The Worst Major Airport in Europe

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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 59 total)

  • DisgustedofSwieqi
    Participant

    Swissdiver

    Have you considered registering for IRIS http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/travellingtotheuk/Enteringtheuk/usingiris/registeriris/caniregisteriris/

    It saves a lot of time and Swiss nationals are included.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    DisgustedofSwieqi,

    Thanks. Yes I have. But never managed to do it… :-/ That said, my latest experience is a huge motivator :-)… I’ll plan 10-15 minutes on my next visit to LHR…


    Mariscalcus
    Participant

    CDG, LHR or LGW (both are terrible) and FRA. Living in Paris with an office in London I would be insane now were it not for the Eurostar. FRA has the worst business class lounges outside the US and one reason I never fly LH; LGW is just old and pathetic, LHR is just pathetic especially T3 (but T5 is a revelation which is why I tend to stick with BA). CDG? Unimaginably dreadful and utterly confusing and I live here! Pity the poor visitor. And as for the city/airport connections – allow 2 hours minimum whether by taxi, bus or RER.

    The best? Different scale but Copenhagen is excellent although it tends toward a shopping mall with runways attached. And the easiest access to and from the city – 30 min door-to-door is not unusual


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I would say its worth keeping your opinion of both Gatwick and Heathrow under review, and that also experience can vary wildly between terminals.

    At Gatwick, the Bucket and Spade South terminal is less good than the more Premium Leisure focussed North terminal; since BAA sold Gatwick to the new owners, there have been dramatic strides in both infrastructure (new transit) as well as new Security procedures.

    Heathrow at T3 is indeed “less than optimal” but then again, use Virgin’s Upper Class wing and apart from a dash through the third world seating area to get to the lounge and it is a much improved experience. T4 has been transformed, with a huge amount of space in what was previously a cramped terminal pre-security.

    T2 has shut down, and T1 is pretty good these days in my recent experience. T5 is, in my opinion, a very good terminal indeed let down by very poor BAA run security (which should be easily fixed if only the will to do so existed), and can fairly be criticised for the amount of escalators, but then that was a function of the small available footprint not suffered by many other new build terminals.

    There are two other issues, first that both LGW and LHR have truly excellent shopping facilities, which I appreciate may not float everyone’s boat, and secondly that despite all our moans about security it remains among the most effective security barrier in the world; for that we should all be very thankful.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Come on BABenji, the cow and horn is rather cute, as is the girl who blows you a kiss through the window! At least it’s a bit of fun unlike humourless FRA or LHR.

    I agree about terminal B. Not enough security and the fast track lane is used by everyone as there is no control. The holding area is like a cattle pen, but the Senator lounge is rather good as is the lounge in Terminal A.

    Apart from that I love ZRH and much prefer it to LHR which I avoid like the plague.


    ConstantFlyer1
    Participant

    I am sure the debate could rage for hours on the precise definition of ‘major airport’; but going by the comments above, most of them are pretty dire. Let’s remember that all of them are now bigger – many much bigger – than they were when they opened, and therefore those who have travelled through them over many years still remember the ‘good old days’ when smiling, courteous staff treated gentleman and lady travellers in a manner to which we might all like to become reaccustomed.

    You will nearly always get personal service when travelling on a 19-seater on the only flight of the day from a small island; but let’s face it: ‘major’ airpors are just too big and too impersonal to create any suchlike feeling of contentment. But all is not lost. With careful planning, it is possible to transfer (when a transfer is needed) using smaller airports, as regional routes – especially region-to-region services, are now much more available, both with locos and legacy carriers. It’s not always possible, given that fewer connections exist, but where it is, it provides a much smoother and relatively pain and stress-free journey. I have enjoyed many in recent years. As for my vote for Europe’s worst major, it goes to anything involving a terminal-to-terminal transfer at Heathrow.


    canucklad
    Participant

    i wont have anything said against CDG-
    It is brilliant and clearly wins the best airport i Europe for the following reasons

    1) Where else could you land 40 minutes early after a long flight from HKG & then taxi & park up in Belgium!!!

    2) Jump on a Air France branded bus to be transferred from the aircraft to the terminal just in time to miss what was a 90 minute connection ttransfer (with the early departure 120minutes), our connecting flight to EDI–thus allowing the Air France personal to demonstrate with typical comic French Flair their “Haw Hee Haw Hee Haw” approach to customer service -Fawltyesque –my favorite was the young AF lass who was shouting at us from behind as she chased us to follow her to the gate!!!

    Then to be told it was all our fault, all 20 of us(we should have made more of an effort) Absoluteley Priceless

    On the way out -the Bar shutting early because it ran out of wine !!!

