The best and worst airports in the world

All travelers have an opinion about the worst airports they had the misfortune to spent a few hours or in worse cases, overnight. Some of these are decrepit, poorly-designed structures, lack basic services and are notorious for long line-up, rude custom officials, or are staffed by over-zealous staff who ran the airport as their personal fiefdom. Others are just plain dangerous, corrupt and littered with pickpockets and miscreants. My own personal least-favourite airport is the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila – lack of basic services and amenities, an archaic in-transit system, cold, hard steel chairs without any cover, unscrupulous taxi-drivers and dangerous modes of transport to the city. But there are also many great airports where you actually want to spend more time – these are beautifully designed and offer top-quality restaurants, pubs, free Wi-Fi, clean washrooms, showers, ‘quiet spaces’, large-screen TV’s and more – Vancouver, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Cape Town come to mind, but there are many others.


A recent survey by the Travel Leaders Group listed the top 10 USA airports for business travel as chosen by 700 travel agents owners, managers and agents. Glancing through the criteria that were used, the presence of many of the following services helped to ensure that a particular airport made the list: free Wi-Fi, showers, spas, shoeshine, currency exchange, baggage storage, meditation room, rapid charge stations. The top 10 US business airports are:

1. Atlanta (with Wi-Fi, shoeshine, Minute Suites for napping or watching TV, a quick visa denier boarding desk, currency exchange, four Brookstone shops and an Express spa).
2. Chicago O’Hare
3. Dallas/Fort Worth
4. Minneapolis/St Paul
5. New York JFK
6. Detroit Metro International
7. Houston Intercontinetal
8. Los Angeles
9. New York (Laguardia)
10. San Francisco, Washington (Dulles), Newark (tied)

The 20 overall best airports, according to the 2012 World Airport Awards:
1.Incheon International Airport
2.Singapore Changi Airport
3.Hong Kong International Airport
4.Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
5.Beijing Capital International Airport
6.Munich Airport
7.Zurich Airport
8.Kuala Lumpur International Airport
9.Vancouver International Airport
10.Central Japan International Airport
11.London Heathrow Airport
12.Copenhagen Airport
13.Auckland International Airport
14.Tokyo International Airport Haneda
15.Frankfurt Main Airport
16.Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
17.Narita International Airport
18.Abu Dhabi International Airport
19.Kansai International Airport
20.Sydney Airport

The ten worst airports in the world in 2012, according to Frommer’s, are:
1. New York JFK Airport Terminal 3
2. Manila, Philippines Airport Terminal 1
3. Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport Terminal B/C
4. Nairobi, Kenya Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
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