The Airports I've Been Through: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

My first commercial plane ride was in 1979. Little did I know that what happened during that trip would be more common than expected. We were waiting for our flight to go to Hawaii, when we found out that the plane we were due to go out on had hairline fractures in its wings and we had to wait over two hours longer for a replacement plane. The hairline fractures in the wings were causing the planes to fall out of the sky.

Then in 1995, on our first mission trip, again we were in Hawaii. We had actually gotten on the plane when we were informed that the plane we were on had one of those defective engines that had been falling off of the planes and causing them to crash. While we were getting ready to take off we were informed that the plane that was coming out of England with our replacement engine had also needed to be replaced with another plane, so our wait would be longer. Why we 'd not been informed before we boarded the plane I don't know. We were sitting on the tarmac long enough to see two full length films, be fed dinner(Remember what that was?) and to continue to wait for another hour or two, while hearing well-heeled newly weds threatening all kinds of mayhem to the airline and everyone else.

This article is about some of the airports I've been through and some of the experiences I've had, both good and bad in the years that I've traveled through five European countries, and twenty-nine states. It also covers my favorite airlines and why they are my favorite:

Milan's Malpensa Airport and Alitalia:

In 1999 we went to Italy to see our family. We flew out of Milan's Malpensa Airport. We were told to never fly on Alitalia since they were one of the worst airlines. However we ended up with them on our flight home. We arrived at Malpensa hours before our scheduled takeoff and went to our assigned gate.

We were told that it was the right gate. Later, our flight dropped off all monitors. But we were still in the right gate, they said. Then it occurred to me that I might not recognize my name spoken over the airport's PA system. We were then told that our flight had been scheduled to leave a half hour before and was up two slippery, steep, long marble flights of stairs. They held our plane for us. We arrived in Amsterdam, after our flight home was two hours out over the ocean. We flew out the next day.

9/11 Security Measures:

Due to 9/11 things changed for the airports and airlines. We decided to wait on flying back out until some of the dust had settled, although we did fly to California in 2002. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to observe how some of the airports were dealing with the new security measures in the next few flights we were to take.

I noticed in the random security checks there were some interesting patterns depending upon the airport. In Houston, Texas, I saw the agents choose only men with long hair to go through security. I watched this not just with our flight, but also with the other flights around us. In Minneapolis, Minnesota I saw them take out all people wearing business suits to go through security on all the flights around us, including ours and in Detroit, Michigan I was a part of a security check.

Detroit, Michigan:

I have very pale skin. But when I'm photographed the camera gets a false reading and adjusts its exposure for darker skin and my photos give me color I don't have. I knew that and thought of taking my passport, which has an accurate photo of me, for security. But I didn't take it. I used my driver's license which has an inaccurate, darker, photo of me.

When I got to the gate, the agent took one look at my license, before taking my ticket and pulled me and the only black woman, on the plane, out of line for security check. Then she, above my protests, put my ten year old son on the plane unattended. She wouldn't allow him to wait for me. He would have gone without me if I'd been
detained in security. I was furious and my 'Mother Bear' protectiveness showed up. The security agent apologized and got me through security as soon as he could.

I had two other negative incidents in the Detroit airport:

The first one was a few years later. I was coming back from Belgium and had to go through customs. I'd made the mistake of getting some sunflower seeds in the Amsterdam airport as a gift and declaring them to customs. I was assigned two agents. One of them took my carry-on and allowed me to show him the contraband and he
confiscated it with apologies. The other took my checked suitcase, never looked at me nor talked to me as he took every single thing out and spread it all over the entire counter. Then he dumped everything back into the suitcase in a huge disorganized pile and proceeded to literally squash it down into the suitcase with no regard for possible damage. I told him I'd finish it. He stomped off without ever looking at me. The other agent apologized to me. It took me a half hour to straighten out the mess. Then I ran to my flight, which I barely made it to.

The last negative experience in Detroit was in 2007. We'd gotten to the airport early. When, the time for our flight was near, we were told that it was going to be late. An hour passed, our flight arrived. We waited another half hour or so for the crew to show up, then we were told that our flight had been canceled since it had no crew.

We were sent to another gate where we had to wait another hour before we were told that we would be combined with a nonstop flight to Ft Lauderdale. Which would have to detour to let us off. We were further informed that the plane wasn't ready for us since the water and toilets didn't work. Within the next hour we were told that we'd be flying in that plane since it would take longer to get a replacement. We flew home with fellow passengers who were mad at us for taking their seats and causing them to stop in Tampa and of course no water or toilets for about 2 1/2 hours.

Schipol Airport in Amsterdam:

The Schipol Airport in Amsterdam is a major worldwide hub. The Dutch pride themselves in being tolerant of everyone. In fact they will tell you to your face and in their books that they are the most tolerant country in the world. I dispute this claim since, that only appears to be true if they agree with you. I say this because it has
happened to me:

The first incident occurred right after the US had gone into Afghanistan. I was in the airport trying to get information on my flight. But I was being treated like a piece of furniture. I was being ignored. Then one of our military personnel, in uniform, went to get flight information, instead he was screamed at with a lot of anger and venom. He stood there and patiently kept asking for his information until he got it. I finally got someone to help me, after that.

