Europe's worst airport?

[radeng]

radeng flew back from Venice today. What a Gawd elp us airport Venice Marco Polo is!

45 bloody minutes to get through their laughable security. I thought LHR T4 was bad but this lot of useless jobsworths really takes the biscuit. A woman with a little gate so that each passenger has to clear everything through the X ray before the next one is allowed in. Then take out the lap top, and wipe it looking for explosives. Then come back to do the same on each compartment of the back pack which had the lap top in, instead of doing the whole lot at once.

To add insult to injury, the baggage handlers then hit the aircraft with their loader, and there was a subsequent delay while engineering had to inspect it. To put the crowning cap on it, it was the worst Club class cabin service I think I've ever had from BA! Then it took 40 minutes from landing to get the baggage. Sorry, Bealine, but your LGW colleagues didn't shine on this occasion......unlike going out last Sunday.

Hopefully, going out from T4 to Chicago on the 16th will be better....

[Final 3 Greens]

Not been to them all, but the following have gained my attention...

- for stupidity, Atlanta international pier, reclaim baggage/clear security/recheck baggage/take train to terminal/reclaim baggage

- for rudeness, any NYC airport (most people aren't rude, but the ones who are make up for the rest)

- for archaic infrastructure, LHR 2 & 3

- for security geezers with attitude - Stansted (you can't take 2 pieces of hand baggage mate - I think I can .. shows C class ticket ...jobsworth sends F3G back to check in, airline duty manager comes back with F3G and bollocks jobsworth, jobsworths supervisor bollocks airline manager, huge row develops, F3G watches in amazement and is finally allowed through (the C class fare was worth paying just to watch the catfight)

- for complexity - Paris CDG terminal 1 - where the **** are we?

- for basicness - Charleroi or Lubeck

[lexxity]

Concur LHR T2 is appalling! T1 isn't much better though.

Found LHR T4 to be ok though, on a friday night just before xmas.:\


JFK is a shed and the staff are just hilarious (once they've let you in the country):ugh:

[Globaliser]

Final 3 Greens: - for stupidity, Atlanta international pier, reclaim baggage/clear security/recheck baggage/take train to terminal/reclaim baggageNot just Atlanta. Orlando comes immediately to mind, but I'm sure there are more.

It's either because the airports were designed before anybody ever dreamt that there were destinations outside the fortress, or to punish us for having had the temerity ever to be outside it.

[hanx]

FRA Terminal 1 A is horrible! If you exit at Gate 30 or so upwords at least you don't have to wait at the baggage claim, because it takes about 30 min to walk there. Terminal 2 D is the same, long way from D 20 to the exit.

I like Airports like Jerez, small, neat, nice view from the bar to the very basic rwy...

But the best one is USM (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/792469/M/)

[Final 3 Greens]

Well I like HMS London (City)

[Boss Raptor]

Heathrow - whole place is a mess - in particular the dump they call T3, miles to walk to/from the gate, dark pokey check in and departures, rest appear almost OK by comparison

[bealine]

radeng - I wonder if I saw you at LGW last night! I was sent down to the Arrivals Hall with refreshment vouchers in case anyone needed any substantial food before leaving!!! We also arranged cars for anyone who was stuck for transport!

Apparently the handling at VCE was cr4p with our handing agents running around like headless chickens, but achieving nothing!

Unfortunately, you arrived at LGW during the night shift - one baggage loading team to deal with several aircraft at once, a few ticket sales staff at "Flight Connections" and a few Customer Service staff. Given the tight resources nowadays, it is difficult for LGW to shine and, in all probability BA will pull short-haul out of Gatwick altogether in 2007!

Morale among the troops at LGW is at an all time low - we all feel as if BA will either abandon us or will hand us over to a handling agent! So far, Willie Walsh has refused to be drawn into answering direct questions concerning the Gatwick staff future prospects!

Sorry, radeng, you had a cr4p deal! I just hope it's a one-off!!!

