World's Worst Airports

[Scumbag]

Here is a list of airports to avoid (Link). I supect it has come from the US as it is dominated by US airports or perhaps their airports aren't the best...

 

Worst weather: Chicago O'Hare International Airport.Winter snowstorms, summer thunderstorms, spring and autumn fog.

 

Worst weather runner-up: Frankfurt Airport, Germany. It's in a fog-plagued river valley!

 

Worst delays: London Heathrow International Airport. Flight shutdowns aplenty.

 

Worst delays runner-up: Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey.

 

Least user-friendly: Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport. Three terminals, five concourses, 10 wings and a bus maze.

 

Least user-friendly runner-up: Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain. It's a maze of shops and walkways with signs only for duty-free stores.

 

Hardest to get to: Washington Dulles International Airport. There's no train transport!

 

Hardest to get to runner-up: Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing traffic is hell!

 

Dirtiest: Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow. Old, falling apart and smelly.

 

Dirtiest runner-up: Jakarta International Airport, Indonesia. Things fester in the tropics...

 

Most crowded: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Ninety million passengers a year means long restroom and food court lines.

 

Ugliest: Haneda Airport, Tokyo, the world's fifth busiest airport!

 

Ugliest runner-up: McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas. Slot machine central!

 

Worst overall runner-up: John F. Kennedy International Airport. Crowded, dirty, fraught with delays and awful customer service.

 

Worst overall: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. A unanimous choice!

[Mike Asia]

The us is huge with a great number of flights including the busiest airports in the world there is your answer

[Dr.Winston]

I think the old terminal at Manila Airport should get a mention somewhere. That place has literally made me ill a few times.

[leadpencil]

This is going back a few years now but I remember Dhaka airport in Bangladesh being pretty grim.

 

I have had a fair few connecting flights through Frankfurt and (luckily) never had a problem.

 

I try and avoid any US airports as a transit passenger. The security checks and system of collecting your luggage and checking it in again makes it more hassle than it's worth.

[Dr.Winston]

This is going back a few years now but I remember Dhaka airport in Bangladesh being pretty grim.

 

I have had a fair few connecting flights through Frankfurt and (luckily) never had a problem.

Back in 1992 I tried to save a few thousand Baht by flying Biman Bangladesh. Worst decision I could have made, a night in a hotel in Khaka was part of the deal with the flight continued 'in the morning'. We were kept in the aiport for hours after arrival from Bangkok by customs who were just looking for things to tax. The hotel was disgusting and we were woken up at 3 in the morning for the bus back to the airport. The bus wouldn't start so we all to literally push start it at 4 in the morning! That was the last time I ever flew non-direct to Bangkok.

[leadpencil]

Back in 1992 I tried to save a few thousand Baht by flying Biman Bangladesh. Worst decision I could have made, a night in a hotel in Khaka was part of the deal with the flight continued 'in the morning'. We were kept in the aiport for hours after arrival from Bangkok by customs who were just looking for things to tax. The hotel was disgusting and we were woken up at 3 in the morning for the bus back to the airport. The bus wouldn't start so we all to literally push start it at 4 in the morning! That was the last time I ever flew non-direct to Bangkok.

 

That is exactly who my mate and I flew with on our first trip to Thailand!

 

We used a website (no longer in existence) where you put in the maximum price that you wanted to pay for the flight and they would call you back if they found something. We put in a ridiculously low price and to our surprise ten minutes later the phone rang. Obviously at the time we were not given the full picture nor did we ask for it as we were so chuffed at getting the cheap flight. We knew that it was not direct but what we did not know was that it was the equivalent of a bus.

 

The plane went from Heathrow to Frankfurt then Dubai (change plane) then Dhaka (where it could not land due to fog) then Chittagong then Burma then Bangkok. The stopover in Chittagong was the worse. There were dogs chasing the plane down the runway as we came into land and people growing vegetables in the middle of the landing strip. No-one knew what was going on and we were left on the plane in the heat for almost three hours before it took off again!

 

I remember being in Bangkok waiting for the return flight and seeing the direct BA and Thai flights on the departures board - it was torture. We then had a three hour stopover in Dhaka which turned into six then eight hours due to a problem with the plane.

 

Since then I have only flown indirectly once and that was with Swiss / Thai so it was a fairly safe bet!

[Dr.Winston]

That is exactly who my mate and I flew with on our first trip to Thailand!

 

We used a website (no longer in existence) where you put in the maximum price that you wanted to pay for the flight and they would call you back if they found something. We put in a ridiculously low price and to our surprise ten minutes later the phone rang. Obviously at the time we were not given the full picture nor did we ask for it as we were so chuffed at getting the cheap flight. We knew that it was not direct but what we did not know was that it was the equivalent of a bus.

