your favorite airport(s) and why? worst?

[utahpilot]

if you had to spend 5 hours in a terminal waiting for your next departure, where would it be? why?

what's the worst place to be stuck?

I dig ORD and SFO, but it seems all big terminals are very much alike.

I don't like hanging out in STL, however. Old, dirty, chaotic.

 

[AZaviator]

Favorites:

PIT, DFW, DEN -big, spacious, very modern, good restaurants, shops, lots of international and domestric air carriers.

Least Favorites:

Chicago Midway- reminds me of a ghetto and the rather low ceilings give the feeling of being stuck in a basement in some sort of old, runned down building.

Detroit (DTW)- this one needs no explanation.

Wichita, KS (ICT)- very old, ugly, outdated; gives you the feeling that you walked into some sort of abandoned 1970s bowling alley.

 

[CatYaaak]

They all suck, and since their degree of suckiness is directly proportional to how quickly you can hike from your gate to freedom, smaller is better.

Even the most mundane, jerkwater FBO equipped with a recliner is far more appealing to me.

Now, asthetically speaking, I like the new parts of Reagan National. It kind reminds me of an old train station or something.

 

[bobbysamd]

Airports

I learned to fly at Wiley Post Airport in OKC. Good training facility. Good runways, controlled field with friendly controllers, a variety of VOR and ILS approaches. Decent restaurant. Friendly and professional FSDO on the field. For that matter, Oklahoma City is a great training environment all around. Several airports, a great variety of approaches, friendly TRACON, real crosswinds, and real weather.

I liked Prescott, although it is overrun by Riddle. Nancy's is a good restaurant. With the exception of one controller, who eventually married one of my former students, the controllers aren't that friendly. I suspect they are burned out by the daily load of Riddle aircraft.

I will include McGehee's Catfish Restaurant in southern Oklahoma. It has a grass field that slopes, and is a bit of a challenge. Not my favorite airport per se, but the farm-raised catfish and hush puppies are out of this world.

I took a flight into LaGuardia once. I didn't like it at all. The terminal seemed cramped and dirty and the runways seemed crowded.

Montreal Dorval is an alright big airport. I liked seeing the unfamiliar commuter airline aircraft, e.g. Air Alma, etc.

DEN is one of the best things to happen to Denver in a long time. Beautiful facility. Spacious. Quite an upgrade from Stapleton, which was a classic prop airport during the fifties (with a GREAT restaurant, with a fantastic view of the ramp and those beautiful DC-7s, etc.), but suffered from all the Rube Goldberg "improvements" after the fifties.

 

[bigsky]

Miami international! Lots of restaurants and also has a hotel in the middle. The hotel has a restaurant on 7/8 floors and pool and workout facility on the 8th. I think it was 3 or 5 dollars for crews to use.

 

[KingAirer]

From the airline side MEM sucks...very low ceilings and very crowded. On the GA side of MEM Wilson air and Signature are both very nice.
MSL, muscle shoals Alabama, is a sh!t hole, nuff said.

The signature in Washington dulles IAD, is awesome, sleep rooms, Xbox, PS2, massage chairs, nice weather room, internet access, all kinds of cocoa and coffee......this is of course unless your paying for the ramp and handling fees!

 

[MetroSheriff]

From the airline side MEM sucks...very low ceilings and very crowded. On the GA side of MEM Wilson air and Signature are both very nice.

MSL, muscle shoals Alabama, is a sh!t hole, nuff said.

At least MEM has Interstate BBQ. Great food. However the walk from the Delta Terminal over to Interstate is about 3 1/2 miles and requires a map with all the twists and turns.

MSL=rat hole. You gotta love the Naugahyde couches and 4 year old people magazines in the reading rack.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

If you are traveling with your kids, LGW (London Gatwick) has a small indoor playground on the second floor near the shops/restaurants. If you have time to kill, it's great (especially since the playground is not too far from the pub).

Does anyone know of any other terminals with something similar, especially in the U.S.?

If I'm on my own, I like to be able to walk around the other airlines' gate areas, check out their airplanes, and see how they do things. For this reason, I don't like airports such as LGA or JFK where the terminals are separate.

The best for strolling are PIT and DEN, I think. Good shops, food, and lots of different airlines.

 

[414Flyer]

I have also made a couple of trips to McGehees catfish in Oklahoma...Not a bad place. Made quite a few trips with friends to the Walters OK strip right along side I-40, then jumped the fence to go eat at the McDs right in between the I-40 lanes across from that strip.

I learnred to fly at Wichita Valley airport (f14) in early 90s. Interior looked like something out of late 60s. Runways were not any better.

Made quite a few trips to Devils Lake ND, but luckily did not have to stay more than few minutes. Also had 1970s vintage decor. living there would be same as being exiled to Siberia.

But I think the worst airport I have flown into has to be Zuni NM. Locals like to break runway lights for fun, or go sit on the runway on cinder blocks and drink. Rough uneven runway surrounded by tall cliffs and mesas. Elevation is about 6600 msl, but the runway is short and skinny to make up for it. I am not that comfortable going in there in day. Going in at night is something I do not wish on anyone.

