O'Hare is one of the top 20 largest airports (by sq ft) in the world. Miami Airport is extremely small when compared to O'Hare. Also if you fly with United O'Hare is the headquarters for United. Since this is the case its gigantic when compared to other airlines.
I'm an American living abroad, and I really hate to say this but American airports are TERRIBLE to go through. Security personnel are ALL INSANE and on some kind of power trip and are desperate to over check everyone, not just people who could be concerning. They are really over the top. Any bad experience I have ever had has been in an American airport, every time. I avoid flying home and stay away a lot because of it.
Anywhere and every time I fly on American airlines. Maybe it's just me. If I had to say 1 airport. Fort Lauderdale customs lines can be 2 hours and are always backed up. When the pilot says we got here early blah blah you need to sit on the plane another half hour, that's the customs line. All 3 of them backed up. 30 years and 100 times later and it's never changed.
My worst experience was in Dallas/Fort Worth, where I had a connecting flight to Charlotte, NC. The plane landed on time and I had two hours to get to my connecting flight. Most of those two hours were spent getting through immigration (about 6 or 700 people waiting in line and only three booths open). Then I had to get my bagage, go through customs and re-check bagage. My connecting flight was leaving 7.30 pm and when I got the gate it was 7.45 and thus too late. Next flight to Charlotte was fully booked, so I had to wait until 5.30 am next morning, spending the night on a hard chair. Lesson learned? When flying from Europe never have a stop over in the US if you can avoid it, as you have to go through immigration. Or if you can't avoid it, make sure that lay over time is at least 3.5 hours.
One of the best things about living in Metro Detroit is not having to fly through O'Hare because of DTW. The one time I had to fly through O'Hare, it made me appreciate DTW more😂😊.
I live near O'Hare, so thankfully I never have to change terminals (or worse, airports!). There's no great way to get between terminals, and each terminal has about 2 miles of gates!
Great rant! I suppose anyone that travels by air has a story to tell. I never connect thru O’Hare, JFK, Newark, Paris or Lisbon. Others, I’m sure, can add to my short list. Cheers. 👋🏻
Returning from Euope to LAX. Seemed like a couple of international flights arrived at about the same time. Took forever to get through Customs because they had only 2 lanes open. When I got my slip, I looked back at all those waiting and said, "Dobby has received the gift of a slip. Dobby is free!" 2022 Vancouver, the security person got all p*ssy because I did not take my CPAP machine out of my carry on. I said I did not see any sign warning me of that, and Ms. Security got a real attitude. Meh. Took and extra 3 minutes out of my day and I had time to spare. Another dude was having a similar problem with Ms. Grumpy-pants.
My worst experience was Tucson to London. Connecting flight to Dallas got delayed 2 hours and then cancelled due to broken plane. Rebooked onto new flights that connected at Phoenix. Got on plane, flew toward phoenix but circled for an hour before returning to Tucson due to Storms. Waited in ground 3 hours for storm to clear and then flew back to PHX. Got yet more flights this time stopping at New York. Got to the gate and that plane broke too, so waited 2 hours for replacement plane. Eventually we take off and make it most of the way, but the engine breaks and so emergency diversion to Pittsburgh. Fire crews surround plane etc. Then we park up, and I'm told its 15 hour wait until next flight to London. At this point i haven't slept in 24 hours and I barely sleep during the 15 hours as it was so uncomfortable. 15 hours later the flight to London happens without incident
Same! Worst experience I've ever had at an airport was CDG! We were flying to LAX with a layover in Calgary, Canada and they wouldn't let us check in without filling out electronic forms to enter Canada. Those forms aren't necessary if you're not leaving the airport. I showed them the airline procedure AND the Canadian govt procedure and they insisted. We were unable to fill out the forms because the airport wifi is so poor. After nearly 2 hours of begging and pleading my case, she let us board, with a snarky "fine ma'am but if you get hit with a $6 fee for not having this form, that's on you!!!" When we transited through Canada all we needed was our passport and boarding pass. I'm avoiding CDG in the future for sure.
Well CDG made me miss a connection due to airport layout, but then I got couple hundred euro compensation and a flight 6 hours later, so all in all I felt ok about it.
Not sure why CDG gets so much hate. They have lay down couches available for free, which is so nice when traveling late night / early morning. Also, the lights are dimmed in this area, so travelers can take a nap. I also really liked the prayer area. There were three prayer rooms, one Christian, one Jewish, one Muslim. The Muslim room was filled up, I was the only one praying in the Jewish room, and the Christian room was empty. Anyway , I have only had good experiences while transiting through CDG.
