Our local airport is PHL, with has improved a lot in recent years, but it does involve some long walks. We were in California last week and did a short flight from the Hollywood-Burbank airport, which was a real pleasure in comparison to LAX!

My little one is Islip which didn’t make the cut. I got lucky and commuted to Chicago from there before they cut that route. Long term parking to the gate was a short walk, unless it was bad weather I wouldn't wait for the shuttle. After that I commuted to Providence for a long time rather than Boston. For some reason I did switch to Logan, but that was years ago and I don’t recall why.

JFK came in as the 5th longest, but I like flying out of there because public transportation is so convenient. Half hour train right from my neighborhood, then transer to a ”people mover” to all the terminals. Done.

PHL is our closest airport too and we've seldom had any issues. DH isn't as mobile as he used to be so the next time we fly he'll need assistance getting to the gate.

But we also have the ability to drive or take the train to the Newark, NJ airport which has a lot more destination options. DS and DDIL were able to fly non-stop to Hawaii last year from Newark. It's a really long flight but it gave them extra time once they landed.

Ontario Intl Airport in Ontario, CA is always a breeze for us. It’s been a good 25 years since we’ve been to the nightmarish LAX. I refuse to deal with it.

We are 8 minutes from LAX, and so it is always easy for us to get there and back, and we can go almost everywhere we want non-stop. The only recent exception was when we went to Brazil, and then we had to change planes in either Panama City or Miami. Unfortunately, we chose Miami because we were traveling with a friend from San Francisco, and there were no direct flights between SF and Panama City for his flight back.

Our longest nonstop flight was to Rome, and second longest was to Fiji.

Last time I checked, LAX was the busiest airport in the country, if you do not count people who are only changing planes, like we did in Miami. However, LAX is still a major hub for the Pacific and East Asia.

When we move, we will be 12 minutes from the PSP, Palm Springs International Airport, which is very small, and so when we go to Europe, we will have to change planes somewhere like Dallas, San Francisco, or Chicago. If we go to Greece, we would probably change planes in Chicago, but if we go back to Rome, we could change planes (once) in San Francisco or Dallas.

The absolute worst place to change planes that I've been was Miami, but I've never gone through Chicago. I would not want to change planes in London or Paris either.

Distance to the gate can be variable even within one airport. United's terminal at SF airport is like that - a few gates are in the building you enter from the street just behind the security area along a line parallel to the road. Others are more typically located along or at the end of a perpendicular corridor. On arrival at those close ones, you walk out the jetway then walk 100 yards or less to the escalator that goes directly down to baggage claim. I had an almost similar experience once, shockingly, at Atlanta airport.

I've dropped people off at Monterey Airport a few times. The size suggests a time machine trip to the 1960s. If there were nothing in the way, you could easily throw a baseball from the front door to rear wall where the boarding "gates" are, of which there are two on ground level going out to the tarmac. The walks can be pretty short at San Diego airport too.

The thing about small airports in small towns is that they may be convenient to physically access but the convenience stops there because of limited flights and limited destinations available.

Maybe I've been lucky but I've changed planes many dozens of times each at major hubs - Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta in the US, London, Frankfurt and (to a much lesser extent) Paris in Europe, and I've never had a problem or luggage lost.

I love the airport near us. Edmonton International, Canada

We do an annual trip to the Yucatan. It is non-stop 5.5 hours.

We’ve never had luggage lost. Once when flying back from Edinburgh, we were detoured to Heathrow and for some reason our luggage stayed in Scotland. The luggage was delivered to our home by the airline about 8 hours after we arrived home. Actually, it was early morning and we were still sleeping.

In 2017 we flew to Dublin but made a stop in Halifax, NS. We could have chosen a direct flight but it didn’t work for our schedule.

Kathy, I hope you and your daughter have a wonderful time. Safe travels!

Washington National Airport is our closest, but I have never flown out from it. We usually have to go to Dulles International. I have had no problems with it at all. I have picked up friends from National and everything there was easy, too. Sorry you have to go through Chicago. Atlanta is another one I try to avoid.

I have a choice of 3 small airports (wonderful convenience) to fly out of but it comes with the price of considerably more expensive flights and having to make connections in either O'Hare or MSP. My last flight routed thru MSP with the arrival gate at one end of the concourse and the departure gate at the other end. Never again. As long as I have a reasonable choice, I'll take O'Hare.

