What are in your opinion some of the best and worst Observation decks

My opinion:
Best: Tokyo HND
Worst: Jakarta CGK

Not really a deck as that would be a no-no in Canada, but the worst observation area would definitely be YLW.. The terminal roof extends so far past the area you can see a bit of the runway and that's it.

I do miss FRA, DUS and AMS though.

Was sad that they were banned in the UK due to 'security' reasons I mean, what were they expecting, someone to rock up to Gatwick with an RPG and think, "yeah I know, I'll walk through the terminal and set myself up there to destroy an airliner"?

ZRH revamped their observation deck above the B & D gates, which sounds great, until they whacked a CHF15 fee to go on it. Very Swiss.

eurotrader85 wrote:

Was sad that they were banned in the UK due to 'security' reasons I mean, what were they expecting, someone to rock up to Gatwick with an RPG and think, "yeah I know, I'll walk through the terminal and set myself up there to destroy an airliner"?

ZRH revamped their observation deck above the B & D gates, which sounds great until they whacked a CHF15 fee to go on it. Very Swiss.

That raises a question I had for a while, where was Gatwick's South Terminals old Observation deck located

Garuda200 wrote:

Best: Tokyo HND

While Haneda has a great observation deck, I would say Nagoya Chubu Centrair has a even better one. Sure, the airport is much smaller and has only one runway, however the observation deck reaches far into the apron and you have a perfect view over the runway, regardless in which direction it operates, and also over both the north and south piers of the terminal.

Frankfurt had an awesome observation deck on top one of the western "star" in Terminal 1B, however, that one is long gone unfortunately.

The worst decks are airports that have them at all. My favorite deck is no longer, and that was the 16th floor of the Logan tower in Boston.

The worst must be Eindhoven. It doubles as a smoking area so there are always smokers around, it smells terrible. The air side part of it is only accessible through the bar, the land side part only through the restaurant. You're overlooking the platform with the runway in the distance, but because it's all behind glass you don't really have a clear view to the sides. Only straight forward.

Amsterdam has a great observation deck. Unlike Eindhoven it's out in the open, not behind glass, so you got an unobstructed view over the airport. There's even an aircraft located right on the observation deck, an old KLM Cityhopper Fokker 100. And as far as I know smoking is prohibited at the observation deck in Amsterdam.

ACDC8 wrote:

Not really a deck as that would be a no-no in Canada, but the worst observation area would definitely be YLW.. The terminal roof extends so far past the area you can see a bit of the runway and that's it.

I do miss FRA, DUS and AMS though.

What happened to FRA‘s observation deck? The one on terminal 1 was awesome. The one on T2, well, nice, but you were never able to see the aircraft directly below you..,

Please delete, double post… :-/

Christchurch (CHC) international terminal, it's called a 'viewing area' but it's actually a smoking area outside the terminal building on the wrong side

The one (two actually) in JNB is quite nice. Same as in ORY.

N14AZ wrote:

ACDC8 wrote:

Not really a deck as that would be a no-no in Canada, but the worst observation area would definitely be YLW.. The terminal roof extends so far past the area you can see a bit of the runway and that's it.

I do miss FRA, DUS and AMS though.

What happened to FRA‘s observation deck? The one on terminal 1 was awesome. The one on T2, well, nice, but you were never able to see the aircraft directly below you..,

The FRA T1 observation deck was closed to make way for the A380 gates

Garuda200 wrote:

N14AZ wrote:

ACDC8 wrote:

Not really a deck as that would be a no-no in Canada, but the worst observation area would definitely be YLW.. The terminal roof extends so far past the area you can see a bit of the runway and that's it.

I do miss FRA, DUS and AMS though.

What happened to FRA‘s observation deck? The one on terminal 1 was awesome. The one on T2, well, nice, but you were never able to see the aircraft directly below you..,

The FRA T1 observation deck was closed to make way for the A380 gates

Oh, I am sorry. I was referring to the observation deck of Terminal 2. I think it’s still closed.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Amsterdam has a great observation deck.

Amsterdam had a great observation deck, many years ago. The best part, between the E- and F-gates where the sun was in your back, has been closed for many years now. The remaining part of the deck provides a rather limited view of aircraft movements. Visitors have asked me where they could see aircraft landing or taking off. You can't when they use 24 for arrivals and 36L for departures. Additional barriers placed last year (or earlier?) have made the deck even smaller. Compared to the old observation deck the current one is rather disappointing. Unfortunately the airside observation deck on top of the D-pier has been closed some time ago. Apparently because passengers kept lighting up cigarettes there and Schiphol personnel didn't want to enforce the no smoking policy any longer.

