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Worst US airport experience - either one off or consistently

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gamecockcat

All-SEC
Oct 29, 2004
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Just flew into Boston/Logan early this afternoon and, last minute, had to get a rental car. Stood in line at Budget for 20+ minutes, which was expected. After getting checked in, walk out to get into the car. But, wait, there's an area where you wait in line again as an 'attendant' walks up and down the aisles to find your car. Absolute worst system for rental cars I ever experienced and I've probably rented a car in 35 or more airports. Just insanely poorly run. And, I left the airport at 3:30 to drive 22 miles to my son's house in Dedham. Took me an hour and 40 minutes. Google maps took me all over Boston to avoid a tunnel closure, construction and a wreck. Good times!

Denver airport can be a bitch, too. Didn't happen to me this time, but several times this year I've strolled up to the gate listed on the board for my flight only to be redirected to another gate, sometimes clear on the other side of the terminal. If you didn't know, physically, Denver airport is the largest in the US, so when they send you 3/4 the length of the terminal, it's a damn long walk. On one trip to ABQ, I got gate changed 3 times within 15 minutes. I walked about halfway down one side, only to get changed to a gate halfway down on the other side of terminal, then sent back to the original terminal then to a terminal about 100 yards away.
 
Newark Airport (EWR). What a GD unorganized shitshow.

Landed on March 16 after diverted flight from Houston. Disembarked at Terminal A. United international fights located in Terminal C. One must go back through TSA security screening. AUS and Houston passengers may leave laptops in carry on bag. Must take out laptop at EWR.

Tempers flared as I feared I'd miss connecting flight to Frankfurt. I probably should not have called TSA Agents "bureaucratic losers", among other choice descriptors. They threatened 3 times to have me arrested. Surprised tirade not on TicToc or Twitter.

After a long run between gates, from 70-90, I connected with my flight. Newark can KMA. I refuse to fly though that place again.
 
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I landed at Atlanta once while my connecting flight was already boarding. I had to go from terminal a to E on that little train. Then sprinted to the gate and made it with about a minute to spare. All because everyone in Austin’s airport decided not to check any bags and thus the plane left late because they were making everyone check their bag at the gate

The only reason I made it because the guy in the seat in front of me was a pilot, in uniform, that was deadheading. He got up and asked people to let me through and they all assumed they had to because a guy in uniform told them to
 
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AustinTXCat said:
Flying into Logan on July 5. Army buddy picking me up from airport. Flying out next day to Keflavik. Expecting another disaster. Hopefully we arrive early early enough to avoid BS.
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Good luck to you. I fly in there with some regularity and its always frustrating. Good news is things are rarely cancelled but they always run behind. Not an official delay, but just behind schedule.

If youre renting a car, just make sure that person goes with you. If they have mobility issues, request help. If you have to get the car and come back around, its an absolute nightmare.
 
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I have flown in/out of every major airport, particularly in Eastern US. My worst are easy:

BOS - as the OP mentioned. Just an awful car rental situation. He casually glossed over the fact that you have to take essentially a mass transit bus to it, and good luck identifying it. And this is coming from someone who has traveled extensively for work. All those smart people in Boston, and they created a terrible rental car situation.

MIA - specifically the American terminal. Otherwise, it's actually quite easy. But the AA terminal is massive, and it's always very busy

DFW - just always behind schedule. I read an article recently where 45% of their flights were delayed in May 2024. That''s a stupid number. But they have nice Admiral's Lounges.

ORD - personal thing...just don't like it.

CLT - not a bad airport. But their older terminals are almost completely carpeted, which is beyond gross.

LAX - the Uber situation there is on brand for California, as it's basically a tent that you have to take a shuttle to. I got caught at the Uber tent back in February when it was pouring there for a 2 weeks. Just completely stupid.

I have connected in ATL hundreds of times, and actually love the airport. Sky Lounges in every terminal, easy to navigate, and clean. I could go on about my airport experiences, but I digress.
 
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AustinTXCat said:
Newark Airport (EWR). What a GD unorganized shitshow.

Landed on March 16 after diverted flight from Houston. Disembarked at Terminal A. United international fights located in Terminal C. One must go back through TSA security screening. AUS and Houston passengers may leave laptops in carry on bag. Must take out laptop at EWR.

