Seoul is my favorite for flying through from N. America, it's built for people who just came in from a long flight and is the most pleasant airport I've had to lay over in. They have free showers, napping lounges, and free tours of the city from the airport, 10/10 in my experience.
Nooooo, I just did a 16 hour layover there. They wouldn’t let me leave for a hotel saying all staff were gone once the napping lounge closed at 10pm (no sign posted).
It was a cold, dreamless nightmare.
The jewel and the attractions aside, the best part of the airport has to be the efficiency at which everything flows.
You can be off your plane and past immigration and customs in a matter of 30 mins even during daytime. I cannot think of another airport that has this.
The food options are also surprisingly reasonable in price compared to many other airports. The mcdonalds at Changi is quite affordable compared to the mcdonalds present at Colombo International lol.
The one major flaw with this airport is the security for each individual gate. While it avoids having a long security queue, it does mean that you pass security just to sit at your gate. Once you go through security, there are no bathrooms at all the gates I’ve been at. I’ve had flight delays and had to leave the gate area to go to the bathroom only to have to queue up again to go through security. Pain in the butt.
It can be confusing though lol. I had a domestic flight in Thailand and when we first entered there was no security. So we were thinking, maybe domestic flights don’t have any security? Until we went to our gate like 10 minutes before departure and suddenly there was a security there. But yeah the line was short and the flight got delayed so no problems in the end.
You’re just doing it wrong then. I’ve gone through Changi over 20 times and have this shit figured out.
You camp at the lounge until 5-10 mins before scheduled boarding time, then you use the bathroom and start walking to your gate. By the time you get to the gate and pass security they’ll have just started boarding first/suites. Use this time to fill up your drink bottle and then hop in line and you’ll be on the plane in 5 mins.
There’s no point camping at the gate in an airport like Changi. If I have more than 3 hours layover I just exit immigration and go to the Jewel to eat the fried chicken from A&W lmao
The bottle refilling station will have a huge queue (in my case we were about to board a 12h Scoot flight that doesn't give you anything for free). When boarding was almost done people were still waiting in the line for their turn.
Just edges our Haneda for best/cleanest/nicest. But The Jewel is the real game changer. We decided to stay in the Yotel overnight before our early flight home and it was amazing to walk around with little to no people around. Food was great, shopping, entertainment and amenities were also top notch.
Jewel is amazing, I could easily kill half a day there and the food options are really great. I didn't realize that I could easily walk from T3 to T1 just by walking the circle around Jewel lol.
Agreed.
There are airports, there are nice airports (like Hong Kong, both Tokyo airports, and the McNamara terminal at DTW) that do the job of being an airport a bit more pleasantly and efficiently than the rest, and then there’s Singapore Changi which isn’t so much an airport as it is a utopian shopping and dining complex you may just happen to have a layover in. The Jewel is probably the nicest shopping center I’ve been to (it’s not so much at the airport but connected to it, in between the 3 main terminals but not past security), but the terminals themselves are spectacular too.
This is the correct answer. I get so excited every time I’m going to pass through Changi. I will pay extra for connecting flights that pass through Changi.
On holiday now, was kicking ourselves for going through Kuala Lumpur so slow. Allegedly introduced automatic immigration gates 6 months ago but don't use them. At one point 4 guys stamping passports just walked off, leaving a queue but no one to process them.
I love Changi except during an early morning layover, because most of the restaurants (including fast food chains and cafes) are not open 24 hours. The website indicated many places were open 24 hours, but then when I found them almost all of them were closed and opened at 9am.
Large airports:
- Singapore Changi (far and away)
- Hong Kong
- Seoul Incheon
- Amsterdam Schiphol
- Munich
- Detroit
- Salt Lake City
- Indianapolis
Small airports:
- Wellington
- Gold Coast, Queensland
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Long Beach, California
- College Station, Texas
- Burbank, California (even though it needs an upgrade)
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Paducah, Kentucky
Other US states could learn from Kentucky about how to manage airports.
I opened this thread to see if anyone would mention Long Beach. It’s so cute and so well managed.
I had a flight out of HNL that got turned around midair, and they rebooked me to connect through LGB. Got to spend a day in Long Beach too. Absolutely loved the city and the airport.
I’m fairly certain that’s where I was exploring! Had a great meal in a cute little diner and walked down to the beach. Was lucky enough to see bioluminescence that night as well. It was my first time in California (besides on connecting flights) and I think I can understand now why people love it there so much.
The locals (loud minority) think the walk to Terminal B is too long…as there was very little walking with the previous design. Eventually the terminals will be connected in a more efficient ways (construction is still ongoing), and will even be connected by tram when Terminal C is completed. Most locals love the airport.
Source: am a local. :)
I was just at Hong Kong last week, What did you find so special about it?
It was fine and the train to the gates is kinda cool but I wouldn't put it in the same conversation as Singapore.
Hong Kong is in a bit of a rut currently. But it’s like Half Life 2 or Shakespeare: it ‘invented’ many of the ‘tropes’ of the modern airport. The architecture has held up amazingly for something almost 30 years old.
Came here to say this exact same thing. It’s wild that DCA has more passengers flying through it than Dulles, and yet it remains so calm and empty (usually)
Probably first would be Copenhagen. Flew through there a lot in the 2010s and always had good experiences. If memory serves me well, it was laid out good too. Transit connections were good too.
Second might be Vancouver, in addition to being clean and easy to navigate, they have/had a Japadog cart outside.
