This blog loves opinionated articles and fellow bloggers with chips on their shoulders - something you can really get your teeth into. Here's one on the world's worst airport:
Ezeiza. It has to be Ezeiza ... There was one - that's right, one - place to eat, where a simple "cafe chico" and a roll cost me about three times as much as the hour-long cab ride from the Argentine capital. Then, of course, there is the constant threat of fog, the flight cancelations that come with it, and the chaos that ensues.
Considering how often they have to deal with this, you'd think it would be a bit more organised. But no. People scream around in a Spanish-speaking mess, clambering to get seats on other flights. Uni-lingual goons such as myself are in all sorts of trouble when the huge queues start forming at the check-in desk.
And the world's best?
Some airports are palaces, the sort of places you could imagine yourself staying for a few days (and in some cases, you do). Changi is brilliant, but I'm not breaking any ground mentioning that. KL International is also a great place to wander around, and Dubai is all right, too.
My choice? On access, facilities, servicing, something to do whilst waiting and processing on and off the plane, for best I couldn't go past Tom Bradley 8 in the old days - don't know now. Another excellent airport is Domodedovo in Moscow. They've refurbished and coordinated and it's a nice place, check-in is easy and it seems friendly.
For worst - possibly Dubai [nothing open and nothing to do] or Ashgabat, [where I had the police come at me]. The very worst in the world would have to be Sheremetyevo 2. I had $2000 stolen in a scam with a bank there on the lower floor and was refused exit twice, which resulted in me paying a fine for being correct. The taxi drivers are appalling and the mafia everywhere. I fly everywhere from my home airport.
And for you?
Munich is pretty good, the lufthansa side and London City is usually pretty streamlined for the UK.
ReplyDeleteSince the rebuild, Madrid-Barajas is a fantastic airport. The whole thing works really well. They've also, rather sensibly, planned for passenger numbers to grow substantially, so it'll still work in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe worst - and I've lived in the third world and flown out of airports where passport control is a shed - has to be, without a doubt, Los Angeles-LAX. I went there last year and ended up having to go to all three terminals and only made my flight because it was delayed by an hour; I had a three-hour layover. I had to queue to queue to leave one of the terminals. It has no redeeming features whatsoever. The shopping is bad, the eating is bad, it's not big enough and, frankly, doesn't work.
You could do a post on the most interesting airport, James. Gibraltar, where you have to walk across the runway to reach, er, Gibraltar must be up there.
Don't really have a favourite, but I do enjoy the feel of being in airports, the space, and the anticipation of going somewhere, or getting home having been away.
ReplyDeleteLeast favourite has to be Naples, security is a joke, you can sit and watch the pick pockets and hustlers at work.
Miami International - you can't smoke anywhere and you can buy a hand gun with ammo in the airport shop...
ReplyDeleteNow that's very interesting, people, as I rated Tom Bradley [LAX] excellent but Dave said it was a hole. Perhaps it's the time of day.
ReplyDeleteStarted writing you a comment, ended up with a whole post.
ReplyDeleteSurprised Dubai is bad. Do tell us the story of the police coming at you! Catania used to be terrible but is better now.
ReplyDeleteI used to fly in and out of Changi very regularly. You could turn up twenty minutes before the flight and still get on. Certainly beat some of the destinations that my employer had me travel to. Manila had to be one of the worst and Bangkok before they got rid of all the touts.
ReplyDeleteLondon City Airport was good, Barcelona great as well as Malpensa..
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