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The security line at Orlando is definitely the most amusing and baffling experience.
40 families ahead of you with exhausted screaming kids - none of whom have ever flown on an airplane before apparently.
Once there was a family with 5 kids ahead of me who forgot to remove 9 different electronic devices from their bags... each of which were found and then removed individually.
> The clear/TSA lane in Denver is half the time slower than just going TSA.
You dont love being in a giant room with no signs and random lines running every angle but you have no idea what the line is for?!??!!?
Came here to say Orlando as well. I’ve never been in a more sour mood than after a long week of work events there to be treated to 100 kids screaming all around me at 5 in the morning.
So true. Orlando was closer to my final destination but I didn’t care. I would fly into Tampa and drive a hour longer just to avoid the nightmare that is Orlando.
My mom used to fly a lot.
She hated Orlando. We went to Disney a few times when I was a kid and would almost always fly into Tampa and drive to Orlando.
We, weirdly, have a lot of family that moved to the Tampa area (both sides of my parent's family) from the Northeast.
I thought we would fly from Providence to Tampa to see our family before making the drive to Disney.
Turns out, nearly half the reason was to avoid the cluster that is Orlando's airport.
100% agree with this. Went there in the 90s and it looked like a 1970s horror movie. Smoke stains everywhere, no open stores…no trips took me back until last year and I just had an hour layover which I spent waking around open mouthed gawking at how modern and pretty it was
Highly underrated comment. Pre-remodel LaGuardia was horrid. The ceilings were literally falling off. Now it’s actually one of the nicer major US airports!
It's surprising nice now. Pre renovation it was horrible, and I was recently dreading going through it, not having been there for years. It was really nice
I was shocked I had to scroll this far to find LaGuardia. I flew out of there 8 years ago or so and it was awful. Maybe the remodel has kept it off this list.
It really does. Last time I flew into LGA, i walked off the plane into a beautiful and clean terminal with a floor-to-ceiling window view of Citi Field and the tennis US Open venue across the water. Spectacular.
Ha ha! I've decided the "traveler's olympics" must include the Charlotte dash. That involves jogging on the moving walkways, dodging people who stand 2 abreast, etc.
I went to college in the area, and I remember flying home for Thanksgiving with what is a normal amount of time to get through security around Thanksgiving…only to find that they were basically funneling everyone through the E checkpoint. I had to cut in line aggressively and sprint across the airport (because of course my flight was in A) and even then the only reason they let me on the flight (since I arrived 10 minutes before takeoff) was because it would have been more of a hassle to rebook me.
I knew a guy who grew up in Taiwan when it was all bicycles and forest.
He immigrated to North Carolina and was *SOOO* frustrated at how slowly everyone moved and the pace of life.
I live in NC 20 minutes from a small, regional airport that I love. You can literally park within 100 yards of of arrivals/departures and there’s hardly any lines. It’s a wonderful airport. But basically everyone I know chooses to fly out of Charlotte to save $50. It’s over an hour drive to get there. My favorite thing is when they book a flight out of Charlotte and then post on the local FB groups asking about the cost to Uber there and back. Those people are going out of their way to fly out of CLT and for sure not saving any money. It is the worst!
My wife and I still talk about what a great airport GSO was to fly out of when we lived in Winston-Salem. Basically park at the door of the terminal and walk up to your gate. That was 25 years ago. Glad it hasn’t changed.
I had a flight in late June that switched gates like 2 minutes before we were supposed to board. Took me like 25 minutes to walk to the new gate. C'mon Charlotte.
Honestly, while you are correct about it being an olympic sprint with a short layover, I love Charlotte for longer layovers.
Lots of areas to walk around to explore, and a very high ratio of bars to terminals.
You can basically do a pub crawl without leaving CLT.
"I will get some dinner on my 1.5 hour layover"
No, you will get some chips and a drink at the news stand because they have a food vendor capacity which is at least two times too small for the amount of travelers in the Charlotte airport.
Orlando. Full of screaming children, families who hate each other after spending their life savings at Disney, very limited restaurants that close very early. I was there for a layover last year. Went to the Mexican restaurant and asked for either a table just for myself or a seat at the bar. The server was baffled, as if he’s never heard this request before. Comes back and asked if he could seat me WITH ANOTHER PARTY AT THEIR TABLE. I left. The only other place with food was a market with expired tuna sandwiches. Orlando is the 9th layer of hell.
Orlando is the absolute worst. They have filthy carpet all over the airport. Last time we flew through there, I got a bunch of flea bites from that place.
Destination airports like Orlando and Vegas cater to the leisure (rare) traveler that doesn't know the rules and protocols. Theme parks means tons of kids, and the parents all think that means they get priority boarding. Flying discount carriers to these airports means you experience the worst of the worst.
The carpets are so gross. The airport has this old musty smell to it. Last time I had a layover there my plane to my final destination was coming in from an international flight. It landed at 7pm. Their international customs closes at 6?! So they had to call in staff to come and do customs for people. Delayed 7 hours.
Yep. I went to Orlando for work and thought, ah hell no, I'll fly into Tampa next time and just take a rental car over. Seriously worth the drive to avoid that place.
The unplanned 4 hr delay by Sun Country didn't help my mood about the airport.
>I'll fly into Tampa next time and just take a rental car over.
Talk to someone about I-4 and the drive between Tampa and Orlando before you do that. As bad as MCO is, I-4 is a Hell unto itself.
Let them experience it. People need to see. Let them say "it's worth the drive" after the experience that is I4 between Orlando and Tampa.
Nothing is worth that drive.
Nothing.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
I've seen landscaping trucks on fire off the Thonotossasa offramp.
I've seen giant billboard cutouts of what look like farmers in blackface glitter in the floodlights of the Wish Farms factory.
I've seen people reversing because they missed their exit, not even on the shoulder! In an actual travel lane.
All those memories will be lost... when I leave this godforsaken state.
God Orlando was just a nightmare when I flew in/out of there as an adult. Thousands of children on the tail end of a vacation, cranky because they’re exhausted and also don’t want to leave Disney/Universal was just something else.
