International Airports- Best and Worst.

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

I agree in that it is very difficult to objectively rate especially as you may have preferential treatment on the ground compared to others.

For me, my favourites are LHR for departures as that T5 wing saves loads of time and T3 facilities are great (I was always flying between LHR and destination so cannot comment on transfer).

LCY is my favourite for arrivals as stepping off the plane to taxi/DLR in 3 minutes cannot be beaten.

 

[Cynicor]

Interesting that FORG had multiple security checks at SIN. My experience (20+ times last few years) has only ever been security at gate. You never have to remove your gear any other time. Unless T1/2/3 to T4 which I understand has airside security. And even then, it's only 1 check because there is no gate security. My last trip was only 2 weeks ago, too...

 

[Bundy Bear]

Best probably Singapore,
Best Australian airport, Melbourne, but it doesn't have a train.
Worst Tegel, especially the demountable gates.
Most improved LAX TBIT.

 

[TomVexille]

Interesting that FORG had multiple security checks at SIN. My experience (20+ times last few years) has only ever been security at gate. You never have to remove your gear any other time. Unless T1/2/3 to T4 which I understand has airside security. And even then, it's only 1 check because there is no gate security. My last trip was only 2 weeks ago, too...

I'm guessing Immigration and then security at the gate

 

[Forg]

When you transfer through other airports (or simply get shuffled off the ‘plane you’re about to get back on so they can refuel & clean it) you generally don’t need to be strip-searched again, like you did when you first entered the first airport 10 hours and about 7 points on the Tired & Grumpy Scale ago.

 

[Cynicor]

Dunno about that assertion. BKK, NRT, USA all make you do it from INT flights. Not sure about HKG off the top of my head. But pretty much most places I suggest would.
So you dislike SIN because there is at gate security screening, once...

 

[Cynicor]

I'm guessing Immigration and then security at the gate

Yeah, I wondered maybe that, but that's just luggage only, and very selected. I've done it twice in recent years. It's ridiculously quick.

 

[Archipelago]

Difference between hating a new airport and managing it, the first time you arrive (IMHO)?

Research.

Like any other travel nerd here, I do my research before transiting/arriving at a new airport. My first experience at Dubai was much better because I had done the following before flying - and this goes for any airport I travel through, including ones that I haven't been to for a while:

- Searched and studied carefully the terminal maps. I'll print copies if I think it will help, or at least have them on my mobile (so much easier with a print out though, I'm old school in that respect)
- Searched for previous/historic info on what were likely to be my arrival and departure gates - which terminal, which concourse, and the routes between them
- Locations on the internal trains/people movers

The OP's rant at Dubai - sorry but it seems like sour grapes due to a lack of research. And it may have 'seemed like" 20km but in reality its around 3km MAX and usually not that much
Anyway the next trick is not to get frustrated - I know this may be hard after a long haul flight when you have no prior knowledge of what is in store.

Finally - if you're not sure - follow the crowd and don't feel too shy to ask someone else in the shuffle off the aircraft. I got chatting to a couple of nice Indian chaps on my last arrival in to Dubai, and they told me they travelled through there monthly. As soon as I mentioned my onward flight to Nice, they knew the Terminal and a shortcut to the train, and invited me to tag along with them. My type of travellers too, they moved quick and didn't stop to dawdle until they go to their next gate.

Dubai is the largest airport in the world by passenger movements, yes - but it works considering this could be a LOT more difficult than it seems.

 

[Forg]

Dunno about that assertion. BKK, NRT, USA all make you do it from INT flights. Not sure about HKG off the top of my head. But pretty much most places I suggest would.
So you dislike SIN because there is at gate security screening, once...

*e-shrug*
Guess I wouldn’t like going into JB HiFi if I got kicked in the family jewels when I stood in the cash-register queue as well as when entering the shop in the first place ...

 

[Happy Trails]

Difference between hating a new airport and managing it, the first time you arrive (IMHO)?

Research.

Like any other travel nerd here, I do my research before transiting/arriving at a new airport. My first experience at Dubai was much better because I had done the following before flying - and this goes for any airport I travel through, including ones that I haven't been to for a while:

- Searched and studied carefully the terminal maps. I'll print copies if I think it will help, or at least have them on my mobile (so much easier with a print out though, I'm old school in that respect)
- Searched for previous/historic info on what were likely to be my arrival and departure gates - which terminal, which concourse, and the routes between them
- Locations on the internal trains/people movers

YouTube is very handy also.

 

[TomVexille]

*e-shrug*
Guess I wouldn’t like going into JB HiFi if I got kicked in the family jewels when I stood in the cash-register queue as well as when entering the shop in the first place ...

I’m still not sure I understand. I’ve only ever needed to go through one screening point every time I’ve been through SIN. Which is no different from any other international transit AFAIK.

