Airport Layovers

[Jolie77]

This just came to my curiosity and was wondering about your experience in various airports while having your layover.

Which airport is the easiest place to get around to catch on to your connecting flight? Which airport is confusing and hard to navigate around? Which airport do you find that is friendly towards deaf people with such accesses, hospitality, so and on? Which airport is less crowded and/or a lot more crowded? Which airport is recommended to avoid while having a layover at?

In my experience flying over through the years and having layover at several different airports - I've found that Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta airport both are the easiest to get around to catch on to the connecting flight.

The worse is - Houston airport is so confusing and I got lost, not knowing where to go to another terminal. I had to ask the airport employee where to go to for the connecting flight.

Chicago O'Hare airport is relatively not bad but it is so crowded. Charlotte, NC seems to be ok-ok, although I've only been to Charlotte, NC airport once for a layover.

Discuss.

 

[deafmx]

ufff, for me easy in Chicago ORD and MDW. All airports in Mexico r easiers except one in Mexico City.

In London Heathrow has 5 Terminals and yeah confusing, I lost there lol but Police from there, helped me to get my terminal.

London Stansted is small and easy but so bored.

Sandefjord Oslo-Torp is smaller and easy of course.

Other airports in main cities r kinda difficult but u can ask for help and u will be fine or, u can confirm 24 hr before u travel that u need a special assistant and u will be fine or make a new friend who travels same way to u travel.

Trust me, USA airports r better same in Mexico and in Europe uff no comments too many layovers, transits, etc and Im sure we could get lost.

 

[Jolie77]

ufff, for me easy in Chicago ORD and MDW. All airports in Mexico r easiers except one in Mexico City.

In London Heathrow has 5 Terminals and yeah confusing, I lost there lol but Police from there, helped me to get my terminal.

London Stansted is small and easy but so bored.

Sandefjord Oslo-Torp is smaller and easy of course.

Other airports in main cities r kinda difficult but u can ask for help and u will be fine or, u can confirm 24 hr before u travel that u need a special assistant and u will be fine or make a new friend who travels same way to u travel.

Trust me, USA airports r better same in Mexico and in Europe uff no comments too many layovers, transits, etc and Im sure we could get lost.

As compared as to the airports in USA and other countries - How is it different for you, given due to the deafness (that is if you're deaf?)? Were they acceptable of it and helpful to give you what you need?

 

[JClarke]

I might be a little bit off topic but I read some article somewhere in the other day, online. That LAX Airport said that the Qantas A380 airbus is too big for thier major international runway.

This is the big plane at LAX

 

[Calvin]

I've had layovers in Chicago O'Hare, they're crowded but getting around is not too bad. Houston (IAH) isn't bad, since I used to live there long time ago. Dallas (DFW) is easy to get around.

I'm pretty much used to SFO, and IAH airports since I got around to that many times.

 

[~*Kaelei*~]

I had Layovers in Los Angelas, Seattle, Portland OR, Dallas, Atlanta GA, Charlotte North Carolina, Chicago O'Hare.

The most crowded ones are Los Angelas....it's so crowded and so busy that sometimes you can easily lose your way. Another airport is crowded is Chicago O'Hare.

The ones that are most easiest to find another gate for another flight is Charlotte North Carolina airport and PDX (Portland, OR) along with Dallas, Texas.

This may be little off topic but it kinda relates to this. My flight was little late taking off so when we landed in Dallas, we only have five minutes getting to our another flight before the flight takes off. The gate that our next flight is at is so freaking far away that my family and I had to run all the way to catch the flight. There were other people from our flight going to same another flight as we are going that were also running like we were. We barely made it with a two minutes spared. Thankfully the flight didn't take off to Florida without us. But it was ridiculous that the gate we flew in was so far away from the gate we needed to be...it was like whole other side of the airport!!! But it was easy finding your way to the next gate there...just a long way to get there.

 

[deafmx]

As compared as to the airports in USA and other countries - How is it different for you, given due to the deafness (that is if you're deaf?)? Were they acceptable of it and helpful to give you what you need?

how different? well being in a strange country yes different and different system for deaf/disabled ppl. yeah they were acceptable, they helped me what i really needed and of course i like to do all myself without any help like other hearing people, the problem is i cant hear when someone is announcing the flight is arrived or delayed plus if im new in the airport for first time of course i could ask for help some staff personal and they know its forbidden to discriminate disabled people or they would be in trouble with the laws so they should have patience. and yes some countries arent used to help with deaf, disabled ppl in general but its new experience for them n for us.

and i will have my first stopover in europe with layover of 7 hours! im sure i will be bored as hell lol and returning back to the states again layover for 12 hours in europe pfft lol, better than getting lost in somewhere hahaha :P.