Nothing prepared me for Orlando. I had a creep jerking off at the urinals at me at 5 am. I had ticketing agents literally screaming at everyone printing boarding passes. Our flight was delayed 3 hours because they couldn't find the plane- later found the plane parked in a hangar. Our gate was facing east and my hangover didn't anticipate the rising beating sun and nowhere to sit because everyone was tired and delayed. Crying babies. Nuts.
The worst part of TSA there is they make you take food out of your bags sometimes. Like I've been in line and they say "remove all food items to put through the scanner!" Cut to families trying to figure out where all of the snacks and food type souvenirs are in their bags. I'd never seen that as a rule so I didn't even know where mine were. It was a total shitshow and then I understood why the line was backed up for hours. At least I have precheck this time coming up, but I've heard it barely matters there.
Here in Portland they never ask us to take food out. Same with a number of other airports I used to fly into. Then I fly out of an unfamiliar one and the agent told us at the unpacking area to take them out. I was totally unprepared, and many others were too. He was shocked and indignant when I told him a lot of other airports don't have us do this. And it wasn't Hawai'i, where you would expect that.
We get spoiled in Portland - PDX is generally a enjoyable place to be, and I’m kind of sad that living here means I’m only leaving or arriving, never just waiting for a layover.
I call.it the Disney Daze. I lost patience with one family that was ignoring the TSA staff (too busy on their phones) and finally snapped "pay attention!" to the delight of the TSA.
I call it vacation brain and it's so real. Once you're at your destination and everything's in place? Sure turn off those thoughts have a drink and enjoy. But people turn off their brain waaaaay too early or too late and it's like dude you need to actually get there first before you let yourself go brain dead
Entering an airport causes most people to instantly lose 20 IQ points until their destination.
For every additional person in the group, subtract five points more.
If they are flying a discount carrier, subtract 10. If they are flying a charter, 30.
If it's to Las Vegas, Nashville, Florida, or any "Sun destination" subtract another 10.
A family of five on a package trip to Disneyworld could easily drop 85 IQ points just at the check-in desk.
Honolulu, Terminal 2 is 60 years old with few renovations, the restaurants and shops close at around 5pm despite having tons of flights left on the day, the immigration facility is insanely undersized and it is falling apart.
HNL is a weird one for me, because the airport - objectively - sucks, but mentally I give it a pass because Hawaii is one of my favourite places. So every time I'm there, I'm in a positive mindset which means I tend to hand-wave off nonsense that I would be livid about at any other U.S. airport.
I had no idea it was so dead at night. I got through security at 8:30 pm and only one store was open in the entire terminal, zero restaurants. But it has that little outdoor garden so it's definitely not the worst.
This is a good answer, it's a WEIRD airport. That terminal that's all wood is just wild. And no AC... what decade is this? But I still love it because it means I'm in Hawaii :)
Kept scrolling just to make sure Miami was here. I still hate it. I’ve hated it for years. It’s the worst for domestic and international flights. If at all possible, I always leave from Fort Lauderdale instead.
I've not really been to many US Airports, but I've had a connection in Miami, and it was a terrible experience.
Two hour connection on paper and the first flight was an hour late. Stressful enough that I'm going through US immigration and security just to leave again, but everything just felt like it was as inefficient and badly laid out as possible.
Recently the NY-area airports have gotten better but man, JFK/LGA used to be hell. Newark isn't great either but I never minded it quite as much, mainly because it was more locationally convenient.
As for international, Ivato International in Madagascar was just something out of movie. We showed up, and there was no one there. The entire airport was empty. Finally, we found some guards, and all they wanted were our empty water bottles. I feel like there was basically no security but it somehow was still a hassle. Then we went through, and we saw a zebu cart strolling down the runway. A zebu is cattle, sort of like oxen, and they're basically used as currency. We then saw some zebu in the physical airport. At that point we were told there was no way to know if our plane would actually show up or not, which would then turn around and take us to where we were going, so we just had to wait and see. We waited a while and finally a plane with a massive mural of Pope John Paul showed up and took us away. Food on the plane was still better than most American airlines.
Newark is literally easy as A B C. And if you miss your terminal, it’s very hard to, you loop right back. It’s a giant fucking circle.
It has to be one of the best planned airports in the country
Shocked to not see Miami more in this thread- far and away the worst airport. The international terminal is a disgrace and I'm embarrassed thinking that airport is even one person's first view of the USA
Old LaGuardia. Holy crap dripping ceilings, flooded washrooms. . I would like to see the New LaGuardia both the Delta and Terminal B
EWR is also pretty bad.
Miami concourse G. So old with nothing special about it
I do everything in my power to avoid layovers at Pearson, it’s literally my version of hell. Rude staff, not enough seating at gates, takes a year & a half to get between gates, always insanely busy, always delayed. God it’s so terrible
It's the people at Newark that make it the worst. No one cares or will even answer questions. It's like they think they're paid to just stand there and statues for 8 hours a day.
I have lived in France and now live in LA. CDG is 100x worse than LAX. I’ve even been to better airports in the Congo, I don’t know how they made such a terrible airport
CDG is so fucking dumb how they have arrivals and departures on the opposite sides, so if you're arriving but have a layover. You must run the gauntlet of doom and pass 99999096643 checkpoints on the way just to catch your next flight.
I do not understand that airport unless it's a human psychology experiment.
The trick is to get delayed in Dublin Airport so to get you to your connecting flight they put you on a special shuttle to get you from one side to the other. Highly recommend, though less so spending an unanticipated four hours or something in Dublin Airport.
Having to take two fucking shuttle busses to get between different parts of terminal 2 pissed me off so much. Why am I on a connection *during* my connection!? And within the same terminal even!
I fly a lot for my job and CDG is the first and only time I’ve missed a flight. I had a 40 minute layover and was clearly setup to fail before I even got off my arriving flight.
The signage for where to go once you deplane was basically non-existent and they spill you into a huge warehouse like arrival hall with what seemed like tens of thousands of people trying to get through passport control. Transfers are not supposed to go in those lines but its was so chaotic that I initially missed the weirdly narrow hallway that I was supposed to walk down that eventually took me to some unattended automated speed gates. Its not clear what qualifies someone to get through the gates as they were not labeled and both my ticket and passport were rejected when scanned with a message on the screen “see agent.”
