Category Archives: Americas

Best International Airports for Layovers Critiqued

Our lovely friends over at Forbes have recently come up with their selection of the best international airport for layovers. It’s a great idea and something we have been discussing for a while here at LateDeparture. So, in true LD-style, let’s get that red pen out and add some notes to their recommendations:

London Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR)

Yes, London is exciting, however, the airport overall isn’t. Don’t get us wrong, we really like what they’ve done with Terminal 5 and the Virgin Clubhouse in Terminal 3 is simply fantastic, however, the average traveller would probably be quite underwhelmed by the airport overall. It still feels too crowded, outdated and confusing. Plus there’s always the chance of getting in or out late because of the airport is already at 99% capacity with its 2 runways. But then it is London, well known for being eccentric and a bit chaotic. So if that’s what you like, you’ll have a great time there!

Hong Kong International (IATA: HKG)

Yes, Hong Kong should definitely be on that list; we wrote about it numerous times, for example in one of our most famous headlines reading “When little airports grow up, they become Hong Kong International“. The airport has also won numerous awards and certainly has our seal of approval!

Munich International Airport (IATA: MUC)

Munich airport has two faces: a happy one and a rather confused if not angry one. Let us explain this further: Munich is one of the Lufthansa hubs and therefore receives special treatment by the German airline. The carrier occupies one terminal exclusively (together with its Star Alliance partners). This terminal, Terminal 2, is really nice and offers plenty of options for shopping or consuming one of those famous Oktoberfest beers. On the other side, Terminal 1 is dull and boring and doesn’t seem to fit next to its upmarket cousin. However, there’s a solution if you are not flying through Terminal 2: head outside and get into that middle section between the two terminals. There you find a few restaurants and other interesting stuff to spend your time with (read our more detailed review titled “Oktoberfest atmosphere at Munich Airport” to gain further insights).

Singapore Changi Airport (IATA: SIN)

Yes, yes, and yes! This airport ticks all the boxes and definitely belongs in this list. And no, we don’t get any money for writing this. But it is an open secret that this airport has been our long lasting favourite and we’ve covered it extensively (e.g. read our detailled review of Changi’s crown jewel, Terminal 3 here).

Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS)

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, what can we say? Maybe that we love you? There’s certainly no doubt that this is an exciting airport with plenty to see and do. In our opinion it’s probably the best European airport as it’s got the perfect size, it’s big but not too big. Plus similar to Changi airport, Amsterdam keeps introducing new and exciting things.  The latest one was the banner vending machine – we wrote about it. If you want to read more about the airport, a good start is our review here.

That’s where the Forbes list ends. Overall we believe it’s a good selection but might miss out on mentioning South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (IATA: ICN), an airport that has also regularly won awards, Zurich Airport (IATA: ZRH) which we also featured a number of times (e.g. here) or good old Los Angeles International (IATA: LAX) albeit not for the airport itself, but for it’s great location only minutes away from the beach and other superb layover options (read our extensive LAX reviews here, here and here).

[Photo from Flickr – Some rights reserved by Gerrit Wenz]

This week: Ice Age in Europe, Super Bowl congestion and Bieber’s apology

Wow, what a big week for LateDeparture this one was! On Monday we announced the winner story from our Airport News of the Year award voting process. As you probably heard by now, the story about Jack the Cat who was lost at the JFK airport won the title. Subsequently many of you commented on the sad fate of Jack and reinforced on your views about who was to blame. If the award did one thing, then it showed that some airlines still have a long way to go in regards to handling incidents like this one.

Continue reading This week: Ice Age in Europe, Super Bowl congestion and Bieber’s apology

Jack the Cat wins Airport News Story of the Year

That’s it; the results are in as my loyal readers have decided …drum roll….wait for it… it’s the “Lost Cat” story that wins the first ever LateDeparture Airport Story of the Year Award. The voting took place over three weeks and was open to all LateDeparture readers. And what a finish it was as counting in the vote went down to the wire, with Jack’s tale winning by just one vote over the story about a plane landing at the wrong airport. They both easily beat the final entry – a story about the rivalry between London’s two major airports – Gatwick and Heathrow.

The winning story of Jack the cat who got lost at JFK Airport in New York (IATA: JFK) was mentioned in three different weekly news articles. It had everything from an emotional plea to find the cat, an apologetic airline when it was found and a very sad ending when the cat had to be put down due to its condition.

You can read the full stories here:

It’s certainly been an amazing race to the finish and I would like to thank all loyal readers for their contribution and of course all the award sponsors for their amazing prizes. Speaking of prizes, the winner of the 1st prize, the two JetBlue return tickets is Abhishek Duggal from Honolulu – congratulations! All other winners have also been notified, so check your inbox to see if you are one of them!

2012 will surely be another interesting airport news year, so make sure you follow us right through it!

JetBlue, Changi Airport, OTG

This week: New York’s questionable fame, Yoga at SFO and more

Well, well, finger-point, finger-point… yes, okay we admit it, we’re about 24 hours late with our weekly news round-up. But hey, better late than never or isn’t that what they say? Whatever; let’s not get into excuses but rather focus on the task at hand.