    If it was an isolated incident then I would put it down to bad luck, but as a regular user of EDI to HKG via CDG I can only assume that it is a deliberate ploy by the French to cheer us all up by making us realise that LHR & their ridiculous double check on Boarding Cards for domestic flights is just a minor irritant

    Thank You & look forward to the next CDG experiance in March


    travelbugz
    Participant

    Paris Charles de Gaulle for me… i find it an uncomfortable airport which gets cold in winter and hot in summer. The restrooms which is the most important for me are not well maintained which only adds to the feeling of general dinginess. Customer service doesn’t score highly either as you can wait for a long time if you need to make a change to your booking. In stereotypical French style, staff are rude and unhelpful.


    conair346
    Participant

    Manchester thinks its a major airport. It serves a large area and has more direct routes than LHR and LGW, but its still a poor airport.

    T2 is ok, but very boring and long. T1 is not fit for purpose anymore and with the underpasses to gates 22/24/26 its pure inconvenient. There are so many places where arriving and departing passengers contraflow. T3 is slightly better but again its split over a number of levels, but only by a few steps each time. And in all terminals the airbridges are dire. During October the bridges had a number of issues relating to the cold weather and their inability to cope. The bridges should have been retired about 10 years ago. Some leak all the time, some dont drive at an aircraft right, some have a mind of their own and try to take the doors of a/c and the rest are just broken. I wrote off a toilet service truck cause the CCTV didnt work on my bridge. Not my fault as the toilet service truck shouldnt have been there!

    Worst Airport that thinks its a major airport: Manchester International!


    MontanaKen
    Participant

    Conair346 is right!! MAN is the worst airport in Europe, spare none. Nothing works – moving walkways and elevators are always out of order. The roadways on the airport grounds are as ridiculous as LHR’s; overly complicated and designed by a monkey with a crayon. There are three terminals at MAN, and not a single sign indicating which airlines fly from which terminal. And dirty and scruffy. . .


    Charles-P
    Participant

    Must agree about Brussels, in the past year I have used it perhaps 15 times and apart from some minor delays at security for economy when the fast track is closed there are no problems. Fast friendly staff all of whom speak Dutch, English and French as a minimum with other languages spoken as well by many.
    My second vote would be for Copenhagen, excellent rail links from within the terminals to both Denamrk and Sweden, interesting shopping combinations and the SAS lounges are superb.

    As for CDG… the last time I was there it took three hours to clear immigration for EU passport holders, beggers were openly working the terminal and being ignored by the police, French was the only language option and when I asked a customs officer (in French) for directions he first corrected my grammer, commented on my accent and then said he didn’t know.


    JudgedRed
    Participant

    Personally, I find Frankfurt a pleasure, as I do Munich. I only use them to transit from Manchester to Bilbao. The bus rides are always undesirable but the Lufthansa coffee stations are a nice touch. Manchester is much improved these days and preferable to Heathrow and Gatwick. Security standards are high but carried out with a smile.
    The worst airport in Europe is Gatwick, in my experience.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    At FRA. The good thing about FRA is you are never disappointed! Transit will be a disaster… First, they couldn’t dock the stairs, for some reason, as, as too often here, the plane wasn’t docked. Then a long long way in a packed bus (since no business class dedicated bus). In the terminal, no gate indicated! I knew my way (exit from the Schengen area) but what’s about a non European??? Iris was … not working as usual. So queue for border control. Then ugly lounge smelling awfully (unless you are a Frankfurt sausage fan). Then … well God know what… I hate FRA…


    ConstantFlyer
    Participant

    I believe that there is an optimum size for an airport. Too small and there are too few flights to too few destinations; too big and you waste time and effort walking and bussing miles, stacking and queueing. The best airports manage a balance between the advantages of large and small and are able to minimise the disadvantages.

    Here are some examples (my own views from experience):

    Germany
    Too big: Frankfurt; too small: Paderborn; just right: Bremen.

    UK
    Too big: Heathrow; too small: Prestwick; just right: Newcastle.

    Russia
    Too big: Sheremetyevo; too small: Saransk; just right: Novosibirsk.


    JonathanM8
    Participant

    Has to be FRA. It may have four runways but taxiing to and from them take forever – 25 minutes from the new one to the pier two weeks ago. That was an occasion when I was lucky to be on a plane using a pier as most flights from LHR and all from LCY use remote stands and buses. And with the bus you would have thought at least they would drop you close to passport control and baggage collection, but, no, you have to walk miles. In case readers have not worked it out, this is T2 I am referring to – the LHR experience may be different (although the runway issue is there whichever terminal you use. And I thought the Germans are efficient (well they are at STR, DUS and MUC).

Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 59 total)
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