Comments on: Narita – My Favourite Airport?

By: Yuval Kogman

Yuval Kogman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:27:54 +0000

The worst I’ve had is Frankfurt, but this is a bit special. Because Germans are pretty uptight about stuff in general, and with the Munich thing at the olympics and then a few attempted and one successful kidnapping the flights to Israel are apeshit. These flights essentially have their own terminal. Once you go through security (while you are not shouted at, getting prodded like cattle with the metal scanners, having a mandatory pat down, etc is probably worse) you are also completely isolated. There is nothing but the gate, and you can’t get out without going through the security again. Oh, and in Munich they even have a little duty free shop for the little terminal.

What is especially odd is that the security flying from Israel feels almost lax. The people are relaxed and friendly (at least to Israelis), you are allowed to carry liquids etc. Speaking of which, the tube of moisturizer which I had taken on 3 flights already was confiscated today. Urgh.

By: karen

karen — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:01:57 +0000

I have also had the pleasure of listening to Heathrow’s screaming security staff when in transit. I was horrified by how they were treating people who couldn’t understand why they having bags taken off them (because they had been allowed to leave their home country with two pieces of hand luggage that would not fit into one bag).

The new immigration procedure in Japan does seem much more chaotic than the old one. I am very lucky as I fall into the smallest category of people entering the country – those with a re-entry permit – and I haven’t even had to queue at immigration recently.

Heathrow is always a bit of a culture shock for me now. The other airports I find hard to cope with are American. All my experiences at Houston have been horrific. Last year when I arrived for YAPC off a 13 and half hour flight I had to stand for longer than 2 hours at immigration. I was exhausted.

The last time I flew into Washington my onward flight to the UK was cancelled…

By: Tatsuhiko Miyagawa

Tatsuhiko Miyagawa — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:30:34 +0000

OH by the way my least favorite airport is IAD (Washington DC Dulles) with probably the same reason you hate Heathrow.

By: Geoff!

Geoff! — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:37:07 +0000

I think that Heathrow might just possibly, excluding sections of Paris, be the rudest place on Earth. When I returned from Japan last year, I landed and was immediately “greeted” by a screaming security woman, encouraging us at great volume to present only one bag.

After nearly three week’s politeness, it was more than I could take, and my first thought was to turn back to the plane and see if they would take me back!

By: Tatsuhiko Miyagawa

Tatsuhiko Miyagawa — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:25:44 +0000

I agree that Narita is very good when you leave Japan, but recently I find it somewhat clumsy when you arrive at Japan, especially if you’re an alien.

The security guards are actually shouting at you to keep the line for the immigration (in Japanese!) that requires fingerprinting and face photos against the horribly long line for foreigners.

That made me feel bad.

By: karen

karen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:03:51 +0000

It would be good if it didn’t take quite so long to get there

I’ve just gotten a bus from London Heathrow to Gatwick and I think Heathrow is probaby my least favourite airport.

By: Around the world in 80 airports : Understanding Nothing

Around the world in 80 airports : Understanding Nothing — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:18:42 +0000

[...] thinks that Narita might be her favourite airport. Personally, I hated it. I’ve had a few bad [...]

By: Leon Brocard

Leon Brocard — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:52:09 +0000

What makes such a big difference to me is that it is so quiet – no security guards shouting orders at you, only people thanking you politely for going through security etc.

By: Tatsuhiko Miyagawa

Tatsuhiko Miyagawa — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:19:57 +0000

If only Narita is a bit closer to the central Tokyo, not having to do 2 hour short trip to there