Lars, you reminded me that we are also changing planes at Heathrow. I'd forgotten about that. Not looking forward to that either.

I didn't mind LAX, last time I flew in and out of it. I barely remember it, in fact. It was on a trip from here to Japan, stopped off on the way to spend a couple days at Disneyland before heading on to Japan.

Im another who uses PHL and it always been fine, nothing fancy. Of course drop off and pick up is a PITA . The cell phone lot helps for pickups. I dislike airports where you have to ride a shuttle from one gate to another.

Boston, Logan and TF Green in Providence are equidistant for us and are both about a 2 hour drive. We use both airports, depending on our destination. I prefer to fly out of Providence when I have a choice - less traffic and an easier, smaller airport.

I’m lucky to have a regional airport nearby, SNA John Wayne Orange County, that has gates right outside of security for departures and arrivals on American. It’s a longer walk for other airlines.

The gates at most large airports can be close to or far from security and it seems to be the luck of the draw which you get, although it seems like the larger the plane, the further the gate usually is from security.

I've never had a problem with my luggage being lost when I've had to change planes, but there have been instances in which there was barely enough time to go from one gate to the next, in order to catch the next plane. I noticed this problem in Phoenix.

Gates at DFW can be extremely far apart, and I had to take a train to get from one terminal to the next in order to catch a connecting flight. I've heard that this can be a problem at Heathrow, which is one reason I avoid that airport. When Paris was an option, the time allowed to get from one gate to the next was uncomfortably short, and so I avoided Paris as well. Flying is unpleasant enough as it is without the additional stress of making tight connections. Additionally, UK and France are not on my list of places to visit, which at this point has to be relatively short. I was planning to visit Greece before the pandemic hit. I made a bucket list some time around 2015, but I lost it.

Forgot to mention I've never had my luggage go missing either. I have had it damaged tho.

Does everyone tag their luggage with their name/ address? Does that make any difference?

Beware Kath. SIL and BIL were stuck in Dallas for two days this month as all flights into Lexington were grounded and or full due to weather and spring break. Sometimes small gets you hanging in unwanted places with not clean underwear!!!

When I first moved to Nashville, the airport was small, but accommodating. And it had a rose garden. The 101st Airborne restaurant was across the road from it, and you could dine while watching planes arrive and leave. It was lovely. Now, it's a construction nightmare. When I thought it couldn't get worse, they shutdown an exit to it permanently a week and half ago?! I have no idea why that should help anything.

Our small airport is not bad either except for being able to fly to major cities, The airport has greatly improved over the years though with better parking, bag claim, and several more airlines coming in with limited services. We can fly direct to Denver, DC, Orlando, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Chicago and of course Atlanta and DFW. I think LA is being added soon.

There used to be a saying around here that you had to go to Atlanta (airport) even to get to hexx.

I never minded flying thru Atlanta and in fact prefer it usually, especially over Chicago and DFW which i especially can’t stand. Atlanta has one of the easiest international arrivals terminals and reentry transfers imo. In Chicago you must go back through long security lines once you rejoin the general population in the main terminal. I had a hard time finding the TSA pre-check line. The other plus is that i always know I could drive home from Atlanta if need be, and once a group of us from work did when weather delayed everything one night.

TF Green in Providence is about 35 . minutes away and a grea little airport with easy parking. Boston airport is about an hour but I avoid it ifi at all possiblr. Just too much traffic.

Arcy, have only had one major delay when flying due to weather. That was in Northern Spain. They had fog roll in so they put us on buses and sent us about an hour south. We were on the bus when our exchange student, who we were visiting, messaged me to ask why they bused us when the fog was already gone. We were flown to Madrid and the airline put us up in a hotel where the staff stayed late to serve us dinner. Our connecting flight back to the states was delayed until the next morning. This is the same flight that lost my luggage on the trip back to Chicago.

A year or so ago, one of my old friends and her husband took her first international flight to Germany. They were stuck in an airport for like a day and a half. I felt so bad for her. They had major delays going home too. It may have been during strikes in Germany but can't remember exactly, but what horrible luck.