Tempers flared as I feared I'd miss connecting flight to Frankfurt. I probably should not have called TSA Agents "bureaucratic losers", among other choice descriptors. They threatened 3 times to have me arrested. Surprised tirade not on TicToc or Twitter.

After a long run between gates, from 70-90, I connected with my flight. Newark can KMA. I refuse to fly though that place again.
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This is consistently the answer with almost everyone I work with and know...

But honestly I've never had a bad experience in 3-4 times I've went through. Their food and amenities are top notch. My only real complaint is that if you're commuting in by train that you have to pay a shuttle fee just to enter the airport.
 
For the people complaining about Newark, at least you didn't have to go outside and actually smell the city so it could be worse.

I will pay extra to fly into a smaller airport. I'll pay more to fly into and out of Daytona than Jacksonville or Orlando. I like an airport with 6 gates.
 
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Have made that long walk in Denver Several times and have to agree with OP

Personally, I have had bad luck in Atlanta. Nearly always have some kind of delay every time I go through there

Funny thing is once I had to fly to Atlanta for business and it was a dream.

Got off the plane, walked over to Marta, and rode the train downtown as easy as it could be.
 
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TSA-Pre / Clear+ has made the initial security nonsense easier at the busier airports, even though you still have to deal w/ delays and such afterwards.
 
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Glenn's take said:
For the people complaining about Newark, at least you didn't have to go outside and actually smell the city so it could be worse.

I will pay extra to fly into a smaller airport. I'll pay more to fly into and out of Daytona than Jacksonville or Orlando. I like an airport with 6 gates.
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Minimalist take, Glenn

I plan on paying extra come November to fly Lufthansa and avoid United Airlines assholes/TSA Newark assholes altogether.
 
Glenn's take said:
For the people complaining about Newark, at least you didn't have to go outside and actually smell the city so it could be worse.

I will pay extra to fly into a smaller airport. I'll pay more to fly into and out of Daytona than Jacksonville or Orlando. I like an airport with 6 gates.
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The problem with that is, almost always, you have to layover somewhere. That just increases the likelihood of your plane isn't ready, arrived late, weather delays, crew is drunk/sick, mechanical issues, outright cancellations. I'm just the opposite - I'll pay more to fly direct somewhere vs taking my chances that my expected 6 hour travel time becomes 12+ hours. No thank you.

And, I'm moving to JAX. The airport has 24 gates and the entire airport is probably < half of one terminal in Denver. I'm good with the size of that airport. Plus, my kids live in Denver and Boston and I can direct from Jax to both. Good luck flying direct anywhere from Daytona.
 
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steve martin 1980s GIF
 
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Glenn's take said:
For the people complaining about Newark, at least you didn't have to go outside and actually smell the city so it could be worse.

I will pay extra to fly into a smaller airport. I'll pay more to fly into and out of Daytona than Jacksonville or Orlando. I like an airport with 6 gates.
Click to expand...
Jacksonville is a big airport?
 
The absolute worst airport I've ever been in is technically American. St. Thomas. I have never been anywhere in my life, airport or not, with such inadequate amount of restrooms. At one point, there was a line of about 100 waiting on the ladies room. Now, that doesn't apply to me, but the men's line wasn't great either.
 
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Spent the night in Hartsfield circa 2006 due to weather. Not their fault but what absolutely sucked is they didn’t turn off the blaring PSAs about security, trying restaurants, etc. throughout the entire night. Every 2-3 minutes.
 
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I'm the FVCK NEWARK camp. I could go on about it. But then JFK is no prize.

Agree that the AA terminal distances in MIA are terrible.

I haven't had problems in DEN, but then haven't been there in years. But will find out tomorrow when I connect there back to Lincoln (I know. I know. Don't ask.) for UK's first two games in the CWS.
 
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Despite it's huge size, I think ATL does a good job. It keeps getting busier & busier, so it may just bog down at some point.
 
The delays at Atlanta are routinely as long as what our drive home would be. That isn't a recent development.

Newark airport terminal is about the size of the one in Skagway. (hyperbole. I don't know if there is an airport in Skagway.) Representatives of all the peoples of the world drift through the halls. It's fascinating. The PA announcer the day we were there had a theatrical Bronx accent and I didn't understand a word she said.