[PPRuNe Radar]

Anyone told the USA they're in Europe now ?? :)

[TG345]

Not quite the worst, but I think MAN must surely be the one whose standards have fallen farthest, fastest.

[TheOddOne]

Given the tight resources nowadays, it is difficult for LGW to shine and, in all probability BA will pull short-haul out of Gatwick altogether in 2007!

bealine,

Well, we hope not, but the way it's shaping up, possibly we'll see the last BA flight the day T5 opens its doors. Will they keep a long-haul op going at LGW? Will a lack of LHR slots mean that they still have to keep a significant LGW presence? We built you a nice new pier with a terrific bridge to it! It'd be nice to see you get some use out of it.

Cheers,
The Odd One

[White Hart]

Heathrow Central Area (T1,2,3) without a doubt!

The physical and mental stress of having to use this rat-infested ********starts the moment you enter the tunnel, and only ends when the aircraft wheels are up.

Yes, I know I work there - but it's only for the money. The fun part went out of it years ago:ugh:

[bealine]

Well, we hope not, but the way it's shaping up, possibly we'll see the last BA flight the day T5 opens its doors. Will they keep a long-haul op going at LGW? Will a lack of LHR slots mean that they still have to keep a significant LGW presence? We built you a nice new pier with a terrific bridge to it! It'd be nice to see you get some use out of it.

The Odd One

It's all rumour and conjecture, of course, but Willie Walsh's refusal to answer questions directly adds credibility to the rumours:

1. We have been given until 2007 to save a further £13.5m. Given that we are unable to give adequate customer service with the cuts we've had (and last night's Venice is a shining example of how badly we managed) If the figure
have been £1.3m, I might have felt challenged, but £13.5m, I fear,. is an impossible target!

(Also, with the EU legislation, last night's Venice cost a small fortune and the Jersey services, with continual bad weather problems in the winter, will never make money as long as they exist and the EU regs push the route further into the red!!!)

2. The leases on our 737 fleet expire in 2007. Our Flying Officers will tell you the machines are pretty well clapped-out and the possibility of extending leases by a few years would probably be uneconomic. Given that replacement aircraft need to be ordered at least 2 years in advance, and the only machines BA has on order are two A321's for Heathrow, we're dead in the water I think!

3. Rod Eddington was trying to get our Cabin Crew to enter into new working practices whereby they would be "mixed fleet" - ie able to fly long-haul or short-haul as the need arises. If this goes ahead (and negotiations are well under way), BA would have very cheap long-haul crew!

The long-haul routes will stay at LGW, as long as the Open Skies Agreement remains a dream! If Open Skies becomes reality, the US flights will be at Heathrow like a shot (along with Continental, US Airways, American NorthWest and Delta who have always stated openly they would rather be at the airport with Golden Runways!!!)

It is my firm belief that, come 2007, Willie Walsh will say "Thanks, Gatwick, for all your efforts! Unfortunately, however........."

[Pax-man]

Agree with TG, MAN has become a right pain over the last couple of years. Shame really, because a lot of the staff are great (particularly BA). One word to describe my biggest complaint - baggage!

If you want a real laugh, try flying in to Turin during the ski season - even better, fly back to MAN!!

[lexxity]

Poor old MAN, used to be such a great airport, now it's a bloody dump. Especially southfront in T3! Can we have a coffee shop in that area for our pax please MAplc?

I have to work there too:ugh:

[BleriotXI]

Niederhein, Germany. It is a former British RAF base, the airport itself converted for commercial flights with a brand new terminal building. But that's not what makes it interesting.

The entire base is still there: homes, shops, theater, everything. On your way to or from the terminal, you drive through a ghost town. Some of the shops still have the latest sale posters on the windows, the theater still has the "what's playing now" billboard up. Ít made quite an impression on me.

[eal401]

You need to try a international/domestic transfer at Moscow Sheremetyvo. My wife has done this, not me, but from her description my blood pressure would have gone through the roof and I would have dreamed about the central area in LHR!!!

