What's the worst airport you've ever been to?

[foreverbasil]

Inspired by the dismal destination thread...where is the worst airport?
I think Lisbon is a shocker for such a major city. A warehouse with insufficient seating and barely any cafes.
Also had a horrible experience at Heraklion where it was so badly organised people were crying, fighting and missing flights!

Zante in 2000. The queues were outside in blistering heat. Have been since and it’s much better.

Oh and mean security staff who insist you walk around the barrier maze despite there being no queue for the hand luggage X-ray, yelling if you duck under

Yes to Nice! Don't know what I was expecting but the dirtiest toilets I've seen anywhere was not it.

Heraklion last year, wasn't great and flooded in the torrential rain.
Kai Tak, just before the new Hong Kong airport opened. But that may have been because I hated the landing.
Manila in the 90's. Just fuckin bonkers.

Is Treviso the one that’s an ex air force place? If so, I agree completely. Miles from Venice, just a shed with hard seats and menacing police.

Preveza in Greece.
Our plane had to keep circling as the captain couldn't get a response from their Air controllers. Our pilot joked they must have gone to lunch but 30 mins later and the joke was becoming concerning.
Then I had my case robbed on the way in AND the way out. Security non existent and passport control was just a lecherous man looking you up and down and giving you the thumbs up and a wink.

LAX.

When were you at Mumbai?

They opened a new airport 10? years ago. It is much nicer.

Corfu airport 2004, my then boyfriend (now husband) set off the metal detector going through security. The seated, super relaxed security guard said 'eh, you got a gun or something?' When my boyfriend said no they just waved us through, no pat down or anything!

Seconded for Dalaman, you could get dysentery just by opening the loo door. Tunis not much better.

Air Sinai to see Abu Simbel landed in a field, really, no marked runway at all. No terminal either, you just hung around in the field until the plane opened its doors. Random old bloke tried to sell me a dying wild cat kitten .

The worst because most frightening though , was Malta in the mid eighties, when there had been a lot of terrorism on aeroplanes, much of it linked to Libya. All the tourists queued up to go through security to board the planes. The locals just walked round the outside of the terminal to the airside, there was no barrier at all. People were just passing luggage and cardboard boxes containing who knows what through the windows, piling stuff on the loaders.

Malta had very close relations with Libya at the time.

I think if it had not been an island , we would have abandoned the flight and tried to get home by train.

What is wrong with Cardiff airport? I use it frequently the facilities are good.

Easy. Manila for a domestic flight. Cheerful clerk said he could get me on an earlier flight. I was very grateful! Yeah... that earlier flight left almost three hours later and two hours after my original flight. Apparently they only go when full. 🤦‍♀️

Jakarta. I just remember people sleeping all over the place.

Geneva. Unfortunately I’ve flown there quite a few times for skiing.
It’s expensive, you have to pay an odd amount for trolleys - if you can find one. There aren’t enough cafes with tables and everything is extortionate. It’s awful!

Gosh yes I remember the landing at Kai tak , terrifying . Lusaka wasn’t brilliant but I think has probably improved and Riyadh in the 1970s was grim but mostly because every single piece of luggage had to be hand searched. Was not keen on Montpellier because they removed the pushchairs at check in but that may not have been their fault . At the moment I can’t stand Newark , useless facilities for the amount of planes departing . Had great experience at Vancouver recently .

Was that recently ?

Was considering for next year .

I have a vague recollection of having to queue /wait outside until it was basically your flight as it was too small to accommodate any people at Kos.

Manchester had the worse staff. Rude, sour face and not at all helpful.
Palma airport had the longest walk from the plane to baggage reclaim.

Luton.

Tunis. People smoking everywhere. Men unloading the luggage on the runway with cigarettes... the security guards at passport control with cigarettes... it was horrible.

Actually Stansted is pretty grim and horrible security staff who seem to take great pleasure in confiscating stuff from hand luggage . Travelled through there about 3 weeks ago and the security person was adamant that I was trying to take an aerosol through in hand luggage, they unpacked my entire case …. No aerosol but they did find the plastic spacer tube that I use with my ( bagged) inhaler. It’s just a hollow plastic tube but apparently should go in the plastic bag for liquids … I couldn’t be bothered to argue .

And actually the two mile walk through world duty free to get to a lounge with hardly any seats at stansted is pretty rubbish.

Manchester is up there with the worst, I hate the security area with its low ceilings.
I think it was Kefalonia (def one of the Greek islands) that was basically a shed, no air con, not enough space so people are queuing outside In full hot sun. It was a good few years ago though so it may have had a makeover.

Kathmandu is pretty dire. Electrical sockets hanging off the walls, cockroaches running over exposed food in the catering outlets, and scammers everywhere.

Though a special mention must be given to CDG in Paris for the un'exceptional' and sour puss faced customer service.

Changi, on the other hand, always a joy.

Kefalonia quite nice now . Very nice outside cafe and was pretty efficient when we went last year