My silliest bad experience was landing at La Guardia. There are signs everywhere telling you to not take a gypsy cab. We didn't know what a gypsy cab was and wound up paying $20 more than the mandated fare. Hint: real taxi cab drivers wait outside. The guys inside the terminal are the gypsy cab drivers and they charge more. Now you know,
 
I like ATL but was delayed from another location and missed my connecting flight to Tri Cities. Delta gave me and several others who missed the flight a voucher for the airport Comfort Inn. Big mistake. I got to my room after midnight, and the toilet was busted so I had to change rooms. I wound up falling asleep around 2AM, then I was back up at 5 to catch the shuttle back to the airport where the check-in and screening lines were a mile long. If I had it to do over, I'd have just spent the night at the airport. To top it off, they lost my luggage, and it took several days to get it back.

Got stuck at the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 12 hours because of weather. This was before smart phones, and if you've never been to the Grand Rapids airport, there isn't jack shit to do. They had one tiny newsstand, one place that served sammidges and that was it.

Got into Sacramento late one night, and a coworker and I couldn't find our way out of the Avis parking lot. We made several passes before one of their employees flagged us down, then had us follow him out of the lot. Had a tough time getting out of Philly...and Tampa...and O'Hare too. What do you expect when you send a hillbilly from a small town out to some of these places?
 
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gamecockcat said:
The problem with that is, almost always, you have to layover somewhere. That just increases the likelihood of your plane isn't ready, arrived late, weather delays, crew is drunk/sick, mechanical issues, outright cancellations. I'm just the opposite - I'll pay more to fly direct somewhere vs taking my chances that my expected 6 hour travel time becomes 12+ hours. No thank you.

And, I'm moving to JAX. The airport has 24 gates and the entire airport is probably < half of one terminal in Denver. I'm good with the size of that airport. Plus, my kids live in Denver and Boston and I can direct from Jax to both. Good luck flying direct anywhere from Daytona.
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Devil take a layover. At this point, if you have one under 90 minutes, it's 50/50 if you catch the next flight. Yes, I know the official stats are better, but, the reality is, 50/50.

Most of my flights have a Miami layover, so I just fly direct there, take the connection flight the next day, same to get back. There are many things worse than having a before and after Miami night while on vacation lol. Especially when hotels and restaurants are as reasonably priced as back home.
 
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And, also, in Miami, I can have a f'ing cigarette in the airport but, no offense to the anti smoking crowd by pointing that out. So now I'm talking about the BEST airport lol.
 
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LAX and O'hare are the two that have been consistently bad for me. Traffic in, around, and out of the former usually nervewracking. O'hare is just a miserable, sh!tty dump.

But probably the overall worst experience I've had was arriving in Cartagena. Wait time in the immigration line was longer than the flight from Miami!
 
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JDHoss said:
Got stuck at the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 12 hours because of weather. This was before smart phones, and if you've never been to the Grand Rapids airport, there isn't jack shit to do. They had one tiny newsstand, one place that served sammidges and that was it.
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About the same. Got stuck in Flint in the early aughts's. The weather was too bad to make the 10 minute flight to Detroit. They had the same setup with a snack bar type deal. I only remember a couple gates but we a were all just sitting on the floor in this big open area for 10 hrs.
 
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For what it’s worth, in the past month, I went in and out of Boston to/from Sao Miguel Island in the AZORES. I was very impressed with everything about the airport and had no problems or delays whatsoever, although I did not rent a car.
It was my second time through the airport, as I visited the Azores back in 2019. I had no problems then, either.
 
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Flying from Phoenix to Knoxville with a stopover in Atlanta. Atlanta was shut down for some weather reason and we got diverted to KNOXVILLE. We rolled up to the terminal to wait but they never opened the door. For six or so of us, Knoxville was our destination. i went up and asked if they would let us off since we were at our destination. Nope! You have to wait on this plane, go down to Atlanta whenever it opens back up, fly back up to where we are NOW and you can then get off.

My argument with them has to be on youtube somewhere.

After about a half hour of reasoning with them (I didn't cause a scene) they finally agreed to let us off and were as nice to us as they could be as we disembarked.
 
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Never had a problem at Boston. Have done the whole rental thing...driving right into the tunnel was a trip tho.

Dallas is annoying simply for the amount of plane taxi time on the ground after you land
 
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