best – dubai
worst – sanaa (yemen)

Best: Schiphol (AMS) Netherlands – Easy to navigate, attractive—nice restaurants

Worst: Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) USA – Horrible. Too spread out, crappy transit system. If you have a tight connection, forget it.

Alright, my list won’t be as long as your’s but this is going to take some time.

Been to:

Canada –

Charlottetown
Moncton
Halifax
St. John’s
Montreal
Toronto

USA

NYC – Laguardia
Tampa
Orlando
St. Petersberg-Clearwater

Europe

London Heathrow
London Gatwick
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Amsterdam
Rome -FCO
Prague
Barcelona

Favorite: Amsterdam Schiphol

Worst: Toronto

Mine is prolly ridiculous, but the worst airport I’ve been to is Charles du whatever in Paris and the one I like the most is the one in Mexico City.

The reason for this is Mexico has a pretty cool airport, many restaurants, clean, big and spacious (sometimes way too big if you’re in a hurry) and havig an airport like this one in a 3rd world country made me think the airports in say… Paris had to be so glamorous with flying transportation for your luggage, etc, and it just reminded me of the bus station in Mexico…

Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) has a stark contrast between the old, confusing, and user-unfriendly T1 complex (which should be razed to the ground, and to my dismay is currently under renovation instead of being torn down…the renovation will not change T1’s complicated layout), and the newer and much more attractive (but sprawling and easy-to-get-lost-in) T2 complex. T2 is actually a sprawling cluster of 6 terminals called Halles. Air France and Skyteam passengers use only the T2 complex, unless you have a connecting flight with an airline that uses T1 or T3. The new T3 terminal is only for charters…I believe.

The airport is well-connected to the city by the RER suburban-regional rail network. The airport’s train stations (one for T1 and one for T2) where the RER trains arrive/depart are also connected to the country’s high-speed rail network, the TGV, allowing travelers to other destinations in France the option of bypassing Paris.

The problem is, however, transportation between the airports terminal complexes, as well as train station, and hotels. Currently, there is a system of free charter buses taking commuters between T1, T2, T3, T1’s train station (which is physically separated from T1), and other points throughout the airport. Fortunately, however, the Aéroports de Paris – ADP (the Paris-region airports authority) is currently planning on building (or may have already started) an airport rail system that will take commuters in a much more efficient, quick, and user-friendly fashion between terminals, train station, and the like. Similar to the current system at Chicago O’Hare and Frankfurt am Main, and other airports.

Best:

San Francisco
London-Heathrow
Copenhagen

Worst:

Paris-Beauvais
Orange County-John Wayne
Miami Intl
Dallas/Ft Worth

i was disappointed with heathrow..i thought itd be kinda grand..i thought it pokey

athens was nice…i guess they did it up for the olympics…( not the original ones )but boy it seems spread out..or did it seem like that cos we were bolting for a flight after having been delayed by another late- arriving plane?
every time i have been to athens ..i have always bolted for something…trains ..planes…across their highways….

In Europe: Amsterdam is best, but my travels have been limited to North America and Europe thus far. Copenhagen a close 2nd. I’ve connected in Europe via BRU, KEF, LHR, LGW, STN, AMS, CPH, STO, OSL, BRS, MMA, KRS, MUC, FRA, PRG, VIE, BUD, ZRH, BRN, ABZ, NCL. Of those, LHR and FRA probably my least-favourites.

In USA: DTW is the best; ATL the worst. Other faves: CVG, ELP. Also been through PIT, DEN, PDX, DFW, IAH, MCO, ORD, MIA, CLT, BWI, IAD, DCA, EWR, STL, PHF, RIC, ORF.

Best = easy to use and navigate, comfortable, good diversions including good selection and prices on duty-free
Worst = difficult to use (poor signage, poor design, huge distances to cover), uncomfortable or insufficient seating, few or far-away eat/drink options and poor duty-free shopping

Valencia airport is awful – looks like a tin hut that a wino would sleep in. Also connections from the centre of the city are a joke. If you get the train then when you arrive at the station there are no signs or anything to tell you where to go next. When you finally get a local to help you realise that from there to the airport you have to cross the train lines, risk life and limb crossing two motorway slip roads and climb over a small wall. I’m not joking about this! After my first experience of that I just paid for a taxi thereafter to save the hassle.

Also bad are any airports outside the city – I mean like way outside the city! Ones where you have to spend hours getting to the centre. "London" Stansted airport in particular is a joke as it often costs more for the hour long train journey to the centre than for the flights!

for the worst – LAX, LAX, LAX, Tokyo (boring), New York (JFK)

best – probably Singapore

visited – melbourne, hobart, sydney, brisbane, singapore, frankfurt, heathrow, gatwick, glasgow, dublin, bristol, auckland, vancouver, calgary, whitehorse, LAX, new york, boston, sea-tac, salt lake, denver, john wayne (OC), tokyo

True dat sparks! Athens is one of my favorite airports.

