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The Thoughts of Chairman May... on Best and
Worst International Airports and Airlines
Observations on five years of business travel.
March 2003
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Since I started working for IBM in January 1997 and embarking on
a career involving international travel, I have experienced many
different airports and airlines - some excellent, most average, and
some terrible. The best and worst of international airlines and
airports come up in some of the most surprising places...
So here's my picks for best and worst based on my personal
experiences. Be aware that my list is by no means exhaustive of the
sum totality of international travel, but this should help give you
a good idea.
Airports
Best International Airports
- Changi International Airport (SIN), Singapore: Totally
fantastic, this airport is worth visiting for the experience. Great
shopping, comfortable seating areas airside, and NO problems with
passing through Immigration in either direction. FREE dial-up ports
for Internet access for your laptop, good food service, clear
displays and travelators/people movers in convenient places. And
you can do the complimentary "City Tour" of Singapore if you have
several hours to kill.
- Schipol International Airport (AMS), Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: Lots of shopping, and HUGE - feels like a bit of a
maze but it's still pretty good. If you're into gambling, Schipol
has its own casino airside, and the food court areas are good too.
And as you might expect from the Dutch, one or two duty-free shops
sell erotic CD-ROMs of nekkid ladies and so forth :)
- Chek Lap Kok Airport (HKG), Hong Kong: On a par with
Changi and Schipol, the new Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island has
similar facilities (minus Singapore's City Tour and Schipol's porn
:) ). On the plus side, there are better rail links from the
airport to town than Singapore, but Chek Lap Kok gets the award for
producing the most disheartening view in a terminal: as the main
terminal hall has no curves out to the two secondary piers, you
have this tunnel effect looking from one end of the terminal to the
other. "If I start walking now, I should be able to get to my
gate in three hours..."
- Sydney (Kingsford-Smith) International Airport (SYD),
Sydney, Australia: Recently revamped for the Olympics, Sydney's
airport is very good. Pretty handy to the city (you can see the
Centrepoint Tower from the terminal), and with a good assortment of
shops. Can't recall what the airside food is like, mostly as I've
been able to get into the excellent airline lounges most times I've
been through there.
- Auckland (Jean Batten) International Airport (AKL),
Auckland, New Zealand: Yes, it's one for the home team.
Although Auckland is small, the designers have made good use of
wood and assorted greenery to give the terminal a refreshing
atmosphere. Shops are good, as well as the airport lounges - and in
these days of heightened security, Auckland also provides amnesty
envelopes just before security where you can arrange to post your
pocket knife or knitting needles home to yourself rather than have
them confiscated. Why don't other airports do this?
Honourable Mentions
- Frankfurt International Airport (FRA), Frankfurt-au-Main,
Germany: With a Deutsche-Bahn railway station in the basement,
and regular services to the railway station in the city itself,
it's dead-easy to get into the city and/or onwards around Germany
without worrying about cars or maps. Frankfurt is also the only
airport I've seen with its own sex-shop!
- Rarotonga Airport, Rarotonga (RAR): The only
international airport I've been through where you can see the
baggage claim area from the arrival gate, and where there is an
outdoor transit lounge complete with lawn and picnic tables.
Worst International Airports
- Nassau International Airport, Nassau (NAS), Commonwealth of
the Bahamas: Considering that the Bahamas relies heavily on
tourism, the state of Nassau's airport is a positive disgrace for
arriving and departing passengers. When you arrive, part of the
concourse you pass through gets flooded every time there is heavy
rain, and when you get through Immigration to baggage claim there
is seldom any display working to advise which of the three
carousels your bags are being delivered on. The best that you can
guess is that it's not Carousel #2, as this has been stripped down
for the last nine months and will probably only get working on
Judgement Day. And if you're waiting for an arriving passenger,
tough luck - none of the flight information monitors work so you
have no idea as to whether the flight has arrived or is
delayed.
Departure is only marginally better. The only positive thing about
flying out of Nassau to the US is that you can clear US Immigration
and Customs in Nassau, and even with that try and get copies of the
relevant forms if the airline forgets to give them to you. But once
you've passed through this you're in a soulless departure lounge
serviced by ONE souviner shop, ONE fairly tacky bar, and ONE "food
court" with terrible-looking food and where reports of waiting for
over twenty minutes for a simple hot dog have been recorded.
And NO currency exchange facilities beyond buying stuff and hoping
the staff will give you change in US dollars. Naturally, as each of
these establishments has a monopoly upon business in the Departures
lounge, it's a case of the poor passenger having to take what's
given - or wait until they deplane at their destination.
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles,
California, USA: A classic case of "what you see is not what
you get". Despite the nice looking buildings and architecture of
what is a (generally) clean airport, the experience of passing
through LAX is decidedly substandard compared to other
international hubs. There are almost NEVER enough Immigration or
Customs officials dealing with international arrivals, the last
time I traveled via LAX I spent over an hour and a half waiting to
get processed in Terminal 4! And what boofhead placed the baggage
carousels in Terminal 7 so that people exiting the baggage claim
area had to squeeze past everyone else waiting for their bags to
appear?