in my personal opinion, deafness isnt a obstacle we are normal, only the problem is we cant hear thats all, if we need a help we could ask.

cheers

 

[JamieLynn]

I only had stopovers so far... (as much as I can remember because when I was little everything seemed to last sooooooooo long). My longest stopover was 5.5 hours in Singapore and then the plane was late for 2 hours due to storm. I was so tired and wanted to go back home in Australia... Travelling France -> Australia is so jet-lagging. France -> USA is easier

One of the easiest airports for me is Frankfurt (Germany) - maybe also because it is one I practically know by heart

Jamie

 

[moonflower]

i have been to Detroit Metro, Cinny, Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Dallas/ft worth, Miami, Orlando, San Franciso, San Jose and Chicago O'Hare
i agree that Chicago O'Hare is crowded but little confusing ugh

 

[dogmom]

Although I haven't been there, heard horror stories about Denver. Although very crowded and often much confusion, am used to O'Hare. Been to San Fran. and San Jose and those were pretty negotiable. Had a very loooonng layover once in Salt Lake. The way I look at it, plan to be very very bored and often challenging no matter what airport.

 

[radioman]

I actually despise flying- will only fly if needed. that being said- columbus is ok, los angles is ok. All other flights were direct.

 

[Jolie77]

I had Layovers in Los Angelas, Seattle, Portland OR, Dallas, Atlanta GA, Charlotte North Carolina, Chicago O'Hare.

The most crowded ones are Los Angelas....it's so crowded and so busy that sometimes you can easily lose your way. Another airport is crowded is Chicago O'Hare.

The ones that are most easiest to find another gate for another flight is Charlotte North Carolina airport and PDX (Portland, OR) along with Dallas, Texas.

This may be little off topic but it kinda relates to this. My flight was little late taking off so when we landed in Dallas, we only have five minutes getting to our another flight before the flight takes off. The gate that our next flight is at is so freaking far away that my family and I had to run all the way to catch the flight. There were other people from our flight going to same another flight as we are going that were also running like we were. We barely made it with a two minutes spared. Thankfully the flight didn't take off to Florida without us. But it was ridiculous that the gate we flew in was so far away from the gate we needed to be...it was like whole other side of the airport!!! But it was easy finding your way to the next gate there...just a long way to get there.

Yikes, It's a good thing you and your family caught the connecting flight in time. Don't you hate it when you have to rush to get to the connecting flight? Ugh.

I, too, had the similar experience just like yours few years ago when I had a 45 mins layover in St Louis on my way to California to visit my grandparents (they lived in Calif at that time). It was just crazy and stressful because the arriving flight had arrived at the gate 10 mins late, plus what made it a lot more frustrating is because these passengers were taking their damn sweet time getting their stuffs from the overhead bin. I was thinking to myself "Grr, Hurry up, I don't have all day to wait" lol. Then I find out that the arriving gate was on the other side of the airport - that did not help at all and I was running like crazy. I didn't care if other people were thinking I'm running like a mad maniac woman, lol. Thank god, I was able to catch the flight in the nick of the time and yeah I was running out of breath when I got to the connecting flight gate.

 

[~*Kaelei*~]

Yikes, It's a good thing you and your family caught the connecting flight in time. Don't you hate it when you have to rush to get to the connecting flight? Ugh.

I, too, had the similar experience just like yours few years ago when I had a 45 mins layover in St Louis on my way to California to visit my grandparents (they lived in Calif at that time). It was just crazy and stressful because the arriving flight had arrived at the gate 10 mins late, plus what made it a lot more frustrating is because these passengers were taking their damn sweet time getting their stuffs from the overhead bin. I was thinking to myself "Grr, Hurry up, I don't have all day to wait" lol. Then I find out that the arriving gate was on the other side of the airport - that did not help at all and I was running like crazy. I didn't care if other people were thinking I'm running like a mad maniac woman, lol. Thank god, I was able to catch the flight in the nick of the time and yeah I was running out of breath when I got to the connecting flight gate.

Girl,

everyone that was on the same flight as I was that was going to same other flight that I was going on including me was panting, we were out of breath and flight attendants were looking at us oddly but they figured out that all of us had to run a long ways to get to this flight from our late previous flight. Everyone else on the plane that was waiting for us were surprised to see how many of us were arriving from one exact plane, lol I guess lots of people from Seattle wanted to go to Florida for some sun shine... Florida is popular state for us Washington to visit for the sun during that time

 

[overthepond]

I had layover of about 3 hours in JFK, From UK to San francisco, I was perified to leave the departure lounge (we got off same place) I wouldn't get out of the dept lounge! It was my First solo holiday i was only 19. I stayed in the dept lounge with some of the crews who worked on the plane from UK. They was really nice and made sure i got everything i needed and we didn't need to move to another lounge as we had same plane for rest of our flight to san francisco.