[wub]

Bleriot XI:

Take a look at http://www.rodi.dk/mygalshow.php?3

I've been to RAF Laarbruch and this shocked me

[reverserunlocked]

Easy - Milan Malpensa. Get stuck here for a few hours and you'll be doolally with boredom. Can't one of Itay's biggest airports do any better? I avoid Alitalia like the plague just so I don't have to come near the place.

MXP has twenty different places to buy a Gucci handbag but precious little else like restaurants, bars, cafes, internet access or even an ATM!! Maybe Manston can lend them theirs.....;)

[EGLKFlyer]

St Petersburg - the only place I've been to where you go through customs on exit (between having your ticket approved and checking in). It's also not exactly well-equipped for entertaining the passengers who are leaving unless they invite you to the lounge.


Paris CDG. Let's assume you're flying BA to LHR, so that's terminal 2B. On check-in, your boarding pass says "gate B" (helpful - you're clearly in the right terminal as they're all B around here...) Finally they give you a gate - let's say it's B30. The desks are all numbered much lower than that so you need to know that B30 & B31 are right beside desks marked 11 & 12. [Note: the 11 & 12 are huge white numbers on a grey background, the B30 & 31 are much smaller black on yellow]. When I left last Friday, the monitor said the flight was going to Sofia, but it was the presence of the BA staff that gave away the fact I was in the right place.

Now, despite their best efforts, you've found the gate. Unfortunately, you'll still be waiting a fortnight while you go through security and the queue for that will interfere with the exit queue through passport control.

Add to that the fact that they've told me that my shaver's batteries were a pair of scissors and a bottle of moisturising lotion (purchased in the terminal shop) was a security risk it's by far the worst place I have to go to.

Was it really designed to be that bad?

[goshdarnit]

Try Ben Gurion for security, that really is hard work (although in this instance understandable).

Someone told the folks in Dublin they were doing a bad job and now the security there has gone the other way and is absolutely ridiculous!

Flew AMS-DET-BDL, had to collect and recheck bags in Detroit - I still cannot believe how stupid the US folks are...it is policy that you leave your bags UNLOCKED in order to facilitate their need to go thru' them! Quite apart from the security threat of unlocked baggage going all the way from check in to the cargo hold, what about possible tea leafs?
That was with KLM/NW, I noticed on a subsequent flight with Virgin that their ticket outlines US policy and states clearly that they do not support it.

As for other interesting airport experiences - try Nairobi sometime: that is a real eye opener!!!

[ionagh]

I'm with radeng on this.

Flew back from Marco Polo "airport " on 16 Sept.
Was almost the same - except the security delays were even longer. When the queue reached the outside of the terminal (kid you not) they opened a 3rd check point :bored:

The driving airside was definately "Italian" so nothing would surprise me there........

Apart from the capucino in the checkin area bar, I cant think of a good word to say about the place.

[Pax Vobiscum]

Marco Polo may leave a lot to be desired in terms of facilities (though not a lot worse than, say, Linate in my experience), but it offers the most romantic mode of transport to your final destination in the form of the water taxi to/from Venice.

[BleriotXI]

Wub Wrote:

Take a look at http://www.rodi.dk/mygalshow.php?3

I've been to RAF Laarbruch and this shocked me


Thanks! I don't know if you noticed on these pictures, but the side door of the theatre is ajar. :suspect:
I've heard the old base is attracting a lot of squatters. Doesn't surprise me, actually the buildings look in remarkably good shape.
If I ever go back there again, I'll take pictures too. I was completely :ooh:

[skyreadycom]

Dublin airport
Not the worst but I believe it to be the only place in Europe where you have to take your shoes off at the security check. And your passport is not checked after you have checked in, speaking of a security breach.

[wub]

I've had to take my shoes and belt off at Keflavik and go through the detector in my socks, holding my trousers up!

