What's the best / your favorite airport that you've been to?

[MikeTheActuary]

On a recent business trip, I was rather pleased with the new/renovated sections of Love Field.  Airy, plenty of amenities, and quite unlike the nasty old sections of Love Field (where my departing flight left from; in fairness the renovations just getting started there may aggravate the nastiness.)

Other airports I visit:

DEN -- its location out in the middle of nowhere is annoying (that sentiment may ease once light rail service starts), and I used to be un-fond of the security lines (TSA Pre-check eases that).  Layout of the runways and taxiways is well thought out, and the view of the Front Range in the distance is nice.

ORD -- I avoid if at all possible.  I've spent too many nights on the floor there to have anything nice to say about the place.   I've even had a couple of meetings in Rosemont for which I flew into MDW and either cabbed it, or had a long el ride, because of my loathing of ORD.

MDW -- The terminal is meh.  The food court is not bad.  I'm not a fan of having to change concourses to connect (especially if that oddball far-removed A gate is involved)  The proximity of the neighborhood and the aircraft arrestors at the end of the runway are nice, however.

MSP -- The scale of Terminal 1 is impressive, but it feels a little dark, and in need of updates.  I appreciate the walking path, but since I'm usually arriving/departing MSP rather than connecting there, I don't get to use it.  The "secret" Terminal 1 checkpoints above the main rental car facility are nifty.  Terminal 2 is rather Spartan, but well-equipped with places to set up the mobile office if camping out.  I don't like how you have to know which security checkpoint to use to access TSA Pre-Check.  I hate it when I get dropped off at T1 (or the main rental car facility) and have to light rail and hike over to T2, or vice-versa.

BWI -- My favorite connection point, if only because there are so many options on how I can get home from there.  Hate the long bus ride over to the Rental Car facility.

SAT -- I'll mostly withhold an opinion because much of my experience there is complicated by construction.  However, if you're on a diet, the dining options in Southwest's terminal are nonexistent.

ATL -- I have a love/hate relationship with the place.  I dislike concourses B, C, and D, and refilling the rental car before dropping it off is a pain.

DTW -- The internal train is nifty

MEM -- a shadow of its former self, for passenger purposes anyway, due to Delta's decision to de-hub, and in dire need of updates.  It'll be interesting to see what the passenger terminal is like after they downsize and renovate.  Lots of FDX aircraft to look at. 

IAD -- it feels like a creature of the federal government.  It has potential for grandeur, but the operation is bureaucratic (c.f. the shuttle to get to concourse D), and the interior is rather drab and functional.   At least they did away with the flimsy ultra-temporary commuter terminal.

SFO -- love the approach over the Bay, and I like being able to take BART into the city.  I think this is probably my favorite destination airport for those reasons, even though I'd put the internal amenities as just average.

LAX -- not a fan of the crowds, or the traffic gettng to/from the airport, but there's frequently plenty of interesting aircraft to ogle.

DFW -- Most of my experience predates the new internal train, so I'm biased by a few too many long walks to make transfers.  My one trip with the current train system was not bad, however, and the new terminal used by AA is a nice transfer point.

EWR -- my favorite of the New York City area airports.  It may lack the history of LGA and JFK, but it's non-claustrophobic, offers nice skyline views from the terminal and on takeoff/landing, and I like the ability to transfer over to Amtrak or NJTransit via monorail.

LGA -- Nasty, nasty place, in dire need of a rail connection.

JFK -- I believe one's experience varies wildly depending on what airline/terminal is used.  I'm glad I got to visit Terminal 3 (the old PanAm terminal) before it was closed -- you could get a sense of what it must have been like in the golden age of aviation...but otherwise the terminal was otherwise dark and somewhat nasty -- and Terminal 2 struck me as rather 60's ish (and not necessarily in a good way).  Plenty of interesting things to look at around the airport, however; just hope you don't have to make an interterminal transfer.