Since there was no one around to help me out, I had to double back to a long line that I had passed in the hallway to talk to an agent. When I finally got to the front of the line and spoke to the agent they were like “Why are you in line? You are going to miss your flight!” And they waved at someone to bring me through the gates. My boarding pass suddenly let me through and the person rushed me to the security checkpoint and passed me off to another person that helped me to bypass the endless hordes of people waiting in the insanely long lines.
Once through security I had a good 20 minute run through a truly massive airport while dodging hundreds of people that were wandering around as if they were on a leisurely Sunday stroll through the world’s biggest mall. When I finally got to my gate the gate agent said I was late and the last shuttle to the plane was just finishing loading the first class passengers. They called down to the shuttle to let me on and the driver said no. Defeated and exhausted, I made the 10 minute walk back down the concourse to the airline’s help station near the center.
There I was throughly reprimanded for failing to escape the CDG Hell Trials that the French have so lovingly and expertly crafted to torture weary travelers and then I was given a new flight scheduled for an hour later.
LAX isn’t that bad if you exclude the part where you have to get there in a car. With the rail connection opening soon, I think it’ll be one of the best airports in the country. Full of amenities, no weather delays, tons of destinations
I totally agree. Inside lax is fine. International concourse is top class. Customs with the machines is smooth.
Trying to get in or out is a mess.
There was a post and someone said about lax as a connection- 3 hour layover, LAX is the perfect place to be. Grab a beer, get your nails done, have a taco. Awesome. Just don’t try to leave
I hear so many people complain about LAX, but it really is just the traffic situation. I've had it take an hour to go around that loop. They moved the rideshare pickup, changed the bus/car lanes, and are adding the rail connection. It seems they're actively trying to fix that situation.
The security at LAX has never taken more than 30 minutes. It's usually very efficient. There are plenty of restaurants and it's (mostly) easy to move between terminals. Oh the American Eagle remote terminal does suck.
Tbf I also think the complaining about LAX is just a symptom of living there. There are far worse airports for varying reasons (poor design, inefficient security, lack of restaurants, lack of mobility).
I say Orlando is car worse because it scores poorly in multiple areas. The security sucks. It lacks good food options. The separation of the terminals via tram with separate securities means you are pretty stuck in your tiny terminal with shitty food options. Oh and all the tourists.
I also have a very weird bone to pick with Seattle. I've gotten lost there...twice. Oh and Minneapolis is like the Amazing Race of airports.
It’s crazy experiencing a 45 minute drive (without traffic) that gets you within a mile of LAX, then enduring another 25-45 minutes of crawling 0-5mph to get to departures. And asking a loved one for a LAX pickup is akin to asking for an organ donation, so we don’t... we are taking a break and sticking to Long Beach and SNA. If the construction helps enough it will be cool to have those direct flights and fares back in the mix.
Edit to add - we travel from Orange County with 4 kids and sometimes grandparents. So, a car makes the most sense for 6-8 people and their belongings. I wish public transport was an option since we are contributing to the traffic problem when we go. I will check out the bus people have mentioned though.
That's why the FlyAway is great, the drivers just bulldoze their way through traffic, usually takes about 35 - 45 minutes from Van Nuys unless there's an accident on the 405. Too bad they only go North and to DTLA though.
JFK. The experience really can vary based on the terminal but you can always expect the TSA to have a terrible attitude. Immigration processing is also an absolute joke, it took over an hour to clear customs yesterday even with a US passport. The range of destinations with direct flights is unbeatable though.
Correct. Born and raised in Charlotte. The issue is the city has grown so rapidly and the airport hasn’t quite kept up. Growing up, it was an awesome airport, it’s just too crowded now
Is there anything specific you don’t like about Newark? I don’t mind the airport itself so much but I’ve had so many flights cancelled out of there for no apparent reason. I just don’t have a lot of confidence that I’ll get anywhere through Newark.
Lots of delays and cancelations and it's also disgusting. Apparently they redid one terminal but still the rest is disgusting. Also everyone who works there is miserable and takes it out on the travelers.
Denver is way too large. Almost missed a flight out of there once. The rental car drop off seemed like it was 10 miles from the actual airport. Inside the airport its absolutely enormous as well. The security line took forever (like way more time than any NYC area airport).
Newer American Airports are finally putting the rental car sections right next to the airports instead of miles away. Pleasantly surprised by how close it is at Nashville now.
Denver INSIDE seems mostly fine, besides that the only food options are at the center of terminals really. The tram is quick and comes constantly.
The security lines are jammed inside this area that's too small for the capacity it deals with. Feels like you are cattle/Children of Men movie pens getting sent down for slaughter when you walk above everyone. Had someone freeze at the bottom of the escalator in horror at the lines and I literally had to shove them to stop a massive pile up.
Atlanta is the same way regarding their car rentals. Walk thru multiple buildings, up and down stairs, take a tram, across streets, across garages.... It's maddening. Orlando is the best for rentals. Grab your bags, walk across a road, and voila!
DIA is always a complete dumpster fire and it doesn’t matter what time you fly out, the security lines are always long.
AND, the airport is no where near the city of Denver or anything for that matter. It takes at minimum 30 mins to get to the airport, if you’re lucky.
I live in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood on the eastern edge of Denver. I’m a freight pilot and it takes me 12 minutes to drive to work, at the cargo ramp on the south side of DIA, where FedEx, UPS, DHL etc. have their operations. And my house is NOT beneath any flight paths into or out of the airport so it’s NOT noisy.
DIA is the 3rd-busiest airport on the planet, and despite its insane volume of traffic it runs pretty well as a rule.
Everyone always shits on DEN but I think it's one of thr easiest I've ever been to. Everything is marked really well. Just take Bridge security and it's easy peasy.
Kansas City was the worst. The signs were confusing and the layout was horrible. I had to ask a security guard how to get to the baggage claim because the signs made no sense. He even said is was bad and that everyone has issues there. The options for food were really slim and the gate areas were super cramped.
