Shalom Broz Productions: April 2012

Here is the list. Thank god they didn't spot our Julius Nyerere International airport or may be they spotted it but it is beyond their categories!!!

10 worst terminals.

Chicago Midway Airport

Chicago's Midway airport ranked as the nation's worst for on-time departures in the most recent federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics data, earning it a spot on this list. It isn't a bad place to hang out, with a new food court and a frequent subway connection to downtown Chicago, but any airport is the worst airport if you're stuck there and you aren't getting on a plane.

Consider this the least-worst of our set of bad airports. Midway's curse may come more from Chicago's notoriously difficult weather than from any problem the airport itself can fix.

Newark Airport Terminal B

All three major New York City airports are on this list, in large part because they're run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a hideously mismanaged money sink that does a poor job of responding to air travelers' needs.

Newark got two stars -- the worst rating -- in JD Power's 2010 airport study. It's also the nation's worst airport for on-time arrivals in the most recent federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics data.

Fortunately you'll be stuck waiting at your point of origin, because Newark is an awfully dull airport to wait for a flight in. The airport idiotically puts security before individual piers in Terminals A and B, which means that rather than have a whole terminal's food and shopping to entertain you, you're stuck out on a single pier. It's pretty quiet out there.

LaGuardia Airport US Airways Terminal, New York City

I don't hate LaGuardia, but it was recently rated the worst major airport in America by both JD Power and Associates and Zagat Survey, so who am I to argue?

LaGuardia has no rail link to anywhere -- even between its own terminals -- and regularly suffers from congestion, overcrowding, and delays. While its terminals are shaping up, they're still each smaller and with fewer services than you'd expect from an airport at one of the top tourist destinations in the world.

I think that's where LaGuardia really falls short. Transplant the airport to a mid-sized city like Kansas City (with its associated traffic) and it wouldn't do so poorly. But faced with the traffic, demand, and tourist expectations of New York City, LaGuardia just doesn't measure up.

I'm giving the US Airways Terminal the worst-terminal award here because at least the central terminal has an atrium and the Delta terminal just got some new food options. The US Airways terminal is dull and sad.

"Paris" Beauvais Airport, France

A solid fifty miles north of Paris, this depressing low-cost box of an airport in Picardy got saddled with a bait-and-switch name by Ryanair, the ultimate bait-and-switch airline. It rated as one of the world's worst airports by Frommers.com friends SleepingInAirports.net because of its lack of seating, lack of services, and general half-tent, half-warehouse atmosphere.

It lacks a rail link to Paris and closes overnight, so hope that your flight doesn't get too delayed, or you may be camping out on the lawn.

For years, Ryanair liked to play this trick of stamping the names of famous cities on distant small-town airports with poor transit links that weren't designed for much tourist traffic: thus Beauvais and "Barcelona Reus," which is more than an hour and a half from Barcelona. Ick.

Amman Queen Alia Airport

One of the two airports rated "two stars" by global consulting firm Skytrax, Amman gets lousy ratings for services that might be useful if you're hanging around -- bathroom cleanliness, places to rest, childrens' play facilities, and service counters.

Reviews on the Skytrax website make it clear that you may just want to "hold it" in this airport: they're almost universally appalled at the state of the bathrooms. Those reviewers have probably never been to JFK Terminal 3, but still, that isn't good.

Paris -- Charles de Gaulle Airport, Terminal 3

CDG got the "worst airport" award two years running from SleepingInAirports.net, but this year site owner Donna McSherry decided to give it a break, in part because now "the homeless population was being segregated" to "the Third World inspired Terminal 3." Big takeaway here: If you're worrying about how to distribute your homeless population, you're one of the worst major airports.

De Gaulle is a huge airport where many people have to transfer, but it's an awful airport to change planes in; many flights require a change between CDG's various scattered terminal buildings, which are connected primarily by slow, confusing shuttle buses. Changing planes here is tiring, irritating, and sometimes a little terrifying.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi

Nairobi's airport, which aspires to be an international hub, was built to support about 2.5 million passengers and now averages about double that. As a result, the Kenyan government announced plans to expand the airport. That was in 2005. They aren't done yet.

I've been to JKIA, and it reinforces all of the stupid stereotypes about Africa that you wish weren't true. It's hot, ugly, dirty and confusing, full of touts and scam artists and perpetually overcrowded. African airports don't have to be like this, of course: the Marrakesh airport is one of the most beautiful in the world, and Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo airport is at least efficient.

The Kenyan government says construction on a new terminal will begin in January. Perhaps someday, the Nairobi airport improvement project will be finished. Until then, this Third World construction site remains a place for travelers to avoid.

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport Terminal B/C, Russia

One of the two airports rated "two stars" by global consulting firm Skytrax (nobody got one star), SVO B/C got particularly bad marks for anything where you have to interact with airport staff: their attitude, their language skills, and the speed with which they process passengers.