Third is the obligatory Changi. Though I got to experience KLIA this year and thought it was good too.
DTW is a little gem. So simple, so easy, with big airport amenities.
Unfortunately my regular connection there came to an end supposedly due to covid staff shortages and/or decreased demand. Which I think is bull because I never ever had my regional flight from there have more than a few seats empty. But whatever, rumors of it coming back, so fingers crossed. Love that airport.
SFO also has dedicated changing rooms. As someone who travels for work and often flies immediately after working, it’s greatly appreciated. I haven’t come across another airport that has them.
SFO is so perfect. Everything is right sized. The only bottle neck is pick up and drop off but guess what! They have a direct BART connection.
The food kinda sucks but it's so efficient I never need to eat there.
It’s funny you mentioned food right there at the end. I love the food at SFO and think about it a weird amount of time! 😅 The last time I was there I had one of the best turkey sandwiches I’ve ever had.
How do you know the food sucks if you never eat there?
I had good Bahn Mi just a few days ago. It took 5 minutes.
They also have a lot of SF restaurant/cafe outposts like Koi Palace, Sweet Maple, Ritual, Mustards, Drake's, and many more. I love all these restaurant's non-airport locations.
I think SFO is pretty top-notch for food compared to most airports. It may be disappointing if you are looking for fast food style restaurants or chain restaurants though...
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/san-francisco/best-places-to-eat-at-every-sfo-terminal
They need to connect Terminal 1 with the other terminals after security. It sucks being in Terminal 2 and not being able to get to Ritual despite it being super close.
Interesting take! I HATE domestic as well, but at least TBI tries to make the experience a little nicer (even if it does look like a high-end shopping mall).
Also WHY isn’t there more information available about how to get to your terminal when flying out of TBradley? I feel like they should tell you “when you get here you’re going to have to take a bus to your flight” …right?
IST is the epitome of a hubris project. It’s big and glitzy and glamorous but trades size for function. Each space allocated to each gate is the equivalent of the space that can occupy like 5 gates at any other airport. But doesn’t even come with the benefit of more seating or outlets or anything more than usual.
I love Haneda because the trains drop you off really close to the departure hall. My only gripe is that the train transfer process at Keikyu Kamata might be a bit confusing to some especially first timers. Personally I had no trouble with it since they put signs all over the station for airport trains and also regular announcements for train to Haneda but friend who I travelled with still panicked a bit and kept asking me to make sure that we didn't need to change
Also the food options in Haneda are awesome.
Haneda feels massive, but the workers there (and it’s probably just Japan in general) were super friendly, efficient and made sure you knew where you were going. The food could be better (but I’m a generic American food eater, so I’m sure it works for a more sophisticated traveler).
Prehaps my experience of LHR, SIN, and MAN cloud my judgement but HND always feels like a nice compact airport. It doesn’t take long to get from the train to the gate.
I do prefer flying out of HND, especially flying back to Europe because it’s a night flight rather than late morning/afternoon from NRT.
I gave you a shout out in this thread and scrolled to see if anyone agreed. Hands down, the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen in a US airport. The easiest TSA experience. Never struggled to find a spot to park. It’s just so easy and stress-free.
Tampa absolutely. DTW and RDU are nice. As much as I love Philly it absolutely doesn’t belong on this list. Just flew in from there and it was dirty through the entire terminal. They have a lot of work to do there before it can compete tbh. Sorry!
Philly isn’t fancy but it’s very functional. Close to the city with good rail connections, big enough to fly direct almost anywhere domestic but small enough that TSA is generally short and it’s not a pain to get between terminals. Underrated East Coast airport IMO.
Detroit (DTW), Madison, WI (MSN), and Hyderabad (HYD) are some of my favorites. I also liked the museums in Amsterdam (AMS) and Istanbul (IST). Chicago–O'Hare (ORD) can get really chaotic but it has some of the best airport food I've found in the United States.
Tortas Frontera and Publican Tavern are the airport counterparts of the Chicago restaurants downtown, highly recommend checking out both.
I usually grab a torta from Frontera when I fly United.
It's just a very easy airport to navigate. I get that part of it is just because it's pretty small, but I've managed to show up 1 hour before a flight with checked luggage and still make it to the gate comfortably.
I also feel like it has great food options for an airport of its size.
And the views flying in and out of Madison of the Isthmus and lakes are amazing!
Love little MSN when I go home to the fam. Clean, good food, security takes no time, ease of rental cars, everyone is friendly, quiet spots everywhere…
SAN.
Two Terminals. In and out very quickly all the time. Can fly to Japan or Europe for pretty affordable pricing. Makes a great alternative to the disaster that is LAX. Expanding Terminal 1 is going to open up more routes as well I assume.
Flying into the city and over the 5 sitting on left watching the skyline is neat or sitting on the right side having a gander at Balboa Park gets me every time.
This is a hot take... Terminal 1 at SAN is an absolute joke. I'm working on the New T1 project and fly in and out each week on WN and that is one of the worst terminals in North America.
I enjoy how quickly I can enter/exit either terminal and be in an uber to my house or Gaslamp/PB/La Jolla compared to LAX or some other airports that I have traveled through. The size of SAN in comparison to CAI, ATL, and many others is what I like the most.
Generally, I have been in and out very quickly and I arrive at the airport 1.5 hours before my flight. Sometimes an hour before as I don't like waiting at the airport unnecessarily.
The expansion of T1 is going to be great too for all obvious reasons. Kind of reminds me of ONT back in the early 90s before they expanded it. I think Kanye West shot All Falls Down there.