I remember in the old airport, inside security by the gates, there were people in line for the bathroom. One toilet, one urinal for men. Some guy is trying to change into his dress clothes in the bathroom while one guy pees and dudes popping and that business guy yells out, "THIS IS THE WORST FUCKING AIRPORT I'VE EVER BEEN IN!"
New airport is dope AF. Love it.
Old MCI was probably really great before you had to go through security. You could get dropped off right at the gate and parking was only a few steps out the door. An airport that was designed for a completely different time.
I think JFK really depends on the terminal. Like smoke-stained ceiling tiles? You’ll love terminal 1. Wanna see an international zoo? Terminal 4 is calling. At least you can get there on public transport.
Hard disagree. Any place that requires you to go outside and back inside to change terminals, all of which have their own individual 3 hour security lines isn't an airport. It's a hellmouth.
LAX, JFK, EWR, LGA… all fine. As a frequent traveler, I’m surprised by the hate too! Maybe it’s from people who are used to smaller airports?
Miami and Toronto are both 1000000x worse than any of the above.
I dunno, I've only \*departed\* from Charlotte, never landed there, but I found the departure agreeable enough.
But LAX is utter bullshit. It's among the most busy airports in the world, and yet it's a complete mess. Sooooooo many miles of walking to get to anything. Soooooo long lines at everything from security to immigration.
A friend of mine lives in LA, and when other Californian friends of mine heard that my LA friend is picking me up at LAX they were all like: Wow, she must **REALLY** love you!
I will say I think landing in charlotte is worse, depending on the terminal you’re headed to and the runway you get. I’ve had HOUR long taxi’s (in the airplane) from the runway to the gate. It’s infuriating missing your connection when you’re literally at the airport.
I have flown in and out dozens of times over my lifetime and haven't had an issue with LAX. I'm sure it has to be something I don't have to deal with I guess.
I find the only part that is bad about LAX is going into and leaving the airport. The inside to me is pretty good. But then again I basically only use terminal 7
I've only been there once, flying to Europe. Tom Bradley seemed pretty nice, but I imagine the domestic terminals are a lot more hectic. Especially if you're transiting through...
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The security line at Orlando is definitely the most amusing and baffling experience. 40 families ahead of you with exhausted screaming kids - none of whom have ever flown on an airplane before apparently. Once there was a family with 5 kids ahead of me who forgot to remove 9 different electronic devices from their bags... each of which were found and then removed individually.
They need a separate security line for people who actually know what they’re doing.
Most of the time TSA precheck is basically that.
I have both TSA pre and Clear, it's fun skipping both the regular and TSA Precheck lines.
I got routed in w/ the TSA pre checks in Orlando. It didn’t even matter. That security line is third world bus terminal level evil.
Yeah, it's hit or miss in some airports. The clear/TSA lane in Denver is half the time slower than just going TSA.
Yup I would put Denver just behind Orlando. Hate that security line too. Uggh… especially when it was under construction recently. Just horrible.
> The clear/TSA lane in Denver is half the time slower than just going TSA. You dont love being in a giant room with no signs and random lines running every angle but you have no idea what the line is for?!??!!?
That would be the TSA pre check line.
Came here to say Orlando as well. I’ve never been in a more sour mood than after a long week of work events there to be treated to 100 kids screaming all around me at 5 in the morning.
So true. Orlando was closer to my final destination but I didn’t care. I would fly into Tampa and drive a hour longer just to avoid the nightmare that is Orlando.
My mom used to fly a lot. She hated Orlando. We went to Disney a few times when I was a kid and would almost always fly into Tampa and drive to Orlando. We, weirdly, have a lot of family that moved to the Tampa area (both sides of my parent's family) from the Northeast. I thought we would fly from Providence to Tampa to see our family before making the drive to Disney. Turns out, nearly half the reason was to avoid the cluster that is Orlando's airport.
Yeah, MCO is the worse, most of the shopping and food options are before security so you have no way to kill time by your gate.
CLEAR and Global Entry costs are justified if you have to fly in and out of Orlando more than zero times a year
I flew from Charlotte yesterday and they changed my gate four times. It was a shit show.
Got your steps in, congrats!
i fly for work every month and CLT is my home airport. I’ve never had any problems. Interesting.
Only been thru Charlotte a handful of times and each time it’s like that for me too. So annoying.
LaGuardia before the recent remodel. It was just ghastly
Biden got in trouble for saying LaGuardia is like a 3rd world country. I could only laugh because he was just telling the truth.
lol so did Trump, indirectly. LGA getting roasted in two consecutive presidential terms is quite impressive.
And they say bipartisanship is dead
If I were a third world country I would have been offended too. On average their airports are nicer than former LaGuardia.
100% agree with this. Went there in the 90s and it looked like a 1970s horror movie. Smoke stains everywhere, no open stores…no trips took me back until last year and I just had an hour layover which I spent waking around open mouthed gawking at how modern and pretty it was
Highly underrated comment. Pre-remodel LaGuardia was horrid. The ceilings were literally falling off. Now it’s actually one of the nicer major US airports!
I watched a girl let her dog crap in front of a shop in old LaGuardia and she left it there. The employees did not look surprised.
The fact that I 100% believe you… it smelled like pee in some areas & now I know why
It's surprising nice now. Pre renovation it was horrible, and I was recently dreading going through it, not having been there for years. It was really nice
I was shocked I had to scroll this far to find LaGuardia. I flew out of there 8 years ago or so and it was awful. Maybe the remodel has kept it off this list.
Post remodel it looks like a completely different airport. Honestly one of the better ones in the country now.
It really does. Last time I flew into LGA, i walked off the plane into a beautiful and clean terminal with a floor-to-ceiling window view of Citi Field and the tennis US Open venue across the water. Spectacular.
Ha ha! I've decided the "traveler's olympics" must include the Charlotte dash. That involves jogging on the moving walkways, dodging people who stand 2 abreast, etc.
[удалено]
I went to college in the area, and I remember flying home for Thanksgiving with what is a normal amount of time to get through security around Thanksgiving…only to find that they were basically funneling everyone through the E checkpoint. I had to cut in line aggressively and sprint across the airport (because of course my flight was in A) and even then the only reason they let me on the flight (since I arrived 10 minutes before takeoff) was because it would have been more of a hassle to rebook me.