The second incident actually wasn't in the airport, but on a plane. A Dutchman wanted to talk to me, until I told him that we had more wilderness than Africa and that a lot of areas in our country were in good enough shape to support the larger wildlife, such as cougars, bears, moose and deer. (The Europe I've been in seems to have civilized themselves out of most of their wildlife.). He considered himself to be an expert on our country since he'd lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for a year without going anywhere else in our country. He immediately turned his back on me and discontinued the conversation.

I've been going in and out of the Amsterdam Airport since 1999, mainly going to Brussels. In those times, two years in a row, my flight was canceled. The first year, I waited for two hours for a replacement flight. The second year, I took the train, they had offered, for the one hour trip, they said, which took two hours.

On our first trip to Brussels, they misplaced my suitcase, but delivered it later the same day. A few years later, our flight had been late coming in from Brussels. We were stuck on the tarmac since the gates were backed up and there wasn't much time before our connecting flight was due to leave for home. While I sat in the plane, I saw them take my suitcases to the wrong plane, in one of their carts. My carry-on was also on the cart since it had been checked on the connecting flight.

I didn't have time to protest. I had to run, getting to my flight just before it took off. This incident gave me my one favorable experience in Detroit. When I arrived into customs. I found that my suitcases had not arrived. I was
upset and told them that I had nothing to declare because I had nothing. They treated me like I was a bomb about to explode and quickly escorted me through customs and made all kinds of promises, which they kept. My luggage was delivered the next day.

Brussels Airport:

The Brussels Airport is usually a pretty decent place to be, on the way to somewhere else or to wait for a flight. The people are usually helpful and treat the passengers well. However, I've had several incidents with them, some of them had to do the particular airline I had flown on and one had to do with the airport:

In two of the situations, I arrived at check-in, to find myself being angrily lectured by a ticket agent because my carry-on, yes carry-on, was overweight, as if I'd deliberately ignored their rules. I was not aware of the rules because they weren't posted on the US site. The third trip, I was informed by a friendlier agent that they have strict weight allowances for the carry-on, 27 pounds, because they don't want the plane to crash due to overweight. But that it was OK to stuff the extra weight into the checked luggage. I guess the checked luggage was being put in another plane or in a wagon to be attached to the rear of the plane. The name of this airline is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. I didn't have this problem with Delta or USAirways when they took me to Brussels. Neither of them weigh the carry-on, just as they don't in the US.

The third incident, one of my friends was taking me by train to the airport. But the direct route had been canceled, so we had to take the round-about train. By the time we got to the airport, we barely had time to get me through check-in and security to catch the plane, until I encountered security and their training day of a new recruit. Which meant they went through absolutely everything in my suitcase, and discussed it at great length. I had no choice but to be polite. As soon as they were through I raced to my gate and was the last one on board, just before they closed the doors. This isn't the only time this has happened. I've also had it happen in Amsterdam.

Heathrow:

I connected through Heathrow recently. They had difficulty finding my reservation, even though I was on a connecting flight and was already checked in. When I arrived in Brussels, my luggage was missing. It took five days to find it. Brussels Airport told me that my experiences with Heathrow were a common occurrence. On my way back home, at the end of my trip, a Belgian security agent asked me why I was in England and how long I was there. I said that my luggage spent five days in England while I didn't. He smiled and said that it was just a connection and I agreed.

I've saved the worst for last:

Meridian, Mississippi and Atlanta Airport:

I went to Meridian, Mississippi in 2007 to checkout an orphanage which we now support. I'd already gotten the tickets on Delta and their regional airline, the the only flight in and out this town. Then I read an update about the best and worst airlines and airports in the country. Both Atlanta and this regional airline were at the bottom
of the list. I just prayed that it wouldn't be too bad. At least I didn't lose my luggage.

However, ..we got on our very early flight coming home, and waited and waited and waited for takeoff. We were finally informed that the pilot was waiting for the mechanic to show up. No one could find him. By the time he was located we'd already had our original tickets replaced for later times which were also becoming unusable.

We left that airport after the time my original connecting flight was due to leave Atlanta. By the time we arrived in Atlanta, my new connecting flight was still in the gate, and the doors hadn't been shut. But the arriving gate agent refused to let me know where the gate was, or to notify my flight that I was on my way.

She told me, instead, that they had a replacement flight for me way at the other end of the airport. For any of you who have been in Atlanta, you know how large and stretched out this airport is. When I got there, I was informed that there was no flight in my name and furthermore that gate agent wasn't interested in helping me. I had to go find a help desk. The agent got me two standby tickets and a confirmed reservation. I went to the second standby since it was closest to the confirmed ticket, in case I didn't get the standby. The agent came and helped me get on that flight, though.

