Airports/Airlines Thread: Title Will Be Landing Soon

[A True Kaniggit]

I'll come up with a better title later, as time allows.

The thread to discuss the various airports and airlines. The ones you like and the ones you hate. Why do you like them? Why do you hate them? Old stories and current events both allowed.

 

For me, I hate Delta airlines for a very specific reason. Back in the ye olden times when I was a mere 14 years old, my father was stationed in Egypt. So he thought it would be nice to fly me and my brother out for a visit for a week using Delta airlines. The first flight was about an hour and 20 minutes late, which caused us to miss the flight across the Atlantic by 10 minutes, so we weren't able to get another flight until the next morning. That hour and twenty minute delay cost us a full day in Cairo. I'll never forgive you Delta.

Also, what the hell is wrong with the Charlotte Airport? Sooooo much walking distance between the gates! It took me near 15 minutes to get between the two aircraft. 

Airports I like? Pretty much any small regional airport. You get through security in like 5 minutes. San Antonio airport wasn't bad when I lived there. Easy access to and from the interstate at least.

 

[Datepalm]

I primarily have strong opinions about Qatar airlines - I had a 55 minute connection in Doha, we arrived 10 minutes late, and I was in the back of the plane and the airport is enormous. In short, there was no way I was making that connection. Just to clarify, this was work travel booked by someone else, and when I got it I called and double-checked this connection would work, and then checked again at the airport. When I went to figure out what to do with my missed connection, they informed that, a, yup, there was no way I could have made that connection, they totally get that, b, the computer says there were 45 minutes to make it and according to the rules its my fault I missed the flight (this is the first flight I have ever missed, too!) Long story short, I managed to get a flight a mere 13 hours later, but had my passport taken away while I waited and this resulted in my first ever call to the Israeli foreign office hotline. It was all a bit kafkaesque and infuriating. I've got a 2 hour connection via Doha next week and I'm already worried about it.

Also this teddy bear lamp meld statue thing in the middle of Doha airport is both riveting and terrifying and should in no way appear under a tab titled 'relax'. https://dohahamadairport.com/relax/art-exhibitions/lamp-bear

Their frequent flier miles program kinda sucks too and I want to shift my one-world point-picking-up to somewhere else. (I'm not sure how I ended up with Qatar in the first place, actually)

I also have strong opinions about various African airports, but mostly sympathetic ones. Dar es Salaam feels like small giftshop of a regional art museum in a 60s brutalist building. Lilongwe is really pleasant, efficient and unpretentious. Entebbe/Kampala I associate with getting hammered, for some reason. Nairobi is completely pleasant and unremarkable. Djibouti is really, really messy but in an oddball sort of way. Kinshasa's new one is ok, Lubumbashi's old one is like being in a slightly abandoned high school gym. I genuinely love the architecture of Bujumbura airport, and Addis is basically a blur with coffee. I do hate Tambo-Johannesburg with a passion though, despite having had a grand total of one connection through there.

I have multiple, predictable experiences of waiting for a departing flight in Boston and crying, for reasons, and at this point just kinda expect it. You and me, Logan! (I also find it like the most deeply boring of airports, so maybe I'm just subconsciously spicing things up.)

[Iskaral Pust]

I hate LaGuardia.  I hate it so much.  It should not require any explanation. 

[Raja]

12 hours ago, Datepalm said:

I primarily have strong opinions about Qatar airlines

Hah! They're the only ones that have ever upgraded me to first class for a 7 hour flight, so I have fond memories of Qatar airways!

I've recently been doing a lot of flights between the US & UK, and aer lingus has been a very decent pick for me. Firstly, dublin airport is relatively small so you can find your connecting flight fairly easily and I always seem to find a row with a couple of empty seats, which for someone who is 6'2, is very nice. There's also the added benefit of being able to do immigration in dublin as opposed to the US when you're flying back.

My biggest pet peeve with airport travel is having to switch terminals to get a connecting flight, it's why I will try and find a way to not fly out of Chicago ( O'Hare is...not great) Edit: I should add, I don't mind switching terminals if it's convenient, but Chicago has buses that take forever and are not easy to find when you want to switch terminals.

[williamjm]

17 hours ago, Datepalm said:

Also this teddy bear lamp meld statue thing in the middle of Doha airport is both riveting and terrifying and should in no way appear under a tab titled 'relax'. https://dohahamadairport.com/relax/art-exhibitions/lamp-bear

That is bizarre and I agree it seems to be the last thing someone would want to see if they wanted to relax.

[ljkeane]

6 hours ago, Raja said:

There's also the added benefit of being able to do immigration in dublin as opposed to the US when you're flying back.