When my daughter and I went to the U.K. two years ago to visit my son, we were planning to take a train from London to Edinburgh. Of course, right when we were heading there, there was a train strike and we had to take my son's car instead. We were also going to fly from Edinburgh to Dublin on a small carrier but since we now had his car we just took a ship over with his car. So, wouldn't be the first time we had to change plans at the last minute if something did happen. It wouldn't be fun since the trip as it is will be long and any delays will make it miserable. The time in the country is also very short, just 6 days not counting fly days.

Carolb, I always have a tag on my luggage and paper inside with all my information and phone number, just in case.

FWIW, cousins who just visited from WI last month missed their luggage when their plane was diverted to Orlando, rather than TPA, and they had to rent a car and drive here (Tampa Bay area). The airline gave them a voucher to buy clothing and necessities, and someone drove their bags here from Orlando in the middle of the night a day or so later. I don't recall the airline, tho.

“I always have a tag on my luggage and paper inside with all my information and phone number, just in case.”

Definitely.

Fran reminded me of my least favorite airport-Boston. Ugh. I didn't know they had flights for the redheaded step children in an obscure place that required a bus/shuttle to get to, so I was in the wrong place for a little while trying to return home from DC. Weird airport.

And I don't mean like Orlando's shuttle. That one, makes sense.

I can't speak to what regulars encounter at Logan airport but I had a memorable, never before and never again experience in Boston.

I'd been on a week-long business trip to Boston. My return flight left in the late afternoon, maybe like 5:30pm. At lunch, I asked my colleague how long to expect a taxi ride to the airport would take, and when I should leave for the airport. He said that traffic started getting bad mid-afternoon (there may have been a tunnel involved, I was downtown) and he suggested the best way to go was by boat. He said there was a ferry dock just a few blocks from where we were working. No one needs to make a suggestion like that more than once to me.

It was a glorious day for a boat ride, sunny and not too hot. A short hop across the channel took me to the ferry terminal on the airport side where buses were waiting for the short ride to the airport entrance. Fantastic!

Elmer - in the warm weather months we can take a seasonal high-speed ferry from Provincetown to Boston and then take the water taxi to the airport. It's a rare pleasure.

I don't think SeaTac is too bad some of the time, but some of the gates are a LONG way away from the main terminal. The worst part for me is getting TO SeaTac. What should be a 1hr trip could be that or 4 hours. I almost always get a hotel to spend the night and catch their shuttle.

Two of my favorite airports to fly into (tho it's been many years since I did either) was Long Beach CA and Santa Barbara, CA. Tiny - and I loved disembarking on the tarmac! I remember my first flight into SB, there was one woman working the everything in the terminal...she went from one position to do something, then like a SNL skit, went to another station to do that job. I loved the outdoor facilities, too, instead of indoor areas (I think baggage claim was a covered area outdoors).

My weirdest airport experience was flying into Raleigh NC after a blizzard delay in Minneapolis.What an ordeal that was, but everyone working there was lovely. All flights were cancelled but ours. Airport all but shut down. But they kept saying they were going to get us out! It was a de-icing nightmare and they finally found a crew that had only 40 min before they timed out and couldn't fly! I was very apprehensive about flying out in the snowstorm, but decided the crew wouldn't be going if they didn't think we'd all be safe.

We got to Raleigh and the airport was closed! I mean, nothing was open. There was one woman working baggage claim (mine didn't arrive), but no taxis, nothing. 3 a.m. I think. Finally, one taxi driver showed up because he'd heard a flight had arrived and asked if anyone needed a ride. I did, because my friend who was to meet me had put her child to bed after the long wait and I didn't want her to have to drag him out in the middle of the night. I loved that man!

Remember when flying was kinda fun? Not an ordeal?

I'm so old that I remember when people would drive out to what is now ORD to park by the fence and watch the planes land and take off. Once my DM was driving home from a late RE deal and wandered onto the tarmac. We used little Midway in Chicago, where you'd be dropped off in front of the building and walk a few yards straight through it to your gate.

I miss the age of walking across the tarmac, and using the portable stairs to board the plane, chisue

DFW is my hardest airport. I pay extra so I don't have to have a layover there. We have both George Bush and Hobby airports here. I take LYFT to and from the airport so I don't have to worry about construction, parking or remembering where I kept my car. I don't think it's much more expensive than paying for parking.

