International Airports- Best and Worst.

[jimbooooooo]

I am surprised to have gotten this far through the thread without mention of AUH.

For a major transit hub, without lounge access it is like a 2nd rage suburban shopping mall with a tiny food court and incredibly limited dining options, filthy toilets etc etc.

Add to that almost guaranteed bus transfer to a connecting European flight if it’s not a major destination and the constant ‘enhancement’ of the Etihad offering and I reckon you’ve got to add this to one of the worst.

 

[mad_atta]

In no particular order...

• I don’t really get the SIN love. It’s efficient and all, but it’s pretty bland and joyless, and I absolutely HATE having screening at the gate. Unnecessarily stressful.
• HKG is vastly preferable for me, especially now I’ve discovered how fantastic so many of its lounges are (also unlike SIN)
• Honestly, most big Asian hubs are pretty good, except the mainland Chinese ones which have incredible looking terminal buildings yet still deliver a poor experience
• AUH was surprisingly poor.
• CDG we can all agree on - it’s woeful. As are all NYC area airports - just a total disgrace. Give me LAX any day, and that’s saying something.
• MNL and CGK are pretty dire, at least in some terminals. MNL is a definite contender for my worst overall airport experience
• SYD and LHR are quite similar in a way - dreadful to transit through, but actually not too bad as your home airport (SYD is mine currently, LHR was for 5 years a while back) and both have pretty good nonstop networks. SYD has definitely got worse over the years, though, and the inbound immigration / customs experience is particularly painful on morning flights. And I prefer SYD to MEL, which I find pokey and depressing.
• I’m no great fan of FRA, finding it surprisingly difficult to navigate, but most Euro airports are pretty user friendly and efficient
• I’m quite fond of WLG as small airports go, though the international side has basically nothing going on (and ‘The Rock’ terminal extension is ludicrous)
• HND I think is the calmest airport for its size that I've ever experienced, and the viewing deck is spectacular.

 

[burmans]

This thread just got a mention on the ABC!

 

[Forg]

• I don’t really get the SIN love. It’s efficient and all, but it’s pretty bland and joyless, and I absolutely HATE having screening at the gate. Unnecessarily stressful.

As I was going through a transit security checkpoint in Terminal 1 at TPE yesterday (which I don’t in any way recall having to do at T2 4wks earlier), I was pondering why it bothers me to have to do the same thing at the gate.

I think it’s partially because it’s nice to get all rigmorole over, then you can relax & wait for your flight knowing you only have to get to the gate on-time rather than early. I think it’s also because there’s guaranteed to be a widebody aircraft’s worth of queue waiting to get through security at that gate ... you always stand in a queue of 300+ people, every time, whereas both the through-airport transits I’ve had this last month with security not at the gate have been queueless & smooth as a really nummy butter with just the right amount of salt (on a good crusty slice of sourdough ... numnumnum ...).

This thread just got a mention on the ABC!

And then ... ?

 

[Pushka]

This thread just got a mention on the ABC!

And? What was said?

 

[burmans]

And? What was said?

Essentially what's on this page World's Best (and Worst) International Airports. It didn't appear there had been a lot of analysis beyond that.

Quite funny actually, the question was raised that if Sydney is worst out of how many. Given we only have 4 pages of posts I hardly think this should be regarded as an official survey!

 

[Lord_Lenny]

I have to say I quite like SIN, the gate screening can be frustrating though especially when you step off the 15hr leg from Europe at 1am and have a short connection time. But the airport works, I like the carpet and I find it quite nostalgic - we used to fly through it every few years going back to visit mum's family in Scotland so I have many fond memories of staring at Koi Ponds and pushing my sister around on the luggage trolley's (until we almost took out a patrol of Gurkhas!!)

SYD is fine as a home base, I would hate to go through a Dom > Int transfer though, and the bus gates are quite terrible (but thankfully I've only gotten these once)

When I think about it I guess the more familiar you are with an airport the easier or 'better' it can be, I don't mind LHR now that I've flown from T2 a few times and know my way around it all.

Worst I've found is Split - tiny terminal, stunning lack of information, basically no facilities airside (or landside) and so crowded.

