In the spirit of balance and reciprocity, we felt it necessary to respond to our recent look at The Best Airports in the World. It made sense to honour the best first, given the prevalence of so many poor airports around the globe. Exceptional airports, where time between connections is transcendental, food pleasurable and shops stock more than just gum and pulp fiction paperbacks, are rare.
On the other side of the equation, bad airports are everywhere. Endless lines, incessant delays, abusive personnel, lost luggage, heinous washrooms and worse yet, inferior coffee, typify these shameful places. The big surprise? Several of the worst are in some of the most cosmopolitan, lucrative and wonderful metropolises in the world. In other words, just because you happen to live in London or Paris does not guarantee you a great airport. Ever been to Charles de Gaulle? Then you know what we mean.
Of course, lack of economic clout does stack the odds against you in the airport department. Some nations have a tough enough time with their basic infrastructure, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and the like, let alone airports. Still, we wonder, if you build it, will people come? For years Hong Kong had a notorious airport. Since the advent of Hong Kong International however, the city has drawn a heap of praise and envy, not to mention a new wave of tourism, for what may be the most efficient and modern facility in the industry.
Enough about one of the best. From places in the world we expect better from, here are the Worst Airports in the World.
It would be logical to infer that when an airport is massive and busy - all the time - officials or the powers-that-be would respond in kind. Renovate, clean the place up, streamline, hire a productions operations team to speed up lines for baggage, customs, check-in and the like. You know, eliminate the irritants that come with air travel. Other airports have done more with less. Heathrow however, seems to forever get it wrong and remains the only pile of rubble in the world - or construction site rather - with tarmacs for planes to land.
The airport seems to expend the minimum amount of effort and resources to stay barely serviceable. Shuttles that ferry passengers from one terminal to the next meander on a network of terribly ill-conceived “roads”. Flight connections are a sketchy prospect of irrational frustration that may drive you mad with stress. Naomi Campbell would be happy to tell you all about the school of decorum Heathrow security personnel went to.
The citizens of London deserve a better Heathrow - no, not Gatwick - and in turn, Parisians expect more from their central airport. Charles de Gaulle himself would cower in shame if he had to spend time here. Paris CDG is a dump, plain and simple. The city that gave as Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Les Halles and the Eiffel Tower should have known better. The original terminal is a windowless concrete bagel whose blueprints should have hit the shredder before they broke ground. The new space-age terminal that President Sarkozy proudly inaugurated in 2007 is an architectural embarassment that looks like it belongs in EuroDisney. The fact that four people lost their lives in a construction mishap was an omen officials should have heeded to halt expansion and fix the problems.
Where do we begin? Why not write a proper customer service manual for staff to follow for one? The reputation that French waiters have for rudeness may play well in that quaint Latin Quarter bistro, but not at airport customs. Want more? The main terminal at de Gaulle is filthy, food prices are a scam, the layout and directions for passengers to get around is a collective nightmare and believe it or not, the homeless and stray dogs use the airport as their personal toilet. Is this really Paris?
Despite CDG, the French capital is The City of Light for a reason. Check out some great hotel deals in Paris to make you forget about the airport altogether.
If you thought our first two picks for worst airports came out of left-field, wait until you read the second part of our list. Make haste - unlike these pathetic excuses for modern airports - and check out Part II of The Worst Airports in the World.
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