BOS -- only used it twice.  First time was a couple of months after 9/11, so the 3-hour line to clear security spoiled the experience for me.  Second time, I had had Southwest send me to BOS after a delay cost me a connection to get back to BDL that night.  As I had no dogsitter coverage the following day, I greatly appreciated being able to arrange a one-way rental car at 2am to get home before the dog had issues.  The place strikes me as being perhaps the best maintained of the classic airports.

PHL -- too many delays, connections require potentially too-long walks.

LAS -- I appreciate the views on departure and arrival, as well as its proximity to the strip.  Janet flights add a bit of intrigue.  I don't much care for the slot machines, however, and the number of non-business travelers on flights to/from LAS seems to make flight attendants on those flights more likely to be surly.  (MCO has a similar issue.)

BDL -- My home airport, almost literally in the backyard.  The now-closed Murphy Terminal has become an eyesore, awaiting demolition.  I imagine it'll be nice when they get the new rental car facility built, although I'm dreading the mess of construction.  Plenty of RON aircraft and diversions to make planespotting somewhat occasionally interesting, but interference from CSP can spoil that joy.

[oscar]

If I might list a few of my least favorite airports (much longer list than the ones I like -- I'm so hard to please -- so I won't dump the whole list here):

London-Heathrow terminal 5 (British Airways):  Really annoyed me that they only announce your gate less than an hour before flight departure, so you have to wait in a crowded central waiting area for the announcement then rush to your gate, rather than head straight for the gate once you've cleared security and relax there. 

Long Beach CA -- Primitive old terminal, with an awkward security screening setup that had a line going outside (the evening I was there in 2006, it was cold by California standards, and rainy). That was the closest I've ever come to a screener "touching my junk", and women wearing underwire bras apparently always got secondary screening as well.

LAX -- Disorganized, crowded, limited food choices for such a major airport.

New York-La Guardia -- Last I used it was about three decades ago, but it sounds like it still sucks.

[formulanone]

Detroit, just because they have a train that runs entirely inside the terminal.

As does DFW, which helps you get around its five terminals.

Detroit's is inside the terminal building and just runs between gates. Many airports have trains between terminals.

Detroit: an entire rail line in a single room.  Worth a brief layover (long enough to eat a National Coney Island loose-hamburger-in-a-hot-dog-roll).

Also probably the cleanest airport I've been to, lots of natural lighting, and that light show between Concourse A and B. Food choices are pretty good all around.

[Henry]

For me, it would have to be my hometown airport, O'Hare.

[DTComposer]

Long Beach CA -- Primitive old terminal, with an awkward security screening setup that had a line going outside (the evening I was there in 2006, it was cold by California standards, and rainy). That was the closest I've ever come to a screener "touching my junk", and women wearing underwire bras apparently always got secondary screening as well.

This was true, but they just finished a major overhaul/renovation of the terminal. Took care of the layout issues, and have gotten a bit of press for the design:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140513-the-10-most-beautiful-airports

http://www.fodors.com/news/photos/top-10-airport-terminals-for-2014#!6-passenger-concourse,-long-beach-airport

[thenetwork]

Shows you how often I fly anymore...The last time I flew into or through Detroit, Indy or Pittsburgh they were still in their old terminals.

Some of my least favorites:  LAX, St. Louis (I swear my flights &/or connections were always at the far ends of the terminals) and O'Hare. 

And as much as I love Denver's airport, summer storms can really throw off your flight schedule there.  The storm clouds are "born" in the hills just west of Denver, build up over Metro Denver, then by the time they get to DIA, they become Storm Chaser quality storms that feature lots of lightning, hail and the occasional tornado. 

[AsphaltPlanet]

DTW (Detroit) is one of the better airports that I use from time to time.  The terminal is nice, and clean and the free wifi is a nice perk.  The only thing I am not crazy about is the long shuttle between the big blue deck parking lot and the delta terminal.