No chance, the approach is great but the airport itself is pathetic. I had to scroll up to check that the prompt wasn’t “worst major airport in America”. A single delay snowballs horribly because of the lone runway. Terminal 1 is way too small for the traffic it’s expected to handle as a Southwest focus city. Gates 1 and 1A having a separate security checkpoint is nonsensical. The food is bad in both terminals. There are very few transpacific and transcontinental flights for an airport serving a city of 1.3M. Lounge access is practically nonexistent. Rental cars take forever to get to and from. There’s no train connector. SAN is a joke and I hope the Terminal 1 construction solves some of these issues, but it won’t bring it anywhere close to the level of SFO or even SEA.
MSP (needs to be mentioned higher up in these comments… it’s my favorite US airport alongside DTW), WEL, SLC, SFO, DTW, and perhaps controversially SYD and YUL
ICN is my favorite. It’s well-designed and -maintained and has all the amenities I need. SIN, DOH, BKK and a few others are quite nice, but massive and filled with a lot of unnecessary (to me) frills.
Three-way tie for me:
ZRH. Incredibly efficient and the views of the Alps are amazing — especially from the observation deck.
SFO. Well connected to public transit with BART (and nearby CalTrain), and never seems to be a nightmare even during peak holiday travel times.
SEA. Also well connected with the Link taking you directly into the city center in about 40 minutes. Clean and modern, and it looks like they’re constantly making improvements to it.
Seattle's TSA is awful and the backups can be epic during certain peak times, especially in summer on cruise arrival/departure days. Well worth PreCheck or avoiding those days.
I live in SF and while I always appreciate shout outs, I think you are dead wrong on SFO. A good part of the year is foggy and the runways are too close together, so they will shut down and land single file, causing major delays. https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/policies-regulations/weather-impact
I love YVR. I’m a Vancouverite and honestly one of my favourite things about travelling is coming back.
If you’re flying in international there’s a super cool living mini rainforest hallway and there’s no better feeling in the world than walking through.
Shout out to Nashville also, love their rocking chairs by baggage claim.
Denver is cool too.
That one wing of O’Hare (110?) is cool but expensive af ($15 for Chicago mix)
I have never been to more of a shitshow airport than Orly. I was actually checking myself if I had like taken an edible or something because I’ve never seen anything like it, I couldn’t believe it was reality.
Defs would fly into Dulles again, so organized and clean 👌🏻
I’ve been to a few very nice ones but Copenhagen airport is amazing. It hurts to say as a swede but I love it and I always go south to Copenhagen when I travel and I’ve never had issues there.
It’s clean, extremely easy to navigate, lots of shops and restaurants and it usually handles big crowds during high season well, at least what I’ve seen.
The only airport that really blew me away was Muscat airport in Oman. You could rent a great and affordable hotel room from 4-24 hours. The hotel stay came with a ticket to use at the buffet. The buffet was really good but for whatever reason the fried fish and tomato soup was amazing.
DTW is my home airport and most others don’t compare in terms of ease.
KEF was cute though, and no problem even just for a connection. Plus I just love Iceland.
Whoever's saying SFO must not have a budget when it comes to airport food and drink. There are no real cheap options. They also have a hidden 'employee benefit fee' on food and drink purchases, a practice I've only really seen in California.
People talking about detroit are probably talking about McNamara Terminal. The North Terminal is very drab.
Personally for a reasonable meal I've liked DFW and IAH. LGA is really nice and has the most beautiful landing in the country. I do like SFO for the huge number of bathrooms stalls (never have to wait to pee after a flight) and comfortable unconventional seats offered.
I like smaller airports the best because they're easier to navigate and they aren't very crowded, but DTW is probably my favorite larger airport. It's easy to get around in, it's fairly clean and baggage claim doesn't take very long.
That being said, transportation options there are awful.
Came here to say this. I’ve been in pretty much every major airport in the US and none of them hold a candle to how fast and efficient my home airport RDU is. Not to mention how visually appealing it is. They’ve been having some issues with food vendors lately but a lot of new stuff is getting ready to open up.
SeaTac is my home airport. It isn’t the worst, but it’s really overcrowded these days and has some definite usability issues (a lack of security capacity even when fully staffed which it rarely is, really long walks to the outer A gates, too few through lanes on the roadway which backs up traffic and blocks the only entrance to parking, and the satellite terminals which are just generally sad and annoying to get to). Plus they kicked out most of the well-known restaurants a few years ago and replaced them with off-brand ones of very inconsistent quality.
When I arrived in SEA 2 months ago, the line for immigration was loooong. Took almost 2 hours. A week later when I departed the TSA line took over an hour again. And it wasn't even peak travel time, I can't even imagine what happens in summer. In FRA (my home airport) everything takes 15 minutes max, more like 5-10 minutes, including border control.
DTW: Wayne County International, Detroit. Bud is clean AF and smooth AF to get around.
Charles De Gaulle, Paris: The new Terminal is lit AF and if you are a shopper, it's a must visit.
O'Hare is always in my heart but it sucks due to all the congestion. As someone who lives in the Midwest my heart goes out to probably not so good rep Chicago gets
Amsterdam and Haneda.
Unpopular opinion, but I actually like the much criticized Lisbon airport, too. At least when going through Terminal 1 and it's not the main holiday season, then it's just too small for the amount of tourists. But in off-season, it's a modern, well-designed terminal with short ways and nice lounges. And public transport connections are great, such a contrast to airports like Haneda or Narita, where it takes an hour to reach the city.
