[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 28/09/2015 13:19 BST

I worked on a part of the Tornado programme for a period – don’t remind me!

[Charles-P]

The ‘spam’ are not immune despite what they claim. Seen the latest developments for the F35 ? 🙂

Other counties just as bad –
France – AMX Leclerc tank unable to engage reverse after new radios installed.
Australia – Wedgetail – never worked properly, still might not. RAAF refusing to comment anymore.
South Africa – The SANDF deployed over 1000 soldiers to the DRC in June 2013 the generals and politicians spoke glowingly about the professionalism of South Africa’s defence forces and their contribution to ‘peace-keeping’ in Africa but did not tell anyone that the soldiers lacked some of the most basic equipment. It was only through an associated court case later that the Minister of Defence was forced to admit that “our soldiers do not have tents … [and] … our soldiers have no parachute equipment”.

[limasalv]

Fiumicino

FCO

It’s dirty decadent. like Rome

[MrMichael]

Interesting about BER, is the “Powerhouse Germany” no more? An airport they cannot open, an immigration policy they cannot sustain, an airline that is crippling itself (LH) and now to top it off…VW.

Oh dear oh dear.

[Charles-P]

MrMichael – let’s not be beastly to the Germans. When their country is going through a bad patch they have a tendency to do silly things.

From the Master
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wveW9Tw2JKE

[MrMichael]

Charles-P…..good point. Love the song, will be singing it in the bath a little later.

[seasonedtraveller]

In the UK, LBA get’s my vote.

It was never designed to cope with the traffic flow that both Ryanair and Jet2 have brought & even the most recent expansion hasn’t helped. At peak times, people are seated on the floor.

It’s now a minimum £3.00 charge to drop off…… My company taxi went to 39 mins in the car park when my flight was recently delayed & had to pay £40.00 before he could leave.

There is a single lounge for all, although it is split into 2 areas, it’s still full of the Malaga brigade swilling as much ale as they can, at 7am – as a result of this, the toilet facilities are completely inadequate.

There is no rail link & bus links only from the town centre (unless you happen to live along the route). Parking onsite is ridiculously expensive & the 3 alternative car parks (alleged) collude on price to keep it high. The mini busses that drop people from the offsite car parks are charged a whopping £7.00 per visit whether there’s 10 pax or just 1…..

On the plus side, it’s the closest airport to home…..

Rant now over 😉

[Huitsix]

Hi all,

interesting posts in the past few pages. When I first read the topic I “immediately* thought of Berlin Airport, glad to see that is being discussed as it is of great interest to me.

I was lucky enough to have lived in the great city that is Berlin and back then (early 2008) the three airports were still open: Schoenefeld (SXF), Tegel (TXL) and Tempelhof (THF). At that time, there was a lot of turmoil over what to do with these three airports given the fact the main airport gateway in Germany is Frankfurt and the secondary ones are Dusseldorf and Munich, not Berlin. Politics, both local/regional and national got involved but finally the decision was made to use the Schoenefeld area to build an entirely NEW airport (BER) which I think, although costly, is a good idea.

SXF was (and I believe still is) a total joke: walking up and down stairs in random directions, no heating in many places (this is east Germany, winters get bitter cold!), the airport was a big – outdated – mess and the distance to an equally outdated train (S-Bahn) station was the cherry on top.

TXL is kind of like Orly in Paris which a lot of you seem to dislike: it must have been a great airport when it opened up but not only was it back then (2008) already clearly congested because of its small size with little expansion options but also becoming decrepit (similarly to SXF) and the connections to the city were ridiculous: no trains, just a bus which would get so packed that it defeated the purpose.

THF was on the contrary an amazing experience: how surprising is it to take the underground train (U-Bahn) to an airport! So close to the center of the city it was obvious that this airport had to be closed. I took one of the last flights out (to BRU) but the facilities reminded me more of a museum than an international airport. In Fact I believe they have transformed the whole airport ground in a sort of park open for all which is an excellent idea.

I think the situation in Berlin is the most relevant to this specific discussion: they had 3 airports, all more or less congested and outdated so they decided to build a fourth one. The disaster that followed is just awful and could/should have been avoided…

Anyway, just to give you guys my honest opinion on the topic: I believe the worst airport I have ever traveled to is Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL). The many terminals there are confusing and difficult to transfer from one to another, the T1 is so congested you need more than 2 hours to simply queue your way to and through it, the T4 is the most ridiculous piece of airport building I have ever been through although the T3 is arguably rather OK. They are thinking of building a 5th terminal there, which will just add on to the mess… If you ask me, you just build a HUGE and NEW airport somewhere else with modern public transportation to connect to the other disaster which is Manila city.

The same comments are also valid for Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (CGK), which so ridiculously small and congested: I don’t understand how it alone can serve such a large city, an area of an estimated 20+ million souls!!!

CDG in Paris is far from perfect, but when you travel to Jakarta and Manila, I can guarantee you look at things differently.

Cheers 🙂

[Gin&Tonic]

KLIA KUL – The first reason it should be rebuilt would be to locate it closer to the city, what a pain this place is adding at least an hour to any journey just to get to/from the airport, KLIA considering it was built at a similar time to Hkg is really showing its age, you can see they didn’t use the best quality products with the fit out and it already looks, old tired and is dirty. Same with the trains, Hkg trains are immaculate, KLIA Express looks old tatty and dirty. But it’s now my local airport so put up and shut up!

[AisleSeatTraveller]

Jakarta is awful (as is getting to it, no transport infrastructure)

agree on KLIA, but KLIA2 is worse and that only opened last year.

Also agree on BKK, long walks, overcrowded immigration with coffee only at either end (and every Bangkok taxi driver attempts to kill you on the way to the airport (this also happens in Beijing))

Like Changi, LHR T5 (suspect The Queen’s Terminal is ok, T3 should be nuked, a great intro to Britain)

[Iain]

Manila (MNL) Ninoy Aquino International Airport is probably the world’s worst. Disabled people don’t even have anywhere to go to the toilet as they are down a steep flight of stone stairs. Even the ‘new’ building is rubbish. It took so long to open, due to in-fighting, that it was falling apart by the time it was opened.

[sandtrekker]

Without a doubt, Jomo Kenyatta International (NBO) must go. Step off the plane after a long flight and you are numbed by the sight of market stalls – no other description will do. Vague signs will tell you where to go.

Departing is just as bad. Usually only one working security lane with passengers lining up outside. Then there are further nightmares to get through. If you fly Kenya Airways Business, you can only be gobsmacked at the minuscule lounge. Complete demolition is the only solution.

Slightly further afield, Zanzibar International should also meet the same fate however, I believe a new (long overdue) Chinese-built terminal is due to eventually open this year.

[Abidjan]

IAD – No way, much nicer these days. And it’s iconic.

Tear down – MCI.

[goldaviator]

EWR – Newark……what an absolute disaster of an airport. Had the displeasure of travelling through there last week. The one saving grace is the BA lounge is like an incredible oasis in a chaotic mess.

[SimonS1]

@sandtrekker – not sure when you last used Nairobi but the KQ terminal/lounge is brand new.

[Author]

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