I love airports ~:happy waiting for airplane time:~

Oh wow, an airport thread. Hm. Well, my parents moved from just outside Coventry in England to the middle of nowhere in Ohio just before I was born and often went back to visit their friends and families, so we've always travelled far and wide, and as such I've been through airports the world over - inevitably, some a good deal nicer than others. The only developing country airports through which I've flown are Phuket in Thailand, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia, and Luxor in Egypt. And yet I still had more pleasant experiences in those airports than I've had in airports in some developed countries. In fact, the list of airports I've enjoyed flying through is much, much shorter than the other list.

Airports I've enjoyed visiting:

Changi Airport, Singapore - The queues can be a bit of a hassle, particularly if one's final destination is the USA, but it's well laid out and there is plenty to pass the time.

Hong Kong Airport - I've only been through it once but I liked the layout and, again, there was quite a bit to do while I waited for my fifteen hour flight to O'Hare.

Tokyo Narita - I usually only stop at this airport en route to somewhere else, but once again I like the design, as well as the laptop stations at most gates (my laptop gets very hot after I've been using it for a while so I try to avoid putting it on my lap).

San Fransisco International - Probably the only American airport I genuinely enjoyed visiting, despite having been there to catch a red eye (which took nine hours to get to Midway due to icy fog and no wind over Chicago) and, as such, having to contend with closed shops. I did really like the layout, though, and it was easy to get around it (though it helped that there were very few people there when I was checking in).

Frankfurt International - Possibly the only European airport I enjoy visiting. Though it's huge and easy to get lost in it, that departures board they have is strangely hypnotic (of course, I often stand in European railway stations and watch similar boards there). Somewhat short on things to do once one clears security, though.

Vancouver International - I have fond memories of watching the 2006 FIFA World Cup final in this airport (after having been on one of the few flights I've ever taken on which there were no passengers under the age of two years - it was mostly persons of advanced years about to embark on cruises around the coast of Alaska). And it is capacious and easy to find quiet spots, which is rare for any airport. The departure queues are rather nasty, though.

Airports to which I'm indifferent:

Minneapolis-St. Paul - I've only flown through it once. It was all right, though the staff at the Quizno's at which I bought a sandwich were completely incompetent.

Montreal Trudeau (or Dorval if you prefer) - Getting there can be a bit of a pain, but the airport itself is not bad as airports go.

St. Louis International - I had several long layovers there years ago. It seemed rather dull, truth be told.

Munich International - I mostly remember putting up with a four-hour delay in this airport, after my parents had spent the last of their German money leaving us with no way to purchase dinner while we waited out the evening. Again, somewhat dull, I seem to remember.

Manchester - Haven't flown through this one in nearly fifteen years, though my family usually had better experiences there than at the London airports when we visited (and later returned to live in) the UK.

Airports I've hated visiting:

LAX - The worst in my opinion. The layout is atrocious (God help you if you're changing from an international flight to a domestic flight), the staff are unpleasant, it takes hours for baggage to show up on the conveyor belts, and it's surrounded by zealots and lunatics. And it handles too much air traffic for an airport of its size, and of course it has no room to expand! It's difficult to say which airport I hate more, this one or

Philadelphia - Possibly the worst layout of any airport I've ever visited. Not nearly enough runways to handle the volume of air traffic, the terminal layout is terrible, in half of the terminals there is bugger all to do, and there seems to be an endless parade of construction. You know an airport is badly designed when the inbound flights never take off on time because they are experiencing heavy traffic!

Chicago O'Hare - I used to love O'Hare. And I do like the layout of the terminals, which makes changing between domestic flights or from domestic to international flights a pleasant experience. But checking in and clearing security, particularly when changing from an international to domestic flight, is a bloody nightmare. Last time I flew through O'Hare on an international flight, there were no signposts indicating where I should take my luggage to check it onto my connecting flight and I ultimately found the right queue to join through sheer guesswork. It's a wonder the bag made it onto the flight (I was once told US Airways didn't have time to get my bag onto a connecting flight through O'Hare when I checked it in three hours early - and the flight even sat on the tarmac for twenty minutes because they were waiting for the last of the baggage!).

Chicago Midway - Poorly designed and sod all to do once you're inside, though not as bad as it used to be in that regard. (And either they have the most irritating background music ever or the air ducts make the most irritating noise in one of the terminals - difficult to say, because the same "tune" was repeated every ten seconds. If it was background music, it must have been written by a chimpanzee. Or it was that Erik Satie piece that is supposed to be played eight hundred times consecutively.)

Seattle-Tacoma - Getting there is a nightmare, and the queues inside were absurd when I was there.

Atlanta Hartsfield - While the actual terminals offer plenty of diversions, the layout is terrible, particularly for tight connections (my siblings have been screwed over several times by this phenomenon).

Detroit Metro - You have two options. Either you check into a dilapidated terminal in which there is nothing to do once you clear security (although the security queues usually move quickly) or you get a very nice terminal but must fly Northwest with all the hassle that tends to entail. Unfortunately it is my current local major airport, though only until next summer (I hope).

Las Vegas - The classic case of handling too many flights with too little airport and no room to expand. I'm not a slot machine fan so that doesn't really help in my case.

Washington Dulles - Dullest seems more appropriate. I was bored sick last time I flew through there, and there was a chaotic mess of construction enveloping the entire airport which seemed as though it would take years to finish.

Washington National - Similar complaint. A mess of neverending construction inside and out and a mind-numbingly dull terminal.

Baltimore International - The security queues are nightmarish and the terminal layout comes across as ill-conceived, particularly for the baggage claim.

Cleveland International - Poorly planned and poorly maintained, and definitely a bad airport in the winter months with toxic snow blowing in from toxic Lake Erie.

Boston Logan - Do you love to queue? Do you love standing around for hours in a long, slow-moving procession of people waiting to reach the front so you can move on to the next queue? Then you'll adore Logan.

New York JFK - Awful terminal layout (I despise airports where getting between terminals requires taking a crowded bus - somehow crowded trains don't irritate me as much), and the staff were extremely rude last time I was there.

New York LaGuardia - Decrepit and dull. Though it's been years since I flew through it, I hear it hasn't improved much.

Newark International - The last of the Unholy Trinity of New York airports, and on a similar level. Once again, I didn't care for the terminal layout and was bored out of my mind once I'd cleared security.

London Heathrow - Utter chaos. The departures and arrivals areas are always packed to bursting point, and I've never liked the layout of Terminals 1-3. I can't remember if I've ever been through Terminal 4, which is apparently a rather different experience.

London Gatwick - Dilapidated, poorly laid out, and arguably the worst baggage handlers of any airport I've experienced. Every time I fly through there my bags take nearly an hour to show up on the belt.

Perth International - Lots of luck if you need to change to a domestic flight - the terminals are on opposite sides of the runways, so it takes nearly twenty minutes to get from one to the other! Also somewhat decrepit and excruciatingly boring. And I got stuck in a lift there for forty minutes, so that has tarnished my opinion of it for a long while.

Jam it back in, in the dark.