Airport Tier List

1. What makes a good airport?

In my opinion, good airports:

• Don’t use buses
• Are easy to navigate
• Let you watch the planes take off and land from a nice little lounge or seating area.

See data on all my flights in the last 10+ years here!

2. S Tier Airports

These airports are a destination in and of themselves. These airports do great airport things, like:

• Walk or rail to gate, no buses
• Jet-bridges for all the planes, all the time
• Easy-to-read signage for efficient navigation
• Reasonably priced food & drinks

Singapore Changi

Incredible, five stars. Changi Airport has everything an air terminal lover could ever want:

• Airport-specific light rail
• Separate transport and mall buildings (Changi Jewel is a pretty sweet mall, too!)
• Dizzying array of 24-hour amenities
• Easy access to and from the city
• Very few delays or cancellations caused by the airport (Scoot is still a hot mess tho)

Tokyo Haneda

I actually don’t remember much about this airport other than it was great. I’ve only flown through it once on my way from KL to San Francisco, and I transited in the wee hours of my body time. I’m left with little more than an impression of incredible efficiency.

3. A Tier Airports

To be A tier is not bad! These airports are great to transit through and are unlikely to give you issues. They all have:

• Efficient transit to gates, which may include busses
• Clean facilities, if not the most modern

Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Terminal 1

Also known as KLIA 1 it is the main airport for Malaysia Airlines and the long-haul international flights. I flew through here a lot when I lived in KK, and I appreciate how quiet it tends to be. Unlike KLIA2, this terminal is less like a shopping mall, and more like a traditional airport. Unfortunately it does require a bus ride to get to their fancy international terminal, but once you are there it is nice.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International

My hometown! Home of the plane train, Delta airlines, and three different Chick-fil-a restaurants! There’s a vending machine in terminal E that sells weed gummies, too. It is often the busiest airport in the world, and while it ain’t fancy, it gets the job done. When my flights are delayed from ATL, it’s never been a huge issue.

San Francisco

Here’s a joke: What’s the best thing to do in San Francisco? Leave! Especially if you’re leaving via SFO airport. While not as big as others in the country, the international terminal in SFO is bite-sized, navigable, and clean. Just don’t expect to pay anything less than 15 USD for a salad.

Shanghai Pudong

Pudong airport is pretty great - well organized, easy to navigate, clean restrooms. The most memorable part for me, though, was this train! It is a proper maglev train and it goes fast. You’re proper zooming for 30 minutes when a car would take you an hour. But the fin kind stops when you get off the train and you’re just at a normal, well-run airport.

Seoul

I had a 6 hour layover here between 22:00 and 04:00 local time, and there were still arts and crafts available at the kids’ booth!

Salt Lake City

Another small and very navigable airport, with amazing views of the mountains; however the descent is harrowing because you have to come in low through a mountain pass.

Taiwan

Bubble tea! ‘Nuff said.

4. B Tier Airports

These are airports that are too small to be A tier or S tier, yet are still great in their own way. I particularly love small airports like KK or Charleston because you can go from the plane to your car in less than 10 minutes!

Kota Kinabalu

Did you know the whole airport is shaped like an airfoil? That kind of architectural determinism is admirable. And on clear days, you can see the Mountain from the arrivals lounge.

Charleston

This is the best small airport I’ve flown through in the US. It’s got everything you need in a tiny package:

• Planes ✅
• Cute K-9 “officers” ✅
• Chick-fil-a ✅
• Clean restrooms ✅

Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Terminal 2

Home of my favorite Ayam Penyet place! To get there:

From the KLIA Express

Go out and turn right, heading towards the wall with the single working public restroom. Put your right hand on the wall and walk forward until you find the food court. In the far back left, you’ll see a stall with the sign AYAM PENYET – go there and order the ayam penyet!

From arrivals

Go out and turn left, and go all the way down to the clinic and restrooms. Use the restrooms to wash your hands – it is a good habit, and those sinks are better than the ones in the food court. Then, with your left hand on the wall, walk forward and down the ramp. It’ll take you into the food court, turn left, and you should see the AYAM PENYET sign. Go towards the light and get your heavenly chicken.

Bangkok Don Muang

Oldest running airport in the world! They have efficient immigration because there are like 40 counters for you to wait at, and at least half of them are staffed at any given time!

Tokyo Narita

Narita airport has the best automatic massage chairs and I wish I took more pictures.

Hamburg

It’s okay. It’s the best European airport on my list but not by much.

5. C Tier Airports

Now we start getting into the airports that I don’t have kind things to say about.

Langkawi

Tiny little airport, no jet bridges, and more taxi/tour/scam spam than airport personnel.

Montreal

It’s got a franchise branch of US customs and border patrol. The agents there are unhappy that they can’t use their guns indiscriminately (it’s still Canada, after all), so they make up for it by being absolute narcissistic little bitches about every last thing.

Tauau

Another tiny airport that doesn’t impede you from starting your vacation, but doesn’t help start it off in the best way, either.

Shipol

Amsterdam’s “shit pool” airport is large shaped like a trident, and they always schedule your transfer flight as far away from your arrival gate as possible.

Memphis

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi

Suvarnabhumi airport is both bigger and newer than Bangkok’s other airport, Don Muang - it is so new, they are still building it 20 years after opening it! Okay it’s “renovations” not building, but that does little to assuage my impatience waiting 40 minutes in the immigration line because 16 of the 20 lanes are closed.

6. D Tier Airports

Qatar Hamad Airport

Not going any higher because the airport was built by slaves.

Toronto Pearson

Rats! And delays!

Chicago O’Hare

If you thought Amsterdam Shipol was a poorly designed maze, wait until you try to transit through O’Hare!

Paris Charles DeGaulle

I once saw a family of French people - mom, dad, son, and daughter - walk from the gate, to the tarmic stairs, to the bus, to the plane stairs, to the plane completely and utterly barefoot. I was aghast not only at the barefooted audacity of this family, but at the complicit silence of everyone (including myself) around them!