 

[Byrdie714]

My experiences:

ORD--Avoid O'Hare in the winter time or you can get snow-bound......

MDW--Cute, but avoid MDW during the evening hours as you may get stuck waiting to take off.

SEA--Sea-Tac airport has one of the worst security checkpoints in the country as it takes forever to get through due to the masses of people!

GEG--Cute little airport. I am still trying to figure out why they classify themselves 'International' when there are no international flights.....

PDX--Clean!

SFO--Diverse airport.

DFW--Avoid Dallas in the summer as they tend to close the airport during thunderstorms.

STL--Crowded.

CMH--Read my comment about GEG. Same thing applies.

CVG--Easy to get around.

JFK--Very cosmopolitan and international.

LGA--Love the sign-"Welcome to New York" at the end of the runways when one is landing.

BOS--Crazy drivers=crazy people at this airport.

LHR--Takes forever to get out of this airport....

NAA--At the time I flew into NAA--no signs in English.

NBO--Beware that their security guards have machine guns with them at all times.

BOM--C R O W D E D. If you are not used to people being in your personal space, don't fly into this airport as people are jammed packed like sardines.

MNL--Friendly!

 

[JamieLynn]

Form Byrdie: CVG--Easy to get around.

That's true... I once had to travel from AMS to LAX over CVG... connecting flights were VERY close (in time) but soooo easy to figure out your way!

Jamie

 

[Loghead]

I've had layovers at Detroit Int'l Airport, Toronto Pearson, and Montreal Mirabel (I think). Detroit was the worst... it was fine when we went from Ottawa to Detroit from Northwest and then to Orlando by Northwest, but on the way back it was brutal. I can't remember how many times in those two days that we were scheduled on flights back to Ottawa and how each time something went wrong. Once they even claimed to have "lost the plane". I honestly don't understand how that could happen. We ended up staying overnight at a Best Western and the next day they flew us by Northwest to Montreal and then from Montreal to Ottawa by Air Canada (20 minute flight). The Montreal airport (I am pretty sure it was Mirabel) was fairly old and we had to go out on the runway to get into our plane. Seemed fairly old fashioned to me. Through the course of that trip, we certainly did lose our luggage (it was impossible not to lose it as we had been scheduled on so many flights ). That was my first time flying. My second time flying was from Ottawa to Toronto via Air Canada and then from Toronto to Regina, SK via Air Canada Jazz. We lost our luggage this time as well as the luggage never made it on the plane to Regina and stayed in Toronto. They did, however, get the luggage back on the next flight from Toronto to Regina and delivered it to our hotel. The return flight went smoothly with no loss of luggage.

 

[JClarke]

My experiences:

ORD--Avoid O'Hare in the winter time or you can get snow-bound......

MDW--Cute, but avoid MDW during the evening hours as you may get stuck waiting to take off.

SEA--Sea-Tac airport has one of the worst security checkpoints in the country as it takes forever to get through due to the masses of people!

GEG--Cute little airport. I am still trying to figure out why they classify themselves 'International' when there are no international flights.....

PDX--Clean!

SFO--Diverse airport.

DFW--Avoid Dallas in the summer as they tend to close the airport during thunderstorms.

STL--Crowded.

CMH--Read my comment about GEG. Same thing applies.

CVG--Easy to get around.

JFK--Very cosmopolitan and international.

LGA--Love the sign-"Welcome to New York" at the end of the runways when one is landing.

BOS--Crazy drivers=crazy people at this airport.

LHR--Takes forever to get out of this airport....

NAA--At the time I flew into NAA--no signs in English.

NBO--Beware that their security guards have machine guns with them at all times.

BOM--C R O W D E D. If you are not used to people being in your personal space, don't fly into this airport as people are jammed packed like sardines.

MNL--Friendly!

Could someone expand these airport codes, becuase some of them are not famailar to me, and it would be useful if I know the full word while I search for the appropriate domestic flight from NY to LAX on my return back home from my US trip. I understand that I must avoid O'hare at all costs.

 

[VamPyroX]

Could someone expand these airport codes, becuase some of them are not famailar to me, and it would be useful if I know the full word while I search for the appropriate domestic flight from NY to LAX on my return back home from my US trip. I understand that I must avoid O'hare at all costs.

Orbitz: Airport Codes

 

[JClarke]

Thanks, Vampy!

What airports in the US must I avoid? (Including O'Hare in Chicago, which I understand could get snow-bound because it will be winter when I fly in USA.)