 

The plane went from Heathrow to Frankfurt then Dubai (change plane) then Dhaka (where it could not land due to fog) then Chittagong then Burma then Bangkok. The stopover in Chittagong was the worse. There were dogs chasing the plane down the runway as we came into land and people growing vegetables in the middle of the landing strip. No-one knew what was going on and we were left on the plane in the heat for almost three hours before it took off again!

 

I remember being in Bangkok waiting for the return flight and seeing the direct BA and Thai flights on the departures board - it was torture. We then had a three hour stopover in Dhaka which turned into six then eight hours due to a problem with the plane.

 

Since then I have only flown indirectly once and that was with Swiss / Thai so it was a fairly safe bet!

At least you stopped off in soime adventurous sounding place! I heard that Cliff Richard had something to do with Biman........that explains a lot. Anybody who used to fly Aeroflot got any stories? I've heard that they used to be bad and stop at obscure Airports in the middle of nowhere too!

[arbiez]

Here is a list of airports to avoid (Link). I supect it has come from the US as it is dominated by US airports or perhaps their airports aren't the best...

Certainly the article is on a MSN sponsored site so one could assume there is some US focus. Based on some of the airports, I'd doubt it.

 

Examples:

Americans don't go to Moscow or Jakarta.

Haneda: Almost every flight from US goes to Narita so we'd never list Haneda.

McCarran: Americans like the fact there are slot machines in the terminal. So that has to be from a non-American perspective. Americans only complain about TSA at McCarran (and smoking).

Sky Harbor: It's a Southwest dominated airport. Americans like Southwest so unlikely to receive a lot of complaints from Yanks. OTOH, I'm sure many complaints are from US Airways hub best defined as, "sh*tty airline--sh*tty hub" and partnership with BA. Sky Harbor isn't set up for a global airport and that explains a lot.

 

As for . . .

• delays: San Francisco would rank pretty high on the list (fog).
  
• weather: Boston-Logan, Minneapolis and Detroit are much worse than O'Hare.
  
• worst: Los Angeles (LAX) should appear on the list, regardless of US or global perspective. It's probably one of the most inconvenient airports for international transfer of any major airport on the continent; especially when compared to Atlanta. I put LAX in the same class as JFK (which isn't much better than Heathrow).

What the article doesn't mention is scariest approaches. Hong Kong Int'l (old) and Gibraltar would rank pretty high on that list. How can you compile a list of bad airports if you don't consider places pilots and passengers don't want to land???

 

Final point: For the most part, compared to Narita, Inchon, and Changi, USA airports aren't very good (moderate at best)! There is far too much compromise in the planning phase to get anything better than low end (Denver being the probable exception-and even DIA is an extreme compromise). That said, I really like San Francisco (esp. international terminal) even with the delays. In the EU, I like Munich airport.

Edited January 19, 2011 by arbiez

[fostraswift]

done Paris-Charles de Gaulle a few times..I taught it was fine

 

nicest airport ive being to is samui...its like a big garden.lovely

[scott2night]

Worst airport in my opinion is Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan, I flew out of there after one year working there in 2005. They still had mines that had not been cleared between the runways and the place is a real shithole.

 

Cheapest airport to get a ticket to leave was Kabul International. After my contract was up, I was waiting to fly home but no flights had left Kabul for a week, because of snow. Then one day they told us that 3 flights were coming in and we had to hurry and get to the airport. I was supposed to fly to Baku Azerbaijan and the company had a ticket for me on one of the flights. So five of us left for the airport to catch our flight. But once at the airport we were told that our flight had been canceled. Our driver who had a brother working in the airport, went to talk to him and came back and said that for $100 he would get us on the flight to Dubai. So we each gave him $20 and he came back with five tickets to Dubai, so total airfare to there was only $20.

[midge]

Here is a list of airports to avoid (Link). I supect it has come from the US as it is dominated by US airports or perhaps their airports aren't the best...

 

Worst weather: Chicago O'Hare International Airport.Winter snowstorms, summer thunderstorms, spring and autumn fog.

 

Worst weather runner-up: Frankfurt Airport, Germany. It's in a fog-plagued river valley!

 

Worst delays: London Heathrow International Airport. Flight shutdowns aplenty.

 

Worst delays runner-up: Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey.

 

Least user-friendly: Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport. Three terminals, five concourses, 10 wings and a bus maze.

 

Least user-friendly runner-up: Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain. It's a maze of shops and walkways with signs only for duty-free stores.

 

Hardest to get to: Washington Dulles International Airport. There's no train transport!

 

Hardest to get to runner-up: Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing traffic is hell!

 

Dirtiest: Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow. Old, falling apart and smelly.