Best ever was the observation deck on top of the terminal at Kai Tak

Priceless memories

Thai airports usually have horrendous observation decks due to an obscure law that technically "bans" the photography of aircraft; BKK's observation deck is hidden up in the check-in hall, accessible through an elevator, but once you get there, its barely even an "observation deck", as there's barely any view of the apron since the windows are very dirty and hadn't been cleaned since the airport's opening in 2006, and DMK's observation deck isn't much better, but atleast there is an actual view of the apron unlike BKK's.

MartijnNL wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Amsterdam has a great observation deck.

Amsterdam had a great observation deck, many years ago. The best part, between the E- and F-gates where the sun was in your back, has been closed for many years now. The remaining part of the deck provides a rather limited view of aircraft movements. Visitors have asked me where they could see aircraft landing or taking off. You can't when they use 24 for arrivals and 36L for departures. Additional barriers placed last year (or earlier?) have made the deck even smaller. Compared to the old observation deck the current one is rather disappointing. Unfortunately the airside observation deck on top of the D-pier has been closed some time ago. Apparently because passengers kept lighting up cigarettes there and Schiphol personnel didn't want to enforce the no smoking policy any longer.

Yes. The current observation deck is sadly not nearly as good as it was before. Also, now you're only 'close' to the D-pier with only smaller aircraft (737, A320 etc.).
Previously you had E-pier was in full view from both sides and one side of the F-pier; and those piers have the big aircraft. You were close to the 747s, 777's and occasionally the A380.

And we can only dream about what was before that:




I guess it doesn't generate money, so not important...

PatrickZ80 wrote:

The worst must be Eindhoven.

You should go to the P4 parking area. Better views from there, and there's almost always at least one person spotting there.

The new ones in Denver are nice but I wish they had a 180 degree view.

NRTs T1 was really cool.

And not a deck, but the gravel lot off of IAHs 27 is a special one for me.

I like the Runway Visitor park at Manchester Airport.

Very good facilities.

HND and ITM are two of the best I've come across.

ITM has a mini-park, kids fountains, a café and not to mention great view of the apron. HND T1/T2 is also fantastic.
https://www.osaka-airport.co.jp/en/shop ... /view.html

Iemand91 wrote:

MartijnNL wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Amsterdam has a great observation deck.

Amsterdam had a great observation deck, many years ago. The best part, between the E- and F-gates where the sun was in your back, has been closed for many years now. The remaining part of the deck provides a rather limited view of aircraft movements. Visitors have asked me where they could see aircraft landing or taking off. You can't when they use 24 for arrivals and 36L for departures. Additional barriers placed last year (or earlier?) have made the deck even smaller. Compared to the old observation deck the current one is rather disappointing. Unfortunately the airside observation deck on top of the D-pier has been closed some time ago. Apparently because passengers kept lighting up cigarettes there and Schiphol personnel didn't want to enforce the no smoking policy any longer.

Yes. The current observation deck is sadly not nearly as good as it was before. Also, now you're only 'close' to the D-pier with only smaller aircraft (737, A320 etc.).
Previously you had E-pier was in full view from both sides and one side of the F-pier; and those piers have the big aircraft. You were close to the 747s, 777's and occasionally the A380.

And we can only dream about what was before that:




I guess it doesn't generate money, so not important...

That original observation deck was quite awesome

Garuda200 wrote:

eurotrader85 wrote:

Was sad that they were banned in the UK due to 'security' reasons I mean, what were they expecting, someone to rock up to Gatwick with an RPG and think, "yeah I know, I'll walk through the terminal and set myself up there to destroy an airliner"?

ZRH revamped their observation deck above the B & D gates, which sounds great until they whacked a CHF15 fee to go on it. Very Swiss.

That raises a question I had for a while, where was Gatwick's South Terminals old Observation deck located

Gatwick SkyView! Many a happy memory there in the 90s / early 00s. I’m almost certain that it’s where the Bloc hotel is now (or maybe one of the lounges?)

I agree with the comment about Eindhoven’s doubling as a smoking area - same for anywhere where the only outdoor viewing area doubles as a smoking area. I remember Malta has/had one of these too. Wanted to spend ages there for viewing but it didn’t go down well the the other half as everyone was showering us with a cloud of smoke.

Not an official deck, but L12 of the P6 parking area with its near full airfield view has been excellent. It's currently closed for the railings to be raised after a couple of sad incidents - hopefully the new railings don't block the view. I've visited several obs decks at SYD over the years, including official decks on the roof of two terminals. 20 years ago they even had a deck with bar and cafe at T1 with elevator access, but this was closed and the view blocked anyway by the QF First lounge rebuild.