Continue reading This week: New York’s questionable fame, Yoga at SFO and more

Flightstats announces 2011 Airport On-Time Performance Awards

FlightStats, the leader in flight information services announced the winners of the 2011 Airport On-Time Performance Awards (OPS). In its third edition, the award honours airlines and airports for their performance. As airports are (obviously) our thing, we want to focus on them. According to FlightStats, the winning airports are recognized for delivering the highest percentage of departure from the gates less than15 minutes after the published scheduled departure time. So without further ado, here are this year’s winners:

  • Winner – Departure performance among major international airports:
    Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
    Seattle, WA, USSEA achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 86.28%. The average on-time performance was 71.02%% for this category. This is the second year in a row SEA has won the award. “The investments we’ve made improving our facilities and operations continue to pay off,” say’s Mark Reis of Sea-Tac Airport. “Credit goes to the efficiencies built into the airfield, terminal and runway operations as well as the terrific work from the entire team of port employees and our operational partners.”
  • Winner – Departure performance among major North American airports:
    Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
    Salt Lake City, UT, USSLC achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 86.55%. The average on-time performance was 76.67% for this category. Portland International Airport (PDX) was a very close second in achieving an on-time performance of 86.38%.
  • Winner – Departure performance among major European airports:
    Oslo Airport (OSL)
    Gardermoen, NOOSL achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 87.17%. The average on-time performance was 73.42% for this category. This is the second year in a row OSL has won the award.
  • Winner – Departure performance among major Asian airports:
    Haneda Airport (HND)
    Tokyo, JPHND achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 95.05%. The average on-time performance was 55.03% for this category.
  • Winner – Departure performance among regional North American airports:
    Keahole Airport (KOA)
    Kona, HI, USKOA achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 92.57%. The average on-time performance was 80.90% for this category. This is the second year in a row KOA has won the award.
  • Winner – Departure performance among regional European airports:
    Bordeaux Airport (BOD)
    Bordeaux, FRBOD achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 90.13%. The average on-time performance was 78.66% for this category.
  • Winner – Departure performance among regional Asian airports:
    Itami Airport (ITM)
    Osaka, JPITM achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 95.60%. The average on-time performance was 69.74% for this category.

For the full results, head to the FlightStats Award announcement page.

This week: more winter, more expansion and more bites

This week we have three main stories for you plus a little bonus one to finish off. Two stories are again related to this time of the year and come from the same country versus the other two both focus on airport expansions in the wider sense. Before we lift the curtain though, we want to update you on our Airport News of the Year voting feature. We’ve received quite a few votes this week and so far the “lost cat” and the “wrong airport” stories are neck on neck, where as the “rivalry” story is lagging a bit behind. There’s one week left for you to vote, so make sure you have your say before the time runs out!

Continue reading This week: more winter, more expansion and more bites

Infographic: America’s most tech-friendly airports and airlines

MacBook Pro equipped travellers have long been known for their pickyness when flying from A to B. Not any airport or airline would do, they had to offer connectivity throughout the journey. These days travellers are no longer just the geeks from yesteryear as nearly everyone wants to connect their fancy gadgets through Wi-Fi in airports and on-board. Yet not all airports and planes are equally tech-friendly. If you are travelling through the US, you’re in luck as you can now check the below infographic to find the best way to fly with all your gear.

Extensive research from PC World on the busiest airports and other data from the New York Times flew into the graphic revealing which airports have fast upload and download speeds and which airlines give you the most tech amenities like mobile check-ins and Wi-Fi on-board. Plus there is much, much more as you will surely discover (click to expand):

What Are the Best Airports for Business Travelers?
Via: Online MBA News

This week: snow storms, pilot strikes, a cheetah and airport art

As another busy airport week is ending we have snow, strikes, brains, one exotic animal and new and exciting airport art for you. But first, the most exciting day in the history of airport news must have been Monday when we launched our reader campaign for you to vote for the Airport News of the Year. Make sure you check it out, we’ve secured some awesome prizes for a lucky few!

Continue reading This week: snow storms, pilot strikes, a cheetah and airport art

This week: a fire, a birthday and 247 snakes

Righty-o, here we go! It’s still a very young 2012 yet airport related news have already been pouring in left, right and center. And as so often, there was some good news (JFK), some bad (New Delhi) and some weird (Buenos Aires). Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

Continue reading This week: a fire, a birthday and 247 snakes

Last news of 2011: Christchurch again, French strikes & free Wi-Fi

Only seven more days remain in 2011 and it’s therefore time for us at LateDeparture to pack up and enjoy a little (well deserved?!) break. But of course, we won’t leave you before we put another, final round of airport news in front of you. Besides that, you should already get excited for coming back to LateDeparture in January as not only will we continue to review airports and bring you weekly airport related news, but also we will be presenting you with the very first Airport News of the Year Award in early January. The best of all this is, that you can vote for the news you liked best and as a result win some awesome prizes! So stay tuned and get ready for a big 2012!

Continue reading Last news of 2011: Christchurch again, French strikes & free Wi-Fi