CatsbyAZ wrote:
In short, bottom 5:
5. Midway
4. New Orleans
3. O'Hare
2. Newark
1. LAX
Overdue for Top 5:
Honorable mentions Indianapolis, San Diego and Las Vegas.
5. DFW - 10 years ago I hated this airport but it's gotten a lot better in terms of roominess, on-time departures (especially compared to the weather afflicted North & Northeast hubs), and ease of getting from terminal to terminal via the Skylink.
4. Oakland - Surprisingly clean, roomy, and efficient. BART access helps too. My favorite way of getting into the Bay Area.
3. Honolulu Hawaii - Right as you deboard the plane it feels like you've been in Hawaii for a while. The open-air terminals allow the salt rich Pacific air to really wake you up from those long Mainland flights. And, appropriately, it's about the friendliest airport.
2. PHX Sky Harbor - Good location in the greater Valley, easy access between terminals, lot's of options, lot's of scenic walking in view of the mountains around the area.
1. Minneapolis/St. Paul (Terminal 1) - Scores high in about all categories an airport can be graded (see below). Really lives up it's region with plenty of Great Lakes eating options, easy access between the Lettered terminals, it's open square shape is good for walking all the way around, very roomy and so much a better layover option than the usual midland hubs like Ohare, Midway, and Houston. If your layover is +5 hrs take the tram down to the Mall of America.
The better an airport the more it will:
-represent it's location well (Minneapolis, Las Vegas, PHX Sky Harbor, Honolulu) rather than look more like a nearby warehouse fashioned obligingly into a terminal (Newark, LAX, New Orleans, both Kansas City).
-have good access to the city (PHX, Washington National, Minneapolis, SFO, JFK) rather than be so far out of the way you'll pay higher ticket prices to a more accessible competitor (Washington Dulles, Houston, Denver, Newark).
-have good inter-terminal access especially in terms of walkability (Minneapolis, PHX Sky Harbor) though a tram system works too (Dallas, Atlanta) rather than require you to go wait on buses back and forth from terminals (LaGuardia, LAX) or worse, require you to go back through security between terminals (Kansas City, SFO).
-roominess; can't stand how overcrowded Washington National, Chicago O'Hare, and LAX can get because they plain and simple didn't care to widen their terminal spaces.
-weather and other delay risks; O'Hare is the worst for delays, but anywhere in the northeast turns into a battle when the snows hit. I try to route winter layovers away from Chicago through Dallas instead.