BUF (Buffalo) is a great airport too.  It's small size means that TSA screening is fairly quick and straightforward, and parking is easy and quite inexpensive.  The downside to its small size of course, is that its flight selection is much more limited than a larger airport such as DTW

YYZ (Toronto) is a fairly nice airport as well.  The tram from reduced rate parking to the terminals is quick and efficient, and the new Terminal 1 is pretty modern, and has a good selection of stores and services.  The airport road network from the 400-series highways in Toronto is pretty stellar as well.  The downside of YYZ is the cost of flights relative to BUF or DTW.  I never fly into US destinations from YYZ anymore.

LAX is kind of ghetto, and utilitarian but is effective.  I've never had a super long wait at TSA screening, and the airport is laid out in a reasonably efficient way.  The restaurants and seating areas could use some updating though.

PHX (Phoenix) is a nice airport that I was pretty impressed with.  I really liked the consolidated rental car counter while I was there.

DEN (Denver) is out in the boones.  The TSA lineup when I was out there was pretty brutal as well.  I can see how summer storms would have a huge impact to this airports operation.

[Thing 342]

My Favorites:

DTW: Nice, open terminal with a cool train. Would be one of my tops if my flight hadn't been delayed for 5 hours there once or if one of the birds living in the terminal had not shat on my head.
ATL: Still the easiest for me to get around in (maybe it's because I connect through there so often). Concourse is a bit crowded dirty, and returning a rental car is a bit of a pain.
EWR: Also my favorite of the NYC airports. Lots of natural light.
MSP: Lots of shopping and easy to connect between flights.
PHF: Only because it's almost literally in my backyard and rarely crowded.

My least favorites:

FLL: The concourses that I mostly fly into (E and F) likely have not been touched since the late eighties and are very dirty. The food prices are stupid high (10 $ for a hamburger). Numerous checked bags being almost totally torn apart in the processing.
PHL: Dirty concourses and frequent delays, as well as little access to food.
STL: This airport is so bad I cannot possibly encode its badness into text. I don't know what it is about this place, but it needs to be updated badly.

[triplemultiplex]

I've done a lot more flying in the last year and am starting to get a feel for certain airports.  So far, I'm liking MSP the most.  It's the one airport I go through sort of regularly where it feels like a modern facility.  They have a good selection of places to grab a beer.  If I have to sit around an airport for a couple hours, I want a beer, I want some wifi and maybe a sandwich.  Deliver to me these three things in the most comfortable way possible as close to my next gate as possible and you win, airports of the world.

[roadman65]

When it comes to WiFi Orlando is good as its FREE!  Atlanta and Miami I have found you have to pay for it.  That might be left up to another thread to determine which airports charge and which ones do not charge for WiFi, but I only flew into these since I started carrying my laptop, so this is the only experience I have there.

As far as food and drinks go, most airports charge Disney food and beverage prices, although the old Indy Airport had cheap T shirts for souvenirs when I did a fly and drive in the midwest back in 08.

[ET21]

KMDW and KDEN

[billtm]

Most airports that I have been to have complimentary Wi-Fi. But of course, the airport that has the most people going through it in the world has to make you pay for Wi-Fi. So, what I do at ATL is I go to the nearest Delta sky club, stand outside and use their free Wi-Fi. Thanks Delta!

[Thing 342]

Most airports that I have been to have complimentary Wi-Fi. But of course, the airport that has the most people going through it in the world has to make you pay for Wi-Fi. So, what I do at ATL is I go to the nearest Delta sky club, stand outside and use their free Wi-Fi. Thanks Delta!

ATL has really good cell service, so when I am connecting through there and need/want internet access, I just tether off of my phone.

