Worst Airports In The World

The Guide to Sleeping in Airports is so dedicated to its audience that for the past 14 years it has been awarding Golden Pillows to the most sleeper-friendly airports in the world, as well as naming and shaming the worst.

Winners are measured against four Cs: comfort, conveniences, cleanliness and customer service. Information is supplied by frequent flyers that have spent a great deal of time getting to know the world’s airports intimately.

The winners:

1) Singapore’s Changi Airport: which has free WI-Fi internet kiosks; prayer rooms; a nature trail, which includes a butterfly garden, cactus garden, fern garden, and koi pond; special snooze chairs in the airside rest areas; a children’s play area; and an entertainment deck, which includes a music area, MTV booth, movie theatre, and Xbox and PlayStation consoles. If you want to fork out a little extra cash you can also enjoy the airport gym and spa, massage, the pool and Jacuzzi and Grand Prix race stimulators.

2) Seoul’s Incheon Airport: is renowned for its space, comfort, cleanliness and the efficiency of its staff. Facilities include free WI-Fi, and according to one traveler the airport will even provide laptops for you to work online. There is also a Korean cultural museum, traditional craft gallery, observation deck and a variety of gardens, as well as baby care lounges and children’s play areas. Paid for facilities include a driving range, sauna, showers and massage.

3) The Hong Kong International Airport: which is the second busiest airport in the world, has earned its third place in the Golden Pillow awards with, among other facilities, a 9-hole golf course (for which you have to pay). Free services include Wi-Fi and internet kiosks, children’s play areas and TV lounges, airside resting lounges, prayer rooms and smoking lounges for nicotine addicts. On the cultural side there are historical and cultural exhibits and handcraft workshops. For those with money to spare there is a 3D movie theatre, an interactive movie studio and PlayStation games.

4) Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport: is not only fourth on The Guide’s list of best airports in the world, but in an independent study was deemed the best airport in Europe. One of the main attractions is rather a curious one for an airport: it’s a wedding venue. In fact, one of their campaigns revolves around “Get married at Schiphol Airport”. There is a spa, sauna, casino and internet stations for which you have to pay. Free facilities include an observation terrace, a meditation room, museum and art exhibits and airside recliners and rest zones.

5) Munich Airport: is also something of an oddity among its counterparts in that it hosts beach volleyball tournaments to keep waylaid travelers occupied. There are also customs office tours where you can see the paraphernalia that has been seized, mini-golf, a casino and gaming arcade and Wi-Fi, which you have to pay for. There are only a few free facilities, which include free (aviation themed) movies, airside relax zones and a visitors centre with an airport exhibition.

The worst airports to be named and shamed are measured against criteria such as lack of safety, lack of comfortable seating, rude staff, bribery and a lack of facilities.

The losers:

1) Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport: has a nasty reputation among travelers and has been voted the worst airport in the world for several years running. One of the biggest complaints is the consistently poor state of even the most basic facilities. For instance, bathrooms are often dirty and eateries are few and far between. There are also a number of homeless people who spend the night in the airport, and while most keep to themselves there are a few who make life difficult for overnight travelers. To add insult to injury, the airport has even been accused of being ugly.

2) Paris’s Beauvais airport: is the second biggest loser, which strongly suggests that the powers-that-be re-assess their approach to their public aviation facilities. The primary gripe regarding Beauvais is that it ejects everyone from the airport when it closes between 23:00 and 06:00. According to comments on The Guide’s website, people have had to resort to sleeping in public toilets, telephone booths, and open fields. Some enterprising individuals have even slept between sliding doors. Furthermore, there are no facilities to speak of and seating is limited.

3) Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport: is rife with bribery, corruption and a police-state approach to who is allowed where. Money will get you the comfy seats in the upstairs lounge; the plebs have to be content downstairs amid the clouds of cigarette smoke.

4) Los Angeles LAX Airport: is about as chaotic as a “first world” airport can get. The staff are notoriously rude and security zealously suspicious. Seating is limited and uncomfortable, signage is poor to non-existent and there are virtually no facilities, not even free Wi-Fi.

5) Manila Airport: is old. It has a lovely new terminal (terminal three) but if you’re not lucky enough to go through there, be prepared for “a bombed-out ruin” and something “like a cattle yard, only worse”.