Triangle Trip

Captain G and Statusmonger have been to all the major airports in the US. Below are our top 5 worst airports in the US. We only kept the list to major airports in major cities because it is not fair to the little airports with only a few flights a day.

We take the following into consideration during our evaluation:

* Getting to the airport from the city and leaving from the airport to the city
* Overall functionality of the airport facility – inside and outside
* Airport traffic control – number of delays, etc.

#5. Seattle Tacoma (SEA) – The airport is a pain to get to regardless if you are coming from downtown or eastern suburbs. From downtown, you can slug it through the 5 which is a mess or 91 which is a crap shoot. From the northeastern suburbs or better known as Microsoft land, the 405 south bound is the worst highway designed in the US – there’s a full time car pool lane in a metro area that doesn’t carpool. When you get to SEA, you’ll need to first locate your airline then identify the gate to go through security. Security lines are tied to the gates. Depending on which gate, you may need to take a train. Alaska Air is the major carrier there and they have gates all over the terminal. The train to gates make announcements in different languages which is a positive but it is awful when it comes to getting you to the gate on time. We have nearly missed flights due to the train. SEA is also notorious for weather related delays. How can a city that rains all the time be impacted by rain?

#4. Dallas (DFW) – The size of the airport is equal to Manhattan. It takes forever to return your car and hop on the rental car bus shuttle to get you to the airport. American Airlines is in 3 of the 4 terminals. However the terminals are not linked. American changes their gates all the time. This means you’ll need to go through security multiple times if your American flight has a gate change. In addition to going through security, you’ll also have to wait for the shuttle bus to take you for one terminal to another. The inside of DFW isn’t all that pretty with limited food selection. The baggage claim area is also very small and unorganized. This is a pretty depressing hub airport when you compare it against other hubs.

#3. New York JFK International (JFK) – The world flies to JFK as the airport supports most global airlines. However the airport is a shame compared to other airports around the world. Given the ease of public transportation in NYC, there’s no easy way to take a train to JFK. The Port Authority of NY and NJ who runs the airport botched the light rail project (we will have a separate post about this project later). For a tourist from NYC to get to JFK via train, they’ll need to take the MTA in the city to an Air Train which takes at least 90 minutes assuming you don’t get lost along the way. Another route you can take us via the Long Island Railroad which is very expensive and takes too much time to explain to a tourist. Taking a cab from the city can take up to 2 hours due to NYC traffic. If you’re a tourist or business traveler, you’ll be hassled by illegal limo drivers trying to rip you off. It is also impossible for your friends and family to locate you at passenger pickup area because it is so crowded and the people controlling the traffic flow is useless. Once you get to JFK, it will take you some time to identify your airline as there are 9 terminals and like 200 airlines. All the terminals are small and lines are long due to the traffic volume. Security lines are horrible, food selection and shopping inside the terminals are limited. Above all this, there’s no wifi and you have to pay $5 for a luggage cart. This airport is a complete shame.

#2. Los Angeles International (LAX) – LAX is still in the 1970s. Fighting traffic to the airport is one challenge, but having to fight traffic from the rental car return facilities is unacceptable. The rental car facilities are all over the airport, finding the facility is like a scavenger hunt. I won’t even mention public transportation from and to the airport (this is LA, where the concept of public transportation does not exist). Similar to DFW, you need to get on a shuttle bus if your airline has a gate change since only some of the terminals are interconnected. Aside from United, none of the other airlines has an express security line to allow you to bypass casual travelers. The inside of the airport is dingy and old. Restaurants inside LAX are decent, however.