[apaddyinuk]

Skyreadycom....
Although I agree with you about Dublin Airport being the pits, why do you say that not checking passports is a major security lapse???? I cant remember the last time my passport or photo ID was checked leaving Heathrow except by the gate staff as they do in Dublin, even on UK/Dom flights within Ireland where only photo ID is required if you have an eticket. Infact, I cant remember the last time my passport was checked leaving the United States by anyone other than the check-in agent!!! Some european countries do check passports but correct me if I am wrong but is this not only for passengers leaving a shengan state?????

And if you are flying to the states from Dublin you will have your passport and visas checked by US Immigration before departure, surely this is safer than most other airports with transatlantic services?

[piston pete]

Hell hath no fury like Dublin Airport in summer.

But the Etiuda terminal at Warsaw is the pits.

[hanx]

I had the same experience in Munich and in Paris.

[FlyMD-12]

Hi,

For me it's LHR T3.... it looks like a supermarket not Airport, any one noted the Fans !! :confused: I guess even Airports in africa have A/C .......

Reg...

[zero-five]

It's certainly not "the worst" but for maximising the amount of walking, stair-climbing (and time) required to pass through a relatively small terminal the "new, improved" Luton must take some beating.

One can only wonder at the plans that were rejected before this masterpiece was accepted.

Arriving is bad enough (although at least by the time you get through Immigration your luggage is normally waiting) but the departure side is poor for able-bodied passengers and must be a real challenge for anyone who finds walking and standing difficult.

I've been lucky enough to avoid it when it's really busy but it looks as though the post-security central lounge area will be much too small even if the airport is only closed for an hour for fog etc.

[IB4138]

jack-essex

Your comments on security an Malaga are out of date.
New security company employed and system changed to something more rigid.

As Boss Raptor says, you have to go a long way to be worse than Heathrow, although Manchester will get there if it continues down the current path.

Also the sooner the new terminal opens at Barajas the better.

[1DC]

I have always been lucky going out of MAN, no problems, but coming back is something else.
Last year waited 30 mins and 45 mins just to get the disembarking gate connected. Both times the handling agent said it was because we had arrived too early!!
The wait for baggage has to be one of the worst of all major airports, often been in the only group waiting for baggage in T2 and it still takes more than an hour..

[skydriller]

Europe's worst airport?

Has to be Paris CDG!!!

.....just followed by Thiefrow, whose only redeaming feature is T4.....without it, it would be the worst.

Mrs SD thought I was being anti-French when I would berate CDG after enduring it on the way home....right up until she had to go through the ordeal one time too.

Luckily I can avoid LHR, but unfortunately dont have that luxury with regards to CDG.....one of the only pitfalls of living in France.

Regards, SD.

[patdavies]

for security geezers with attitude - Stansted (you can't take 2 pieces of hand baggage mate - I think I can .. shows C class ticket ...jobsworth sends F3G back to check in, airline duty manager comes back with F3G and bollocks jobsworth, jobsworths supervisor bollocks airline manager, huge row develops, F3G watches in amazement and is finally allowed through (the C class fare was worth paying just to watch the catfight)


And it got f*ck all to do with security geezers anyway - it's an airline decision.

[DistantRumble]

St. Petersburg the worst

Dublin 2nd worst. Cattle all the way. And they don't even tell you to take off your shoes [ no sign ] unless you try and go throught with them on.

[VHF FLYER]

I'm sorry folks but all this stuff is relative. No offence but most of you sound like cosseted C-Class whingers. Try Sheremetyevo's Domestic Terminal in Winter or frankly lots of airports outside the 'first world' - you would swop any of the places you've mentioned above immediately. Try Podgorica where the roof leaks on your head when queing up for passport control. Entry to SVO from the icy blast requires you to queue up OUTSIDE so that you can go through security. As for Africa.......an AK47 in the ribs is the welcome you get to some places!!!! How about being blackmailed at airports in Central America....you pay me extra tax for exit visa or you miss your flight......
You don't know when you're well off.