[RG407]

I'm a bit partial to my hometown airport MCO.
I've always liked ATL from a structural standpoint since I lived in Atlanta when I was a kid.  I love the underground walkways and train.  It can get pretty crowded, but since I know my way around pretty well that's not a problem for me.  But if you're looking for something to eat during a layover, the options aren't as good as other airports.
LAS is fun if you're into slot machines and you didn't blow through all your cash in the casinos during your trip.
BOS, DTW, MSP and DEN are all nice airports.
LAX is dreadful, dreadful, dreadful!

[The Great Zo]

Most of my favorites have already been touched on -- DTW (McNamara Terminal), ATL, and DFW. My favorite individual concourses are ATL F and DFW D.

Manchester NH is pretty nice for a tiny airport. Dayton OH is my local pick for quick and easy travel, but aesthetically it's rather below average.

[Pete from Boston]

The airport I miss the most is the old Worcester, Mass., terminal.  Old colonial-revival brick building with two ticketing desks, a gift shop, a nice little coffee shop, and an outdoor observation deck.  Pretty much nothing else.  If you ever watched the TV show "Wings," it was pretty much that.  It was replaced in the 1990s by a too-large glass and steel terminal that has only sporadically had scheduled service and loses a lot of money. 

[AsphaltPlanet]

Most airports that I have been to have complimentary Wi-Fi. But of course, the airport that has the most people going through it in the world has to make you pay for Wi-Fi. So, what I do at ATL is I go to the nearest Delta sky club, stand outside and use their free Wi-Fi. Thanks Delta!

Which probably works pretty well for domestic passengers.  But as an international traveler, roaming for data gets expensive quickly, which makes the ample cell service kind of irrelevant.
ATL has really good cell service, so when I am connecting through there and need/want internet access, I just tether off of my phone.

[cpzilliacus]

Dulles (IAD) and BWI are the best local airports to me.  I don't rent cars there, but it is a long bus ride from the BWI terminal to the rental car counters.

Passionately dislike National (DCA). 

SAN (Lindbergh San Diego) is nice, and I actually don't mind LAX either.

YYZ (Pearson in Toronto) is pretty good, as are ORD, ATL, MSP and DFW.  Don't mind LHR (London Heathrow) either, the diversity of people from every corner of the world there is interesting, and the airport works pretty well.  As does LGW (London Gatwick).   

Airports on my hate list include EWR (interminable and rude immigration and customs), JFK (same problem, plus a training ground for Mafia thieves) and LGA (just a terrible airport all around).   All of them suffer from airspace congestion too (though that is not the fault of the airports).

[Roadrunner75]

Although I've never been there, YYZ (Toronto) gets bonus points for being a Rush song.

[realjd]

Let's start with my least favorite airports:
ORD - I absolutely cannot stand O'Hare. It's my least favorite airport in the world. I've never gotten through there with less than a 3 hour delay due to weather or ATC. I intentionally avoid American and United because they use ORD as a hub.
LAX - Dirty, old, and no airside connections between most of the concourses. Huge security lines for the early morning departures heading to the east coast. Poor food options airside. Off-site rental cars that aren't all located together.
LGA, IAD, SJU - remote stands (bus gates) suck

Airports with problems:
DFW - the rental car situation is weird. The centralized rental car center is a long way from the airport (long bus ride) and hard to find when returning the car
SYD - great airport until you need to connect international to domestic. The terminals are on opposite sides of the airfield and you often need to pay for a bus, pay for a train, or pay for a cab to transfer.
LHR - my least favorite airport security setup. If your bag is flagged for random hand search expect a 30 minute delay. As much as I hate the TSA, they're nothing if not efficient. And for US-bound flights, you have to be interviewed at lest once by private security guys about the history of your luggage. Oh, and random gropings in the jet bridge also by the private security guys

Favorite airports:
MCO and MLB because they're my home airports
ATL because it has, hands down, the best food and drink options of any major airport
DTW because connections are relaxed and easy
SAN, especially with the new T2 expansion. It's a really easy to handle airport for a city as big as San Diego
BOS because I've never had any long immigration lines (although with Global Entry that's become a non-issue for me)

[oscar]

LAX - Dirty, old, and no airside connections between most of the concourses.

