Best Airports to travel in, out, or through

[formulanone]

ATL (Atlanta)
- Lots of food choices, sometimes very fair prices
- Plenty of little places for a quick bite or some other newsstand item (although not as fairly priced).
- Generally well-laid out for connections, although if you're coming off a regional jet onto a larger jet...give yourself at least 45-60 minutes for a connection.
- Charging ports galore (if you chose Delta).
- Lots of stuff happening on the tarmac...Non-stop action.
- Lots of people milling about, actually becomes very quiet around 8:30-9:00pm
- You might feel like a number. Or as if you don't even exist.
- Narrow hallways...not for claustrophobic people (especially Concourse D).
- TSA is not really the nightmare it's made out to be, usually well-staffed.
- Sometimes, it's the closest thing to Mos Eisley, but only if you really let your imagination get the better of you.

DTW (Detroit)
* I usually get a lot of first-class upgrades into/out of DTW from FLL, so I'm partial.
- Clean as a hospital. Shiny as a new car. Wide as the Panama Canal.
- Great food choices (Fudruckers, National Coney Island, Popeyes, a few others), prices are not too bad.
- Long walks coupled with a slow tram...but you can't possibly get lost here despite its size.
- Funky underground pathway between Concourse A and the B/C complex. Worth the trip.
- Rental cars are a PITA to get to.

CLT (Charlotte)
- Finally have more moving walkways operational
- A really nice open-air feeling to the food court. Piano player tinkling at times.
- No tram between Concourse E and A. Give yourself an 1:00+ on connections involving commuter jets or props.
- US Airways hub...we don't smile much. In fact, we don't even care, but we'll get you there.
- Free Wi-Fi

ORD (Chicago O'Hare)
- Not enough seating at most gates: Somehow, 20 seats for an aircraft that seats at least 120 people means some people don't math correctly.
- Security has long lines for American Airlines terminals, surprisingly light lines for others I've experienced.
- Wallet-raping prices at most concessions.

CLE (Cleveland)
- Decent security lines. You can see exactly what you can't bring in your carry-ons, framed in glass.
- Few concessions in some termini. B is where it's at.
- Rental car shuttles are plentiful. No waiting.
- Restrooms are tiny and cramped.

IAH (Houston Intercontinental)
- Medium-sized walks.
- Food choices aplenty unless you're at...
- ...Gate B84: An embarrassing shambles of a place to wait for a flight, especially one representing United's hub. It resembles an old bus terminal. Essentially open to the elements. Confusing boarding structure. Too many PA announcements going on in something the size of a high school gymnasium. Smells like one, too.
- Some odd 1960's architecture.
- Connected here many times, never went through security or rental cars.

MEM (Memphis)
- Under construction...really quiet now.
- Give yourself an hour between flights, if leaving a commuter jet. If your boarding a commuter jet, expect to wait an extra hour or two.
- Okay food choices. Not many for the CRJ area (A1-10?).
- Cosy, low ceilings. Okay when it's quiet.
- Never had a security issue here, but some people claim TSA is not so nice. So I can't say I agree.
- New rental area under construction...present bus ride second only to BWI's Mille Miglia.

MSP (Minneapolis)
- Security from rental garage is awesomely short.
- Lots of shops, which must be great for people who carry otherwise empty suitcases.
- Connecting flights are an evil joke. Give yourself over an hour.
- Clean, bright, but it helps to be Usain Bolt if you're getting around. Baggage carousel will have stopped rotating by the time you get to it.
- If you can get around this airport, inside and out, you deserve a medal.

MCI (Kansas City)
- Weird rental car complex. Seems like a Department of Defense bunker.
- Gas station on rental car lots' premises...makes refilling on the company's dime a breeze.
- Security lines (as discussed) are shared by every gate or two. Usually just a single snack bar, but ample seating. It's like having a dozen regional airports attached to each other.