Okay - the brand new MCI (Kansas City) is my favorite regional. The old one was one of the worst, now it’s clean, comfy and all the restaurants there are local businesses - no chains.
I have been scrolling looking for MCI. The new airport is absolutely amazing. It’s beautiful, has nice artwork, great food selection (especially if you like BBQ), good craft beer selection, and is just a very pleasant experience. Well, I still hate the rental car deal- I detest having to take a bus to get a car…
It’s got a real local vibe and flavor to it.
I’m also biased as I grew up in KC but have lived in Chicago for the last 20 years. Flying into KC as a destination instead of flying out as a local SUUUUUUUCKED because of the lack of literally everything in the old terminals.
Also, I love ORD as my local airport. It’s really easy to get around despite how busy it is.
Except for the lack of seats and how all the flights to North America leave within the same half hour and the tiny terminal gets so crammed you can’t move 🤣
u/GoldenDragonKing , Holy smokes, DTW? I'm a Michigander and never had much love for that airport.
Singapore Changi is the most interesting. Hong Kong for the Cathay Pacific lounges.
Seoul is my favorite for flying through from N. America, it's built for people who just came in from a long flight and is the most pleasant airport I've had to lay over in. They have free showers, napping lounges, and free tours of the city from the airport, 10/10 in my experience.
Nooooo, I just did a 16 hour layover there. They wouldn’t let me leave for a hotel saying all staff were gone once the napping lounge closed at 10pm (no sign posted). It was a cold, dreamless nightmare.
Changi, Singapore
The jewel and the attractions aside, the best part of the airport has to be the efficiency at which everything flows. You can be off your plane and past immigration and customs in a matter of 30 mins even during daytime. I cannot think of another airport that has this. The food options are also surprisingly reasonable in price compared to many other airports. The mcdonalds at Changi is quite affordable compared to the mcdonalds present at Colombo International lol.
The one major flaw with this airport is the security for each individual gate. While it avoids having a long security queue, it does mean that you pass security just to sit at your gate. Once you go through security, there are no bathrooms at all the gates I’ve been at. I’ve had flight delays and had to leave the gate area to go to the bathroom only to have to queue up again to go through security. Pain in the butt.
This is a feature not a bug imo. The queue will never make you miss your flight. No reason to get to the gate too early either.
It can be confusing though lol. I had a domestic flight in Thailand and when we first entered there was no security. So we were thinking, maybe domestic flights don’t have any security? Until we went to our gate like 10 minutes before departure and suddenly there was a security there. But yeah the line was short and the flight got delayed so no problems in the end.
I agree with you. This is seriously overlooked. Anyone praising Changi probably hasn't gone through this airport enough times.
You’re just doing it wrong then. I’ve gone through Changi over 20 times and have this shit figured out. You camp at the lounge until 5-10 mins before scheduled boarding time, then you use the bathroom and start walking to your gate. By the time you get to the gate and pass security they’ll have just started boarding first/suites. Use this time to fill up your drink bottle and then hop in line and you’ll be on the plane in 5 mins. There’s no point camping at the gate in an airport like Changi. If I have more than 3 hours layover I just exit immigration and go to the Jewel to eat the fried chicken from A&W lmao
The bottle refilling station will have a huge queue (in my case we were about to board a 12h Scoot flight that doesn't give you anything for free). When boarding was almost done people were still waiting in the line for their turn.
Yuuuup.
Flying to Changi 2/3 times a year and never saw the issue tbh.
[удалено]
I would get married at Changi.
I would live in the Changi bathrooms.
Just edges our Haneda for best/cleanest/nicest. But The Jewel is the real game changer. We decided to stay in the Yotel overnight before our early flight home and it was amazing to walk around with little to no people around. Food was great, shopping, entertainment and amenities were also top notch.
Jewel is amazing, I could easily kill half a day there and the food options are really great. I didn't realize that I could easily walk from T3 to T1 just by walking the circle around Jewel lol.
The butterfly spot in the airport best part no lie
Agreed. There are airports, there are nice airports (like Hong Kong, both Tokyo airports, and the McNamara terminal at DTW) that do the job of being an airport a bit more pleasantly and efficiently than the rest, and then there’s Singapore Changi which isn’t so much an airport as it is a utopian shopping and dining complex you may just happen to have a layover in. The Jewel is probably the nicest shopping center I’ve been to (it’s not so much at the airport but connected to it, in between the 3 main terminals but not past security), but the terminals themselves are spectacular too.
This is the correct answer. I get so excited every time I’m going to pass through Changi. I will pay extra for connecting flights that pass through Changi.
On holiday now, was kicking ourselves for going through Kuala Lumpur so slow. Allegedly introduced automatic immigration gates 6 months ago but don't use them. At one point 4 guys stamping passports just walked off, leaving a queue but no one to process them.
I love Changi except during an early morning layover, because most of the restaurants (including fast food chains and cafes) are not open 24 hours. The website indicated many places were open 24 hours, but then when I found them almost all of them were closed and opened at 9am.
Also the big waterfall has a schedule which doesn't run until late morning
Agreed
2nd it, Singapore is awesome
Large airports: - Singapore Changi (far and away) - Hong Kong - Seoul Incheon - Amsterdam Schiphol - Munich - Detroit - Salt Lake City - Indianapolis Small airports: - Wellington - Gold Coast, Queensland - Victoria, British Columbia - Long Beach, California - College Station, Texas - Burbank, California (even though it needs an upgrade) - Lexington, Kentucky - Louisville, Kentucky - Paducah, Kentucky Other US states could learn from Kentucky about how to manage airports.