Reviewers suggest that you brush up on your Russian if you intend to transfer flights, because signboards and staff tend not to work in English. Apparently, you can fix up a Russian airport, but it's harder to fix up Russian customer service. (In capitalist Russia, customer services you!)

Depressingly, SVO Terminal B/C is partially a new terminal, but it still got one or two-star rankings from Skytrax on "leisure facilities," "baggage hall," and "meet and greet." It's also several miles away from the rest of the airport and from its rail station, making inter-terminal connections difficult. Air France cautions "Take official claims of short transfer times with a pinch of salt: delays of up to two hours have been reported."

Fortunately, there's a better alternative nearby: Domodedovo Airport, which generally gets better rankings and reviews.

Manila Airport Terminal 1, Philippines

Last May, the ceiling at Manila airport's Terminal 1 caved in, injuring two people. That's part of why Sleeping in Airports rated it the world's worst terminal last year.

"The terminal has been a frequent target of criticism with travellers and the business community complaining it is congested, run-down and filthy, with toilets that do not work," Agence France Presse commented. According to SleepingInAirports.net, bribery and theft are also rampant in the terminal.

The negative press attention seems to have had some effect; this November the Philippine government said it would renovate the terminal starting in January. It looks like changes can't come too soon.

JFK Airport Terminal 3, New York City

In 1960, Pan American Airlines built the Worldport: a grand, flying-saucer-shaped gateway to the Jet Age.

Fifty one years later, this decrepit, crumbling chunk of concrete is still used by Delta as an international hub. Terminal 3 is the worst single airport terminal in America, and probably in the Western world. Even Delta acknowledges this: they're tearing it down and replacing it with a giant glass structure connected to the nearby Terminal 4. It's unsalvageable.

Terminal 3 is known for endless immigration lines in a dank basement, for an utter lack of food and shopping options, three crowded and confusing entry points, hallways that could have been designed by M.C Escher and for vomiting international travelers out onto an underground sidewalk with no cabs available. There's also a sense that the cleaning crew gave up in despair a while ago.

JFK's terminals range from the awful to the mediocre, but Delta's hubs take the rotten, worm-infested cake. Right next to T3 there's Terminal 2, an ugly box with an undermanned security line where I really hope you're never caught hungry.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/slideshow/index.cfm?group=786&p=11#ixzz1siBKX2DD

******************************************************

10 most beautiful terminals.

Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal 3

This is the airport as amusement park. Singapore's three terminals are widely considered to be the most fun you can have in an airport, and each one has its attractions. Terminal 3 gets the nod, though, as it's the newest, with "an automatic light modulation system" to give the whole place a soothing, even, slightly unearthly glow.

Terminal 3 is home to Changi's butterfly garden, an 18-foot waterfall, a huge indoor playground, a movie theater, TV lounges and the "Slide@T3," a four-story spiral slide that's a lot more fun than taking the elevator. The other terminals join in the theme of combining indoor and outdoor spaces, with more gardens and even an outdoor swimming pool available to the public.

Jeddah Hajj Terminal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

One of the world's most radical airport terminals is one most Americans are unlikely to ever travel through. The Jeddah Hajj Terminal is unique: it's only active during the "hajj," a religiously mandated pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims. During that six-week period, it's one of the busiest airport terminals in the world.

The Hajj Terminal received the American Institute of Architects' 25-year award as a design that's stood the test of time: it's made of 210 open-air, white fiberglass tents which create a "chimney effect" that can cool the hot desert air by 50 degrees without expensive, hard-to-maintain air conditioning, according to a profile in theArchitectural Record. The tents can contain 80,000 people, with flexible spaces devoted to very unusual activities for an airport terminal, such as changing clothes and ritual foot-washing.

The terminal gets some knocks online for being, as one Skytrax reviewer says, "chaotic and basic." But no other airline terminal has its unique challenges: being literally the gateway to heaven for tens of thousands of people a day, many of whom are making this a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Leif Eriksson Air Terminal, Keflavik, Iceland

Iceland's cozy little international airport looks like it arrived in a flat pack from IKEA. It's all blond wood and volcanic-looking stone with big windows looking out on the dramatic Icelandic landscape. There's a lot more wood in this airport than you'll find in most terminals, and instead of being a design accent near the ceiling (as in Madrid), it's on the floor, making the terminal feel much more natural and less sterile than usual.

The best buildings capture a bit of the soul of a place, and the Keflavik terminal does that perfectly: it's cozy (maybe a little too cozy in some of the gate areas), made of local materials, relatively spare and utterly embedded in the landscape. As a greeting to Iceland, it's perfect.

Seoul Incheon Airport, Incheon, South Korea

Never mind how it looks from the outside: Seoul's airport regularly gets awards for how well-organized, efficient and relaxing it is on the inside. I've been there several times, and Seoul's secret is to make sure that you're never more than a few steps away from an entertaining, enlightening, or amusing bit of Korean culture.