 

Dirtiest runner-up: Jakarta International Airport, Indonesia. Things fester in the tropics...

 

Most crowded: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Ninety million passengers a year means long restroom and food court lines.

 

Ugliest: Haneda Airport, Tokyo, the world's fifth busiest airport!

 

Ugliest runner-up: McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas. Slot machine central!

 

Worst overall runner-up: John F. Kennedy International Airport. Crowded, dirty, fraught with delays and awful customer service.

 

Worst overall: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. A unanimous choice!

go to Aggadir in Marroc,you come done throuthe cloudes an then you only see brown sand,a little barack and that's it.Good luck.Cheers.

[midge]

Back in 1992 I tried to save a few thousand Baht by flying Biman Bangladesh. Worst decision I could have made, a night in a hotel in Khaka was part of the deal with the flight continued 'in the morning'. We were kept in the aiport for hours after arrival from Bangkok by customs who were just looking for things to tax. The hotel was disgusting and we were woken up at 3 in the morning for the bus back to the airport. The bus wouldn't start so we all to literally push start it at 4 in the morning! That was the last time I ever flew non-direct to Bangkok.

That's my opinion you never should save on the wrong place,not worth the money.Cheers.

[aussieassman]

Its a wonder sydney isnt on that list, its full of rude workers who couldnt give a shit about anybody and think they have the most important job in the world and this allows them to be complete assholes,this is alos true for sydney bus drivers as well i guess the airport is ok but the people are c&%nts in ym opionion

[carny]

done Paris-Charles de Gaulle a few times..I taught it was fine

 

nicest airport ive being to is samui...its like a big garden.lovely

 

 

Got to agree with you about Samui, beautiful approach, landing and the big golf buggies that take you to a grass covered terminal. hope it's still the same. Heathrow is as bad it gets for me but Incheon in Korea has the best smoking rooms ever. 20 people in a smallish room smoking and the smoke is silently and efficiently removed without bothering anyone, why cant they all be like that? I'm sure a non-smoker would be comfortable in there! Don Muang had a great bar too as does Singapore. I try to get out of airports ASAP and for years have only travelled with hand luggage, for me it's the only way, off the plane, through passport control and gone.

[fostraswift]

Its a wonder sydney isnt on that list, its full of rude workers who couldnt give a shit about anybody and think they have the most important job in the world and this allows them to be complete assholes,

 

glad i'm not the only one thinking that

i arrived in sisney airport with my mates on a 1 year working visa in 2006...

cunts were so fucking rude, i felt like we were checking into prision..

sort of set me off on the wrong track with my oz experience

 

[castledrive]

Dhaka Airport in Bangladesh is the biggest shithole airport I have ever had the misfortune to pass through,

 

Got to agree with others about Samui, a real gem, also had free coffee and biscuits last time I was waiting to board.

[asiancup]

Certainly the article is on a MSN sponsored site so one could assume there is some US focus. Based on some of the airports, I'd doubt it.

 

Examples:

Americans don't go to Moscow or Jakarta.

Haneda: Almost every flight from US goes to Narita so we'd never list Haneda.

McCarran: Americans like the fact there are slot machines in the terminal. So that has to be from a non-American perspective. Americans only complain about TSA at McCarran (and smoking).

Sky Harbor: It's a Southwest dominated airport. Americans like Southwest so unlikely to receive a lot of complaints from Yanks. OTOH, I'm sure many complaints are from US Airways hub best defined as, "sh*tty airline--sh*tty hub" and partnership with BA. Sky Harbor isn't set up for a global airport and that explains a lot.

 

As for . . .

• delays: San Francisco would rank pretty high on the list (fog).
  
• weather: Boston-Logan, Minneapolis and Detroit are much worse than O'Hare.
  
• worst: Los Angeles (LAX) should appear on the list, regardless of US or global perspective. It's probably one of the most inconvenient airports for international transfer of any major airport on the continent; especially when compared to Atlanta. I put LAX in the same class as JFK (which isn't much better than Heathrow).

What the article doesn't mention is scariest approaches. Hong Kong Int'l (old) and Gibraltar would rank pretty high on that list. How can you compile a list of bad airports if you don't consider places pilots and passengers don't want to land???

 

Final point: For the most part, compared to Narita, Inchon, and Changi, USA airports aren't very good (moderate at best)! There is far too much compromise in the planning phase to get anything better than low end (Denver being the probable exception-and even DIA is an extreme compromise). That said, I really like San Francisco (esp. international terminal) even with the delays. In the EU, I like Munich airport.

 

The orginal article was written by

Eric Lucas

 

"Eric Lucas lives in Seattle. His work appears in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Michelin Green Guides and numerous other outlets. He has traveled in all 50 states and 24 foreign countries"

Edited January 20, 2011 by asiancup

[yogi100]

This is going back a few years now but I remember Dhaka airport in Bangladesh being pretty grim.

