flight delays and arrival times. Since it's a nationwide hub, O'Hare affects the rest of the major airports in the country.

Last time I was there (which was a while ago, I admit), the place looked like a rundown bus station.

the redesign was done before 9/11 and the restrictions on allowing parties to meet debarking passengers at the gate went in to effect. So at Christmas,there are literally thousands of people waiting for debarking passengers in a space the size of a high school auditorium. It is truly a nightmare--it took me over an hour to find my elderly mother in the huge crowd. If you're flying out, its pretty nice, however.

We ALWAYS fly out of O'Hare, because my aunt lives around the corner.

But this time we weren't visiting her right away and tried to save some money. Gah. What a nasty place. Won't do that again. I'd rather pay a few extra bucks.

If it's been renovated but it's not practical, then it hasn't really been improved, has it?

"It can't be beautiful if it's not good design."
(Fudge Striped Cookays' old interior design instructor)

Horrible IMO -- never seen anything like it!

I damn near got arrested walking past the HUGE statue of GHW *Asshat* Bush in the middle of it...was all I could do not to :puke: on it right there...

For that alone, it receives the highest derision. x(

:puke:

"What's the worst airport in America?" New York's La Guardia (LGA) is an operation bound for (more) disasters. It has: 1. Short runways (7000 feet); 2. Constant cross runway operations for take-off and landing, and; 3. A proliferation of small jets that carry 50-70 passengers in airspace packets that could accommodate 150+.

From the ground it looks like the planes are dogding the buildings on approach.

Sometimes gives a spike to the radio-altimeter controlled GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System). "Whoop, whoop, pull-up, pull-up!"

maybe Anaheim?....anyway, the runway is so short it's like taking off in a rocket or something. It's like, you're going straight... straight... straight... and now straight UP!!!!!

Gives me the willies. :scared:

Is that a really big SUV once had tire treads on the roof when it parked on the top level of that parking garage.

Let us know if you ever fly into San Diego again, okay?

Dollar, has it's lot right at the end of the runway. Lindberg Field is one of the only airports right in the middle of the city. We have pictures taken in Balboa Park with planes on approach where the planes actually look like they are about to land in the park behind us.

Flying into SD is a FUN experience!

and could look into office buildings that had their lights on. I really freaked me out when I looked in one and realized I could see enough detail to recognize that the cleaning lady had her hair ina bun. That seems too damn close to me.

Actually I only been to 3 airports in my life, the one in Las Vegas, the one in Phoenix, and the one in Denver. The one in Denver was the nicest, the one in Las Vegas was the most convenient and easiest airport to go around. Phoenix came in third, I actually haven't been to enough airports to pass judgment. Another thing I haven't stepped foot in an airport since 1999.

There no longer is a Terminal 1, fwiw.

JFK is pretty dodgey as well.

as "Third World."

<shouldn't insult 3rd world countries that way>

..not because of its design, but because of where it is. The weather makes for constant delays. I can only imagine what kind of idiot decided to make it a hub.

OK, I'll give it to you that it is out in the middle of nowhere. But if you are just traveling through on a layover, its pretty nice. HUGE, but nice.

it just got a MAJOR remodeling. It's superb!

Trust me...

*SHUDDER!* Yes. This airport makes Newark look efficient.

I've been in many airports,but MIA has to be seen to be believed:(

here is a link to the concourse shops - at the bottom is a map

http://www.philamarketplace.com/go/dirlisting.cfm?fl=all

At least if you get stuck there, there's something to look at and do. They also have a really awesome brew-pub there (independance-something or other). It's right next to a brookstone/sharper image store. No better way to kill a long layover delay than a couple of beers and a back massage!

Another favorite of mine is Charlotte, NC. Nice shopping, good eats.

Worst? JFK. by far. On a flight from Raleigh, NC to JFK the pilot left the intercom on by accident. I believe his words were " I hate flying into this #$*@ing airport. It's just so not safe. " About a minute after that sentence, he realized that he had left the microphone on. All of a sudden, we (all 19 of us) heard "Oh, Shit." ... and then there was loud <click>. We didn't hear another word from him for the rest of the flight.

especially if a child or an elderly person is with you.

It's ugly and it's depressing. The new Northwest terminal is nice but inefficient. Yuck!!

I went through there on Northwest, which explains why it didn't seem so dirty or bad to me. It required less foot travel for me than Sky Harbor in Phoenix, or Sea-Tac in WA for that matter.

The service is generally slow, unhelpful and very cranky.

I haven't been through the new terminal yet, mostly because I avoid Detroit connections whenever possible. I much prefer to go through Minneapolis, when traveling on Northwest.

connections HuckleB. They do have one of those people mover things, but if you have to transfer to a gate on the C concourse, it's difficult to find your gate. The signs are misleading.

What does that say about air travel?

Quick NO story. On a supplier audit, two summers ago. There's a hurricane in the gulf. So, raining like mad along the gulf coast. Planes can't get in. Planes can't get out. Streets are flooded, so can't get taxis in and out of the airport.

Our flight was delayed 13 and a half hours! They kept the bars and restaurants open the whole night so that folks would have food, drink and something to do since we were basically trapped there.

For that reason alone, i rate them higher than awful. Customer service rules for me.
The Professor

We had a stop there on the way to the Keys and it is very bad. THe PA telling you "You are beautiful" as you walk through a door is pretty funny though.

I've flown through it three times, and was scared crapless each time. It looks like a disaster waiting to happen, to my untrained eye. Short runways, planes taking off and landing in different directions, etc. .

:scared:

There is NOWHERE that you can go in the terminal where there is not a television running CNN in sight. Worse yet, there are speakers in the ceiling, about five or six per TV, so you can avoid looking, but you will always hear. Big Brother.