On another two trips I had problems with the signs:

On the first trip, I was running through the airport to my gate, following the signs. I followed one of the signs and ended up in the women's bathroom. I came back out and tried to follow the sign again. I ended up in the neighboring restaurant, getting later and later for my flight. Than a fellow passenger saw my difficulty and directed me up the stairs where the sign was hidden around a curve. The sign I was following pointed straight ahead, when the route actually curves around in a switchback up a set of stairs, where the hidden sign is pointing upstairs.

The second time, I was running through the basement from one gate to another, following the signs. Then, I came to a dead end where the signs had indicated an open route to the next set of gates. But no matter where I turned, it was still a dead end. I retraced my steps and went up the first stairs I came to. The next thing I knew, I was outside security and had to go through security. All of the security agents I talked to said that passengers wandered outside security all the time as if it were a natural thing like having blue skies in Florida. When I got through security, I found that I was on the far end from my gate with fifteen minutes to get on-board. I ran as fast as I could and got to the plane just before the doors were closed.

Now I will list the best airports that I've been in and the airlines I've flown and like:

The Minneapolis Airport in Minnesota tends to land planes on one side of the airport with the connecting flights one to two miles away, often with twenty minutes or less for the connection. However, they are one of the friendliest and most helpful airports that I've had the pleasure to be in. They're fun to shop in.

Other nice airports with helpful and friendly people are Phoenix, Milwaukee, Houston, Burbank, Memphis, San Jose and Newark. Phoenix, Houston and Memphis also have some wonderful shopping. Memphis and JFK have the nicest customs. Which is really surprising since the rest of JFK doesn't have very friendly or helpful people.

Tampa International:

I'm glad that our home airport is Tampa International. They already had tight security back in 1986 long before 9/11 and all of the required changes that were mandated. They already had many of the requirements in place, so they treated us better than a lot of the other airports going through the change because they were already there. Their random security checks truly were random and they treated us with dignity, no inappropriate touching or behavior toward the passengers.

They're very helpful and friendly. Their security personnel have always tried to make the security experience as painless and friendly as possible. But in the past few years, it seems that they've been taking some advice from Southwest Airlines and have been adding some humor to the security area and joking with the passengers, while still doing their job.

They have one of the best airport terminal layouts. They have the airlines allocated between blue and red codes and have the main terminal allocated to those color codes on each side of the same building. If you find yourself on the wrong side, all you need to do is drive to the end of the building and go around to the other side to the right airline or just walk right through the building to the other side.

The airline terminals are all arranged on hubs at the end of spokes that are connected by tram. There's not a lot of walking required to get from the main terminal or from terminal to terminal. The trams run constantly. The signs are easy to follow. If you follow the signs, you won't get lost. There're no trick signs, hidden or missing signs.

My favorite airlines are Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, USAirways and Southwest:

I just wish that Delta's main hub wasn't Atlanta. I limit my Delta flights to no more than two per year since I can only take so much of Atlanta in one year. Otherwise, Delta has always been a nice airline, with decent service and friendly and helpful people.

Hawaiian Airlines is one of the most on-time airlines in the country. They're also friendly and helpful both in the air and on the ground. They don't serve just Hawaii.

USAirways is both friendly in the air and on the ground. In some of the airports, they also add humor to their service. they're also the only airline that I've met who went all over the plane until they found a place for my carry-on instead of making me check it, since it was full of breakables.

Continental is the only airline that I know of that's still serving meals, in this economy, in the USA, although with a few more restrictions. Continental has always been a very nice and thoughtful airline. One time when we'd missed our flight because we'd overslept, they took responsibility for making sure that we flew out on the next available flight, even though it wasn't their responsibility to do so. Unfortunately, most of the places we go aren't their cheapest routes.

Southwest is famous for their humor and open and friendly treatment of passengers in the air. However, that also translates to the ground crew. Every-time I've found myself turned around in either Burbank or San Jose, California, they've always been quick and thorough in their directions, even to the competitor's airlines. I keep watching their added routes to see if they're going to add more in the directions that I fly. So they don't serve meals, neither do most of the other airlines. Their checked luggage is still free.

Sources:

http://www.sea-aeroportimilano.it/en/

http://www.schiphol.nl/

http://www.fly2houston.com/

http://www.mspairport.com/

http://www.metroairport.com/

http://www.brusselsairport.be/nl/

http://www.heathrowairport.com/

http://www.meridianairport.com/

http://www.atlanta-airport.com/

http://phoenix.gov/skyharborairport/index.html

http://www.mitchellairport.com/

http://www.burbankairport.com/

http://www.mscaa.com/

http://www.sjc.org/

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/newarkliberty.html

http://phoenix.gov/skyharborairport/index.html

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/kennedy.html

http://www.tampaairport.com/

http://www.continental.com/

http://www.southwest.com/

http://www.delta.com/

http://www2.usairways.com/

http://www.hawaiianair.com/

http://www.klm.com/