FLL (Fort Lauderdale)
- No connections between terminals. It's rare you'd ever catch a connecting flight of any sort here, unless flying from the Bahamas.
- Few food choices, except for Terminal 3. Terminal 1 isn't too bad, T2 (Delta/Air Canada) has a Miami Subs and a Duncan Donuts.
- Not enough on-site parking.
- Close to actual beaches and resorts, unlike MIA.
- Old carpeting in Terminals 2 and 3. Kind of used to it by now.
- Security is a tight bottleneck (which leads out the door) in Terminal 3; lines bad all over on Sundays and Monday mornings during Spring Break/Christmas.
- Not much seating in Concourse F.
- Free Wi-Fi.
- Slowest baggage handlers in the business, will put multiple flights' suitcases on same carousel and leave others adjacent to it unused. Stupid design of carousels ought not to include 90-degree turns and tight hairpins, which means bystanders need to intervene to allow for actual flow. Not the way I want to end my flight home...so I roll-aboard whenever possible!

GSO (Greensboro/Triad)
- Never a traffic jam.
- Huge airport for relatively few flights. If you can't find a seat at the gate, you might be the size of an aircraft carrier.
- Security is a breeze...compared to RDU's gauntlet.

XNA (Northwest Arkansas)
- The nicest darn regional airport, period. Wal-Mart paid for it, after all.
- Located in the boonies.
- Actual food and drink choices for an essentially small airport.
- Should have been named NWA (Straight outta Bentonville?)

CAE (Columbia, SC)
- This is a change of pace from boring airport design; landscaping, verandas, rocking chairs. Airy, vaulted ceilings, fountains, and not too busy. This is why some small airports rule.

LAX (El Segundo)
- Security isn't too bad for a large airport.
- Rental car facilities seem to not give a crap. Bus drivers don't, either.
- Need a line of credit to buy anything in the shops. (Except See's Candy.)
- Baggage claim seems to be run by people who sleep between unloading.
- People-watching kind of like ATL, I suppose.

[agentsteel53]

* I usually get a lot of first-class upgrades into/out of DTW from FLL, so I'm partial.

for free?  if so: how?

[formulanone]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

[agentsteel53]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

gotcha.  I haven't talked my way into a first-class upgrade since 2005 (and that was a 1/3 full hop from San Jose to Seattle).

I did manage to get a business class seat flying from Houston to Frankfurt just by asking for a window seat.  International flights still treat their customers well.  mmm... free booze! 

[Mdcastle]

MSP Termina 1 used to be a lot worse. The two original concourses were what are now known as the E and the F concourses. Then they built the long ones that wrap around the parking garage, C and G. The skyway connecting C and G and the security checkpoint from the parking/rental garage to teh Skyway was added later. Also, originally the security checkpoints were at the entrances to the concourses, one for F&G and one for C&E. So if you were connecting from the end of C to the end of G, you had an incredible hike and had to leave the secured area.

Terminal 2 security and the gates are on the second level, ticketing and baggage are on the ground. But entering on the 2nd level skyway from the parking ramp or LRT station you have to go down and then back up, even if you have a pre-printed boarding pass.

[realjd]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

If I ever encounter you at ATL, I expect you kneel and kiss my Platinum Medallion card. Just look for J/DOT on the GIDS display and you'll find me in the nearest SkyClub. 

Have your upgrade rates gone down over the past few years? Mine were becoming abysmal until I hit Platinum last year.

[realjd]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

gotcha.  I haven't talked my way into a first-class upgrade since 2005 (and that was a 1/3 full hop from San Jose to Seattle).

I did manage to get a business class seat flying from Houston to Frankfurt just by asking for a window seat.  International flights still treat their customers well.  mmm... free booze! 

Since free upgrades became a common perk for frequent flyers, there are often more status flyers than first class seats. I've been on flights where I was number 100-something on the priority list with only 5 seats available. Airlines have thus become very rigid with their upgrade policies and talking your way into an upgrade is extraordinarily rare anymore.