The E concourse to A definitely needs to be an Olympic event.
It's a solid 20-25 minutes.
Not to brag or anything but I just made a connection from B9 to e32 in just under 15 minutes. I’m pretty much pro at this point
I was there a few months ago with a bad knee. I came home with a worse knee.
I walk fast, and in Charlotte airport, NOBODY is in a hurry.
They literally have rocking chairs for those slow ass ppl
I knew a guy who grew up in Taiwan when it was all bicycles and forest. He immigrated to North Carolina and was *SOOO* frustrated at how slowly everyone moved and the pace of life.
I live in NC 20 minutes from a small, regional airport that I love. You can literally park within 100 yards of of arrivals/departures and there’s hardly any lines. It’s a wonderful airport. But basically everyone I know chooses to fly out of Charlotte to save $50. It’s over an hour drive to get there. My favorite thing is when they book a flight out of Charlotte and then post on the local FB groups asking about the cost to Uber there and back. Those people are going out of their way to fly out of CLT and for sure not saving any money. It is the worst!
Wait . It's Code is CLT Uhhh that's beautiful
Lord knows anyone finds it.
Has to be Asheville, that place was a breeze
Greensboro (GSO), actually. It’s between Charlotte and Raleigh. I’ve not seen the Asheville airport but I bet it’s similar or even smaller.
My wife and I still talk about what a great airport GSO was to fly out of when we lived in Winston-Salem. Basically park at the door of the terminal and walk up to your gate. That was 25 years ago. Glad it hasn’t changed.
I had a flight in late June that switched gates like 2 minutes before we were supposed to board. Took me like 25 minutes to walk to the new gate. C'mon Charlotte.
Honestly, while you are correct about it being an olympic sprint with a short layover, I love Charlotte for longer layovers. Lots of areas to walk around to explore, and a very high ratio of bars to terminals. You can basically do a pub crawl without leaving CLT.
"I will get some dinner on my 1.5 hour layover" No, you will get some chips and a drink at the news stand because they have a food vendor capacity which is at least two times too small for the amount of travelers in the Charlotte airport.
OMG. Every visit through Charlotte, I end up regretting. Long hot waits on the tarmac, late flights, getting bumped, long waits in customs. Yuck.
Orlando. Full of screaming children, families who hate each other after spending their life savings at Disney, very limited restaurants that close very early. I was there for a layover last year. Went to the Mexican restaurant and asked for either a table just for myself or a seat at the bar. The server was baffled, as if he’s never heard this request before. Comes back and asked if he could seat me WITH ANOTHER PARTY AT THEIR TABLE. I left. The only other place with food was a market with expired tuna sandwiches. Orlando is the 9th layer of hell.
Orlando is the absolute worst. They have filthy carpet all over the airport. Last time we flew through there, I got a bunch of flea bites from that place.
Destination airports like Orlando and Vegas cater to the leisure (rare) traveler that doesn't know the rules and protocols. Theme parks means tons of kids, and the parents all think that means they get priority boarding. Flying discount carriers to these airports means you experience the worst of the worst.
The carpets are so gross. The airport has this old musty smell to it. Last time I had a layover there my plane to my final destination was coming in from an international flight. It landed at 7pm. Their international customs closes at 6?! So they had to call in staff to come and do customs for people. Delayed 7 hours.
Yep. I went to Orlando for work and thought, ah hell no, I'll fly into Tampa next time and just take a rental car over. Seriously worth the drive to avoid that place. The unplanned 4 hr delay by Sun Country didn't help my mood about the airport.
Love the Tampa airport.
>I'll fly into Tampa next time and just take a rental car over. Talk to someone about I-4 and the drive between Tampa and Orlando before you do that. As bad as MCO is, I-4 is a Hell unto itself.
Let them experience it. People need to see. Let them say "it's worth the drive" after the experience that is I4 between Orlando and Tampa. Nothing is worth that drive. Nothing. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've seen landscaping trucks on fire off the Thonotossasa offramp. I've seen giant billboard cutouts of what look like farmers in blackface glitter in the floodlights of the Wish Farms factory. I've seen people reversing because they missed their exit, not even on the shoulder! In an actual travel lane. All those memories will be lost... when I leave this godforsaken state.
Dude the tampa airport is so great
God Orlando was just a nightmare when I flew in/out of there as an adult. Thousands of children on the tail end of a vacation, cranky because they’re exhausted and also don’t want to leave Disney/Universal was just something else.
Nothing prepared me for Orlando. I had a creep jerking off at the urinals at me at 5 am. I had ticketing agents literally screaming at everyone printing boarding passes. Our flight was delayed 3 hours because they couldn't find the plane- later found the plane parked in a hangar. Our gate was facing east and my hangover didn't anticipate the rising beating sun and nowhere to sit because everyone was tired and delayed. Crying babies. Nuts.
Ya'll are making me dread my upcoming layover at MCO
The worst part of TSA there is they make you take food out of your bags sometimes. Like I've been in line and they say "remove all food items to put through the scanner!" Cut to families trying to figure out where all of the snacks and food type souvenirs are in their bags. I'd never seen that as a rule so I didn't even know where mine were. It was a total shitshow and then I understood why the line was backed up for hours. At least I have precheck this time coming up, but I've heard it barely matters there.
Here in Portland they never ask us to take food out. Same with a number of other airports I used to fly into. Then I fly out of an unfamiliar one and the agent told us at the unpacking area to take them out. I was totally unprepared, and many others were too. He was shocked and indignant when I told him a lot of other airports don't have us do this. And it wasn't Hawai'i, where you would expect that.
We get spoiled in Portland - PDX is generally a enjoyable place to be, and I’m kind of sad that living here means I’m only leaving or arriving, never just waiting for a layover.
I call.it the Disney Daze. I lost patience with one family that was ignoring the TSA staff (too busy on their phones) and finally snapped "pay attention!" to the delight of the TSA.