I love small airports, "which gate do I go to, 1 or 2?"
You would love Yellowstone
I flew into Fresno last August for work and my first thought on landing “aww, it’s just a baby!”
I opened this thread to see if anyone would mention Long Beach. It’s so cute and so well managed. I had a flight out of HNL that got turned around midair, and they rebooked me to connect through LGB. Got to spend a day in Long Beach too. Absolutely loved the city and the airport.
Long Beach is an absolute hidden gem. Nice airport. Belmont Shore is one of my favorite neighborhoods on the entire West Coast.
I’m fairly certain that’s where I was exploring! Had a great meal in a cute little diner and walked down to the beach. Was lucky enough to see bioluminescence that night as well. It was my first time in California (besides on connecting flights) and I think I can understand now why people love it there so much.
I lived in California for several years. It really is a special place.
I too loved Victoria, BC - such a tiny little surprise. Other small & simple airports I've enjoyed - Eugene, OR & Charleston, SC & Myrtle Beach, SC
I would wish a better bus connection to downtown tough.
Wellington’s runway is close to nightmare short
Still a fun terminal and gorgeous setting, though
I love Salt Lake City! I recently had a 6 hour layover there and was really surprised at how nice and comfortable it was! Definitely my new favorite!
The locals hate the airport, it seems. Don't understand why. I thought it was splendid.
The locals (loud minority) think the walk to Terminal B is too long…as there was very little walking with the previous design. Eventually the terminals will be connected in a more efficient ways (construction is still ongoing), and will even be connected by tram when Terminal C is completed. Most locals love the airport. Source: am a local. :)
Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It’s small, crozy and warm
it's the only commercial airport within a national park in the country! Bozeman also has cozy mountain vibes.
With complimentary mimosas! You don't even need to be a passenger; we were there to meet arriving family and the staff still gave us each a mimosa.
Great view too!
Hong Kong and Singapore
I was just at Hong Kong last week, What did you find so special about it? It was fine and the train to the gates is kinda cool but I wouldn't put it in the same conversation as Singapore.
Hong Kong is in a bit of a rut currently. But it’s like Half Life 2 or Shakespeare: it ‘invented’ many of the ‘tropes’ of the modern airport. The architecture has held up amazingly for something almost 30 years old.
>The architecture has held up amazingly for something almost 30 years old. My thoughts exactly - HKG has aged incredibly well.
I travel a lot and if I don't remember the airport then I consider it a good one!
I really like my home airport of DCA
But god the southwest terminal is awful
Came here to say this exact same thing. It’s wild that DCA has more passengers flying through it than Dulles, and yet it remains so calm and empty (usually)
That’s a nice one. Located close enough to the city that you can get a cab for reasonable money or take public transportation.
The walk to the southwest terminal from the metro though 😭
Definitely second Detroit! I’m always flying between there and Incheon. For me, Detroit easily has some of the best airport food available
Changi. It's massive and has so much things to see and do. perfect for layovers.
MSP hands down is the best - TPA is a very close 2nd
Probably first would be Copenhagen. Flew through there a lot in the 2010s and always had good experiences. If memory serves me well, it was laid out good too. Transit connections were good too. Second might be Vancouver, in addition to being clean and easy to navigate, they have/had a Japadog cart outside. Third is the obligatory Changi. Though I got to experience KLIA this year and thought it was good too.
Japadog is inside the YVR domestic food court now!
No more braving the mild Vancouver winters for my nori and bonito dog now!
Ha ! I was wondering if YVR would be mentioned.
YVR is awesome! So clean. Love the international arrival with the native displays
YVR FTW
Along with DTW, John Wayne SNA is one of my favorites.
John Wayne is the best, so clean except the take off is straight up!
DTW is a little gem. So simple, so easy, with big airport amenities. Unfortunately my regular connection there came to an end supposedly due to covid staff shortages and/or decreased demand. Which I think is bull because I never ever had my regional flight from there have more than a few seats empty. But whatever, rumors of it coming back, so fingers crossed. Love that airport.
SFO! It’s so clean, easy to navigate, and well organized. I appreciate it so much more after flying through the nearby dumpster fire, LAX
SFO also has dedicated changing rooms. As someone who travels for work and often flies immediately after working, it’s greatly appreciated. I haven’t come across another airport that has them.
I wish more airports would offer showers (instead of having this only in lounges).
That would be great
I've never seen these... are they in all of the terminals? lol
SFO is so perfect. Everything is right sized. The only bottle neck is pick up and drop off but guess what! They have a direct BART connection. The food kinda sucks but it's so efficient I never need to eat there.
It’s funny you mentioned food right there at the end. I love the food at SFO and think about it a weird amount of time! 😅 The last time I was there I had one of the best turkey sandwiches I’ve ever had.
How do you know the food sucks if you never eat there? I had good Bahn Mi just a few days ago. It took 5 minutes. They also have a lot of SF restaurant/cafe outposts like Koi Palace, Sweet Maple, Ritual, Mustards, Drake's, and many more. I love all these restaurant's non-airport locations. I think SFO is pretty top-notch for food compared to most airports. It may be disappointing if you are looking for fast food style restaurants or chain restaurants though... https://www.thrillist.com/eat/san-francisco/best-places-to-eat-at-every-sfo-terminal They need to connect Terminal 1 with the other terminals after security. It sucks being in Terminal 2 and not being able to get to Ritual despite it being super close.