I’m not trying to convince you that SIN is amazing, I’m just trying to understand your experience.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I’ve been screened on arrival at SIN as soon as we’ve deplaned. Think arriving from Vietnam, possibly CAN as well can’t remember, or maybe HYD. Only twice in a lot of transits, but they do have an extra security layer for some regions/routes.

 

[Austman]

I've been screened many times on arrival at SIN. But mostly it doesn't happen.

The new SIN T4 has centralised security - so no more at the gate screening there!

DXB is rather horrible due to its vastness. It's 3 concourses (concourse A, B and C - they are not terminals) for most transit passengers. They are a vast distance away from each other - 20 minutes walk between B and C for example. There is bus service between all concourses and a train between A and B.

 

[davidj]

SIN is just so easy to transit through, even though it is so big. It gets my vote of 'best airport'.

Worst would have to be 'pick any airport in the US'.

 

[Archipelago]

*e-shrug*
Guess I wouldn’t like going into JB HiFi if I got kicked in the family jewels when I stood in the cash-register queue as well as when entering the shop in the first place ...

Can't understand this analogy either. Airport security is a given. And it may happen twice in some airports. Hard to see it as a kick in the family jewels? (then again we didn't have a lot of jewellery in my family. Oh, wait..)

 

[amaroo]

Arrival at ORY makes CDG look like a palace.

 

[Moody]

I've despised a few over the years - and with good reason. My latest "worst" is all bitterness though.

A colleague and I were departing BCN at different times on different airlines and we were a bit delayed fueling the car on the approaches to Barcelona, so I dropped him off at the terminal before returing my hire car (which is a story in itself). I was a good 30 minutes after him through customs and thought he would be gone by then, but I received a text from him where he gloated about ghosting in to a lounge behind a silo of Korean businessmen. I wished him well and said that I would love to join him, but I only drink Moet so I would be going to the Emirates lounge.
[Yes yes .... but it gets worse than that]

So it quickly becomes apparent that there is only one combined lounge at Terminal 1, so I get ready to eat humble pie when I join my colleague there. I am rehearsing the self-deprecation absent-mindedly at the counter so I didn't quite catch what the woman said as she returned my boarding pass. She then repeated it slowly as if talking to a half-wit - "I'm sorry sir, but you are too early to gain access to the lounge - your flight doesn't depart for 6 hours."

Oh the schadenfreude!

Luckily he flew out before I slunk in with my tail between my legs, and to this day my colleague still believes there is an Emirates lounge at Barcelona because there was no way I was going to let him know that he had snuck into the lounge that rejected me!

Hate BCN

 

[Archphoto]

As a flyer who is based in ADL, I *loathe* SYD - it is an absolute nightmare and I avoid it like the plague.

I simply cannot understand what made them change their layout for domestic flights from other cities, with international connections. Enter a secure area, to walk out of a secure area to re-enter a secure area. Why???!!!???

Have nearly missed every connecting flight ADL-SYD-BKK because of immigration queues. Seriously?? I can't take an earlier flight (I'm already on the first flight out!) and I'm not so cashed up that I can stay overnight every time I travel.

Arriving back is just as bad. Too many people, in too small a space, with queues yet again, miles long before racing to the bongo bus to the domestic terminal. (Often after missing the original flight.)

For a first-time visitor to these fair shores, it sorely misses the mark of a welcoming entry point on many levels. The mind boggles as to how it actually coped during the 2000 Olympics.

By comparison, HKG, SIN, BKK & NRT are much easier to navigate and get around. They.Just.Work.

 

[Archipelago]

*snip*

By comparison, HKG, SIN, BKK & NRT are much easier to navigate and get around. They.Just.Work.

BKK gets a lot of negative reviews on the local forums here in Thailand and SE Asia. Most complaints are exaggerations about the Immigration waiting time (I am still yet to experience the hours of waiting constantly posted. Any queue seems to make the waiting time suddenly triple in people's minds)
The only gripe about BKK is the long distances to walk for most pax. For me it is good exercise and I am usually at a pace to get me ahead of most on my flight at the front of the Immigration queue. Doesn't help when there is a bunch of earlier inbound flights, but its all relative!

 

[Forg]

I’m still not sure I understand. I’ve only ever needed to go through one screening point every time I’ve been through SIN. Which is no different from any other international transit AFAIK.

I’m not trying to convince you that SIN is amazing, I’m just trying to understand your experience.

OK I’ve not been through many airports at all, but in the other airports it’s obviously been considered that I’ve been through the x-ray & passport-check thing when I’ve got on the ‘plane in the first place; when getting off one ‘plane at HKG and onto another, there’s no need to stand in yet another line & rifle through my bag for liquids/passport/laptops/etc.

I’d have thought it would bother those people with status (unlike me) even more, because there’s no bypassing the long queue of plebs like there usually is for F & J & Statusy passengers at the airport.