 

[RightPedal]

MSL, muscle shoals Alabama, is a sh!t hole, nuff said.
<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><>
Alabama is a sh^t hole, nuff said!
Military aviation is the only thing happining and not much of that. All airports are dead and decaying.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

I forgot to add NEW (New Orleans Lakefront) as one of my favorites. One of the FBO's -- I forget which one -- has some very comfortable reclining chairs in their lounge.

I once spent several hours in one of those chairs recovering from a night in the French Quarter.

 

[Typhoon1244]

DEN and SEA are two places I don't mind being stuck. ATL is not bad, but the people who work there are uniformly pretty rude.

Probably the worst airport for connecting passengers is DFW.

Now I'm rating these airports from the standpoint of a passenger. As a pilot, I don't have any real favorites, but I know which ones I hate: IAH and ATL. These two places cause me more stress than any other airports in our system...so far. (I'm going to PIT and JFK for the first time this month. Talk to me again after that.)

 

[enigma]

LGA. Good old LaGarbagia doesn't have enough seats in the concourses. Each concourse has it's own security checkpoint, so one must be rescreened everytime you go between concourses (sux for commuting) All of the food, expect bagels etc, is outside of security. I also am always struck by how dirty the concourses always seem to be. LaGuardia does have one redeeming value, and that is the Asian fastfood place in the food court.


FLL is also a bad place to be stuck for most of the same reasons as LGA, except FLL is much cleaner.

It's been a long time since I was at ABQ, but that was a decent place to spend a few hours. The restuarant used to have a great enchilada employee special. Thanks to a few Mesa Captains like Robert Lackey, who always paid for their poor FO's dinner at ABQ.

regards,
8N

 

[501261]

I forgot to add NEW (New Orleans Lakefront) as one of my favorites. One of the FBO's -- I forget which one -- has some very comfortable reclining chairs in their lounge.

I once spent several hours in one of those chairs recovering from a night in the French Quarter.

That's Million Air NEW.

Speaking of Million Air's the Million Air facility at MRY; Monterrey, CA is on the top of my list. Beautiful facility, great service, good prices, and they used to have 2 Jaguars for crew cars. The last couple of years they had PT Cruisers for crew cars!

 

[501261]

As a passenger I hate airports that you have to re-clear security to get to a connecting flight. EWR and MIA come to mind! It's just a real pain in the A$$ when your arriving flight is late and now you've only got 20 minutes to get to your connecting flight, which you will conveniently spend waiting in line at the security checkpoint, so the TSA can go through your dirty underwear, again!

As a pilot, airports with complicated taxiing instructions, LAX comes to mind, but only you land on the north side and your gate is on the south side, or vice versa! Going from one side of that place to the other, can be a real pain, especially at night, during a runway change, when ground is having to repeat his instructions for the umpteenth time to the JAL heavy that missed his turn.

 

[avbug]

Tuweep, Arizona. about 2,500' of uneven dirt, usually overgrown. At the uphill end there's a small homemade awning with a picnic table under it. A sign hangs from it that says "Concourse A."

It's a 20 minute walk to the edge of the Grand Canyon, and there are no gaurd rails. No running water. Few tourists. No electricity.

It sits in a small valley adjacent to Mount Trumbull. It's the kind of place you fly to just "be."

Seattle is good. Any place you can fly that has an air museum. (Yipsillanti, Polk City, etc). Oshkosh at the end of July. Any airport with crop dusters.

Bad airports? I went from Rabaul (PNG) to Lae. Rabaul is beautiful, an island paradise (with an oddball approach using a short left turn on final to avoid a volcano). Lae is also beautiful from the air, but a riot was in progress on the ground. We overnighted there, and had to have an armed escort everywhere we went. I sat in the terminal there for a little while; the only food available was either coke or orange crush, and hardtack crackers. As an experiment, I timed how long it would take for something to be stolen. I started with my orange crush. 30 seconds max. Look away, look back and the drink is gone.

Three of us sat at a table in the cafe, such as it was. We heard some noise and stood up to look. Sat back down again, and all the food was gone. Looked over at another little table and several PNG DF soldiers were eating our food. I had a white shirt and sunglasses, they had FN FAL rifles...I smiled and moved on.

Some places just don't cry out "come on back again soon, y'all." That was one of them.

 

[Mookie]

MRY

Five hours to burn....could probably get at least the front nine in at Pebble, Spyglass, Poppy, Laguna Seca, etc.....Or hit the range at anyone of the fifteen courses within a $5 cab ride. Best deal out there is $35 for Pacific Grove...right under the outer market!!!

Plus, BEST chilli on the west coast. Double your pleasure and order a medium chilli in a large cup, and mix with bag of Fritos.


Mookie

 

[House_X]

I noticed some people were bustin' caps on DTW...the Smith Terminal is a "hole", but at least they have the NWA pilot shop (although hard to find)...you can kill some time in there...

The new NWA Terminal in DTW makes up for the Smith Terminal...it's awsome...

SFO International Terminal is also one of the best to hang out in...swanky restaurants and the design is the best in the country.

CAE (Columbia SC) has a nice little terminal as well...