[skydriller]

VHF,

Yes, I know there are some real S:@t holes out there in Africa etc, Ive had the dubious pleasure of visiting them too...:yuk:

BUT, we are talking about Europe here......where you sort of expect a bit more....:rolleyes:

Regards, SD..

[VHF FLYER]

Fair enough SD
OK then just Europe........

Well Russia, West of the Urals is in Europe and I reckon you could fill the entire Top10 Worst from Russia alone.

My worst European hellholes as follows:

Samara - Russia :yuk::yuk: :yuk: just vile - lung cancer is one of the many hazards here

Sheremetyevo Domestic :yuk: :yuk: (compounded by the real prospect of impending death in a 40 year old TU 134) And by the way the Intl Terminal is really not that bad.

Podgorica - Montenegro :yuk: the only non Russian airport with a true flair for awfulness.

Worst Western European Airport?? Probably a toss up between CDG and LHR can't make my mind up.

[manintheback]

quote

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Western European Airport?? Probably a toss up between CDG and LHR can't make my mind up.
------------------------------------------------

I commuted twice a week for just under 2 years between those two. And would have to agree with one proviso.

T4 at Heathrow is ok.

[skydriller]

MITB,

T4 at Heathrow is ok.

Agreed 100% - as I said earlier, its Thiefrows only redeaming feature!!

VHF,

Tu 134? Pah!! Try a Yak 40 - will it leave the ground before the end of the runway? Possibly only becomes airborne due to the curvature of the earth!!!:p

Regards, SD..

[larssnowpharter]

Both Tirana and Skopje make any terminal at LHR look like heaven. Used to have a scheduled An2 flight between them a while back.

[flyblue]

Bristol! :(

[newjourno]

Dalaman in Turkey. Up to 45 minutes queuing for x-ray machines BEFORE entering departures hall, in 30+ degree heat, as tour operator coaches exhale diesel fumes three feet away. Then join a queue for 2 desks checking in a 767 load, multiplied by five - entwining queues 200 long snake around the hall - finding the right line is an achievement. Then through to a departure lounge with about ten duty free shops - with touts - enticing you to buy fags, perfume and booze. Tightly packed rows of seats in a space 20% too small for the number of pax passing through. A bite to eat? There's pizza and assorted junk in the smoker's corner at one end, and a Burger King. The most expensive airport in the world? Well, it's £9+ for a basic Burger King meal - and that's one of the cheaper options. A new terminal is promised for next summer....

Ah, but is it European? I'll stay out of that one..... And I should probably know better than to book seats on a charter flight in peak season.... bl**dy journalists....

[TightSlot]

newjourno - just curious - was your flight on a Monday night?

[newjourno]

Mondays and Fridays, middle of the day. Stuffed with Brits heading home. You're not saying it's worse if you save a fiver and take an overnight flight?

I have heard that there are other times when Dalaman ain't so bad. But £9 for a burger and chips, or a couple of slices of pizza, or a salad (you know what TV people can be like!)? Takes the Efes.....

[TightSlot]

Monday night is when the Thomsonfly fleet seems to take DLM over. I doubt it is better (or cheaper) than at any other time - but it is probably a bit cooler! ;)

[outhouse]

Unfortunately I traveled from CDG Paris on the 1st October to Doha on Air France. CDG in turmoil 1.5 hour delay due technical problems, no info given. Baggage handlers on strike not informed. My bag is still missing with no information or record of location other than it could be with the other 44,000 bags affected. I have tried to contact Air France by phone and e mail and no response at all, it would seem that customer relations is some alien response and not understood by them. Bloody pissed off and to cap it off I was told that I am not eligible for the internationally agreed IATA 50$ essential items allowance by Qatar Airways the handling agents in Doha.
I suppose I was lucky to actually reach my desired destination intact!
outhouse :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Final 3 Greens]

Ah, but is it European? Dalaman is definitely in Asia, but as it is part of a country that spans 2 contintents, its always an interesting debate.

