The Greatest Airport in America

Given the disparity between the richest 1% and everyone else in the US, you should probably start addressing your own country's inequalities before climbing onto your moral high horse.

I think I have never seen so many people move so fast through security as in Denver, and still they were the first to find and take away my Swiss+Tech ST66676 Utili-Key :-/

(My recollection of Munich is that it has many of these faults as well, but I've spent less time there so would be less confident offering criticism.)

Not really, I've been to/through ATL five times this year, but my flights are on US Air and their gates are a disaster area (partially due to construction, particularly due to neglect). I had three hour wait for my last trip so I wandered over to the Delta gates in search of Shoyu (my biz partner who flies ATL recommended to me) and it is truly a whole new world. But don't automatically think that because you're going through ATL you must fly Delta, that's not true at all.

Flew through LAX during last trip and I wouldn't rank it too badly but then I was just passing through. It also had charging stands available near the seats but not per seat.

Having said that LAX has my second worst travel experience which included 3 hours of security lines that extended outside the building. Heathrow has my worst experience which had a 30 minute shuttle from the plane, 2 hours of security and had to leave the airport and take London Underground to next terminal to change planes and reclear security. Honorable mention to Denver (DIA) which is the most boring but clean airport I've had the privilege of getting stuck at.

LAX isn't so bad as a transfer spot. I fly RDU-->SJC pretty regularly using the [pretty new] RDU<-->LAX direct with a commuter leg between LA & SJ. My other alternative is SJC<-->ATL with the commuter leg between RDU<-->ATL. If I'm going to fly a redeye I prefer to land at home rather than some midway point.... LAX is far better than JFK, not to mention O'Hare. Having to leave security at JFK in order to do a terminal transfer via the sky train is one of the most frustrating things in flying. So is having to return your rental car seemingly ten miles and a half dozen sky train stops from a terminal like at SFO. In the US, I've really been quite impressed by the new Delta terminal in Detroit.

There are quite a few shitty, big international airports outside the US, too. Imho, Guarulhos in São Paulo is the worst. Barely air-conditioned, awful security experience for non-Brazilians, and zero real food after security. I've never had Delhi or Mumbai as an endpoint, but flying through them and having to transfer from an international to a domestic flight, or vice versa, is irritating, too. Lots of time spent looking for unmarked transfer bus stops, and more lack of aircon. Also, what's with the Indian practice of forcing a pre-check-in x-ray of both checked bags & carry-ons, but then arbitrarily x-ray or hand-search after check-in? And, of course these x-ray stations have no signage and no indication of the fact that they're required. As maddening travel experiences go, this is right up there with visiting a country (like Chile) where they don't really go out of their way to tell you a visa is required, and then pop a $130 charge on you upon arrival (this was instituted, like the Brazilian visa requirement for US citizens) as reciprocity for Bush's US visa requirement for citizens of those countries.

Writing this I realize I come across as particularly more bitchy than normal, and that isn't really intentional. International air travel, though, is -- imho -- broken and the experience frequent travelers have forced upon them is really quite awful. And I'm complaining as someone who has platinum status, lounge access, and a handful of systemwide upgrades. My $.02: when you get to whatever the top statuses are for any given airline, the "perks" they provide result in you actually having an experience that should be the status quo: free checked bags, economy "comfort" or "plus" seating, free onboard wifi and personal entertainment, snacks you don't have to pay for, and not having to put up with carrier's ridiculously inefficient boarding algorithms.

That 'do nothing' looks like this: do nothing here for an hour or so while queuing for check in. Next, do nothing queueing for the security check; after that, do nothing sitting in some lousy chair for an hour (maybe more, but we can't tell you exactly how long), or do nothing time walking around some fairly limited shopping mall; you can't go outside. Now, do nothing for 15 minutes while boarding, do nothing half an hour or so waiting for takeoff (don't use your electronics!). Then, do nothing for a couple of hours in a noisy vibrating, badly air conditioned, crowded room, etc.

Sure, it's easier than going by carriage in the old days,or from some true third-world airports. And I'm not one to complain when unavoidable things happen (e.g. people sleeping everywhere when the weather backs up).

But equally, when the airports have (a) a functional monopoly and (b) fairly simple, low-hanging fruit choices to make life more comfortable (e.g. plugs, wifi, reasonable places to wait), and (c) they spend money on "improvements" that do nothing or degrade service (bigger TVs screaming at me? Really?), then it's worth not being complacent about it.

In fairness; SFO is ok-ish, O'Hare is nice, as is Houston and LAX.