[Anonymous]

[Bath_VIP]

By this I am referring to airports whose fundamental design and layout makes them a joke and/or a right pain in the backside despite the best efforts of staff.

Step forward Leeds/Bradford airport! The occasional flights through LBA in the past have not been pleasant and my flight from LBA to SOU this week was no exception. The problem all stems from the shape of the terminal which is a long thin semi-circle. As a result there is no forward flow of passengers from front to back, instead all flow is side to side. To cap it all you have to go up and down as well so the final insult of making you traipse through a giant duty free shop (like so many British airports) just makes you want to give up.

I should point out that the airport staff were very good and cheerful and handled the delay with my flight very well. The expanded Yorkshire lounge came into its own here. But these staff have to work in a system that is not fit for purpose.

A year ago, my number 2 would have been Bristol but the recent developments that have just opened have stayed my hand for now.

So go on, which other airports should join LBA?

[FDOS_UK]

Agree about LBA, it was never designed to cope with the # of pax now using it.

LTN would be my candidate, for similar reasons.

[ConstantFlyer]

Heathrow. It’s just TOO BIG.

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PeterCoultas

[icenspice]

CDG T1, even though it is an iconic building.

[ViajeroUK]

It has to be LHR, in the wrong place with virtually no scope for expansion!,

T5 and T4 not too bad, but that awful tunnel to the other terminals is such a bottleneck

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PeterCoultas

[mkcol74]

Agree with @FDOS_UK

Ever since LTN expanded from the original terminal it’s been an utter nightmare. Despite being the closest airport to where I live, with a wide selection of destinations, I’d much rather take the train down to Gatwick, or up to Birmingham than go through the hell of LTN.

[canucklad]

Edinburgh…….If ever an airport has morphed into a much loved TV character , then it’s EDI……sadly it happens to be Victor Meldrew !!

[Stowage222]

For me, IAD. Who builds an airport where passengers have to be transported to the terminal in a mobile lounge?? That’s a meeting I would like to have witnessed when that nonsense was rubber stamped. In addition, they have by far the surliest and most aggressive customs officers in North America – by a mile!

[TheRealBabushka]

Shouldn’t the question be, “Which airport is not a political suicide for governments to demolish and rebuild?”?

[dutchyankee]

@ Stowage222 – 24/09/2015 13:45 BST

Fully agree with you IAD is a disaster. Of course when it opened, it was only intended to handle international and long haul flights, but as a hub it is simply terrible. In its day, the mobile lounge idea was unique, and it worked as three lounges would go out to each 747, when 747’s were configured luxuriously, and it was a novel idea. Now, it is simply poor.

In the US I would demolish LGA, IAD, MCO (not set up for international traffic at all), and some terminals at LAX. In Europe ORY, Original VIE terminal, FCO, and GVA. Further afield, I hate HRE, CAI, DXB (although I havent tried the new Emirates terminal, just the one that BA flies out of), and EZE. There are probably others but this is my list so far that come to mind as I sit in LED where the new terminal is a huge improvement of the old one.

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AFlyingDutchman

[Markyah]

Stansted, Edinburgh, Manchester (T3), LGW, Aberdeen

See a pattern emerging here?

They were all good but have been sytematically ruined to make way for the retail experience that few actually want in an airport.

Manchester T3 and Aberdeen are just a disorganised mess.

[Bath_VIP]

I agree with the the sentiments about airports being turned into shopping centres. But that doesn’t mean the airport has to be demolished, it just means the layout within the building has to be changed which is not difficult to do most of the time.

Of the airports mentioned so far, I would second LTN, CDG T1 and IAD.

As to LHR, I don’t have the problem with the terminals and general layout which generally works quite well. The issue is one of capacity and knocking and rebuilding doesn’t deal with the lack of space. Any new version will have the same capacity issue.

[Tim2soza]

Stowage222 – Totally agree about the mobile lounge. It has gone for departing international passengers, and they are planning to move immigration to the international wing so that arriving passengers will not need to use it. Personally I think the departure experience from IAD on BA has improved dramatically, and I like the new(ish) lounge. Security is much better outbound than it used to be. When the metro eventually gets to the airport, job done!

[Hermes1964]

Sad I know, but I still love those mobile lounges regardless. Alas the ones at STL and JFK are no more.

[Author]

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