[formulanone]

If I ever encounter you at ATL, I expect you kneel and kiss my Platinum Medallion card. Just look for J/DOT on the GIDS display and you'll find me in the nearest SkyClub. 

Can't really justify the cost of the SkyClub thing...I don't get much time in between connections anymore. On the way home, I'll hit up those little stands, get a sandwich, granola bar, and a water, and use my Have One On Us (HOON US?) coupon for a Canadian Club on the rocks.

I made Gold on my last flight home in 2011, approaching Platinum (about 28 segments to go), but it's going to be a close call for a status upgrade for 2013. I usually creatively choose airports that involve an extra long trip (go county and airport collecting!) to keep with Delta, but my company chooses the cheapest fares , so about 25%, I'm on another airline which varies. I might get United one way, and USAir on the way back, for example. 

Have your upgrade rates gone down over the past few years? Mine were becoming abysmal until I hit Platinum last year.

If it's a lightly-traveled spoke route, usually one with an MD-88/90, then I usually get an upgrade. The few times that I fly on Saturdays or Sundays are guarantees for upgrades at this point. But hub-to-hub travel (ATL to MEM/MSP/LAX)...forget it.

So If J/Lin is ahead of you, then he was heavily-delayed due to IROPS.

Sky Priority is my favorite perk of all: Those potentially hour-long TSA lines at home are now 5-15 minutes.

[agentsteel53]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

If I ever encounter you at ATL, I expect you kneel and kiss my Platinum Medallion card. Just look for J/DOT on the GIDS display and you'll find me in the nearest SkyClub. 

to show how little I know about airlines, I cannot even name which has their perks club called Medallion.

[kphoger]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

If I ever encounter you at ATL, I expect you kneel and kiss my Platinum Medallion card. Just look for J/DOT on the GIDS display and you'll find me in the nearest SkyClub. 

to show how little I know about airlines, I cannot even name which has their perks club called Medallion.

To show how little I know, I didn't even know they had actual cards.

[formulanone]

Delta. They have four tiers, and then Million-Mile status positioned somewhere in there for people have flown with them back when they used pteranodons. The award was actually a little metal medallion about the size of a quarter. Now, it's a plastic tag. I think Diamond Medallion is actually an aluminum card.

I couldn't really name any of the other "awards", but I know the Frequent Flyer program names (thanks to a flooded e-mail account just for the hotel, airline, rental, and restaurant offers).

[realjd]

^^^
SkyClub is good for the free booze and the free wifi. Plus, one of my home airports is MCO so it's a nice escape from the tourists.

SkyPriority is great (and the HOOU coupons with my boarding passes), although I get TSA PreCheck privelages at most large airports now since I'm a member of Global Entry. No line, metal detectors, shoes on, laptops and liquids stay in my bag, it's great. Well worth the $100 for GE. Plus when I get back to the US on international flights I don't have to talk to CBP.

I was forced to fly USAir this week due to cost. MLB only has DL with MD88/DC9 and 757 service while US has CRJ200 service. We joke that MLB-CLT is probably the most elite heavy route in the US system; too bad they're all Delta elites! The 8:30 AM US flight is primarily filled with DL Platinum and Diamond folks who couldn't get onto the 7AM ATL flight.

[realjd]

Gold Medallion status; usually a 75-85% full flight.

If I ever encounter you at ATL, I expect you kneel and kiss my Platinum Medallion card. Just look for J/DOT on the GIDS display and you'll find me in the nearest SkyClub. 

to show how little I know about airlines, I cannot even name which has their perks club called Medallion.

To show how little I know, I didn't even know they had actual cards.

How else are we supposed to feel superior about the fact that our jobs require us to be on the road marginally more often than someone else's job? I just wish I traveled enough for Diamond status; their cards are made of metal! Don't you feel inferior now?

[NE2]

I just wish I traveled enough for Diamond status; their cards are made of metal! Don't you feel inferior now?

