What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?
I’m not a big traveler, let alone an airplane traveler, but I have had enough experience to know which are my favorite and least favorite airports to fly into or out of.
BEST: Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
I always describe this airport to people as “cute.” It’s not a big airport. In fact, you get there and the parking lot isn’t any bigger than one you would find at a shopping mall. I’ve parked at the back of long-term parking and actually walked across the lot into the airport with relatives. They do provide shuttles, but they’re really not necessary.
The big draw about Myrtle Beach is the fact that they have tons of golf courses. In fact, a lot of the flights in and out of Myrtle Beach have essentially become day trips or weekend trips for golfers. They come into town, golf, maybe stay a night, golf some more, and fly home. I recall going through security on a few occasions and hearing the TSA officers strike up conversations with some of the travelers. These weren’t just standard friendly customer service remarks where they look at your ticket and read your name; these officers actually knew some of the travelers who frequently came into town to hit the links.
On my first few trips back to South Carolina after my divorce, I would often fly into Myrtle Beach to pick up Kid 1. I didn’t want to go into Charleston for a long time. It just felt like I had too many ghosts in the Lowcountry.
WORST: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) Atlanta, Georgia
I know, this is easily the busiest airport in the United States, if not the entire world today. But traveling in and out of there is a pain. It’s simply too large. I know Delta has its main hub out of Atlanta, which I’m sure causes a lot of the congestion.
Years ago, I remember the old man telling me about the smoking rooms they used to have at this particular airport. I don’t know if they have them anymore, because smoking is held in such low regard now, but the old man was a smoker and he would go into the smoking rooms to partake. He said there was so much smoke in the room when he walked in that he probably never even needed to bother lighting a cigarette—he could’ve just gotten his nicotine fix off the secondhand smoke in the air.
Personally, I’m not a smoker, so the situation in the smoking rooms didn’t affect me either way. However, that scale and chaos came back to bite us on a trip when X1, Kid 1, and I were heading up to Michigan. Kid 1 was a baby at the time, and we were dealing with carry-ons and a stroller. We flew from Charleston to Atlanta to catch a connecting flight to Detroit, and with very little time on the clock, we had to haul ass to the Plane Train to get from one side of the terminal to the other. We made it by the skin of our teeth, missing our boarding group call and having to hustle on board with “all remaining passengers.”
Combine that kind of high-stress layout with massive crowds and endless concourses, and it’s simply too much chaos for a casual traveler.
In your travel experiences, what are the best and worst airports you’ve ever been in? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
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The article “Airport Dynamics: Why Myrtle Beach Wins and Atlanta Loses” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob
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