Europe's worst airport?

[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!!!

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

[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
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]

ACE

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