Athens underwent a major renovation for the Olympics, mostly in infrastructure, but also in giving a facelfit to the few neoclassical buildings that actually survived the 20th century (the city’s Pláka and Thesseio districts are SO pleasant to stroll through).

The new airport (Elefthérios Venizélos Airport near the suburb of Spáta) is a massive improvement from the old, outdated Hellinikon airport (now closed and partly replaced by Olympic venues). Elefthérios Venizélos Airport was actually on the drawing board since the late 1970s, but was very controversial because the area where it is located (the Messogeion Valley) is one of the country’s best-known wine regions. So now, you have a massive international airport smack dab in the middle of vineyards and olive orchards…but boy does that make a pleasant drive (or train ride) as you zoom towards the city on the new Attikí Odós freeway (or the new metropolitan rail network) past all those sunny vineyards and olive groves (even if the freeway is now littered with some billboards and office buildings)…what a nice welcome to Greece!!

The aiport has received its fair share of criticism, mostly on its supposedly plain architecture (I actually LOVE its architecture), and for not being user-friendly…to the contrary I find this airport one of the most user-friendly I have ever been to, and it’s actually been ranked as one of the world’s best airports by traveler surveys every year since it opened in 2001. Currently, there is one large main terminal, handling all arrivals and most departures (I think it handles all Schengen and domestic departures, as well as some extra-Schengen departures), and the smaller satellite temrinal that handles only extra-Schengen departures. The two terminals are connected by underground walkway. It’s a relatively small airport when compared to FRA, CDG, FCO, LHR, MAD, AMS, of course, but has a sufficient dining and shopping area inside the air side of the main terminal, very sophisticated and all shops and eateries are within close range of each other, rather than scattered throughout the terminal. There can be quite a long walking distance if you have connections to make, but the user-friendliness of the signage everywhere and the terminal layout should make connections very easy.

The airport has long-term plans to add more terminals when the need arises…which should eventually happen in the coming decades as the airport serves more and more passengers each year.

In time for the Olympics, officials inaugurated the airport’s rail station which serves both the metro and the suburban/regional rail (Proastiakos) conveniently connecting the airport to the city.

Buckley,

you’ve got to be shitting us with Heathrow as best, it’s total crap and it’s the most likely destination to get delayed at!

Schipoll is good but it can be rather busy at times.

Not sure what the fasination is with big spacious busy hub airports is, I like a lot of the smaller airports, even if they are a bit dingy, as long as you can get a meal and more importantly a drink I’m happy, enjoy the empty spaces and quietness.

Was in Newark Liberty last week, what a shocking airport, the shops are absolutely rubbish and the bars are total crap!

I’ll stick to the EU.

My two best: Brussels (because it’s small and relatively uncrowded) and Amsterdam because it’s all under one roof.

The Worst – Heathrow. Unless you come in and leave on BA (terminal 4), allow at least 1.5 hours to make a connecting flight in July or August, 1 hour otherwise. How many cigarettes have i smoked with US tourists who were given just 45 minutes in between flights? A lot.

These times may be higher from and to the US. I would rather go through hell than Heathrow.

Best- Dubai
Worst- Paris CDG

Airports I have visited:
Europe:
Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, London Heathrow, Paris CdG, Berlin Schönefeld & Tegel, Vilnius, Kiev, Porto.

Rest of world:
Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto.

Best: Amsterdam & Singapore, easy to navigate.
Worst: LAX & Paris CdG, Spread out, Bad signs

Amsterdam Schipol is definately the best, excellent facilities and really good transport infrastructure, everything is also under one roof. Belfast City Airport is also a close contender, It has a nice atmosphere and good shops, and it’s not too big.
London Heathrow is disapointing, not really what is expected form such a famous airport, it’s quite dark and seems really closed in!

I’ve just returned from a trip tat required connections via LHR (from the US). Our flight arrived early, then had to circle a while before landing. Then, when my plane arrive at the gate, we were delayed again because another plane was still parked at the gate—- by now, I’d gone from early arrival to late. That, however, might happen at any congested airport.
I then had to connect from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 for my next flight, and this involved what seemed to be miles of walking to the connecting bus (and I was actually jogging), and then off by bus to the Flight Connections Center.
This place was a disaster: There was a crowd of people milling around in confusion— and that was simply to enter. Once inside, we discovered long lines snaking around to the security screening checkpoints, and there were only two open to serve that crush of travelers (8AM in April) and, by the time I’d fnally got out of that mess, I’d missed my flight!
LHR has upgraded shopping, etc., but what I really want from an airport is an easy flight connection!
In contrast, the airports in Budapest and Frankfurt were more modern and user-friendly. Frankfurt is a major airport, and my connections there went very smoothly.