 

[dajop]

I think it’s also because there’s guaranteed to be a widebody aircraft’s worth of queue waiting to get through security at that gate ... you always stand in a queue of 300+ people, every time, .

You must be doing it all wrong then! I have departed SIN just under 300 times in the last 10 years (some transits, most as origin), and never had more than about 15-20 people in the queue ahead of me. The vast majority of times (95% of the time), there's usually only 4 or 5 people, or less ahead of me. But I get to the gate about 5-10 mins before the nominated closing time, and almost always this guarantees a cruise through security, but I get it for those who want to be first on the aircraft - there's going to be queues.

the gate screening can be frustrating though especially when you step off the 15hr leg from Europe at 1am and have a short connection time. Bu.

Actually, it's counter intuitive, but having gate screening actually is better for short connections. At BKK, I've done transfers that have taken me a good 20 mins to get off one plane to transfer to another at an adjacent gate. At SIN, for adjacent gate transfers, you simply get off the plane and do the 2 min walk to the next gate. The thing is there is nowhere to impede you (no funneling to a central point) other than at the gate itself - and once you reach that gate you are more or less home and hosed (unless it has already closed ). The first place they look for fail to board passengers is the security screening point at the gate itself. Had some elderly relatives passing through HKG last year, and their flight from MEL arrived 15 mins late - leaving only 45 mins to connect, but they were already proactively moved to a flight 8 hrs later, because e I presume concerns about the time it would take to get to the gate. At SIN, 45 mins is plenty of time, even with a transfer from T3 to T2.

 

[OZDUCK]

Two nice "little" airports we went through around 2009 that were very easy and pleasant to use were Kuching International in Sarawak & Senai International (Johor Bahru). Both had been very recently modernised and were clean and efficient. This was in the days when you could save several hundred dollars travelling between Singapore/Sarawak by taking an easy train/shuttle bus transfer to Senai.

This trip is fun because even though you are travelling between two Malaysian States immigration controls apply on arrival at Kuching. As I have mentioned before, this is because of the terms of Sarawak's accession to Malaysia. The Kuching Immigration officers were all far more pleasant and engaging than their mainland equivalents.

 

[PumaPilot]

Just remembered, Boracay was hands down the worst, from checkin to boarding, it's all about ripping the pax off, HATED IT. Warsaw was a great airport, the Emirates Lounge was fun, tomato juice and Vodka, plenty of it !!

 

[bertflyer]

Apart from the big airports already mentioned (SIN and HKG great airports, CDG, LAX and LHR no good) I really like HAM and MUC in Germany and SFO in the US. I absolutely loathe KLIA2! I know it’s a LCC terminal but if using 3K to connect from SIN (eg on a MEL-SIN-KUL flight to try to maximise QF SCs) you are forced through this abomination of an airport and without fail it always has the longest immigration queues I experienced in any airport in recent years.
One hour wait yesterday to clear immigration by which time the warm glow of my successful Y to Y+ upgrade on the MEL-SIN had long disappeared...

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

Apart from the big airports already mentioned (SIN and HKG great airports, CDG, LAX and LHR no good) I really like HAM and MUC in Germany and SFO in the US. I absolutely loathe KLIA2! I know it’s a LCC terminal but if using 3K to connect from SIN (eg on a MEL-SIN-KUL flight to try to maximise QF SCs) you are forced through this abomination of an airport and without fail it always has the longest immigration queues I experienced in any airport in recent years.
One hour wait yesterday to clear immigration by which time the warm glow of my successful Y to Y+ upgrade on the MEL-SIN had long disappeared...

The absolute worse thing about KLIA2 is that they make you walk 30 mins from the time you arrive to get to immigration.

 

[Archipelago]

The absolute worse thing about KLIA2 is that they make you walk 30 mins from the time you arrive to get to immigration.

True. But I look at it as exercise nowadays (I don't get out much)

Okay, in full disclosure if I can't be Ars*d walking I'll flag down the courtesy buggy and jump on that to get across the Sky Bridge

 

[PineappleSkip]

Just remembered, Boracay was hands down the worst, from checkin to boarding, it's all about ripping the pax off, HATED IT. Warsaw was a great airport, the Emirates Lounge was fun, tomato juice and Vodka, plenty of it !!