DCA (Reagan National) is mostly new and clean, but has no airside connections between its three new concourses and one old terminal.  (Could the new terminal be the newest example of pre-9/11 design?)  That's my main gripe, since I often end up in a concourse different from the one where I want to grab some breakfast in the morning (slim pickings for food pre-screening), but can't without an extra pass through TSA screening.  I use it anyway because it's so close to my apartment, but still.

[realjd]

LAX - Dirty, old, and no airside connections between most of the concourses.

DCA (Reagan National) is mostly new and clean, but has no airside connections between its three new concourses and one old terminal.  (Could the new terminal be the newest example of pre-9/11 design?)  That's my main gripe, since I often end up in a concourse different from the one where I want to grab some breakfast in the morning (slim pickings for food pre-screening), but can't without an extra pass through TSA screening.  I use it anyway because it's so close to my apartment, but still.

I've never connected in DCA so the lack of airside connections hasn't been a problem. But yes, the food situation there sucks. I'm usually visiting downtown DC though so easy metro access makes up for the poor food choices IMO. If I'm hungry, I've learned to just eat downtown or at Pentagon City on the way to the airport.

[Brandon]

Best:

MDW - I like Midway and use it as my start/end point most often for flights.  The TSA can be a bit surly at times, but if you catch them before the rush, they're actually nice.  The food options are decent, and it's easy to get around.

HNL - Honolulu had a neat airport.  I cannot vouch for the food, but the open air parts of the terminal were cool.

DAL - I never saw the old terminal, but the new parts were good with decent food options.

HOU - Hobby was nice, and like Midway, easy to navigate.  The baggage claim was a bit of a dungeon when I was there in 2008, but otherwise, it was decent.

MKE - Mitchell is a very nice airport with decent food options.  My only complain is that the concourses are separate from each other.  But, it does have a neat museum and the best TSA I've seen to date.  Only ones to actually wish me "Merry Christmas".

Meh:

ORD - I've never been a fan of O'Hare.  It's further from my home than Midway, and is actually more difficult to get to.  The food options are decent, and I cannot complain too much about it.

BUR - Burbank isn't bad, but the food options suck (what is it about LA airports and food?).  The baggage claim was outside (a bit of a shock when coming from the Midwest in December), but the air stairs were neat.

PHX - Nice airport from what I could see.  Food options were decent, as was getting around for the plane changes I had to make.  Never much of it though.

BFL - Bakersfield looked nice, but small (3 gates), but everything was closed when I got there.

CRP - Corpus Christi had a nice, but small (4 gates) airport.  Not much for food, and the most bored TSA agent I've ever seen.  She was so bored, she put my carry on through the scanner twice.

TPA - Tampa's was nice, but I never saw much of it.  A lot of looping though, to pick someone up.

Worst:

LAX - How can I saw this best....LAX fucking sucks as an airport.  There is no excuse, in this day and age for having no airside connections between terminals.  There is no excuse for such shitty food options.  There is no excuse for the dirt and grime in the airport.  It's a piece of shit anyway you put it, and I'll be glad if I never go through this airport ever again.

LAS - How can such a glittering city have such a dirty airport?  McCarron's not bad, but the older concourses are filthy.  The food options are decent though, if you don't mind puting up with the slot machines.

[formulanone]

ORD is probably the most expensive for food choices; an 11% sales tax on top of already jacked-up airport prices is an insult. Long wait for taxiing. Most security lines are long, although MDW on a Friday afternoon is hell without some sort of priority system.

[mrsman]

I hate LAX.  My most recent trip to California, we flew in to Santa Barbara.  It was actually cheaper than going to LAX, even though we flew to LAX and then took a small airplane for a jump to Santa Barbara.  The small airports are a lot more convenient and far less stressful.