The first time I flew to the US as an adult I went with Aer Lingus and I didn't realise US customs was in Dublin. Being in Ireland while an American guy had a go at me over why I'd want to travel to New York in the winter was an odd experience.

[Liffguard]

I have never been inside an airport that didnt't make me feel crushingly alone, anxious, and depressed. Flying across an ocean or continent should be one of the most thrilling, amazing things you do in your life. And we've found a way to make it just endlessly frustrating.

[Jeor]

I've only belatedly gotten onto the whole travel thing, although I think it was for the best - as now I'm single and in my early 30s, with enough disposable income and work autonomy that I can afford to do plenty of travel for both work and leisure and not worry too much about the money.

Living in Australia, pretty much the only airline program worth it is Qantas. The only other non-budget airline is Virgin and their network (routes and lounges) is vastly inferior to Qantas. The Qantas products are very good - lounges, business class, etc - but quite expensive.

We're used to long flight times in Australia. In the past year alone I've done the 22 hour flight to London (with a stop in Dubai), and the 17 hour nonstop Sydney-Dallas route as well as the 13 hour Sydney-LA. I've also done Singapore and Hong Kong which are more manageable at 8 and 9 hours respectively.

Whereas I used to get to the airport as late as possible to minimise my time there, now being a Platinum flyer with Qantas I get there quite early to enjoy the lounges and scroungers back whatever I can from all the money paid for those flights etc.

[Raja]

14 hours ago, ljkeane said:

The first time I flew to the US as an adult I went with Aer Lingus and I didn't realise US customs was in Dublin. Being in Ireland while an American guy had a go at me over why I'd want to travel to New York in the winter was an odd experience. 

It is a bit weird but makes landing in the US & getting to your connecting flight fairly easy. Also, I'm surprised that pre-immigration thing has been there for quite a while! I thought it was relatively recent.

As an aside, my barometer of a good airport is decided generally by how good of a bookstore they have after security.

[Aemon Stark]

On 10/5/2019 at 10:32 PM, Iskaral Pust said:

I hate LaGuardia.  I hate it so much.  It should not require any explanation. 

I was just there this week. It is the first and only airport I've experienced which actually closed the taxi pickup line for renovations. We had to crowd onto a bus just to get a cab...

I generally find US airports to be really inconsistent. Some are surprisingly "downmarket", not least of which is Orlando which has annoying trams between terminals and fairly limited A/C in areas too. Canadian airports were mostly privatized to locally-based non-profit authorities and few if any terminals haven't been renewed in the last 10 years. 

Otherwise airlines are alternatively great or awful. Most of my experience on Air Canada is good - it tends to be much more comfortable than Westjet and there are a lot more flights/routes in case of cancellations. 

However... I had one trip planned recently to Boston to meet my dad. This required a connection in Halifax... which was delayed so that I would miss my connection. Eventually both the original flight and the Boston flight were cancelled for "maintenance". I was able to salvage my plans (kinda) to fly to Toronto and drive from there, but it was a huge pain and I ended up driving back and forth to the airport three times to get things sorted out. They did at least take responsibility for all this and rebooked me without any added cost (along with the somewhat ungenerous 20% coupon for another trip). Of course I've had numerous weather-related delays in the past as well, but this is Canada after all...

[Iskaral Pust]

On 10/6/2019 at 2:21 AM, Raja said:

My biggest pet peeve with airport travel is having to switch terminals to get a connecting flight, it's why I will try and find a way to not fly out of Chicago ( O'Hare is...not great) Edit: I should add, I don't mind switching terminals if it's convenient, but Chicago has buses that take forever and are not easy to find when you want to switch terminals.

At O’Hare, unless terminal 5 is involved (for international flights), then it’s much faster to just walk between terminals.  Terminals 1-4 all have connected walkways within the secure area.  But there’s no motorized walkway for most of them, so you have to be able to walk up to half a mile with your luggage. 

[Datepalm]

4 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

At O’Hare, unless terminal 5 is involved (for international flights), then it’s much faster to just walk between terminals.  Terminals 1-4 all have connected walkways within the secure area.  But there’s no motorized walkway for most of them, so you have to be able to walk up to half a mile with your luggage. 

This is part of the reason I keep minimizing and minimizing my luggage - I did a long weekend with a small tote bag (toothbrush, a couple of t-shirts and underwear, one pair of jeans (on me)), now a 10-day work trip I'm managing with my usual school-work backpack (what, it's warm here.) I think that moment when people are fighting for overhead luggage space is one of the most annoying in human existence, and I am extremely pleased to avoid it.