The AY WP lounge at WAW was crackajack also. Cheers skip

 

[GoldCanyon340]

PRG is a great mid sized airport. It only has two basic contract lounges (Mastercard lounge slightly better than the Menzies lounge) but it's easy to navigate, security at the gate (for those that like that ) and an express bus to Old Town that costs only CZK60. That's AUD3.60 - I'm looking at you Sydney.

 

[astrosly]

Split International airport in Croatia. Hands down the worst airport ever. Their security screeners do the most invasive public pat downs ever, worse than India where at least they separate the males from females when pat downs are done. Few chairs. No direct entry to planes - buses everywhere. Huge toilet queues. We wondered why people had stopped the down escalator and were sitting on it. We found out there was no space to even stand upstairs. It is at best, a small domestic airport in any other country. Yet it’s incredibly busy with the popularity of the Croatian Coast.

Having gone through Split airport every year for the last five years I agree it's gotten bad, it just can't handle the volume which has increased dramatically over the last couple of years which is somewhat due to the "film location" effect with GoT. International arrival is a s$!tfight even for EU folks, so much so that last year and this year I arrived instead into Zagreb and was processed there which has a new terminal and makes the transfer and arrival as a domestic into Split so much easier though departure is still wanting (long lines, little food/drink offerings, hot and cramped terminal with not enough seating). They are currently expanding the terminal in Split in which stage 1 should be finished by middle of next year.

 

[astrosly]

JNB: abundance of steel bars and grids that were reminiscent of cattle pens and runs, people pushing through into the assistance/priority lane with officers turning a blind eye, confusing signage between and within terminals as had to check in at one and find my way to another terminal for flight, more than one bus boarding at the same gate caused some "amusing" errors. Airport staff were always friendly though.

 

[Franky]

The absolute worse thing about KLIA2 is that they make you walk 30 mins from the time you arrive to get to immigration.

And coming from Perth you have to fly there on a 737 and leave at 0200 in the morning...

Never again.

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

And coming from Perth you have to fly there on a 737 and leave at 0200 in the morning...

Never again.

2am in the morning??? Wow that's harsh really.
Not to mention that the seats are not the most comfortable out there...

 

[p--and--t]

Passionate about international travel and visiting places and cultures but... Airports!!! &$@"?$&@

They provide a function but haven't been through one where I can say I "enjoyed" the experience especially in recent years.

Lots of "less than pleasant" experiences.

KLIA - being off loaded from a plane so it could be cleaned, a few minutes later being reloaded to same plane but having to go through security again and being grabbed in the private parts during the pat down so hard my low hangers were still sore more than an hour later.

FRA - transit 3 times in the last 18 months - off loaded onto a bus - bizarre rabbit warren layout, misdirections by staff, running from one gate to another because every arrival was late, a transit time insufficient, aggressive security staff, reloaded onto another bus back to another aircraft sitting on the tarmac apron in a bus for >30min so hopelessly overcrowed that if you fainted you couldn't fall.

MNL -International terminal hopelessly under resourced over capacity, run down dirty and meagre facitilities. Can smell the public toilet block from 50m away

HKG - all passengers being made to queue half way down a staircase for 10-15 minutes while all our handlluggage was unpacked onto a temporary table on the staircase landing and searched for the second time before being allowed to board.

LAX - being yelled at by home land security officer on approach to immigration that same sex couples are not couples in their eyes and must go through separately in separate queues

KWL - After checking in our luggage then refused a boarding pass because seats were being commandeered by a party official and we were being bumped to the next day - then not being able to retrieve our luggage because it was going round and round on the belt in the "sterile" area and we couldn't enter the sterile area because we didn't have a boarding pass. Took a bribe to a cleaner to go and get luggage and push it through the arrivals security door.

MEL - International departures becoming more and more like a IKEA store every day forced to wander zigzagging back and forth endlessly 100s of metres through retail that 90% passengers not remotely interested in.

CAN - Flight cancelled due to weather, no advise to passengers until 45mins after scheduled departure then directed to airport "foreigner" information desk to find out how to get checked luggage back - information desk only speaks Chinese and waved us away. Had to find a friendly local to go argue with desk staff to get luggage back.

MIA- Better stop there before this post gets too long