What is an airport to avoid?

LAX is absolutely horrible.
I rarely use that airport, but sometimes I have to because the smaller airports around don’t cater to certain airlines or destinations.
I would assume that any airport that is really large would be a nightmare such as Dallas and Atlanta.

Atlantic City’s is pretty damn bad. I wouldn’t recommend it, and I never even used it…I’ve had to drop friends there and hear nothing but terrible things.

I’ve never had a really bad experience. Some places are difficult to figure out, but I seem to always have my layovers in the same cities, so I know the airports. (San Antonio, JFK, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Vegas, St. Louis…all airports I can remember not having a bad experience at) Boston was also a good experience, they had to push our flight and treated us great, and the airline got us a hotel room and transportation. Not bad at all.
Oh, I’d say the Detroit one is bad. It’s just gross and I dislike having to fly into there…of course that’s where family is from. We usually drive though.
Just remembered…Baltimore’s is awful. I can’t stand having to go there ever.

I avoid any routing in Europe that goes through Heathrow. Maybe when the new terminal is finished, but now it’s a madhouse.

@Vunessuh: Actually Dallas (DFW) is an excellent airport. I always try to book my international flights out of Dallas if I can’t do them direct. The shuttle between the terminals is so fast and the stops are really convenient. Plus it’s really easy to understand the route and where you need to get off, not confusing like a lot of airports. The chairs are pretty darn comfortable, especially for an airport, and the security lines usually move pretty fast.
Shows what happens when you assume!

@La_chica_gomela I like Dallas’s airport as well. I wish I could go there instead of San Antonio, because I hate how you have to get out of SA’s airport (way too confusing lol). But, of course my family is all close to SA…boo.

Heathrow Airport in London is pretty bad apparently. I haven’t been there but that’s what I hear.

DFW is a fine airport. I just worry about how far my soul must travel if I die in a dark place like Texas.
I hate going thru OHare, but I usually have no choice, since my wife has family in Michigan.

All of them. Haven’t you heard of global warming? What about the Polar Bears? How big is YOUR carbon footprint? You’re just gonna have to take a bike.

My parents and I use to travel through the Dallas airport to get to Weslaco (when I was young) and my parents always hated it. I suppose just because of how large it was.
lulz. I wasn’t really assuming with that one, just remembering how much my parents disliked it.
I’ve heard some pretty bad things about Atlanta, but never traveled through it.

I dislike going thru Atlanta or Orlando International Airports…. especially on a Friday afternoon…

@casheroo

Heh, I just flew from Detroit to Baltimore and vice versa. I thought Detroit was actually really nice. Huge, but nice.

Personally, I avoid airports that have been closed down.

Heathrow is super bad, often the trafffic is so bad around it, it takes like 30min-1 hour to go like a mile or 2.. lol

o’hare in chicago… all that wind

@Samantha_Rae You think they’ve got wind…pull my finger.

@Samantha_Rae O’hare is one of the nicest airports i have ever seen…

@ivan thats what she said…

Chicago. I avoid booking any flight that relies on a connection coming out of or going through there since more times than not there have been weather issues that mess up landings/takeoffs.

Salt Lake City in the winter, flights in or out throw all else off and being stranded in that airport overnight has been the worst because all shops close early and there are no comfortable places to huddle and get warm or sleep.

@Vunessuh Never had a problem with Atlanta. Tend to fly out of there when I do fly.

Well, I’ve been to O’Hare, it’s busy but it’s a great airport, I’ve been to Atlanta, it’s crazy busy as well, but a lot going on, I’ve been to Heathrow, also busy and a lot of walking to get from one place to the next, but again alright (though this predates the current construction). The one that really took me aback was when I landed in Rome on a flight from London to Rome on British Airways in October of 2000. It felt like I’d landed in a third world country, there was no gate per se, at least not where we landed, and we were escorted off the plane across an outdoor path to the area where they checked our passports, by two huge guys wearing military fatigues and carrying what appeared to be machine guns with ammo strapped to their chests. I thought we had been hijacked. Hopefully this was just a one time, isolated occurrence, but we were never given any explanation, so I have no way of knowing if this is what one expects when flying to Rome, but it certainly wasn’t what I expected. Of course, once I actually tried to drive a car in Rome, the airport thing didn’t seem like that big a deal comparatively speaking!

@Vunessuh: But you did say you were assuming in your original answer. And DFW 15 years ago is probably very different from DFW today.

@La_chica_gomela Yeah, it was probably about 11 years ago or so. Large airports suck for old people, especially when one can’t walk very well. It wasn’t pleasant for us. The Atlanta airport, based on what I’ve heard, seems to be horrible, but I’ve personally never traveled through it. I love small airports. The one by my house is always pretty empty. I don’t do well in major crowds. I don’t care for any airport that is too large. That’s just me. Assuming or not.