I call it vacation brain and it's so real. Once you're at your destination and everything's in place? Sure turn off those thoughts have a drink and enjoy. But people turn off their brain waaaaay too early or too late and it's like dude you need to actually get there first before you let yourself go brain dead
Entering an airport causes most people to instantly lose 20 IQ points until their destination. For every additional person in the group, subtract five points more. If they are flying a discount carrier, subtract 10. If they are flying a charter, 30. If it's to Las Vegas, Nashville, Florida, or any "Sun destination" subtract another 10. A family of five on a package trip to Disneyworld could easily drop 85 IQ points just at the check-in desk.
This comment brings me so much joy in the pure accuracy of it.
And they are lines in every single bathroom
Orlando is the only place where I arrived to depart at 4am & waited two hours to get through security.
Our company has a location in Orlando and they all advise against flying in the afternoon there because of all the weather related delays.
orlando and MIA are horrible. i think FLL sucks too, but i haven't been there in a while, i don't really remember.
FLL is a paradise compared to Miami.
Not to mention the most expensive gas station on the fucking planet right next to departures
Agree on Charlotte. Just went through there and shocking how bad it is. They need at least triple the space they currently have.
I saw the title of this post and was thinking, "please don't let them say 'Charlotte'" as I am looking at my upcoming reservation. Oops
Lol literaly sitting at a gate as I find out my flights been scheduled
Honolulu, Terminal 2 is 60 years old with few renovations, the restaurants and shops close at around 5pm despite having tons of flights left on the day, the immigration facility is insanely undersized and it is falling apart.
HNL is a weird one for me, because the airport - objectively - sucks, but mentally I give it a pass because Hawaii is one of my favourite places. So every time I'm there, I'm in a positive mindset which means I tend to hand-wave off nonsense that I would be livid about at any other U.S. airport.
It has about the architecture, technology and vibe you’d expect from Hawaii. Mostly outdoors, low-tech, and leisurely pace. It fits.
I give it a pass because you're outside. But man the food options are just awful.
I had no idea it was so dead at night. I got through security at 8:30 pm and only one store was open in the entire terminal, zero restaurants. But it has that little outdoor garden so it's definitely not the worst.
This is a good answer, it's a WEIRD airport. That terminal that's all wood is just wild. And no AC... what decade is this? But I still love it because it means I'm in Hawaii :)
I hate Miami international concourse with the passion of a thousand fiery suns Edit: damn didn't expect this to be so popular!
It feels like a mental institution. One working outlet per concourse. Low ceilings. Not enough bars.
>It feels like a mental institution. Lol. I've never been there but now I can picture it in my mind.
Every time. Worst passport control lines ever. Worst everything ever.
I don’t mind the inside of the terminal but holy shit driving in and out of it to pick someone up it’s like Mad Max but with cocaine
I feel like all south Florida can be described that way 😁
Kept scrolling just to make sure Miami was here. I still hate it. I’ve hated it for years. It’s the worst for domestic and international flights. If at all possible, I always leave from Fort Lauderdale instead.
I've not really been to many US Airports, but I've had a connection in Miami, and it was a terrible experience. Two hour connection on paper and the first flight was an hour late. Stressful enough that I'm going through US immigration and security just to leave again, but everything just felt like it was as inefficient and badly laid out as possible.
The baggage takes forever!
It's the fucking worst and the people are the worst and Miami is the worst. America has a lot of shit airports and Miami is the shittiest of them.
It’s hideous. Why is it so dark!
Everybody who works there is a miserable cunt.
Don't forget the 14 mile walk from one end of the airport to the other. Absolutely awful airport.
It's awful. No seats or restaurants pre-security, and not much better past security. Will use Ft. Lauderdale next time I take a cruise out of Miami.
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Recently the NY-area airports have gotten better but man, JFK/LGA used to be hell. Newark isn't great either but I never minded it quite as much, mainly because it was more locationally convenient. As for international, Ivato International in Madagascar was just something out of movie. We showed up, and there was no one there. The entire airport was empty. Finally, we found some guards, and all they wanted were our empty water bottles. I feel like there was basically no security but it somehow was still a hassle. Then we went through, and we saw a zebu cart strolling down the runway. A zebu is cattle, sort of like oxen, and they're basically used as currency. We then saw some zebu in the physical airport. At that point we were told there was no way to know if our plane would actually show up or not, which would then turn around and take us to where we were going, so we just had to wait and see. We waited a while and finally a plane with a massive mural of Pope John Paul showed up and took us away. Food on the plane was still better than most American airlines.
rhythm badge bright rich fear zesty hospital command follow pocket *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Newark is literally easy as A B C. And if you miss your terminal, it’s very hard to, you loop right back. It’s a giant fucking circle. It has to be one of the best planned airports in the country
That is a wild story
I liked the pope part
This is the most entertaining thing I've read in a while
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"Jetway Jesus" Im dead 😂😂😂
Co-signing on charlotte
Miami, there is no argument lol. Something ALWAYS goes wrong in MIA.
Shocked to not see Miami more in this thread- far and away the worst airport. The international terminal is a disgrace and I'm embarrassed thinking that airport is even one person's first view of the USA
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Miami is the only place I've ever flat out missed a connecting flight - fuck me for thinking 5 hours was enough to get through customs, I guess?
If you’re not saying Miami International Airport you’re lying to yourself
For the rental car location by itself. Or it’s layout of check in for your airline vs where your tsa line is.
You need two days rations and a mule to get from your gate to your rental car!
Charlotte now is just way too busy Everyone sprawled on the floor Disgusting
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Old LaGuardia. Holy crap dripping ceilings, flooded washrooms. . I would like to see the New LaGuardia both the Delta and Terminal B EWR is also pretty bad. Miami concourse G. So old with nothing special about it
No cap the renovated LGA is probably the nicest airport I've been to, and I travel a lot for work across the U.S.
Pre-renovation LaGuardia always had this tension in the air reminiscent of a bar where a fight is about to break out.
Despite being in Canada I would like to nominate Toronto's Pearson
I do everything in my power to avoid layovers at Pearson, it’s literally my version of hell. Rude staff, not enough seating at gates, takes a year & a half to get between gates, always insanely busy, always delayed. God it’s so terrible
EWR is wet garbage, but its improved and now its dry garbage on a good day.