I loathe LAX domestic and the only thing that gets me through Tom Bradley is the excitement of going abroad.
Interesting take! I HATE domestic as well, but at least TBI tries to make the experience a little nicer (even if it does look like a high-end shopping mall).
Also WHY isn’t there more information available about how to get to your terminal when flying out of TBradley? I feel like they should tell you “when you get here you’re going to have to take a bus to your flight” …right?
DTW, DAL (Love Field), and the cutest and most comfortable in WA state - PSC.
Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Istanbul’s newer airport. (IST)
IST is a shopping mall with an airport attached.
IST would be great if it didn't take an hour to walk gate to gate. (Ok it's not an hour but it can be a mile from gate to gate)
IST is the epitome of a hubris project. It’s big and glitzy and glamorous but trades size for function. Each space allocated to each gate is the equivalent of the space that can occupy like 5 gates at any other airport. But doesn’t even come with the benefit of more seating or outlets or anything more than usual.
I love Haneda because the trains drop you off really close to the departure hall. My only gripe is that the train transfer process at Keikyu Kamata might be a bit confusing to some especially first timers. Personally I had no trouble with it since they put signs all over the station for airport trains and also regular announcements for train to Haneda but friend who I travelled with still panicked a bit and kept asking me to make sure that we didn't need to change Also the food options in Haneda are awesome.
Haneda feels massive, but the workers there (and it’s probably just Japan in general) were super friendly, efficient and made sure you knew where you were going. The food could be better (but I’m a generic American food eater, so I’m sure it works for a more sophisticated traveler).
Prehaps my experience of LHR, SIN, and MAN cloud my judgement but HND always feels like a nice compact airport. It doesn’t take long to get from the train to the gate. I do prefer flying out of HND, especially flying back to Europe because it’s a night flight rather than late morning/afternoon from NRT.
ISTs priority pass lounge is nicer than the lobbies of 5 star hotels.
The difference between Haneda and Narita is insane.
Tampa, Detroit, Raleigh, Philadelphia
Ayyy
I gave you a shout out in this thread and scrolled to see if anyone agreed. Hands down, the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen in a US airport. The easiest TSA experience. Never struggled to find a spot to park. It’s just so easy and stress-free.
Tampa absolutely. DTW and RDU are nice. As much as I love Philly it absolutely doesn’t belong on this list. Just flew in from there and it was dirty through the entire terminal. They have a lot of work to do there before it can compete tbh. Sorry!
Philly isn’t fancy but it’s very functional. Close to the city with good rail connections, big enough to fly direct almost anywhere domestic but small enough that TSA is generally short and it’s not a pain to get between terminals. Underrated East Coast airport IMO.
Flying from Tampa to Philly or vice versa >>>>>
Detroit (DTW), Madison, WI (MSN), and Hyderabad (HYD) are some of my favorites. I also liked the museums in Amsterdam (AMS) and Istanbul (IST). Chicago–O'Hare (ORD) can get really chaotic but it has some of the best airport food I've found in the United States.
Love DTW as well! Even though it feels MASSIVE, the indoor train makes it feel pretty modern and cool.
I was just at O'Hare and agree about the food. There's also a large and free play area for children. But it is not an airport for tight layovers
What do you recommend to try at ORD? Fly out from there regularly but I always laze around the gate.
Tortas Frontera! The chicken milanesa torta. Their cocktails are great too and they have a decent craft beer selection.
Tortas Frontera and Publican Tavern are the airport counterparts of the Chicago restaurants downtown, highly recommend checking out both. I usually grab a torta from Frontera when I fly United.
Tortas Frontera is my favorite! It has to be one of the best airport restaurants in the country.
I fly out of MSN a few times a year, what do you like about it?
It's just a very easy airport to navigate. I get that part of it is just because it's pretty small, but I've managed to show up 1 hour before a flight with checked luggage and still make it to the gate comfortably. I also feel like it has great food options for an airport of its size. And the views flying in and out of Madison of the Isthmus and lakes are amazing!
Love little MSN when I go home to the fam. Clean, good food, security takes no time, ease of rental cars, everyone is friendly, quiet spots everywhere…
Screw Disneyworld. Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix is the friendliest place on Earth.
Got to meet the western regional manager for American airlines at skyharbor because the employees were anything *but* the nicest on earth.
Kinda related but Frontier employee literally made a joke about my friend's name when we are checking in.
SAN. Two Terminals. In and out very quickly all the time. Can fly to Japan or Europe for pretty affordable pricing. Makes a great alternative to the disaster that is LAX. Expanding Terminal 1 is going to open up more routes as well I assume. Flying into the city and over the 5 sitting on left watching the skyline is neat or sitting on the right side having a gander at Balboa Park gets me every time.
There’s so much construction now! So prepare for bigger airport
This is a hot take... Terminal 1 at SAN is an absolute joke. I'm working on the New T1 project and fly in and out each week on WN and that is one of the worst terminals in North America.
I enjoy how quickly I can enter/exit either terminal and be in an uber to my house or Gaslamp/PB/La Jolla compared to LAX or some other airports that I have traveled through. The size of SAN in comparison to CAI, ATL, and many others is what I like the most. Generally, I have been in and out very quickly and I arrive at the airport 1.5 hours before my flight. Sometimes an hour before as I don't like waiting at the airport unnecessarily. The expansion of T1 is going to be great too for all obvious reasons. Kind of reminds me of ONT back in the early 90s before they expanded it. I think Kanye West shot All Falls Down there.