I try to fly with only carry on luggage. Even carry on bags gets checked for some flights. Black seems to be the most common suitcase color so I bought very colorful luggage tags. It saved me on a flight last fall because everyone else had nondescript bags. I bought my college kid a red bag with colorful luggage tags.

“I don't think SeaTac is too bad some of the time…”

Olychick, we’re pretty familiar with SeaTac having family in Seattle for years (actually, now Whidbey Island). We took the Whidbey shuttle from and to the airport the last time which was truly great. However, the security line at SeaTac was horrific. I’d never seen it that long there before. We were in line almost an hour. We would have missed the flight had the shuttle not gotten us there so early. Hopefully that won‘t always be the case. When we left for Seattle from home there were 3 people in our security line here at the Ontario airport.

I too do not check bags, and I tie a gigantic purple ribbon around my luggage.

Your kindred travel buddy Adella,

Rob

I bought some wide colorful, printed duct tape and wrapped one stripe around my black luggage. So easy to spot. It's stayed on for years.

I often ask the same question as chisue - I DO remember when flying was fun! It's become mostly just stressful since 2001.

I also remember when we used to go hang out at the Tampa airport for fun - just to wander around and goof off.

I'm continually seeing news about 'disruptive' - actually violent - passengers - a couple of flights had to be diverted recently and people were arrested. There are videos galore showing people losing their minds on planes and at airports.

"There are videos galore showing people losing their minds on planes and at airports." And just about everywhere else you can think of!

Carol i also remember taking our sons to watch the planes take off and land. PHL had an outdoor observation deck. This was probably in the ’70s. I still miss being able to see people off and meet them at the gate.

I suspect people who think flying is fun, haven't or don't fly much.

And when the kids got plastic airline wings when they flew, and gum so their ears didn't pop.

I hate flying. I also get motion sickness so have to take Dramamine before getting on the plane. Before taking my very first flight when I was around 17, I had a horrendous nightmare about it crashing and smashing and the plane just cartwheeling on the ground. It was one of those lucid dreams that you can go back and fix it and I did, but still. Not too many years later there was a plane that cartwheeled on the runway. I don't remember which airport it was or airline. It took everything I had to get back on a plane again after seeing that.

Just googled it, it was Souix City, Iowa in 1989, so almost ten years after my nightmare.

Kath, I never get air sickness but flying does put me in near panic mode. I spend most of the time checking flight attendants’ faces with every bump and sound.

“"There are videos galore showing people losing their minds on planes and at airports." And just about everywhere else you can think of!”

A very small percentage of total travelers. There are thousands of flights a day with no disruptions.

I used to have a bit of flying anxiety, and then I read Cockpit Confidential by Patrick Smith, a pilot. That book, plus many uneventful flights, has made me a happy traveler.

Bookwoman, I like to watch Mentour Pilot on Youtube. Makes me feel alot better about flying, except when he talks about accidents, that is.

No fear here, despite being sick on my first flight at age eight. (Turned out to be flu.) When I was barely a teen, 'connections' got me on the Goodyear blimp, flying out over the Atlantic from Miami. I love to look out of an airplane window.

It's certainly more 'casual' today. How did I survive wearing pantyhose, girdle, pumps, etc. on those early flights? I even had a *hatbox* with me on our honeymoon.

I love flying! So much faster. Controlled environment. Less chance for accidents. Just fun!!! I'd rather get there and have fun where I'm going rather than sitting in a car, stuck in traffic or stuck having to push the pedal. Every inch of me hurts after I drive anywhere of any distance. I can drive between 4 and 8 hours, but that's about it. There's not that much between 4 and 8 hours from here. East of here is pretty nice. All the way to the panhandle is nice. I don't tend to head 4 to 8 hours west too often. That's a desolate, flat drive. Ick. Love Chicago! Love St Louis! Hate the drive.

"I miss the age of walking across the tarmac, and using the portable stairs to board the plane". That's still the case at our nearest airport. (40 minutes away). And very chilly it can be too on top of a hill a few miles from the Atlantic. But I do like breathing that fresh, damp air after sitting on a stuffy plane. There are direct flights to many European destinations and to the USA in summer. Luckily there's one twice a day to Rome for visiting the in-laws (2 hours).

I think last time I was @ the Raleigh, NC airport, we used stairs on the tarmac.

At the Burbank airport there was a ramp from the tarmac, rather than stairs, which made it easy to wheel your suitcase up.