I missed the bit where you can buy Afghan Kush at an airport
Does anyone have a favourite airport?
- Thread starter GGizmo
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I missed the bit where you can buy Afghan Kush at an airport
Soldato
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Yeah, that must have taken the shine off your trip.
Caporegime
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In hindsight, it was a huge risk, the check list to get there was silly long. I need insurance for covid cover, which had to be presented at check in at the airport. I could only use hotels approved for covid. I had to take PCR test 48hrs prior to flight, I can only take flights in their "covid corridor". Vaccination requirements and the biggest risk was 14 days quarantine if the PCR test came back positive post arrival. Meaning my 7 day trip now suddenly turned into a 14 days posh prison.
The Airport too.....the butterfly garden was shut, the cinema was shut, 95% of shops were also shut....I was stuck there for 12 hours on the way back....so I have had the WORST experience of Changi airport of anyone I expect.
On the plus side....I was practically the only tourist! I didn't queue for anything. I also experienced the pinnacle of track and trace app in action. Their version and implementation was insane, tap in and out every building, some had auto gates like the tube. It shows the number of nearby people at any one time near you in the app, it tracks every place you been to. So much information, you can seriously geek out in the app if you love data lol The back end for personal data would be insane I bet.
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The shiniest and nicest airport I’ve been to is Charles De Gaul (sp?) in Paris - that was really good, at least the bits I went to.
The worst, excluding a single room airport on Rica, is Cologne-Bonn. The toilets were absolutely disgusting, like a football stadium from the 80s that hadn’t been refurbished.
The worst, excluding a single room airport on Rica, is Cologne-Bonn. The toilets were absolutely disgusting, like a football stadium from the 80s that hadn’t been refurbished.
Caporegime
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I had to run for the gate ones, and had to catch that train lol
Or do you mean the train to the city?
HK airport has something no other airport has, you can do baggage drop outside the airport, in Hong Kong Island itself. Then still explore the city without your luggage for your flight that is scheduled later that day.
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Yup, the one in the airport, mentioned it in the connections thread the other day, first experience of that airport was traversing what seemed to be a vast expanse of space in very short time via cart>train>cart
I’ve never been to HK properly but I’ve changed planes there a couple of times on the way to Australia and New Zealand. Being able to take a shower in the Cathay lounge between the two 12-hour flights was a welcomed experience. Seemed like a decent airport overall too.
Caporegime
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FYI, HK airport was designed by Sir Norman Foster.
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Newcastle is so friendly and compact, you can move through it in no time and it's really a joy to use. EMA is similar but more shabby.
Vienna is great if you land at the right gate because you can be off the aircraft and in a train in under ten minutes.
Since they did Stansted up it's a lot better, good train and bus links and it's so much nicer than Luton that I would invariably drive an hour further and fly from there.
Gatwick is a hole and should not appear in this thread.
Copenhagen is a nice airport but the layout is a bit confusing, Dubai has some great facilities but it's so colossal that unless you have a very long time to change you really cannot make the most of it. Changi is nice as mentioned already.
A list of least favourite airports would be way easier!
Athens - terrible
Corfu - disorganised, terrible
Crete - terrible, dirty, scruffy (I think there's a theme here with Greek airports)
Warsaw - awful
Zurich - borderline painful, how did the stereotypically safe and organised Swiss get an airport so wrong?
Schiphol - a travesty, raze it to the ground
Brussels - nothing to eat
Cologne - nowhere to sit
Cairo - unbridled chaos
Luton - no
I could go on but happily for you lot, I won't.
Vienna is great if you land at the right gate because you can be off the aircraft and in a train in under ten minutes.
Since they did Stansted up it's a lot better, good train and bus links and it's so much nicer than Luton that I would invariably drive an hour further and fly from there.
Gatwick is a hole and should not appear in this thread.
Copenhagen is a nice airport but the layout is a bit confusing, Dubai has some great facilities but it's so colossal that unless you have a very long time to change you really cannot make the most of it. Changi is nice as mentioned already.
A list of least favourite airports would be way easier!
Athens - terrible
Corfu - disorganised, terrible
Crete - terrible, dirty, scruffy (I think there's a theme here with Greek airports)
Warsaw - awful
Zurich - borderline painful, how did the stereotypically safe and organised Swiss get an airport so wrong?