Scattered throughout the terminal like Easter eggs, you'll find hands-on Korean craft workshops, a dress-up area where you can take photos in traditional clothing, the best free Internet cafes you've ever seen (and yes, that's absolutely a bit of Korean culture), a museum, and plenty of places to take a comfortable nap. Want to try a traditional Korean bathhouse? Head to the basement. Plants and flowers keep up the impression that you're in a showplace for Korea's melding of history, art and technology, and not just a mere airport terminal.

Wellington Airport "Rock" Terminal, Wellington, New Zealand

Many people have called this the world's ugliest airport terminal. But there's a reason the new international terminal in Wellington has won enough awards to fill a jumbo jet. Like the Keflavik terminal above, it's an intelligent response to New Zealand's identity and landscape and not just another swooping glass box evoking "flight."

Opened last year, the Rock is a pair of egg-shaped buildings covered in copper plating that's designed to turn blue-green in the sea air. Inside, curving corners and geometric panels play peekaboo: the terminal packs double the passenger capacity of the previous terminal into the same space without feeling crowded. A plain box wouldn't have been able to do that.

The Rock looks rugged, unique, and as its architect said, "theatrical" -- all parts of the Kiwi identity. It wouldn't be built anywhere else.

JFK Terminal 5, New York, NY

Airport terminals don't usually age well. JFK's Terminal 5 is the exception. One of the greatest icons of the mid-20th Century Jet Age, Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal has been intelligently swallowed by the grasping tendrils of JetBlue's modern new terminal, which has by far the best airport food court in New York. So you get the best of both worlds: an AirTrain ride up to the home of "Catch Me If You Can" glamour followed by a smooth walk through a spacious, modern terminal.

There's still one missing piece, of course: you can't actually walk into the Saarinen terminal's main hall, as the epically incompetent New York Port Authority has dragged its feet for years on finding a tenant for the space. According to Curbed.com, the authority has been trying to interest boutique hoteliers (the lack of a good airport hotel is another one of JFK's many flaws), but the idea isn't even at the planning stage yet.

Marrakech Menara Airport Terminal 1, Marrakech, Morocco

This one is another great example of culturally aware terminal design. The new Terminal 1 at Marrakech's airport looks like a Moroccan palace twenty-first-century style, with classic Islamic geometric and nature motifs inscribed into a giant network of concrete diamonds. You could make a strong argument that the whole thing is one giant artwork.

At night, colored lights dance along the front face of the building, illuminating the desert plantings along the arrivals roadway. A lounge inside evokes 19th-century Moroccan luxury, with rugs, chandeliers, and a wrought-metal dome.

Madrid Barajas Terminal 4

Designed by "starchitect" Richard Rogers, Madrid's huge Terminal 4 tries to break free of typical box-style construction by using a roof line of undulating ribs, which helped it win the 2006 Stirling Prize for architecture.

Terminal 4 comes with a strike against it: it's so long (especially when you include the integrated, but next-door Terminal 4S) that it can feel like it takes forever to get from gate to gate. But this is an unusually intelligently designed terminal: clear, color-coded signs group together directions for gates, and multi-level walkways reduce traffic on each individual level. Even when the terminal is full (and I've changed planes at peak times here), it never feels oppressively crowded, and you never get frustratingly lost or stuck waiting for buses the way you can in the design-before-function Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris.

Carrasco International Airport, Montevideo, Uruguay

Yes, someone's still building airports that evoke sweeping 1960s-era glamour. That someone is Rafael Viñoly, and his airport is in the quiet, pleasant and well-off South American country of Uruguay. Montevideo's airport terminal is a smooth dome, looking from the front a bit like a whale's mouth; inside, lines are smooth, clean and calm, with grand terraces overlooking the runways and arrival areas.

This isn't a busy airport, but it's designed as if it was one: the terminal is designed to handle 4.5 million passengers a year, according to one of the companies which built it but its traffic has been stable for years at a bit over a million. That means fewer crowds, and more appreciation of the elegant lines here as you glide through the terminal.

Bilbao Airport Main Terminal

I could have picked several terminals designed by big-name architects for this final slot, including Beijing's new Terminal 3, Kansai and Lyon. So why Bilbao? I have a soft spot for architect Santiago Calatrava and his obsession with cable bridges, ships' sails and birds' wings; his designs often look like they're the skeletons of some ancient whale or the prow of a spaceship about to head to Alpha Centauri. Those references, it turns out, are as perfect for an airport terminal.

Bilbao's terminal is known as "the dove," and it has Calatrava's signatures: sharply-canted curves and lots of light streaming through, and bisected by, ribs which resemble cables. A grand viewing gallery lets the families of arriving passengers see their loved ones as they pick up their bags.