I have metal status. Guess what my card is made of

[agentsteel53]

I have metal status. Guess what my card is made of

I have poo status.  About 30 minutes before I need to present my credentials for boarding, I drink an entire bottle of laxative.

[formulanone]

I have metal status. Guess what my card is made of

I implicitly disagree with your status.

About 30 minutes before I need to present my credentials for boarding, I drink an entire bottle of laxative.

You just really like the forum.

[Alps]

Did I mention I love flying out of Newark? I've never had problems with lines or waits, and there are nice amenities, at least in Terminal C. It's also convenient to get to, off of rail and bus.

[ghYHZ]

I did it in Edmonton and it was very smooth ... but I was made unhappy by the fact that I had to have a TSA-style shoes-off inspection, all because I was flying towards the US.

since when is Canada no longer a sovereign nation that can say "no, that's fucking dumb" to inane US requests?

I'm just waiting for them to require that also on all flights from the Maritimes to Central Canada (Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Charlottetown to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto)

Even though these are domestic flights........they are in US airspace over Maine for nearly 200 miles and under the control of "Boston Center"  

[Scott5114]

About 30 minutes before I need to present my credentials for boarding, I drink an entire bottle of laxative.

You just really like the forum.

I had wondered how long it would take for someone to crack the upper bound of the "Interstate" category, and then for someone else to notice...

[cpzilliacus]

Did I mention I love flying out of Newark? I've never had problems with lines or waits, and there are nice amenities, at least in Terminal C. It's also convenient to get to, off of rail and bus.

I have come through Newark to or from overseas a few times.  Immigration and customs move at a snail's pace and the staff was nasty and rude. 

Like JFK and LGA, Newark is now on my personal "no fly" list.

[agentsteel53]

About 30 minutes before I need to present my credentials for boarding, I drink an entire bottle of laxative.

You just really like the forum.

I had wondered how long it would take for someone to crack the upper bound of the "Interstate" category, and then for someone else to notice...

damn it.  I had been hoping post 10000 would be about poo.  alas, it was not.

[roadman65]

Did I mention I love flying out of Newark? I've never had problems with lines or waits, and there are nice amenities, at least in Terminal C. It's also convenient to get to, off of rail and bus.

Terminal C was the last of the 3 modern airport terminals funded by Continental Airlines, now part of United.  It is the best of the 3, as it is layed out just right with the gates all in a row down a nice long concourse.  Terminals A & B have three small satelites, though easy to walk to, still the layout only allows for one at gate food facility and cramped conditions.  If you need a cab at Terminal A, good luck as it is entirely within the City of Elizabeth, so Newark cab companies cannot go there at all.  There is not much of taxi service in Elizabeth, so you have more problems there.  Take the monorail to the other terminals and you will be much better. Now you can take NJ Transit  to there as for years you had to use Airlink from Penn Station, that was an express bus that needed to travel on NJ 21 and US 1 & 9 to shuttle you. Too bad PATH does not have an extension to there as you would have a one seat ride to Downtown Manhattan and the new WTC.

[Scott5114]

Why do city limits matter to private cab companies? Operating permits? Could a business not get permits in both cities?

[Brandon]

Why do city limits matter to private cab companies? Operating permits? Could a business not get permits in both cities?

Cab permitting in some areas (such as Illinois) is done on a local basis.  Chicago, for example, sells medallions like New York.  If you (your company, IIRC) don't have a medallion, you can't service O'Hare or Midway.

[Brandon]

ORD (Chicago O'Hare)
- Not enough seating at most gates: Somehow, 20 seats for an aircraft that seats at least 120 people means some people don't math correctly.
- Security has long lines for American Airlines terminals, surprisingly light lines for others I've experienced.
- Wallet-raping prices at most concessions.

Fairly standard at any Chicago venue.  McCormick Place, Navy Pier, et.al. are likewise.  It's not just the airports.  I've learned not to buy anything if I can help it within Chicago city limits or Rosemont village limits.