Even more so, when one works in Istanbul on the European side, with the option of a 5 minute taxi ride, across one of the bridges, to Asia for dinner :-)

Attaturk is one of the better airports in Europe IMHO.

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Brussels has a bad layout if transferring from long haul to inter EU. You arrive downstairs, walk the entire length of the airport then walk back the way you came one floor above.

Good exercise, but not after a long flight !!

Cheers,

NEO

[Bus429]

For a First World country (and currently the fourth largest economy in the world), the UK's airports are, by and large, an absolute discgrace.
The majors (LHR, LGW and MAN for example) are rundown and dirty. Airbridges and corridors are littered and the filfth is ingrained. Carpets are filthy (why, oh why fit carpets in an airport?).
I get the impression that those airports operated by the BAA - this excludes MAN - are more interested in promoting retail activities rather than improving infrastructure.
MAN has really gone down; 10 years ago it was great. Last time I flew in there (last year), I felt disgusted enough to call the airport to complain about filthy toilets and an arrivals area littered with cigarette ends. The airport was cleaner when they employed their own cleaning staff.
NCL is not too bad, to be fair.
None of our airports rate alongside AMS, BRU, HEL, CPH, ARN to name a few I've used recently. Even BWN is better for its size and location.

[flyblue]

outhouse was it a KL codeshare via AMS? AF does not fly to Doha.

[pax britanica]

LHR and CDG are both the pits altho the new bit of CDG was nice before it fell down and it does have a real railway station.

Krakow is the worst orgaised airport Ive been to recently with queues not signed and criss crossing each other . Iwas there in december BA and Luftahansa intermingled - as the start and ends of the queues were on opposite sides of check in area and crosed in the middle.
Howeevr they do having the excuse of the rapid traffic growth outpacing building

Nicest airport of late-Bordeaux, lovely and spacious with the nicest airport staff , check in , security, car hire , everyone really. Give people nice surroundings and they become nice people. BOD even has a small vinyard right outside the terminal which is nice touch
( Altho I cant help adding I didnt find the people nice in NIce)
PB

[outhouse]

Hi flyblue.
Yes it was a shared service. AF to Dubai and Qatar Airways to Doha. What p**t me off was that Qatar Airways did there best to help at Doha but AF refused to communicate with me or my wife in France regarding the matter. No mention of the baggage handlers strike at CDG (the reason for the lost bag) just saying that no trace existed. As I originated at Bordeaux the bag did enter the system. Any way to cut to the chase it arrived in Doha from CDG 13 days late, not bad I suppose?
I did get an e mail from a chap in Budapest after two from me, (seems to be the location of customer relations) connecting me with the local ME rep. I have yet to contact him but will soon.

outhouse

[flyblue]

Ouch, sorry you had to go through all that struggle outouse :ugh:
All the times I have needed the AF lost luggage service in France they were very helpful, really cannot understand why they weren't in your case. I would surely write to Customer Relations about it.

[outhouse]

Thanks, I think it was the QA last leg that caused the problem. If it had been AF only then I feel it would have been better, well I hope so.
Anyway we will see how things pan out next month?
Outhouse.

[GLAcabincrew]

Arrecife (Lanzarote)

I wouldn't say it's the worst, but they wanted MEN (not women) to take off their belt and empty their pockets. My fiancee had both a belt on and money in her pockets and they didn't ask her to take anything off but I had to empty everything from my pocket including my packet of Kleenex!!!!!

[SLF3]

Agree on Russian airports - Samara is one of the better ones, Domodeveda (however you spell it) is the exception.

How about Dubai Terminal 2 (yes, really), Tehran, Bombay.....

I find both Heathrow and Gatwick embarrassingly bad.

[outhouse]

Quite agree Dubai Terminal 2 is the pits matched only by GDG terminal 1 on a bad day.
outhouse
:ok: