1. Trying to enter DEL's IGI Airport at 2300hrs
2. Trying to get your baggage xrayed before check-in at DEL/IGI at 2300hrs
3. Standing at the check-in desks of any carrier at DEL/IGI at about 2300hrs
4. Immigrations - the worst worst hell of all upon departure.
5. Security - the next hell, valiantly trying to reach the levels of immigrations
6. Arriving into IGI at 0030hrs and stepping off the plane into the Phenyl smelling terminal building.
7. Immigrations - eeeyyyaaaarrrrghggghhhhh
8. Customs - I heard vultures were dying out in India, but this variety seems to thrive.
9. Touts, louts, pimps and what have you's accosting you at 0200hrs outside the airport after you thought you have crossed the worst.
10. Getting a prepaid cab. You have to find your cab by the regn given on your voucher. You're lucky if you find your cab within 10 minutes without being accosted by hordes of type 9.

Delhi - truly Hellhi.

rgds//Vimanav

P.S. Mumbai is a photocopy of Delhi.

In no particular order:

B1900 flights on Florida summer afternoons
-You aren't going anywhere, there is a severe thunderstorm in the way, and well, we know how capable the B1900 is of flying through anything larger than a cumulus puff. Perhaps the bigger Hell is asking myself why I booked a B1900 flight on a Florida summer afternoon knowing this would happen.

Atlanta's Delta Connection side of Concourse C
-The gate has four CRJ700s ready to board. The seating area for that gate has 12 seats.

Hold for Release
-You can taxi to the runway, but once you get there, just sit out there for the next 30 minutes or so, and make sure you position yourself so that all your passengers can watch all the other planes behind you taking off.

Sunrise Flights on North/South routes (Window Seat)
-Yes, sunrise is beautiful, until the sun actually comes above the horizon. Then you go blind unless you close your window shade, and now you get to sit next to the white wall for the next two hours. But the sun is still going to bake that side of the aircraft.

Sunrise Flights on North/South routes (Non-window Seat)
-People who don't close their window shades when the sun comes up. "I Can't See....."

Traveling by yourself in anything but an aisle seat and having to use the bathroom
-Excuse me. Pardon me. I'm sorry. Oops, sorry. Excuse me. Sorry! Excuse me...

Delta meal service (when they actually do serve a meal)
-Going there choices: chicken. Return choices: chicken.

The Seatmate who prefers to leave the armrest between you up.
-And this doesn't just pertain to those who are horizontally challenged. "I need my personal space..."

Sequencing
- ATC: "Cessana Skyhawk Eight Echo Romeo, number two to land, follow the Boeing 727 ahead and to your right. Caution wake turbulence."
Me: "F***" (thats what I thought, not what I said)

Miami International Airport
-Self Explanatory

 
-Mike

Nwfltattendant -- I absolutely loved that list!

I don't have too many 'gates of hell' -- but topping my list has to be flying during the summer months, holiday season & spring break: too many people flying who are only on planes once or twice a year and have absolutely no idea where they're going, what to do, etc. Yes, I know I was there once upon a time, but that was then   I absolutely try to avoid flying during the holiday season (weekends around US Thanksgiving & Christmas) and the month or so of US school spring breaks.

After that...any middle seat, particularly one that isn't E+

Welcome to the devil's house.....the security line at BWI!  

JetBlast @ BWI

The baggage claim at Karachi and transferring at Gatwick or
LHR.

PIA777

- Customs at MIA
- MIA
- Aerolineas 742 Economy class
- AA 763
- Bag claim at GRU
- Iberia´s F/A on int´l routes - the lady didn´t want to explain me what "pollo" was!!! - I had to ask to a spanish guy seated beside me, then he told me that "pollo" is chicken ("frango" in portuguese)!! So I decided to eat pasta...

1. ORD ORD ORD ORD, anytime of the year, regardless of the weather nearby. I'm a meteorologist and they think I'm stupid...as if the jackass gate agent knows more about the weather than me! What a pitiful mess!

2. LC Smith Terminal at DTW...just a giant piece of crap

3. Flying WN and hearing, "Attention those of you waiting for flight (blank) to (blank), that plane just left SLC on its way to PHX and ABQ before coming here. It's estimated time of arrival is (blank) hours from now. We'll turn you around and get you out in 15 mintues after that. We're very sorry for the delay." Sorry my ass! They need to learn how to design a flight schedule that they can actually maintain!

4. That ghetto mini-concourse that Pinnacle flies out of at DTW. There's that whole nice new terminal....but seriously, their concourse feels like a kennel.

5. The 45 miles underground walkway at CLE to get to the CO Express flights.

6. That SNN/DUB rule Ireland has. I love the SNN airport, but there's nothing there!

7. Riding the Comair bus at CVG.

8. Any concourse that doesn't have YX on it at MKE.

9. Longhaul A330s on EI...could I have a little less leg room please?

10. I'll just mention ORD again...because it really is that bad!

Oh i forgot to mention the long walks UP and DOWN at stansted airport when catching a FR flight or EZY

BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS
BOS INS

P.S. I've been a permanent resident for 12 years, yet, made feel like a criminal every time. Rudest people I've ever met in my entire life, and I've been to NYC, Paris, and Beijing  

1- Monrovia Airport (ROB)
2- Freetown Airport (FNA)
3- Khartoum Airport (KRT)
4- NDjamena Airport in Chad (NDJ)
5- Kinshasa Airport (FIH)
6- Bangui Airport (BGF)
7- Lagos Airport (LOS)
8- Niamey Airport (NIM)
9- Accra Airport (ACC)
10-Algiers Airport (ALG)

mumbai...mumbai...mumbai.......
Atleast it's not New Delhi........

Hey AirGabon i think u listed all the airports in Africa LOL

Hey AirGabon,

to go by your list, Brazzaville, Kano and Addis Abeba must be great, as they don't feature on your African list. Or would they be on ranks 11-13?

While I agree with lots of comments here, except for PIA777..nobody really knows how bad it gets at KHI...

Having electricity go out 4 times in 20 minutes at the ENTIRE airport is THE WORST..especially when there are only 4..(yah.count 'em) baggage claims at Karachi International Airport..................that is with a space for only 200-300 people (not passengers, but people) filled with over 1,000+ people and in the MIDDLE of summer, with NO Air Conditioning 4:30 in the morning........while its 90 degrees outside and 100 degrees inside!!

not to mention, there is basically no security for one's suitcase(s), theft is high, and the suitcases are X-rayed on the way OUT (yup, out) of the airport....now TRY THAT!

Karachi Airport can be complete bedlam at times...............it isn't that bad during the winter though...!!!

But being Pakistani, "its all good"..however, I don't recommend it for the casual vacationing traveler!  

UA777222, you hit it on the nose for me, with that TSA guy saying "welcome home" It rubs me wrong everytime I hear it, and I've had the misfortune of hearing it 3 times now. Next time, I'll have to say something smart back, like "nah, I prefered it where I came from."

then again, I'd probably get tackled and strip searched on the ground in front of everyone.

TSA reform anyone?

Cheers,

VS346

Gate 22 Heathrow Terminal 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


32 miles to baggage claim and immigration. You can see people who left their gates earlier in the week still walking and ageing trying to get to arrivals! Some don't even get that far!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been travelling through LHR mostly in the past and I got to say I'm getting used to being squeezed into old shitty busses, standing in 'queue of hell' at T1 for ages only to sprint to get my plane. "No Sir, we can't give you an advance. You will catch your plane just fine.Get back in queue." Further than that, the 'somker launches' are the worst. Prices at the shops are just f'n outrageous and they're trying to rip you off were they can. "I'm not paying €5 for a can of coke, when I already bought €6 bag of lousy chips. But I might have €80 sushi."
But if this is the worst, I can live with that and just can't wait to see other hubs.
So far I consider EWR the worst.

Raleigh - Durham: US Customs usually sees fit to have only one agent on duty for fully loaded overseas flights.

DFW: Same thing.

Heathrow Customs and Immigration: Agents rude and very red tape oriented-typical Brits, love that red tape crap.

Gatwick Customs: Same thing. Nice long wait. It's always my luck to get assigned to an agent who gets some silly buggar in front of me who tries to enter the UK, telling the agent he has come to work and has no work permit.

Liverpool St. station, London: Always I get behind some dotty old lady doing chit chat with the ticket agents and she is not buying a ticket; only suffering from failure to thrive and is only out to get social contact.

1.) CAI. Absolutley horrific. Truly, it is the story of Egypt. You dont have to go anywhere to get the true taste of what Egypt is like -- complete chaos. And its old. And it smells like smoke.


2.) LHR, unless you are STAYING in terminal 4.

3.) IAD when it is super-fly busy.

4.) LCA (Larnaca)-- Having people butt in line in front of you is not cool

5.) BWI. Ghetto. In the middle of nowhere. Random, and crappy service all around.

6.) MIA. hmm... Let me just say that I am afraid whenever I fly to and from MIA when you have to go through custons...or change terminals.

7.) FCO.... nice city, terrible airport

8.) ATH.... see # 7.

9.) DFW. I dont even know what to say. So bloody huge, and you just walk in this curved manner that makes you feel like you are going in circles...

10.) STL... overall sense of ickyness.

-AA777

Response to BobNWA & Mozart:

I'm warning you about what happened to me, because after the trip, when we talked to our State Farm agent about what happened, he told us there were some serious problems with shady people down in Florida trying to get people to spend more money on extra insurance when they don't really need it (if they have sufficient car insurance already). He told us that next time we rent a car while travelling, we should have a letter from State Farm telling the car rental agent we have enough insurance coverage for car rental. (It would have helped us if we had known before the trip!).

The Alamo rental agent in Florida would NOT let us leave or take the car without signing up for the extra insurance--he was so insistent. Plus, the fact that we could hardly understand his badly mangled English did not help. This was not meant to be a slam on all foreigners, but that one guy who obviously did not know how to relate to customers. Plus, the time of night (midnight by the time we got to the MCO car rental area) did not help, and we were quite tired from a long day of flying from DAY and STL to MCO. How could we NOT resist such a tactic?

I have met MANY very nice, intelligent foreigners everywhere, so there was no intent to be racist in any way. (In fact, I chose to go to England this year, and the next 3 years, to go to school). Rather, this was an attempt to warn people of some shady elements in the car rental business in tourist-laden areas like Florida. This was a lesson, from my own experience, about being naive tourists in areas like Florida. I would hope that people would be warned to watch their backs in tourist areas.

Another lesson from my trip in Florida: We found out that our trip (which had been won in some contest) was actually a front for a company trying to sell us a "timeshare" condo on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. We had to attend this presentation, where a guy (a very nice guy at that) tried his level best to sell us a timeshare in a former resort hotel being converted to timeshare condos. So, this was another lesson in being careful and watching your back.

In no way was this intended to be racist; I am sincerely sorry if I came across that way. But I had to tell of my experiences--my gate of hell being the car rental business in tourist Florida. We must not deny there are shady operators in every business in tourist areas, as my two experiences show. So we must not be so naive as Mom and I were.

Thanks!
SmithAir747

Mumbai airport may smell like an urinal, but of late its been efficient at processing pax in and out, thus minimizing one's exposure to said urine.

My hometown airport of IAD, however, is a nightmare. On any Friday evening, the security lines are anywhere between 1 hour and 2.5 hours long. Last Friday it snaked twice all along the length of the now extended Saarinen terminal, up the sides, then back down again and into a mob scene at the 2 security entry points where of course half a dozen agents were busy goosing a bunch of grandmas for no reason. Total time spent in the line: 2 hours. If Mumbai can handle a dozen fully loaded 747s all leaving within the span of an hour, its inexcusable for the capital of the free world to be saddled with a foolishly designed airport run by fools.

Flying_Belgian, kudos to you for this one:
That ugly carpet in all UK airports (who won the contract ??)

Seriously, what's wrong with wood or tile/stone floors. Just come to OSL, CPH or ARN and see how it's done.


8. Any concourse that doesn't have YX on it at MKE.

To this I say: HUH???

Hahaha I wouldn’t say ‘any airport’ in India but certainly a lot of them!!!!!
Ok……. Make that most of them….
I also wont pick out Mumbais international airport coz then all the Bombay ppl will jump on my back and think all I do is ‘Bombay bashing’  

But…. Ya not all Indian airports. The domestic terminals are ok….. flying out of Calcutta’s IC terminal, Delhi’s as well isn’t bad at all. I still have hope for the new ones!!!! Then again I sadly and deliberately keep my standards low in india.

I personally don’t like Kuwait airport at all…… I am speaking about transiting that’s all iv done there actually. It’s not extremely terrible but there’s not much place to sit, not much to do…… etc. the airports not as bad as the airline though hehehe.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned New York LaGuardia. Just an absolute horrid place to get stuck at for any delay.

Getting out of BOS on the surface streets....'nuff said

Anything to do with DFW is particularly nasty.

And LHR's not too far behind!

BOM - departing's usually a breeze, but arrival can be hell.

AAnything thAAt hAAs the two AAs on it - just the thought makes me violent. The airline itself, though, is just as good or bad as its competitors.

The TrAAin

Kids and babies on planes. Hell, kids anywhere!

Airplane toilets - just can't use them.

Regional jets

The Prince Charles clones in Drag masquerading as FAs on IC - I'm scarred for life

DFW

The commuter terminal at PHL. When you're on crutches and your delayed flight has come in exactly five minutes before your scheduled departure on a puddle-jumper and you MUST make that flight because it's the last one of the day... And there are eight people in front of you in line...

ATL at night. My flight EWR-ATL was delayed 8 hours due to WX. Got into ATL around 2am. I had to change my connecting flight to MCO to get back to school. I can't remember what terminal I came into, but all I know is that the TRAM was OTS. I had to walk all the way to the terminal (with bowling bag with 2 16lb pounders) and back again to the gate.

Not my idea of fun.

-Tamarindo airport, costa rica
-Frankfurt after an 8 hour flight when you are half asleep trying to get to a connecting flight on Lufthansa!
-chicago either at x-mas, or whenever there is a slightly threatening cloud in the sky
and so many others!!

SmithAir747: I'm sure you're a reasonable guy, but have you any idea how your vocabulary can come across? As I mentioned in an earlier post, few English speakers outside the US use the term "foreigners" these days due to its pejorative and xenophobic connotations. The US represents 4 (ie FOUR) % of the world's population: to speak of "all foreigners", even in your own defense (sincere as it is), sounds somewhat shocking to the other 96% if the world.

Jaysit: Though I spent a large part of my early childhood living in Washington DC, neither I, nor anyone I've met in the last twenty years or so would think of it as "the capital of the free world". Nonetheless, I sympathise with your sentiment.

Baggage Reclaim in Orlando sucks.

US Immigration has always sucked - ridiculous waiting times after a long flight.

Atlanta Anything , like an assault course.

Munich - you have to walk for miles.

Oslo - you have to walk for miles.

Amsterdam - you have to walk for miles.

T3 LHR claustrophobic,noisy ,yuk .

Oh, come on Bhill -- the surface streets are half the fun! Why take the Ted Williams when you can go up to Ruhveeuh?

RYANAIR. Despite their claim that 95% or so of their flights are on time, mine was never. My experience with them :-
- delay on ALL flights that I took
- flight landed at LGW rather than the scheduled STN
- flight cancelled last minute without warning. missed connecting flight in STN.
- rude f/a (can u blame them for getting shitty pay?

Since i was skinned most of the time, on many occasions i have no choice but to fly on their 1 penny-flights. I'd fly on Easyjet in a heartbeat when the fare is good.

[email protected] need not reply please  

CrossChecked -

As a matter of fact we have to do the same thing upon arrival in the UK, counting everything, and breaking down into exact types of what were bringing in - only difference is that if there an error, youre not dragged back to the airport and given a 10,000-pound ($18,600) fine.
Im not sure where youre entering into the US, but brighten up a little and use the crew line instead of waiting 90 minutes - it makes it a lot easier.
Regarding your comment about our INS and Customs agents being power-hungry, uneducated tossers, have a further look before you make such an inane comment. Youre 'professionals' in the UK need to dress a little for the job and quit showing up looking like their off to the grocery store to pick up bread and toilet paper.  

I don't know why anyone makes such a big deal out of the INS. They are about on par with any other immigrations agent I have ever had the displeasure of encountering. In no way do they stand out. As Nwfltattendant says, they're just as bad in the UK. It's just one of those situations where you feel inferior and it's not a lot of fun. The nature of the job make immigrations officers seem arrogant. It's their job to ask you personal questions and after the 200th person that day I imagine it gets a bit difficult to stay pleasant, especially with all the morons who try to be cool/arrogant/haughty. Just answer the questions politely and get on with the rest of your life.

Also, I have noticed that immigrations in the US tends to put a large part of staff on US Citizens (and Permanent Residents) first. When these are done, they move capacity to visitors. This makes the queue take a long time for visitors. I know this may seem unserviceminded but if you think about it those of us who live in the US pay the taxes that pay their salaries. Value for money  

-Am I the only one who has issues with SJU? That is the only airport in which I have missed connections. I also have lost luggage connecting there going to STT only to have it show up two flights later. My arriving and departing flights were only separated by two gates. I'd rather connect in MIA.

-JFK on a stormy summer evening. Nothing like sitting on an IB 747 for a couple of hours lined up behind what seems like hundreds of other flights bound for Europe.

-Any airport in the Midwest US when it rains or snows - get ready for several hours of delays, ground stops, diversions, etc.

-IB long haul - I was petrfied on one flight - overhead bins openeing on takeoff roll, food tasted like modified mystery meat (mmmmm), inflight magazine was wet and smelled of vomit. I could go on but many here know what its like.

-Having a kid behind you kicking your seat.

-USA immigartions

-Being hassled by police for spotting.

-Rude pax - hello, would it pain you to sit back and relax for once. Sorry, but the world these days actually does not revolve around you.

-Never ending construction at JFK - maybe one day it will be finished.

-Finally, people who try to cram all their earthly belongings into the overhead - geez, you couldn't check in that kitchen sink or that kenmore dishwasher.

Eric

Most of the airports have to do with congested or capacity issue.

Try ANY China airport or port of entry during and right after SARS. Talk about "Gates of Hell"
- Need to fill half dozen forms (entry/exit) to prove you don't have a temperature or been to the country side.
- Need to be scanned for temperature, and man does it get interesting if you sweat, cough or over the temperature limit!

My "Gates of Hell"

IAD - Whomever decided those people mover busses were a good idea should have to wait on them.

Bitchy passengers - OK, what part of berating the check in clerk will cause the delayed flight to get here any sooner?

Listing a flight as on time when it is obvious the flight is going to be late - It is five minutes before the flight is scheduled to leave, the plane isn't here yet, and you still say that my flight is going to leave on time?

Babies - Not that I don't like children, but infants haven't figured out how to pop their ears yet, and the change in pressure makes them cry because of the pain.

NW - I flew them for four flights, and not one arrived on time. In fact, three of the four flights were over an hour late. (BTW, Nwfltattendant, the NW F/As were great.)

MIA - Most Insane Airport.

Middle seats - Tolerable only with a good IFE system.

Gate crowding - When they start boarding, everyone crowds up at the gate. I can understand this with WN's cattle call, but it makes no sense with assigned seats.

Black luggage - Why does EVERYONE have to have black suitcases?

Too much carry-on luggage - Why does everyone have to put their life's possessions in their carry-on luggage?

(Dis)honorable mention: TPA gate A3 - Somebody please explain to me why this gate only has nine seats, and that includes the ones at the pay phone there?

F9Fan

My "gates of hell" -

CRP during it's remodeling... when the security line snakes around from the *SINGLE* checkpoint, through the checkin area and OUT the door you know it's gonna be a bad day.

The "old" BJS capital airport - Wow was THAT a hellhole. From arrivals to departure, even in F class it was an utter dump.

Victor gates/zone at LHR - You wanted a marathon-length walk to/from your gate, didn't ya??

The DFW TrAAin - I love breakdowns that keep you out in the middle of the tracks during a 95 degree summer for what seems like AGES making you miss your connection

The Elemis Spa in the Wing at HKG - ok ok ok not a hellhole at all but I'd love to smack the person that made the decision to close it.

The shared lounge at JNB which CX uses or may still use - Uhm, $8k for an F ticket and this is the best you can do?

JNB domestic side - Rugby scrum ain't the word but not as bad as...

LOS - Raze it, start over... import the entire staff.

TPE - Could it BE any less convenient to Taipei? Haven't been there since 2002 but at the time the terminal rivalled BJS for being run down.

AA's A300s - Not that old but definitely ridden hard and put up wet.

Pax who use the lavs as trashcans - Idiot, throw it in the receptacle, don't flush it!

Pax who change their children on the tray - Need I even say more??? :puke:

GRU - A piss poor excuse for an international gateway. Hello, what is the deal with NO showers anywhere in the airport?

My contribution: MCI when you're delayed. It's bad enough that the rent-a-cops are overzealous in their duties; however, when your flight out is delayed (probably because there's a chance of a cloud over ORD), the place is hell.

It's probably a good thing there's no concessions inside security, since there doesn't seem to be any restrooms inside security either.

Long Haul Flights: Sitting next to a guy who takes a bath on the first day of the month regardless if he needs it or not - and you're flying on the 18th.

Kids who love to kick your seat back.

Fortunately I am able to avoid lots of misery. I hate not having an assigned seat and don't fly airlines that don't assign seats.

Can's stand RJs or smaller and will fly out of my way to avoid them.

I'm too old to worry about making a close connection so I'll overnight if a better schedule can't be worked out.

I've seen more than a few "really important people" who decided to take the last possible flight to a "really important meeting/presentation/speech" and left the office too late to make the flight. Every one of them yelled at the gate agent to get the plane back to the gate. If it's really important I fly in the night before.

The simple fact is that I love to fly and work hard in developing a schedule that will be comfortable, enjoyable and avoid the gates of hell.

F9Fan, I'm not sure how much experience you have with babies but I just traveled to Europe and back with my 4 month old and not peep came out of him on each of the 4 segments travelled. Same thing with the other 2 babies in the same row on the outbound transatlantic flight. Now that I'm a parent, I believe more and more in the theory that parent's are the ones to blame, not the babies.

Case in point: if babies don't know how to pop their ears, give them something to suck on. Easy.

Those are mine:
- AF FA: making passenger counts with that dam clicking thing. again and again and again. After 4 tries, still not sure if they made a correct count and if all passengers boarded)
Generally AF's boarding procedure doesn't seem to be very professional especially (but not only) here in FRA: If your plane has a critical slot, you can bet that AF ground crew will manage it, that the slot is gone.
- US 894 PHL-FRA: so often so late. Sitting in that A330 and watching through the window and see the other A330s leaving around the same time and getting no information why nothing is happening with 894 is so annoying
- FRA Gate C13/D13: in between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, such a loooong way
- LH checkin machines in FRA: collecting and keeping (!!!) my tickets and than writing "error"
- AF ground agent: "no, we are not paying a compensation for the lost bag, you can only claim compensation if the bag will not arrive TODAY. I can assure you the bag is somewhere in CDG and will make it TODAY to FRA with the last plane, so you will have it TOMORROW, around noon." So its of no interest when I will get the bag...
- LAX baggage claim in Tom-Bradley-International-Terminal: what a mess. To separate belts for the bags of one fully loaded 747 with people running back and force
- LAS: always that "Cling-Cling-Cling-Cling, Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing"

The DH gates @ IAD when they were still United Express . Ceiling tiles missing,filthy carpets,filthy windows,flies everywhere. Hell,IAD in general is a dump.

The baggage claim in LAS isn't much better!!

Getting stuck in a UA 757 in LAS in the July heat for 5 hours , lining up for takeoff twice,but returning to the holding box while ORD groundstops  

I've been fortunate enough to avoid bad things while flying for the most part, or maybe I just don't care, but I still have a few.

-being boarded to fly to ATL from BRU, then sitting in the plane for two and a half hours before departing for a nine hour flight home; I love longhaul, but I hate sitting on a plane on the ground and at this time, I did not like longhaul.

-middle seats of a 2-5-2 layout

-sitting for six hours on a CO 739 from SMF to IAH with a diversion to DFW with a baby making unspeakably horrible sounds the entire time

-baggage claim in ATL for international arrivals in the afternoon: Delta ingeniously puts about 10 763s/777s arriving at the same time worth of baggage on one baggage claim belt in the main terminal while you look to your right and your left and notice that each of those baggage claims is serving one CRJ flight; The display for the international claim belt at that time of day typically reads somthing like this: London-Gatwick, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Stuttgart, Cancun, Grand Cayman, Brussels, Amsterdam. You can only imagine the chaos and congestion.  

-Airplanetire

Here are mine:

- Getting blasted with CNN/Bloomberg at the gates in the U.S.
- United’s concourse at O’Hare during busy times – no place to sit.
- Flying American carriers after getting used to the Asian ones.
- Leaving Lagos – I got hit up for money three times until I lost my cool and blurted “I have no more money – your friends took it all!!”
- Finding a couple of hairs on the pillow/headrest.
- Opening the tray table and finding a bit of leftover sauce.
- U.S. security – pump up the paranoia and keep the sheep under control.
- Middle seats in a 5-seat configuration of an MD-11, 777.
- People spitting in the air sickness bag and then putting it back.
- Arriving late at Narita as a couple jumbos disgorge, and then a 1 hour wait for immigration at the understaffed counters, while the locals get thru in 5 minutes.

But hey, wouldn't we all rather be dealing with our own versions of Hell than be home wishing we were travelling or somewhere around some planes?  

Cheers,

Anything other than UAL, all other carriers suck, well not BA.

And for some of you, I would take any US customs over LHR,CDG,HKG,PEK, those are a bear, and to only name a few. LAX in and out in 15 minutes, SEA on a bad day? 25 minutes.

UAL 777 CONTRAIL

As for me, arriving into NRT during rush-hour (it makes me dizzy where the plane is going around around and round, you wonder when its on the approach course)

Taking off of NRT at 18:20 or so on a hot summer day. The airport is so~ crowded and so many heavies in line (good for spotters)

Immigration at LAX, I mean (I hope its not just me) but they are rude!!! And I missed my connecting flight.

Immigration at ITM when it used to be int'l. Oh boy....... You wondered when you are getting out of there.

Moving concourses at Seattle Tacoma. "I DON'T KNOW WHICH STATION TO GET OFF AT"

Transferring in BOS (at least when I was there) So many concourses, don't know which one to go to.

Transferring at MSP. I kept on asking which gate is my connecting flight. They told me, Search for the heavy with the red-wing and the N on top. "Apparently they all were.............."

Yes, my stupidity makes some pleasant trips, less pleasant. Not the airline's nor airport's fault.

Dalaman, small yet overcrowded when 3 or 4 UK charter flights are in!
Lucky I hear they are making a new terminal for International flights

Ual777contrail,

If you have an easy time entering the US compared with entering other countries, had it occured to you that it may be because you are a citizen of the US and non-citizen of the others?