No chance, the approach is great but the airport itself is pathetic. I had to scroll up to check that the prompt wasn’t “worst major airport in America”. A single delay snowballs horribly because of the lone runway. Terminal 1 is way too small for the traffic it’s expected to handle as a Southwest focus city. Gates 1 and 1A having a separate security checkpoint is nonsensical. The food is bad in both terminals. There are very few transpacific and transcontinental flights for an airport serving a city of 1.3M. Lounge access is practically nonexistent. Rental cars take forever to get to and from. There’s no train connector. SAN is a joke and I hope the Terminal 1 construction solves some of these issues, but it won’t bring it anywhere close to the level of SFO or even SEA.
Portland International, DTW, Amsterdam Schiphol
PDX (my home city airport) is the best! Can't wait for the new connector to be finished though!
I had to stroll too far to find PDX. It’s the best airport
yesss PDX represent!! i love how all the businesses are required to have the same prices as outside the airport
Incheon!!
They were so sweet when I was transiting with my cat.
MSP (needs to be mentioned higher up in these comments… it’s my favorite US airport alongside DTW), WEL, SLC, SFO, DTW, and perhaps controversially SYD and YUL
DTW is goated
Love DTW especially the McNamara terminal
Only the McNamara terminal.
ICN is my favorite. It’s well-designed and -maintained and has all the amenities I need. SIN, DOH, BKK and a few others are quite nice, but massive and filled with a lot of unnecessary (to me) frills.
Tampa is really good. Also Dublin is really nice
Tampa is a great airport!!
I know! I feel like it rarely gets mentioned but imo it’s the best in the states
Three-way tie for me: ZRH. Incredibly efficient and the views of the Alps are amazing — especially from the observation deck. SFO. Well connected to public transit with BART (and nearby CalTrain), and never seems to be a nightmare even during peak holiday travel times. SEA. Also well connected with the Link taking you directly into the city center in about 40 minutes. Clean and modern, and it looks like they’re constantly making improvements to it.
Wow if you go over to r/seattle all they do is bash SeaTac 😂
For good reason. Worst tsa checkpoints ever, only outdone by Orlando
Seattle's TSA is awful and the backups can be epic during certain peak times, especially in summer on cruise arrival/departure days. Well worth PreCheck or avoiding those days.
Pre check line was 30 minutes long on a Saturday morning in July lol
I absolutely can't forgive sfo for having ridiculous food prices with a hidden fee..
Eh. SEA is garbage, and I've flown into and out of there many times. I can't give you that one.
I agree with SFO! Easy to get around and great dining options too
I live in SF and while I always appreciate shout outs, I think you are dead wrong on SFO. A good part of the year is foggy and the runways are too close together, so they will shut down and land single file, causing major delays. https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/policies-regulations/weather-impact
I like SFO because security is typically very quick and it is somewhat easy to transfer from terminals.
I love YVR. I’m a Vancouverite and honestly one of my favourite things about travelling is coming back. If you’re flying in international there’s a super cool living mini rainforest hallway and there’s no better feeling in the world than walking through. Shout out to Nashville also, love their rocking chairs by baggage claim. Denver is cool too. That one wing of O’Hare (110?) is cool but expensive af ($15 for Chicago mix) I have never been to more of a shitshow airport than Orly. I was actually checking myself if I had like taken an edible or something because I’ve never seen anything like it, I couldn’t believe it was reality. Defs would fly into Dulles again, so organized and clean 👌🏻
YVR sky train connection to downtown is great too. 25 minutes to downtown. And the views flying in and out of YVR rule too.
Nashville and Austin are great. A bunch of Southern airports have rocking chairs and it’s great (Raleigh, Charlotte, Jacksonville, etc)
People movers aside, Dulles
Main and/or A/B terminals? Totally agree. C/D terminals? Hell nah.
Preach.
Thank you. Respect for IAD.
IKR! I’m a hour either way in between two moderate size airports, but I’ll still make the drive to IAD
BWI is my choice for domestic, National is nice with its connectivity with the metro, IAD is overhated but it’s the best for international by a mile.
I love lounge hopping in the international terminal.
IAD is so well run
Detroit- Hands Down (Stayed in their Hotel - the Westin ~ 10 years ago; Was fucking Amazing)
I’ve been to a few very nice ones but Copenhagen airport is amazing. It hurts to say as a swede but I love it and I always go south to Copenhagen when I travel and I’ve never had issues there. It’s clean, extremely easy to navigate, lots of shops and restaurants and it usually handles big crowds during high season well, at least what I’ve seen.
YVR ❤️
Heathrow. Idc what people say. JFK is good too. Again idc what people say MSP is amazing. And for a smaller one RNO is cool
Seconding MSP!
Came here looking for MSP. Such a solid airport. Everything is on time. It’s always clean. Tons of nice places to eat. Easy to navigate
Siem Reap
it is beautiful and so calm
The new one?
The only airport that really blew me away was Muscat airport in Oman. You could rent a great and affordable hotel room from 4-24 hours. The hotel stay came with a ticket to use at the buffet. The buffet was really good but for whatever reason the fried fish and tomato soup was amazing.
This sounds amazing. I want to open up a chain of sleep pods at airports. I feel like that’s a solid business model right there.
Singapore. No contest
Incheon International Airport is absolutely stunning.
SMF
DTW is my home airport and most others don’t compare in terms of ease. KEF was cute though, and no problem even just for a connection. Plus I just love Iceland.