[DMC]

I always go through Midway when Chicago's involved.  Probably my worst experience was at O'Hare.  Had a connection there when I was 17 (it was a very good year...) coming back home from my yearly summer trip to my uncle's dairy in Lubbock.  Only this time my little sister was with me.  Missed the connection by, like, 10 minutes.  Went to the desk and asked what we could do.  It wasn't that late, maybe 5pm, so I was hopeful we could catch another flight that night.  Nope, next one was at like 6 in the morning.  No hotels around available either, had to stay the night in O'Hare, they'd provide cots.  So I had to stay up all night because I was not going to sleep with my 14 year old sister next to me with dozens of people around.

Anyway, part of why I use Midway apparently because I use Southwest, and wikipedia tells me:  "Traffic is currently dominated by low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines; Chicago is Southwest's largest focus city."  But still, it's so much easier than O'Hare. 

In general, I agree on walking from terminal-to-terminal is going to be quicker almost all the time.  Same thing with Houston.  But that's somewhat dependent on being alone and only having one bag (which is usual for me, or with my brother who's equally quick).

 

 

[Raja]

9 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

At O’Hare, unless terminal 5 is involved (for international flights), then it’s much faster to just walk between terminals.  Terminals 1-4 all have connected walkways within the secure area.  But there’s no motorized walkway for most of them, so you have to be able to walk up to half a mile with your luggage. 

Yeah, I'm always flying out or into terminal 5, so I always have to take the bus that they have. Recently they implemented a system where you don't have to do security again, but when I went around a year ago I had to do security twice which was not fun.

I didn't have to walk anywhere with my luggage though as that was checked all the way through, thankfully.

[ljkeane]

I’ve got a flight from O’Hare next year so this thread isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence. 

[Iskaral Pust]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

I’ve got a flight from O’Hare next year so this thread isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence. 

O’Hare works well for most travelers, but unusual situations like connecting flights between two different airlines or else connecting from a domestic flight to an international flight — it’s not well designed for those. 

It’s the busiest airport in the world if you count passengers and freight (Atlanta is the busiest based solely on passengers).  So it handles most travelers just fine.  And it does have a cheap direct rail link to downtown so you don’t necessarily have to risk Chicago traffic.

The real problem at O’Hare is the paucity of good food options in most terminals.  There are options, but mostly only fast casual.  By contrast, Newark terminal C (United) has an incredible range of dining options now.

[Inkdaub]

As it happens I go to the airport three times per week for work but I haven't actually flown since September 2 2001. 

I remember once, many years ago, being delayed by weather in Atlanta.  Eventually Delta let myself and a few others who had waited on a flight to Dallas in the middle of the night.  This was a 747 I assume as it was the largest plane I had ever been on.  I remember it was nose-in to the window and it was just massive.  It was also empty.  The crew told us it was being flown to Dallas and will take on passengers there.  They were letting us ride along with them or some such so no food service but we could have access to the snacks.  So we claimed sections of the plane for ourselves.  They got us the snacks we wanted and then turned the lights mostly out and away we went.  In Dallas I had missed any possible connections so Delta put me in a hotel and paid for the room, food that night and in the morning, phone calls and transport to and from the airport.  This was easily the best flying experience I have ever had even though it started with a weather delay.

[Datepalm]

In hitting all the prior points, I am now at Logan, after a Qatar flight with an 8 hour connection on Doha (terror bear - still there) and somehow managed to set a call with the reason I'm usually miserable at Logan, for this layover which isn't quite long enough to leave the airport. So, you know, consistency. And airports. 

[A True Kaniggit]

11 hours ago, Datepalm said:

In hitting all the prior points, I am now at Logan, after a Qatar flight with an 8 hour connection on Doha (terror bear - still there) and somehow managed to set a call with the reason I'm usually miserable at Logan, for this layover which isn't quite long enough to leave the airport. So, you know, consistency. And airports. 

Ugh. That is the worst.

 

4 years ago I had a 5 hour layover in Baltimore for a flight that landed around 11:00 pm.

Didn't feel worth it to leave and find a hotel for 3 hours only to then go back for the next flight.

[Datepalm]

Yeah somewhere around the 4-5 hour mark is the worst. Not enough time to go into the city and breathe some non-airport air, too long not to start getting cabin fever at the airport. I nearly just got a bus to downtown Boston, would have gotten a coffee, and turned right back around. I've done that with even slightly longer layovers if the city is at all accessible and its not the middle of the night. (Anyway, that was just about 36 hours of flights/airports - started out at 6PM on Thursday, GMT+3, arrived Friday at 11PM, Pacific Time.)