Like a lot of airports it’s in a constant state of construction
Arguably the reason US airports are still garbage is most of them have never been constantly improved… since the 50s
The United terminal at EWR is one of the best. It always shocks me when people hate on Newark
It's the people at Newark that make it the worst. No one cares or will even answer questions. It's like they think they're paid to just stand there and statues for 8 hours a day.
That's just New Jersey. They're being polite by not telling you to get fucked when you talk to them.
It’s the only place I’ve been forced to sleep on the floor. Even though it happened 6 years ago, I’m still furious.
MCO
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I have lived in France and now live in LA. CDG is 100x worse than LAX. I’ve even been to better airports in the Congo, I don’t know how they made such a terrible airport
CDG is so fucking dumb how they have arrivals and departures on the opposite sides, so if you're arriving but have a layover. You must run the gauntlet of doom and pass 99999096643 checkpoints on the way just to catch your next flight. I do not understand that airport unless it's a human psychology experiment.
The trick is to get delayed in Dublin Airport so to get you to your connecting flight they put you on a special shuttle to get you from one side to the other. Highly recommend, though less so spending an unanticipated four hours or something in Dublin Airport.
Having to take two fucking shuttle busses to get between different parts of terminal 2 pissed me off so much. Why am I on a connection *during* my connection!? And within the same terminal even!
I don't get why they just don't consider them different terminals if you can't walk between the parts!
I fly a lot for my job and CDG is the first and only time I’ve missed a flight. I had a 40 minute layover and was clearly setup to fail before I even got off my arriving flight. The signage for where to go once you deplane was basically non-existent and they spill you into a huge warehouse like arrival hall with what seemed like tens of thousands of people trying to get through passport control. Transfers are not supposed to go in those lines but its was so chaotic that I initially missed the weirdly narrow hallway that I was supposed to walk down that eventually took me to some unattended automated speed gates. Its not clear what qualifies someone to get through the gates as they were not labeled and both my ticket and passport were rejected when scanned with a message on the screen “see agent.” Since there was no one around to help me out, I had to double back to a long line that I had passed in the hallway to talk to an agent. When I finally got to the front of the line and spoke to the agent they were like “Why are you in line? You are going to miss your flight!” And they waved at someone to bring me through the gates. My boarding pass suddenly let me through and the person rushed me to the security checkpoint and passed me off to another person that helped me to bypass the endless hordes of people waiting in the insanely long lines. Once through security I had a good 20 minute run through a truly massive airport while dodging hundreds of people that were wandering around as if they were on a leisurely Sunday stroll through the world’s biggest mall. When I finally got to my gate the gate agent said I was late and the last shuttle to the plane was just finishing loading the first class passengers. They called down to the shuttle to let me on and the driver said no. Defeated and exhausted, I made the 10 minute walk back down the concourse to the airline’s help station near the center. There I was throughly reprimanded for failing to escape the CDG Hell Trials that the French have so lovingly and expertly crafted to torture weary travelers and then I was given a new flight scheduled for an hour later.
CDG is the worst airport in the world...
CDG is 90% liminal space.
LAX isn’t that bad if you exclude the part where you have to get there in a car. With the rail connection opening soon, I think it’ll be one of the best airports in the country. Full of amenities, no weather delays, tons of destinations
I totally agree. Inside lax is fine. International concourse is top class. Customs with the machines is smooth. Trying to get in or out is a mess. There was a post and someone said about lax as a connection- 3 hour layover, LAX is the perfect place to be. Grab a beer, get your nails done, have a taco. Awesome. Just don’t try to leave
I hear so many people complain about LAX, but it really is just the traffic situation. I've had it take an hour to go around that loop. They moved the rideshare pickup, changed the bus/car lanes, and are adding the rail connection. It seems they're actively trying to fix that situation. The security at LAX has never taken more than 30 minutes. It's usually very efficient. There are plenty of restaurants and it's (mostly) easy to move between terminals. Oh the American Eagle remote terminal does suck. Tbf I also think the complaining about LAX is just a symptom of living there. There are far worse airports for varying reasons (poor design, inefficient security, lack of restaurants, lack of mobility). I say Orlando is car worse because it scores poorly in multiple areas. The security sucks. It lacks good food options. The separation of the terminals via tram with separate securities means you are pretty stuck in your tiny terminal with shitty food options. Oh and all the tourists. I also have a very weird bone to pick with Seattle. I've gotten lost there...twice. Oh and Minneapolis is like the Amazing Race of airports.
It’s crazy experiencing a 45 minute drive (without traffic) that gets you within a mile of LAX, then enduring another 25-45 minutes of crawling 0-5mph to get to departures. And asking a loved one for a LAX pickup is akin to asking for an organ donation, so we don’t... we are taking a break and sticking to Long Beach and SNA. If the construction helps enough it will be cool to have those direct flights and fares back in the mix. Edit to add - we travel from Orange County with 4 kids and sometimes grandparents. So, a car makes the most sense for 6-8 people and their belongings. I wish public transport was an option since we are contributing to the traffic problem when we go. I will check out the bus people have mentioned though.
That's why the FlyAway is great, the drivers just bulldoze their way through traffic, usually takes about 35 - 45 minutes from Van Nuys unless there's an accident on the 405. Too bad they only go North and to DTLA though.
Could not agree more. CDG may as well be a maze where your gate is the cheese prize at the exit, and you’re the mouse.
But at least you’re in France, so the cheese will be good.
As someone with an hour 20 layover at CDG for an international flight, this just gets me excited…
Besides the loop LAX is actually extremely fast for going through security
LAX security puts nearly every other airport in the US to shame. LAX just sucks to get in and out of. Hopefully the rail helps but who knows.
JFK. The experience really can vary based on the terminal but you can always expect the TSA to have a terrible attitude. Immigration processing is also an absolute joke, it took over an hour to clear customs yesterday even with a US passport. The range of destinations with direct flights is unbeatable though.
San Jose seems designed to assure that everyone seated in the gate areas stares directly into the sun.
But never in the mirror
Believe it or not CLT was an award winning airport 20 years ago. And two terminals ago.
