What is your favorite airport?

[Sachin]

I know most of us here travel a lot for business or pleasure..

What is the best and the worst airport you have come across??

My personal favorites are MCO (Orlando) and SFO (San Francisco Intl) and the worst I think is MIA and SJC.

let's hear it guys.

[Rich1997]

SMF is nice and easy; SFO - I've had some bad experiences there so I'm a little biased but the airport is okay. LAX is a mess! Last time I went down south I did SNA (Orange County) and it was easy. DEN is good, MCI (Kanasa City) is also good. I was thinking next time I flew I might try SJC; what did you not like about it?

[Scott Fritz]

The few times I have flown into KCI I have always found it easy to pick up my bagage and get to and from the car. Plus KCI is remodeling the terminals right now so it should be even better. The worst place I have been was the Toronto airport. I flew into Toronto from DFW and had to switch planes to fly on to Ottawa. Needless to say it was a long run from the gate I arrived at to customs and then to the departure gate. The airport had very poor signs letting you know where you needed to go.

[bradl]

SF,

Your trip reminds me of my time at NZAA (AKL, Auckland). Two level airport (basement is customs), very poor signs, and very LONG. My flight (LAX-MEL) had a stop there, and the in transit sign was behind this exchange bank, which you couldn't see. So at the time (5:25am local) after a 13 hour flight, I was tired, that I just followed the line of people, and didn't know that I entered the country! Security helped me back to where I needed to go, but ended up running back to my gate (a good mile down the terminal) after their first boarding call says 'flight 841 is boarding. Passengers should already be on board, as the flight will leave without you'. So with 2 bags in my hand, plus breakfast, plus 3 souvenirs, plus news on the rugby, I'm flying down the terminal, to find out that the flight wasn't leaving for another 25 minutes.

Oh.. favourite airports... SMF is definitely easy; LAS is easy when you know where you're going (also living there helps! ;) ).. OMA is easy to get around as well. CYVR is a good one to just be in. very well thought out.

Worst: DEN (you can't get to any of the terminals without taking their small subways. So from T3 to T1, you take a train, get off at T2, take the next train, et. al.), BOS, EWR (If you don't get off at the right exit off the trains, you will loop the entire airport! )

BL.

[Jeff Williams]

I know LAX is not fun as a pax, but it is one of my favorite to go to when I'm working, especially when it's busy. The controllers there handle things pretty well. Ground can get a little interesting at times. The DP (G4) we normally use is a lot of fun to hand fly due to speed and altitude restrictions along with the traffic.
LGB can be a TCAS event waiting to happen with all the GA guys buzzing around.
SEA is one of the worst for us, due to the narrow runways like SFO. Plus our company ops there don't seem to handle things as well as other stations. Must be a hub thing.

JW

[feathers]

I have traveled a lot, yet I am not very well traveled... I do a lot of repeat routes.

Definitely my award for ghetto goes to the old Ontario, where I remember you went through the brick buildings, then to the portable trailers that were the gates. The facelift has definitely done wonders, but I sure hope they can keep enough passengers flowing through it to justify keeping it open. I mean, I've got an international airport 20 minutes away from me! Yet I can't tell you the last time I flew out of it instead of KLAX (this is going to change really soon)...

I'm not entirely fond of KORD... the airport itself can't be beat, and when you're making a connection (especially on United) it's no sweat to just drift down Concourse C to your connecting gate. But one day I was running late for a flight. I checked in at the front and then it was a dead-sprint down through the connecting tunnel to C, through the gate and into the plane. Seriously, I collapsed into my seat and felt like I was going to die right there. The place is a little big and unweildy.

Which brings me to why, as many flaws and as old skool as it is, I am fond of Los Angeles International. TSA aside, the layout of the airport is actually kind of sane. I just think that everyone in their own little section makes sense. United is in Terminal 7. You check in at 7, you go through security at (or near) 7, you go to your gate in 7. American is in 5, you check in at 5... you see what I mean? As opposed to KORD where you check in at a central area and then hoof it to the proper Concourse and gate. From an overall layout point of view, it makes sense. Now all it needs is a nifty dedicated split from the freeway, which I've noticed other airports (like KDTW) use.

If KORD is my home away from home, then KSFO is my preferred hotel... I've been in and out of (and delayed/stranded at) it enough that it's got a familiar feel. Nice place... And KSJC isn't too bad either, in a small-town sort of way.

James