 

I have had a fair few connecting flights through Frankfurt and (luckily) never had a problem.

 

I try and avoid any US airports as a transit passenger. The security checks and system of collecting your luggage and checking it in again makes it more hassle than it's worth.

 

My pals and I flew with Biman one time, we got a cheap deal in business class and the flight was not too bad but Dhaka airport was a nightmare. We were allowed to use the VIP lounge. The toilet was blocked up and encrusted with shit, the aircon did not work in the VIP lounge. No drinking is allowed and coffee was lukewarm and we had to wait 30 minutes for it after ordering it. The grub was diabolical so we just had some biscuits.

 

God help those who were traveling cattle class it must have been revolting in their lounge. Then to top it all the pilot had disappeared and they had to summon another one and a 1 hour stop over turned into 4 hours. Never would I fly with the likes of them ever again no matter how cheap they were. Those Yanks in the survey don't know what a terrible airport is till they've seen Dhaka.

[themosch]

Istanbul airport is also easily to mention for dirtiest airport. Once had a stopover there with Sobelair from Belgium. In the toilets the piss was standing 10 cm high on the floor , no toiletpaper and not to mention the horrible bad quality of food!

[leadpencil]

That's my opinion you never should save on the wrong place,not worth the money.Cheers.

 

I agree. To me the flight is an important part of the holiday or trip. I use it to relax and unwind (or sleep on the way back!).

 

God help those who were traveling cattle class it must have been revolting in their lounge.

 

Back in those days I was one of the cattle class passengers.

 

Like you I do not remember the flight or plane itself being too bad. Dhaka was grim. The scarce facilities that there were closed shortly after we arrived and then there was nothing - not even a vending machine selling water. We were not allowed out of the airport and were told that it was dangerous anyway (?) so just had to grin and bear it. Never again.

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

my vote for the worst airport in the world, is plymouth. i have never been but its in plymouth.

[td5855]

Lagos, Nigeria, followed within a gnats hair Port Harcourt, Nigeria also.

 

Robbed blind by every person person i came in contact with.

1) Health authotities. said vaccinations certificates were wrong. To get out the office a big "You dash me man??"

2) Customs, all my goods were proscibed and had were fofieted.

3) Taxi driver from Lagos International to smaller airport for flight. "Hey man you me same same, we christian", "I no muslim pig like those other niggers" "What you mean £50 to much"

4) Had to put money into my 'Paid for' 'Booked ticket' to get a boarding pass.

5) Fisticuffs with a security guy. When after being searched, found I had no money left, took my watch.

6) Could go on but still rankles even now.

 

 

GRRRRRRR

[momomo]

I adjust my expectations and ratings according to the "state" and wealth of the country they are in. What I mean is that I obviously don't expect the same standards in airports of "3rd world" counties than e.g. in western Europe.

Therefore, e.g. Colombo gets a much better relative rating than JFK from me and even Mumbai does better than Birmingham.

For the same reason I do feel quite happy e.g. in Phnom Penh but get really overly upset every time I go through some of the absolute worst: LHR 1-4. Hate this shithole too mutt!

Edited January 21, 2011 by momomo

[arbiez]

The orginal article was written by

Eric Lucas

 

"Eric Lucas lives in Seattle. His work appears in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Michelin Green Guides and numerous other outlets. He has traveled in all 50 states and 24 foreign countries"

That last sentence says it all. That said, I stand corrected but still believe most Americans would never consider some of Mr. Lucas' comments.

[OleKingCole]

At least you stopped off in soime adventurous sounding place! I heard that Cliff Richard had something to do with Biman........that explains a lot. Anybody who used to fly Aeroflot got any stories? I've heard that they used to be bad and stop at obscure Airports in the middle of nowhere too!

 

Have flown Volga Air from Moscow to Volgagrad. Their planes were Aeroflot cast offs. Good few years ago so don't remember many of the details except, no luggage belts just a fenced in compound to collect bags from, rather antiquated facilities but some really good service, once the people, passengers and staff realised we were foreigners actually visiting their place and using their airline they were so incredibly polite and welcoming and insistant that we boarded and disembarked first and sat on the buses etc.

 

One of my favourite airports is Changi and I hate Gatwick and LHR(1-4), never had my bags arrive faster than 1 hr at Gatwick. LHR 5 is, IMO an enormous improvement on the other 4 terminals.

 

I remember once arriving at Changi and had a 6 hr wait for onward flight to Denpasar, they laid on a coach tour of Singapore, another time coming back through there, was hoping my connecting flight would be delayed as the world cup was on and they laid on loads of large screens - perfect!