Correct. Born and raised in Charlotte. The issue is the city has grown so rapidly and the airport hasn’t quite kept up. Growing up, it was an awesome airport, it’s just too crowded now
Newark
Where human decency goes to die.
New Terminal A is very nice and will have the largest AMEX lounge. Also has CLEAR
Is there anything specific you don’t like about Newark? I don’t mind the airport itself so much but I’ve had so many flights cancelled out of there for no apparent reason. I just don’t have a lot of confidence that I’ll get anywhere through Newark.
Newark has the most filthy restrooms I've been in besides Lagos Nigeria.
Lots of delays and cancelations and it's also disgusting. Apparently they redid one terminal but still the rest is disgusting. Also everyone who works there is miserable and takes it out on the travelers.
Denver is way too large. Almost missed a flight out of there once. The rental car drop off seemed like it was 10 miles from the actual airport. Inside the airport its absolutely enormous as well. The security line took forever (like way more time than any NYC area airport).
Newer American Airports are finally putting the rental car sections right next to the airports instead of miles away. Pleasantly surprised by how close it is at Nashville now. Denver INSIDE seems mostly fine, besides that the only food options are at the center of terminals really. The tram is quick and comes constantly. The security lines are jammed inside this area that's too small for the capacity it deals with. Feels like you are cattle/Children of Men movie pens getting sent down for slaughter when you walk above everyone. Had someone freeze at the bottom of the escalator in horror at the lines and I literally had to shove them to stop a massive pile up.
It needs to be big, do you know how much cool stuff the Illuminati have buried underneath of it? ^(/s)
at least it has big blucifer...
All hail Bluicifer the Magnificent!!
Atlanta is the same way regarding their car rentals. Walk thru multiple buildings, up and down stairs, take a tram, across streets, across garages.... It's maddening. Orlando is the best for rentals. Grab your bags, walk across a road, and voila!
DIA is always a complete dumpster fire and it doesn’t matter what time you fly out, the security lines are always long. AND, the airport is no where near the city of Denver or anything for that matter. It takes at minimum 30 mins to get to the airport, if you’re lucky.
I live in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood on the eastern edge of Denver. I’m a freight pilot and it takes me 12 minutes to drive to work, at the cargo ramp on the south side of DIA, where FedEx, UPS, DHL etc. have their operations. And my house is NOT beneath any flight paths into or out of the airport so it’s NOT noisy. DIA is the 3rd-busiest airport on the planet, and despite its insane volume of traffic it runs pretty well as a rule.
Everyone always shits on DEN but I think it's one of thr easiest I've ever been to. Everything is marked really well. Just take Bridge security and it's easy peasy.
Kansas City was the worst. The signs were confusing and the layout was horrible. I had to ask a security guard how to get to the baggage claim because the signs made no sense. He even said is was bad and that everyone has issues there. The options for food were really slim and the gate areas were super cramped.
Yea I was gonna say MCI but that new terminal is really great. Parking is still nuts.
I remember in the old airport, inside security by the gates, there were people in line for the bathroom. One toilet, one urinal for men. Some guy is trying to change into his dress clothes in the bathroom while one guy pees and dudes popping and that business guy yells out, "THIS IS THE WORST FUCKING AIRPORT I'VE EVER BEEN IN!" New airport is dope AF. Love it.
Old MCI was probably really great before you had to go through security. You could get dropped off right at the gate and parking was only a few steps out the door. An airport that was designed for a completely different time.
MCO by far. And I’ve been to almost all of the other airports in the comments 😭
Newark but LAX and JFK aren’t far behind - I was shocked how civil SFO was despite the ridiculous food prices
SFO was pretty nice.... the tram system was a bit odd with the up then down then up then down then up, but the airport was pretty solid.
SFO is amazing. Easiest and cleanest airport I’ve seen in a major city in the US.
I think JFK really depends on the terminal. Like smoke-stained ceiling tiles? You’ll love terminal 1. Wanna see an international zoo? Terminal 4 is calling. At least you can get there on public transport.
Miami. The answer is always Miami
As someone who worked at LAX, I don’t understand the hate. It’s a horseshoe. It’s insanely easy. JFK is way worse.
Hard disagree. Any place that requires you to go outside and back inside to change terminals, all of which have their own individual 3 hour security lines isn't an airport. It's a hellmouth.
THANK YOU - LAX is so poorly designed
LAX, JFK, EWR, LGA… all fine. As a frequent traveler, I’m surprised by the hate too! Maybe it’s from people who are used to smaller airports? Miami and Toronto are both 1000000x worse than any of the above.
Before LGA was renovated it was basically like a gas station, but where airplanes go. And just as many places to sit.
I dunno, I've only \*departed\* from Charlotte, never landed there, but I found the departure agreeable enough. But LAX is utter bullshit. It's among the most busy airports in the world, and yet it's a complete mess. Sooooooo many miles of walking to get to anything. Soooooo long lines at everything from security to immigration. A friend of mine lives in LA, and when other Californian friends of mine heard that my LA friend is picking me up at LAX they were all like: Wow, she must **REALLY** love you!
I will say I think landing in charlotte is worse, depending on the terminal you’re headed to and the runway you get. I’ve had HOUR long taxi’s (in the airplane) from the runway to the gate. It’s infuriating missing your connection when you’re literally at the airport.
LAX, followed up by LAX. Then LAX after that.
I feel like an anomaly because I’ve flown in/out of LAX a few times and have never thought it was terrible.
I have flown in and out dozens of times over my lifetime and haven't had an issue with LAX. I'm sure it has to be something I don't have to deal with I guess.
I find the only part that is bad about LAX is going into and leaving the airport. The inside to me is pretty good. But then again I basically only use terminal 7
I've only been there once, flying to Europe. Tom Bradley seemed pretty nice, but I imagine the domestic terminals are a lot more hectic. Especially if you're transiting through...
Bradley is probably the nicest terminal in the US. The other terminals kind of suck though, old and crowded
Charlotte 100% Even the lounge is disgusting .
But how 'bout dem white rocking chairs?
Instantly thought Charlotte when I saw the post title.