Jump to content

Best and worst airports


Snakebite

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

Schipol is murder. Plenty of decent shops and great train link to the city but the single terminal means you can be walking to your departure gate for 10-15 minutes and it can take 30 minutes just to taxi into take-off position.

 

4 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Schipol was pretty crap, I thought - a tiny terminal with a small shop and two options to get something to eat. Then again, I was flying easyJet to Nice rather than long haul somewhere. 

 

 

 

Eh?Schipol is probably the best/easiest to transit in the world with loads of shops and bars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 100
  • Created
  • Last Reply
10 hours ago, doulikefish said:

 

Eh?Schipol is probably the best/easiest to transit in the world with loads of shops and bars

I've no doubt there are much better parts to it than the one I was in (which was shite). 

As I said, an easyJet flight probably isn't going to let you see the best of it. The lack of choice was astounding, and we got dumped in the standard "too small for all the people on the flight" holding pen about 30mins before boarding. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Internationally I like Schiphol as well, probably been through it double figures of times either going to Amsterdam or connecting onwards, only once (last year actually) there was a 40 minute wait at immigration which was a ballache.

 

When I want to Prague last year with KLM, via Amsterdam, I thought I would have to do similar. Had to go back through passport control to get to the gate for the connection and the queue was fucking massive.

But when all looked lost, you heard the immortal words being screamed by some Dutch women of "EUROPEAN PASSPORTS FOLLOW ME!" and 5 minutes later I was through passport control whilst Americans all glared at us in envy. Schipol can give you the fear if you only have roughly an hour to make your connection, but it's a top airport.

I know it's getting a new one, but it's always amazed me how shit Berlin is for airports. Schonefeld looks exactly like the ex-military base that it was.

I recall Newark being alright when I had to spend a few hours waiting for a connection to San Francisco. Well, apart from the lengthy interrogation I got at passport control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've made a connection from getting off at the end of one pier, through the passport check and to my next gate at the end of another pier at Schipol in under 30 minutes. Whilst we are still in the EU its a doddle as they have the e-passport gates and I was able to scan and go through in less than a minute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2017/01/27 at 21:27, atfccfc said:

Has anyine gone through Ciampino airport?

Forgot about Rome when I put my best and worst list together. Arrived at Fiumicino one time back in 2006 and there was a massive queue to go through immigration with only one guy on duty who eventually took one look at me and just pointed me through to the exit without even bothering to look at my passport or even speak to me to check where I was from. Understandable if it was an internal EU flight that I had been on, but I was arriving from Tokyo. Complete and utter chaos, but at least the train trip to and from the main Terminii station in the city centre is easy to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Have seen Toronto Pearson discussed a couple of times. We experienced long queues through passport control and security both coming in and leaving. I think two flights had come in along side ours on the way in from India and the middle east. Some passengers from the former tried to skip the queue at immigration and were given some stern words from a women from our Glasgow flight. Other than the queues though, our experience was fairly decent. Friendly staff for the most part.

Vancouver was a very nice airport when I went, plenty facilities and I don't remember the queues being too troublesome there.

For flying to the south of Spain, I find Murcia airport far more pleasant than Alicante. The amount of scum on Alicante flights that we've been on in the past has made it barely worth the trouble. Murcia, if you find flights to it, is a smashing wee airport where you even queue for your flight in the sunshine when it's called.

Schipol has been excellent any time I've experienced it. Love the connections to the city and I find it fairly easy to use.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Keflavik airport in Iceland. We had severe delays coming back to Glasgow and were able to pass the time without much difficulty, was generally nice and quiet.

My worst airport experiences have been at Chamberry and Lyon (fucking hell.....Lyon :thumbsdown ). Both experiences from holidaying in the Alpes. In the height of ski season these airports are always going to be busy but the lack of information and space (particularly Chamberry) is horrendous. The staff were so overwhelmed and you had to feel for them but the fact was that most passengers were just off a transfer of around 3 hours having had an early start at around 4am and they arrive to an airport where you could barely move for people. There wasn't enough seating so people were just having to sit on the floor and the bathrooms were about a 30 minute queue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
30 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Budapest airport is a dump if you're with a budget airline. They stick you in what seems like a cattle shed at the side of the runway with no cafe, shops or anything. It was freezing cold too.

Going there later in the year with Wizz Air (I think anyway).  Presume that'll be a trip to the shed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, The Minertaur said:

Going there later in the year with Wizz Air (I think anyway).  Presume that'll be a trip to the shed!

I think I flew with Wizz Air, you'd think they'd treat you better as they're a Hungarian Airline. It was a couple of years ago though, might be better now. Great city though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I absolutely adore Changi Airport in Singapore, passed through there plenty of times to and from the Netherlands and other SE Asian nations, and it's a pleasurable experience every time. Huge viewing zone for EPL matches and replays, huge selection of restaurants and food stalls on offer with food relatively cheap due to the exchange rate for the SG Dollar, and excellent wifi and service. Would never like to have a delayed flight, but if I had to pick a place for it to happen to me, it'd be Changi.

Worst airport is probably Abu Dhabi, which was horribly overpriced (even for an airport) with unfriendly staff and few seating accommodations, in addition to a strange layout and some cultural differences I can't overcome. Pudong in Shanghai comes close too, but mostly due to the horrible wifi and China blocking countless Western sites rather than anything to do with the airport specifically.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The Top 100 International Airports of 2017,

http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards/world_airport_rating.html

Any list where Abu Dhabi is in the top 50, never mind the top 100 is clearly bollocks but hey ho. Cologne/Bonn at 29 is another shocker, had a stopover there a couple of years ago and it was an awful place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, Chris_DK said:

2 hours 20 minutes fine for a connection at Schipol? It's arriving from Edinburgh and going onto Kyiv if that helps re terminals - can't find the info on that.

Plenty time, it can be a bit of a trek between gates if you're unlucky but a maximum half an hour's stroll and probably much less. As Fuctifano says there's only one terminal. They sometimes do a security check at the actual gate, so don't leave it too late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Plenty time, it can be a bit of a trek between gates if you're unlucky but a maximum half an hour's stroll and probably much less. As Fuctifano says there's only one terminal. They sometimes do a security check at the actual gate, so don't leave it too late.

They do it at them all unless you go through to the schengen area where you will go through security when you go into that area

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, doulikefish said:

They do it at them all unless you go through to the schengen area where you will go through security when you go into that area

I've had both systems flying to Inverness on separate occasions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Johnny Däpp said:

Went through Heathrow this afternoon and was quickly reminded what a fuckin hole that place is. BA despite have their wonderful T5 still have flights going into T3 which means a 10 minute bus journey and another run through security. Their immigration queues are a fuckin joke with no separate EU queue. Had Chick Young in front of me in the queue who I think missed his flight because of it. 

Think I'll just stick to Schiphol when I get to chose my own flights...

Inverness Airport are doubling up their flights to Schiphol, still only one a day to Heathrow. Far better hub and you avoid the extortionate taxes for long haul.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...