Schiphol - a travesty, raze it to the ground
Brussels - nothing to eat
Cologne - nowhere to sit
Cairo - unbridled chaos
Luton - no
I could go on but happily for you lot, I won't.
Prague still cheaper in shop for can of beer than water few months ago.
Gatwick worse of london. I liked london city as you can rock up few minutes before and just walk straight through without any queues and its 5 minute walk inside.
Anywhere in Greek islands make me not want to go on holiday there again.
Boston either pay in restaurants or sit on the floor.
Gatwick worse of london. I liked london city as you can rock up few minutes before and just walk straight through without any queues and its 5 minute walk inside.
Anywhere in Greek islands make me not want to go on holiday there again.
Boston either pay in restaurants or sit on the floor.
Hong Kong was always a treat to fly back into, after usually being in the filth of London, to breeze through the airport with my HKID and swish to Kowloon on the spotless airport express. Bliss....or as good as it gets for an airport.
UK airports are all pretty miserable, particularly all the new and inventive ways they try to gouge you....although I flew out of Luton recently and was pleasantly surprised how quick and efficient it was, miles better than LHR, Manchester or Birmingham. East Mids is OK but bugger all passenger flights these days.
UK airports are all pretty miserable, particularly all the new and inventive ways they try to gouge you....although I flew out of Luton recently and was pleasantly surprised how quick and efficient it was, miles better than LHR, Manchester or Birmingham. East Mids is OK but bugger all passenger flights these days.
Good Airports:
Denver - always a smooth journey through there
T5 - massive improvement on the rest of Heathrow
Glacier Park Internation Airport - one of those airports where the security guy also sells you a pint at the bar afterwards
Bad Airports:
Washington Dulles - memories of being a dingy claustrophobic dump from the 70s
Keflavik - maybe being a bit unkind, but just really a holding pen between arriving in Iceland and departing with not much in there.
Barcelona - came off a plane there with about another 5 flights and everyone having to squeeze through a single security scanner and somebody had lost their duty free in a flood of red wine in the crush
I've seen a few people mention Schipol as being bad, I don't mind the airport itself as it's surprisingly compact, but christ, the time it takes to get to the gate if you land at that runway that's on the other side of the Netherlands. Takes longer than the flight from Aberdeen.
Denver - always a smooth journey through there
T5 - massive improvement on the rest of Heathrow
Glacier Park Internation Airport - one of those airports where the security guy also sells you a pint at the bar afterwards
Bad Airports:
Washington Dulles - memories of being a dingy claustrophobic dump from the 70s
Keflavik - maybe being a bit unkind, but just really a holding pen between arriving in Iceland and departing with not much in there.
Barcelona - came off a plane there with about another 5 flights and everyone having to squeeze through a single security scanner and somebody had lost their duty free in a flood of red wine in the crush
I've seen a few people mention Schipol as being bad, I don't mind the airport itself as it's surprisingly compact, but christ, the time it takes to get to the gate if you land at that runway that's on the other side of the Netherlands. Takes longer than the flight from Aberdeen.
To those that said Gatwick, what are you smoking? I had the displeasure of visiting both the North and South terminals recently for the first time in years, and both were by far the worst airport experience I can remember.
The South terminal in the restaurant area is aboslute rammed with families and screaming children running around, and the North terminal looks like it's half finished? Half of the floor was untiled and just made up of bare concrete. Even if you head to a lounge you have to walk through the hellhole terminals. The lounges are also rubbish which the exception of the BA ones, which are pretty good to be fair. The boarding experience is also dire with a lack of room in the waiting areas.
Heathrow terminal 2 is pretty good. Terminal 5 is also OK if you go to the B gate lounge. London City is nice for a speedy experience. In terms of overseas airports, I quite like to Koh Samui airport.
The South terminal in the restaurant area is aboslute rammed with families and screaming children running around, and the North terminal looks like it's half finished? Half of the floor was untiled and just made up of bare concrete. Even if you head to a lounge you have to walk through the hellhole terminals. The lounges are also rubbish which the exception of the BA ones, which are pretty good to be fair. The boarding experience is also dire with a lack of room in the waiting areas.
Heathrow terminal 2 is pretty good. Terminal 5 is also OK if you go to the B gate lounge. London City is nice for a speedy experience. In terms of overseas airports, I quite like to Koh Samui airport.