Heathrow is pretty bad.

@Vunessuh AGAIN, I have never had a problem with Atlanta. I tend to fly out of there when I do fly. I have also picked up people there before without issues. It is not a horrible airport. If you would read, you might learn that about it, “hearing” something different.

@avvooooooo I can read. Thanks. She was just questioning my answer and curious about my sources, so I was giving her the reasons as to why I thought so, especially having heard from many people who live in Georgia. I wasn’t by any means ignoring what you wrote or incapable of reading it. Are we really getting all bent out of shape over airports? Sheesh.

@Vunessuh: Who is “she”? I never said anything about Atlanta…

@Vunessuh FYI, I live in Georgia. I know what I’m talking about. From actual experience. And from the experience of the tons of people around me who I know personally who have gone through the Atlanta airport.

@avvooooooo So I guess by expressing what I’ve heard from people I know personally who live in Georgia, I’ve somehow managed to insult the state you live in? Because that seems to be how you’re taking it by indirectly insulting my intelligence, FYI.

@Vunessuh Persistently ignoring firsthand information and restating what you’ve heard as if it trumps any experience anyone here has had is rude. Period. You’re not insulting my state, you’re attempting to invalidate my personal experience with what someone told you. You’re insulting me in several different ways, then taking offense. Bad form.

@avvooooooo In no way, shape or form was I ignoring what you wrote. I was talking to someone else (and you can see this clearly with the link I put in front of my answer) when talking about what I heard. If you’d like to call me rude, I guess I can call you the same for jumping to conclusions that I wasn’t validating your points/personal experience which led you to insulting my intelligence and being hypocritical over the fact that I too can have an opinion that may not necessarily be in agreeance with yours.

LAX is not bad at all. I loved it as my home airport.

Denver, though. Horrible. Horrible. I don’t like Boston either. Any airport where you have to tram to different terminals is crap in my book.

ORD is great because once you’re behind security you can go to any terminal you want.

[mod says] Let’s stick to the topic, folks. Thanks!

Oh, and O’Hare sucks.

@augustlan I spent 14 hours at Toronto Pearson because of weather in Chicago and I still say Denver is much worse. At least ORD knows how run a security line.

The airport next to me is Burbank. I love it there. It’s so incredibly peaceful and easy to navigate through.
I’m use to that, so when having to travel through LAX, I go insane.
Although, the San Jose and San Francisco airports are pretty large and I don’t mind them much either.
I think it depends on the city and what kind of people are around. People are a little more chill in Northern California. Everyone is in a hurry in LA.

@Vunessuh I agree about Burbank. Unless you’re stuck there, and then it’s not nearly as nice as LAX.

@andrew Touche’.

O’Hare is horrible. We often have to go through there (I live in Central IL) for flights. If we’re going to get hung up, it’s always there.
I think there are people there who (like the Roach Motel), check in and never check out!! :)

Having a job that required lots of travel, been in most of them in the USA (large cities, not smaller ones). My worst experience was with San Jose and Atlanta. Like Barb, not crazy about O’Hare! Oh, Denver, not the new one, was a nightmare!

Hate LaGuardia. HAAAAATE! Like being in a freakin’ timewarp. AT LGA, time apparently stopped on February 23rd,1968, given the look of the place, the condition of its facilities and the ancientness of their machines. I’m just waiting to see a mini-skirted flight attendant walking around with a badge on that says I’m Janie, Fly Me!

LGA in NYC and ORL in Orlando, FL airport can get hectic at times.

@andrew I like riding the trams! Boohiss!

Baghdad International

@aprilsimnel BWAHAHA!!!! I totally agree about LaGuardia. Unfortunately, it’s the airport I most frequently fly into because my parents live close to it.

My least favorite, though, is Philly. I’ve had the most delays, cancellations, and luggage screw-ups when I fly into or out of there.

@Vunessuh

“The airport next to me is Burbank. ”

I only live about 9 miles southwest of the Bob Hope (apparently this new name hasn’t caught on- even Google Maps still calls it the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena airport) and it’s my favorite too.

@Brian1946 I never say Bob Hope because no one ever knows what I’m talking about. Haha. I just say Burbank. It’s only about 15 minutes from me. I love it. :)

@boffin: were you flying in/out of Baghdad courtesy of your ‘uncle’?

@Vunessuh: Burbank airport is fine: love the smallness of it, also Long Beach. BUT Burbank is a problem if you have mobility issues as there are no gangways—only stairs up/down the planes.

@SherriS Yup, it is one of those airports where you enter and exit the planes by walking outside and up or down the stairs. Very true. A lot of smaller airports have a hard time catering to disabled individuals because of this. Especially anyone in a wheelchair.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070530/30travel.intro.htm

@SherriS…were you flying in/out of Baghdad courtesy of your ‘uncle’?
No, but the kid has made a couple of departures from this venue…