The World's Worst Airports

I just read a story about the world’s worst airports. Ahh, I thought. I subject so near to my heart.

So, from my own experience, here is my own list. Keep in mind, of course, that I can’t review airports I haven’t lunged through.

In ascending order, here are the top, er, worst airports.

5. Tokyo (Narita). Small for what it's asked to do. The actual boarding area is tiny. The Customs area has no signage, just sumo-like, stern officers waiting to rip your suitcase apart in a quite methodical, wordless way. You will invariably follow the crowd and find yourself in the wrong line. When my traveling companion disappeared, taken "somewhere" by Japanese officials as we were about to leave Narita for Hong Kong, I didn't panic. I knew she'd reappear at some point. She did.
4. Toronto. They're remodeling. Keep telling yourself that. So, when you get off one flight, you take a shuttle to the next satellite, you reclaim your luggage, clear security and Customs, re-check your luggage, find the right gate (which will inevitably be switched), and THEN you get onboard your flight. One hour, two hours: not enough time to make the switch.
3. Frankfurt and Munich. Is there a difference? Both too small for the immense traffic they serve. When you get off one European flight to get to another, you have to go through security and Customs all over again.
2. Amsterdam. A real nightmare when you come in from that delightful city. Total chaos. You can't see or find the check-in gate for your airline because everything is so confusing. Once you get past the godawfully slow security, however, you're in a nice little oasis for the rest of the waiting time.
1. Charles de Gaulle. One of the hellholes of aviation Europe. There are so many people you can't see the signs. They're forced to erect security stations that obviously have no integrity....so they have further security stations along your path. Insane.

Honorable mention:

6. Kansas City, Missouri. They've separated the airport into mini-cages. Once you go into one, clear all your hand-carried luggage and your person through security, there is no restroom. If you need one, you have to go through the whole thing again after you leave. Not enough officers for a system like that, and not enough x-ray parts. The lack of x-rays meant that officers had to hand-search luggage, time and again.
7. Bologna. There's no there there. Thank goodness there aren't a lot of flights landing, a fact that taxi drivers seem to heed since there are none there when you need them.
8. Venice. Italy, not California. Not a bad little airport, except there are no cafes in the lobby, no money exchange on weekends, and the big thing: most of the airport is surrounded by water. It is so far away from where you want to go that you'd better have a plan when you get off that plane after 10 hours of exhaustion.

I didn't list Rome, because a tour guide met me there both times. And I didn't list Heathrow, easily on everybody's worst list, and I suspect that is because I had a friend with me each time who knew her way. I was just charmed by the fact that I was in England.