Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Best, Worst Airport Terminals In The World


Frommers.com has released its lists of best and worst airport terminals. The travel guide publisher says the choices were based on cleanliness, services, on-time departures, navigation and the ease of getting to and from a city’s center. The world’s best, according to Frommers, is Hajj Terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It covers 120 acres and is only open during the six-week Hajj, when millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca. “The most stunning feature,” according to Frommers, “is that the terminal consists of 210 white fiberglass tents that create a chimney effect cooling the hot desert air.” Only one airport terminal in the U.S. – JetBlue Airways’ Terminal 5 at New York’s JFK airport – finished in the top 10. The worst is JFK Airport’s Terminal 3, an old facility that was once the base of now-defunct Pan Am’s flights and is used by Delta. “Terminal 3 is known for endless immigration lines in a dank basement, an utter lack of food and shopping options, three crowded and confusing entry points, and hallways that could have been designed by M.C Escher for vomiting international travelers out onto an underground sidewalk with no cabs available,” says Frommers. “There’s also a sense that the cleaning crew gave up in despair” a long time ago. The world’s 10 best and worst airport terminals:

Best:
1. Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) Hajj Terminal
2. Leifur Eriksson Air Terminal, Keflavik, Iceland
3. Seoul (South Korea) Incheon Airport
4. Wellington (New Zealand) “Rock” Terminal
5. New York JFK Airport Terminal 5
6. Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal 3
7. Marrakech (Morocco) Menara Airport Terminal 1
8. Madrid (Spain) Barajas Terminal 4
9. Carrasco International Airport, Montevideo, Uruguay
10. Bilbao (Spain) Airport Main Terminal
Worst:
1. New York JFK Airport Terminal 3
2. Manila (Philippines) Airport Terminal 1
3. Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport Terminal B/C
5. Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Terminal 3
6. Amman (Jordan) Queen Alia Airport
7. New York LaGuardia Airport Terminal 5
8. Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport
9. Paris’ Beauvais Airport
10. Chicago Midway Airport