The 2018 World Airport Awards

I had another bad experience at Orly just outside Paris. There are actually two distinct terminals. Our taxi driver took us to the wrong terminal and so we had to walk to the other in the rain with all our baggage.

Thank heaven the counter attendant saw our predicament and expedited us through check-in or we wouldn't have made our flight back to NY.

(P.S.: Talk about Europeans being more racist than Americans. The one terminal had all the flights between France and Africa. The other terminal had the flights to other European countries and America. Someone saw our two white faces in a sea of black ones and knew to tell us to hightail it to the other terminal. Separate but equal I guess is still OK in France.)

FWIW, Haneda Airport (#3 on the list) was built in 1931 and handled all flights into the Tokyo area until Nartia Airport (#11 on the list) was opened in 1978.

My first international flight actually was into Haneda in 1977. The airport was a mass of sprawl and concrete buildings. I was genuinely surprised to see they weren't growing rice or something between the runways.

Obviously, they did a lot of building and improvements to turn it into the world class airport which it is today. Land acquisition was fairly minimal. Today, it occupies roughly 20% more land area than it did in 1977, which includes the railroad stations needed to connect it to Tokyo's modern grid, high rise parking and bus terminals.

People actually go on tourist type excursions to some of the better airports in Japan just to enjoy fine dining and shopping or to send off a family member or company colleague.

The only reasons we can't do the same in the U.S.A. is (1)lack of will, (2)catering to the TSA/Security Theater mentality rather than to the comfort of the traveling public, (3)low priority.

I've heard, for instance, that LAX has undergone a major remodeling upgrade recently, which is probably why it is #72 on this list now rather than on the top 10 worst airport list as it used to be.

>>Miles are miles dude. Which rewards cards do you use? You could get at least 4 international flights for those numbers.<<

I am AAdvantage and am Platinum for life on AA (also Platinum for life at Marriott/SPG with about 1,500 nights). Although I accumulated 3 million life to date miles I have about 750K for use right now. Yes, that is about 8 1st class transcontinental trips.

I fly frequently enough I have an AA Executive card which gets me and Mrs. FD free access to the Admiral’s Club which makes it a wash on the annual fee.

Props dude. I’ve got the JAL Japan airlines Acc Mileage Card and Alaska Air Miles CC Card. There were a few times I go to the business lounge for JAL and they give me free booze when I’m in transit, when I was in Hk, Seoul and Manila. Same with Alaska when I go back to Canadastan.

I’m in the same boat. It’s like I just like accumulating rewards and use it when Im close to expiring. The Coffee Bean staff keeps reminding me to use my rewards card and I tend to use them ONLY at the last date.

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