#1. Dulles International (IAD) – What were they thinking when they built this disaster? Be prepared to miss your flight if you didn’t leave yourself enough time. First of all, there is only one main terminal building, one of the ugliest buildings in the DC area, for all passengers on all airlines to enter and leave the airport, causing massive security lines. However, supposedly they’re implementing newer procedures to improve this process. Secondly, all the concourses are way out beyond the main terminal building, creating a need for these ugly people-mover vehicles to drive people crammed in like sardines to their respective concourses, dodging airliners and fuel trucks along the way. So after you’ve waited in a long long security line, you need to get on one of these people-movers to take you to your gate, which are operated by people and very inefficient. But, supposedly they are finally building a monorail system to get rid of these ugly things. The traffic around IAD is probably the worst in the nation. And there is no decent public transportation to get you into DC (you could take a Washington Flyer bus to West Falls Church Metro station which is located near the end of the Orange line but I don’t consider that decent). The concourses themselves are crowded and dingy, and food selections are limited and lousy. United operates many shuttle flights and that concourse reminds me of a Greyhound terminal. Lastly, being THE international airport in the DC area, one would think they would name the airport after an important US president like FDR but they decided to name the airport after the US Secretary of State under Eisenhower. The only good thing I can say about this airport is that I liked Die Hard 2.

JFK is one of the worst airports in the world — which includes: design, appearance, service, ability to get in and out, etc.  I will save the JFK issue for a separate blog – or let one of my colleagues may beat me to it.

I have been flying Delta in and out of JFK for the past three months and want to share some best practices with you.  Delta flies out of Terminal 2 and 3.  Delta makes you play the guessing game on their website by just displaying the gate number, and gate changes are quite frequent.  So here’s what you do when you are flying Delta (with or without status):

Hope this article improves your experience at JFK.  Feel free to leave us comments.  Hope everyone had a great start to 2009!

As a Platinum Starwood member, I was given a one year membership to Clear.  I have seen this at the airports I frequently travel to/from:  SFO and JFK but never really thought about investing $199 and giving up my privacy.  If you don’t live in NYC, DC Metro or Bay Area, I really don’t see the value in joining Clear – here’s the list of cities (I am still baffled how some of these airports made the list).  Additionally, I am also a Premier Exec on UAL and Gold on Delta.  Both airlines are pretty good about letting you skip the crowd.

So… I signed up to Clear via the SPG link right before Christmas.  The Signup on the Clear website was straight forward.  It took about 10 minutes to join.  Upon completing the web registration forms, I found out I needed to go to the airport to complete my enrollment at a Clear kiosk at the airport. To complete the enrollment, I will need to present 2 of the 3 items:  US drivers license; passport; birth certificate.

The additional enrollment requirements shocked me.  I think the website should be more upfront about the join process – especially at the start of the process.  Had I known it required the 2 step enrollment process, I’d have not joined (or paid if I was a paying customer).  Then again, this was a free membership… can’t beat free.  I also immediately went on Autopostmark to schedule a reminder to cancel at the 1st of December 2009 — I also added my buddy who was also joining the same time to this free awesome reminder service.

I was at JFK a day after Christmas at about 7PM.  Since I knew no one would be at the airport, I brought my passport to complete the enrollment process at the Clear kiosk.  When I got to the Clear kiosk, the Clear representative told me they had shut down the kiosk and it was not a self registration process.  A Clear agent needed to assist me with the registration. 

After flying around for another week, I ended up in SFO on new year’s eve.  I went to the Clear kiosk before heading out to the City by the Bay.  I went to the Clear kiosk all prepared with my passport and drivers license.  The Clear representative then asked me for my Clear account number as if I had the 16 digit account number memorized.

The Clear representative finally located my account number and I was ready to go.  The 2nd step to the enrollment process required me to provide:  thumb prints, index finger prints, hand prints and retina scan.  It felt like I had completed an FBI Self Assessment.  Since I don’t have much to hide, I don’t mind all the data Clear has on me.  I am some what concerned about what Clear will do with the information.  I am also surprised to see a Clear machine in the liberal minded Bay area.

The Clear kiosks were high tech but filled with bugs.  It took several tries to get my thumb prints and retina scanned. I was told that I will receive a Clear card with my photo and security chip on it in the next two weeks.  To use the Clear line, I will have to provide the Clear card plus a finger print.

I am not impressed with the enrollment process.  Lets hope the security clearance process is more efficient.