Comparing US airports to Asian airports is a bit of a false analogy, in my opinion. Sure, many US airports are old and in need of refurb, but remember that many of them were built in early days of the jet age (60s/70s), at a time where some of these Asian cities were barely more than regional villages, and places like Dubai practically didn’t exist. In fact, when LAX was reborn in the 1960s it was considered “futuristic”. To give you some context – in the 1960s Melbourne was still operating out of Essendon….
While many comments re US airports are true concerning the level of amenity provided to passengers, when one thinks of the airport as a “utility”, I think they are still pretty amazing. When you consider the sheer size of them (7 of the world’s top 10 busiest airports by aircraft movement are in the US) it is amazing they work at all. And they all seem to operate 24/7.
Last year, for example, I was in Chicago and there was a blizzard. ORD was reduced to using only 1 out of 7 runways (there used to be 9). Sure, there were delays, but the airport did not grind to a complete halt as it would many other places; as the weather improved, more runways were re-opened. More runways gives you more options. DFW – also 7 runways. LAX – 4 runways. Even BOS has 6 runways! And it is a smaller city than Melbourne. Also last year, I had a couple of long layovers at DFW and LAX – so I took the time to do some exercise and “walk” the length of the terminals (as much as possible). Firstly, they are HUGE. I wasn’t able to walk the length of DFW - I ran out time. The second thing you notice is the drastic difference between terminals. LAX, for example…. TBIT is fine – really nice. Better than MEL in my opinion – and they are building a 2nd TBIT – I am sure that will be even better. But some of the older LAX terminals are really lacking. But what they all have – and what we are lacking in Australia IMO – is a great selection of food and beverage outlets. They have proper restaurants and sports bars etc. In fact, often it is more fun to hang out in a bar rather than sit in the lounge.
What I like most about US airports is that they haven’t been sold for a quick buck to private companies, I am not 100% sure why, but I do recall someone telling me once that it is prohibited by law to sell public assets such as airports (someone can fact check that for me?) Anyway, this is clearly reflected in the airport fees imposed. LAX charges about $5, compared to the $35/$40 that Sydney or Melbourne charge. Just recently I redeemed QF FF points on Alaska Air out of SEA – the carrier charges were US$5.60.
Also, does anyone remember the US pre-2001? I was living there from 1998 – 2000 and I remember the airports being just the same as anywhere else I went in the world… just much bigger. I think the impact that 9/11 had on airports, and to the general “vibe” of travelling, cannot be understated.
In summary, while I do agree that many newer airports in Asia etc. offer more in the way of creature comforts, I think this is a function of just being “new”, rather than some kind of secret that the Americans are unaware of. As US airports are being refurbished/expanded, they are certainly getting better. And if the US was to build a completely new airport somewhere, I imagine that it would be as good as SIN, HKG etc. However, when it comes to the functionality – when it comes to the ability of coordinating enormous volumes of aircraft and passengers – I think the US is still miles ahead.