Not even the airline lounges get off scot-free. Neither the United
or American Airlines lounges have proper shower facilities for
people transferring from long haul trans-Pacific flights, and
there's no proper directions in the Tom Bradley International
Terminal (TBIT) to the three microscopic QANTAS lounges.
- Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), Manila, Republic
of the Philippines: In all honesty there's not a lot wrong with
this airport (known simply as "NAIA" to the locals), but the one
thing that is very annoying is enough to rank it in this list.
Namely, the lack on terminal seating in the check-in area before
proceeding through security and emigration. If you happen to arrive
at the airport early in an attempt to beat the traffic, and your
airline check-in counter hasn't opened yet, there is NOWHERE to sit
(apart from on your cases) while you wait. Definitely a design
flaw!
Dishonourable Mentions
- London Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 (LHR), London, United
Kingdom: Not bad enough to class it as one of the worst, but
Heathrow Terminal 3 could certainly do with a spruce-up to make the
place more appealing. At least you're no longer reliant on the
grotty London Underground Picaddilly Line to get into central
London, the new Heathrow Express to Paddington Station is a lot
faster and more pleasant. It had better be - 14 pounds for a
one-way trip!
- Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida, USA:
Again, nothing really wrong with the place - it's clean, reasonably
efficient (at least in these post-9/11 days) - but why oh why are
the baggage claim areas so far from the terminal gates without
travelators/people movers to service them? Admittedly it's a good
stretch of the legs after the flight, but it feels like you need a
GPS navigation system just to find your bags! And once you've got
your bags, why do you have to climb up to the Departure
level to find the shuttle bus for your hotel?
- Leeds/Bradford International Airport (LBD), Leeds, United
Kingdom: Let me put it this way - airbridges in a snowy
Yorkshire winter beat trudging out to and from shuttle buses in the
snow...
Airlines
Best Airlines
- Singapore Airlines (SQ): What can you say? Great food,
great service, in-flight in-seat entertainment (in Economy!)
and no hassles whatsoever. Not to mention the famous "Singapore
Girls". :) A wonderful experience!
- Cathay Pacific (CX): Pipped at the post by Singapore
Airlines, service levels are just as good except on two flights I
had trouble with mechanical failures in the in-flight entertainment
systems. Their service to allied Frequent Flyers is superb, as I
was presented with a bottle of wine and a card signed by the crew
when I flew on Cathay between Hong Kong and London on my
birthday!
- QANTAS (QF): A good solid airline with goods service and
pretty good inflight meals, QANTAS of late has been improving their
service by leaps and bounds. I'd rate them above Cathay if it
wasn't for the fact that their complimentary headphones or the
headphone jacks are always breaking down, as well as still having
aircraft with old-style fixed headrests in Economy. The electric
Business Class seats are really great, and the Frequent Flyers
scheme is very good too - especially their website.
- Air New Zealand (NZ): Service is just as good (if not
better) than QANTAS, but the lack of Economy-class in-seat
entertainment that QANTAS is rolling out just pips Air New Zealand
at the post. Economy-class legroom is the best in their air.
- British Airways (BA): Commendable serice on long-haul,
and I fully subscribe to their philosophy in Business Class of "the
food doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be top notch!".
Friendly staff too, even if they do mistake fox puppets for live
animals :)
Worst Airlines
- Bahamasair (UP): Can be best summed up as a "flying
jitney" bus service. Ancient aircraft that have the worst on-board
smell I've EVER encountered as well as a distinct lack of care in
cosmetic maintenance, a flight schedule that is effectively
"whenever", and zero in-flight service. Again, for a nation
dependant on tourism, the current condition of Bahamasair is
shameful.
- United Airlines (UA) - equal: Yes, it's the biggest
carrier in the world, but the much talked about American customer
service doesn't seem to get this far. The food is terrible (and now
I know where the comments on airline food in general came from),
and for some reason, none of the aircraft I flew on had
seats with a spring-loaded recliner, necessitating a manual pull-up
to get your seat into position for landing. And as for flying the
Pacific route between Auckland and Los Angeles, QANTAS
Economy-class passengers get more for their in-flight amenities
than United Business class. (The last is academic now as
United is withdrawing from that route as of the end of March.)
- American Airlines (AA) - equal: But United's main
competitor doesn't get away with it either. The first time I flew
AA was from LAX to Dallas/Ft. Worth, and to my horror I found the
bulkhead in "First" Class was covered in grey carpet fuzz. The food
is on a par with or worse than United (one point I pretended to be
asleep when the food trolley came around because what was on offer
smelled like the rubbish bin of an Italian restaurant), and the
choice of in-flight audio is lousy. And they have the nerve to
charge you for headsets in the process.
- Japan Airlines (JL): Special mention for their seat
spacing being "designed by Japanese, for Japanese", meaning
that anyone bigger than your average Asian requires a shoehorn to
get into their Economy-class seat and a crowbar to get out
again...
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Copyright 1996, 2003 Terry Knight.
Last Updated March 2003
For more information contact:
Terry Knight