DFW has the best eyecandy thanks to AA F/A hiring practices...

House

 

[skyking1976]

3 Best:

1. Milwaukee (MKE) - Not just because I live there. The restaurant in the main terminal is pretty good and reasonable, plus they have a cool used book store across from it.

2. Denver (DEN) - Que Bueno on the B concourse for fantastic Mexican food plus some great places to shop (Discovery channel store, portable DVD player rentals, etc.)

3. London Gatwick (LGW) - This place is just huge. If you can't find something to do here, there is a problem.


3 Worst:

1. Rock Springs, WY (RKS) - This is without a doubt the armpit of the US. There is NOTHING there but wind, rocks, sand, and sagebrush. If go back at all in this lifetime, it will be too soon.

2. Kansas City, MO (MCI) - This place needs extensive renovation and overhaul. It was state of the art back in the 70's but it is too antiquated now. Besides they need more decent resaurants.

3. Moscow, Russia (SVO) - I think this one needs no explanation. It was in better condition when the communists were running it.

Skyking

 

[chperplt]

I can't believe no one said LAS! I spent 10 hours stuck there once.. What a great airport to get stuck in! So much to do inside the secure area! Between the slots, shops, and restaurants, 10 hours went by in a snap!

PIT and PHL are also ok for delays.. Plenty to do and see in the terminal.

LGA and BOS SUCK.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

I once had four hours off at SXM (St Maarten), on Christmas Day. Since it was a holiday, we were all a very junior crew.

We took a $5 cab to the beach, swam and had lunch. It was a nice break in the day to spend a few hours on the beach with all the junior (ie. young!) FA's.

Of course, my wife was a bit surprised to see me with a tan after a one-day turn.

 

[RightBettor]

Hmmmm...

I'd have to say LAS... because I always have a place to store any extra, unwanted quarters when strolling through the terminal.

Hey, KC-10, on the subject of hanging out on the beach with those young FAs and your subsequent return home: Make sure when you do get home the wife sees that you indeed have a tan line down there around "Mr. Happy"!!!!

 

[I'm lost]

For the best eye candy you can't beat MIA. All the hotties from Latin America woooooow!!! The FAs from all of those Latin American carriers can't be beat either, man those guys know how to hire flight attendents. Avianca comes to mind right off the top of my head.

DEN is hard to beat for the beauty of the terminal.

You want to step back a few years, if you ever get the chance Havana Cuba is a little strange. Not only do you get to see a terminal that is art of the state, not state of the art, you also get to see various interesting things the commies call "passenger aircraft", surplus Russian fraighters etc. etc. The plus side to HAV is they have a duty free store in the terminal with a good selection of Cuban cigars and Cuban rum that makes Bacardi taste like sewer water.


"Party on Wayne, party on Garth"

 

[Clearsky]

Anything run by BAA (formerly the British Airport Authority), including Pittsburg's retail and Heathrow Airport. They have a big retail focus and turn the Airport into a shopping experience. The shopping passes the time. What a great idea too - captive passenger, lots of foreign currency to get rid of, and time to look around.

 

[avbug]

""1. Rock Springs, WY (RKS) - This is without a doubt the armpit of the US. There is NOTHING there but wind, rocks, sand, and sagebrush. If go back at all in this lifetime, it will be too soon."

Skyking,

You forgot about the cats. Never go there without a roll of masking tape, and wear something warm...even if you get into the building after dark.

I went in there once doing am organ harvest. I went to the hospital with the med crew, and my amigo stayed with the airplane. Said he'd get some shuteye. I lived in Wyoming, so I knew better. When I came back, I noticed a considerable fuel imbalance. He ran one engine for the bleed, for quite some time, trying to stay warm.

Don't give up on RKS...like the rest of the state, you just need to spend a couple of years there to appreciate it. Wyoming is a great place.

 

[Britpilot]

The new DTW-I love walking through that tunnel with the funky light and music show.

 

[pmoffitt]

kids place

Not really a hub airport but BUF has a place for thekids toplay right next to but inside of security.

PIT is greta for the shops as a passenger and pretty easy to get around as a Pilot(at least GA side).

PHL is a rat hole. The terminal seems like it was built to load and off load airplanes of the 60's with the ramps going downhalf a level from the mian terminal level. Needs a paint job and a good cleaning.

LGA with the leave the terminal to catch another airline is crap in todays security. I will not make that mistake again!!!

 

[aviatrix]

several faves....

ORD for the underground concourse connectors with the neon lights. The moving walkways seem to be miles long, though.

TPA is so organized. That hub and spoke concept works well....others should try it!

And LAS purely for the entertainment. *ding-ding-ding*

Oh........and DFW has some pretty good-looking pilots walking around too!

 

[Typhoon1244]

Re: several faves....

Oh........and DFW has some pretty good-looking pilots walking around too!

Why, thank you. [Smoothing eyebrow with moist pinkie...]

 

[flyboy]

HNL has some pretty good restaraunts and the climate is usually pretty cozy (if you can put up with constant jet noise). Other than that, definitely DEN with their marvelous Que' Bueno. If only they'd find a larger area to do business........not nearly enough seating.