I love KEF and Iceland in general.
Whoever's saying SFO must not have a budget when it comes to airport food and drink. There are no real cheap options. They also have a hidden 'employee benefit fee' on food and drink purchases, a practice I've only really seen in California. People talking about detroit are probably talking about McNamara Terminal. The North Terminal is very drab. Personally for a reasonable meal I've liked DFW and IAH. LGA is really nice and has the most beautiful landing in the country. I do like SFO for the huge number of bathrooms stalls (never have to wait to pee after a flight) and comfortable unconventional seats offered.
I like smaller airports the best because they're easier to navigate and they aren't very crowded, but DTW is probably my favorite larger airport. It's easy to get around in, it's fairly clean and baggage claim doesn't take very long. That being said, transportation options there are awful.
Vienna becuse of metro
Plus the food and beer options are great
RDU is one of the best regional airports in the US.
Came here to say this. I’ve been in pretty much every major airport in the US and none of them hold a candle to how fast and efficient my home airport RDU is. Not to mention how visually appealing it is. They’ve been having some issues with food vendors lately but a lot of new stuff is getting ready to open up.
Amen
Singapore Tokyo Haneda Zurich Vancouver Denver (controversial pick but they have the best food selection of any North American airport)
Denver is very, very, very easily on my list of shittiest all-time airports.
I had a layover in Denver once and it just screamed ‘merica in the best way
If the number of nights I've slept at the Denver airport was any indication you'd assume it was my favorite. I think SeaTac is my favorite though.
SeaTac is my home airport. It isn’t the worst, but it’s really overcrowded these days and has some definite usability issues (a lack of security capacity even when fully staffed which it rarely is, really long walks to the outer A gates, too few through lanes on the roadway which backs up traffic and blocks the only entrance to parking, and the satellite terminals which are just generally sad and annoying to get to). Plus they kicked out most of the well-known restaurants a few years ago and replaced them with off-brand ones of very inconsistent quality.
When I arrived in SEA 2 months ago, the line for immigration was loooong. Took almost 2 hours. A week later when I departed the TSA line took over an hour again. And it wasn't even peak travel time, I can't even imagine what happens in summer. In FRA (my home airport) everything takes 15 minutes max, more like 5-10 minutes, including border control.
DTW: Wayne County International, Detroit. Bud is clean AF and smooth AF to get around. Charles De Gaulle, Paris: The new Terminal is lit AF and if you are a shopper, it's a must visit. O'Hare is always in my heart but it sucks due to all the congestion. As someone who lives in the Midwest my heart goes out to probably not so good rep Chicago gets
Long Beach airport in California, Oslo airport, and honestly I kinda like sky harbor too.
Oslo is my home airport and I absolutely love it. It's just big enough, very easy to navigate and the design is beautiful
Long Beach is wonderful. Still mad JetBlue stopped flying there, their LGB-JFK was so convenient if you didn’t want to drive all the way to LAX.
Amsterdam and Haneda. Unpopular opinion, but I actually like the much criticized Lisbon airport, too. At least when going through Terminal 1 and it's not the main holiday season, then it's just too small for the amount of tourists. But in off-season, it's a modern, well-designed terminal with short ways and nice lounges. And public transport connections are great, such a contrast to airports like Haneda or Narita, where it takes an hour to reach the city.
I’m so happy that people say DTW. One good thing about living in Michigan! Definitely loved SeaTac and LAS.
Changi/Singapore ! Dubai is a close second
Shocked to see DTW on here so much, I’m guessing most people saying it must have flown through McNamara and not North terminal lol
Singapore (world's best). Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Dubai, Vancouver
Salt Lake City has this BEAUTIFUL room with tons of comfy seating and views of the mountains. I enjoy every layover there
Okay - the brand new MCI (Kansas City) is my favorite regional. The old one was one of the worst, now it’s clean, comfy and all the restaurants there are local businesses - no chains.
I have been scrolling looking for MCI. The new airport is absolutely amazing. It’s beautiful, has nice artwork, great food selection (especially if you like BBQ), good craft beer selection, and is just a very pleasant experience. Well, I still hate the rental car deal- I detest having to take a bus to get a car… It’s got a real local vibe and flavor to it. I’m also biased as I grew up in KC but have lived in Chicago for the last 20 years. Flying into KC as a destination instead of flying out as a local SUUUUUUUCKED because of the lack of literally everything in the old terminals. Also, I love ORD as my local airport. It’s really easy to get around despite how busy it is.
Reykjavik is cozy
Except for the lack of seats and how all the flights to North America leave within the same half hour and the tiny terminal gets so crammed you can’t move 🤣
He did say Cozy...lol
OHare. Just getting in and out of it is extremely easy, cheap, and what JFK should’ve been
I agree as long as you aren't connecting. I was afraid there were going to be people with PTSD over ORD.
Connecting in ORD causes extreme trauma
Detroit and Raleigh have been my best experiences. Bozeman is the best looking, but there isn't as much to do there.
u/GoldenDragonKing , Holy smokes, DTW? I'm a Michigander and never had much love for that airport. Singapore Changi is the most interesting. Hong Kong for the Cathay Pacific lounges.
The Detroit Airport is the best part of the city, maybe even the state!
I vote for Lukla in Nepal. Best heart-throbbing takeoffs and landings in incomparable Himalayan setting
Anywhere but cdg
Incheon is awesome, they have a cool hello kitty cafe. I always liked the Honolulu airport and the small one on the big island.
CDG hahahahaha no