I did go through customs in IAD and it was great…i don‘t smoke and did not buy whiskey in Munich so I had nothing to declare…the customs guy looked at me funny and asked again about booze. My wife said ‚we drank it all over there‘. He closed the passports and smiled.
Heathrow was the worst for me and my mom. Our flight came really late and we had a connecting flight going home so we waited awhile at customs and even though we showed her our Canadian passport, she still wanted to see our Libyan passport (this is when I assumed she was a racist), then she detained us for 2-3 hours (even though we didn't do anything which confirmed my suspicions). By the time she let us leave, our flight had left and we needed to stay at a hotel overnight.
@@mpoiya no like we gave her our Canadian passport but because my mom is wearing a hijab and she asked us where we were coming from, she still asked for our other passport.
Mine was missing a connecting flight in Dallas Ft Worth cause the flight from Portland left late when the pilot was running behind. Got rebooked on a different carrier or else waited an extra 2 hours for a direct on original carrier. Got denied on the new flight cause my info was transferred wrong long story short. Worth waiting 2 more hours as the second new flight had no problems. This was near the 4th of July weekend 2021. On the way home an engine failure on one flight arriving to Albany 145am instead of 1130am.
My worst airport experience was in 2021, landed at GRU (Brasil) and stood in line for almost 3.5 hours going through immigration! There were 3/4 International flights arriving at around the same time and only 4 or 5 immigration officers - ridiculous. 2nd worst was YTO (Canada) when after all the luggage had been collected it dawned on me that mine was still on the plane which was going on to London. The upside was the airline (Canadian Airlines, now defunct unfortunately) was very helpful and managed to locate my things just in time.
My least favorite airport is Atlanta, I will go out of my way now to avoid it. But my worst time was in Nassau, Bahamas where I flew in from a small out island and then was told I needed to go through customs there and check into the United States. I was prepared to check in when I ultimately landed in Fort Lauderdale but no that's not the way they do it I was told!!! I was late getting there because of a delay in Georgetown Exuma and then had to go to another building altogether and then they looked through my stuff, at my passport and said "Welcome to the United States"!! I almost said, but didn't, "I'M STILL STANDING IN THE BAHAMAS !!!!" I just made my flight within five minutes of the door closing!! I now make sure I have at least two hours between connections!!!
Coming back from Jamaica into Atlanta was a nightmare. I think there was 3 international flights jammed into customs. Missed our connection and spent the night in the airport. Not to mention the rude attendant at the airline desk ignoring all of us trying to reschedule.
We had an unpleasant experience at ORD in February, going domestic to international. It took 90 minutes from gate to gate. Ignored our PreCheck as we went through security - again - and rude about it. We were lucky to have a long enough layover for our flight to AKL. Skipping ORD in the future.
I hate the Montreal airport. I flew in from LHR and had a connection to LAX. I and everyone else had to spend almost 2 hours going through immigration even though we just got off a plane. After that, the doors to get to the gate were locked. Even the pilots were locked out with us. It was horrible. The flight ended up leaving an hour late.
Last July my family and I were taking off from Frankfurt and experienced a bird strike in the left engine. Scary to say the least. Full flaps, brakes, and reversers. Sat on the runway for three hours surrounded by fire trucks. Then they sent us through customs again. We then were harassed by customs because we got our passports stamped twice in one day. We left two days later with the same plane and crew.
The Italian police in Rome airport jammed me up once because I asked them where the bathroom was. They took my passport and were writing a bunch of things down. It was like 20 minutes before I got my passport back and finally they told me where the bathroom was.
Chicago has the most annoying customs. They asked me all kinds of bizarre questions like why am I not married and why did I want to go to Albania and Serbia. Sfo and ewr are typically fine. It's only ORD that gives me problems.
My worst airport experience (by far) was the Cuzco airport in Peru. Small airport, flight to Lima was delayed over 4 hour due to fog. Did I mention there was no running water? There were trash cans filled with water to wash your hands in the restroom, and about 20% of my tour group got sick before our flight arrived in Lima. That would have been more tolerable if 80% of the group’s luggage wasn’t left on the tarmac and not loaded onto the plane, causing a 2 hour delay for paperwork to track lost luggage (everyone was returning to the US next morning).
Clearly, never been through Toronto Pearson (Canada)... the customs bureaucracy, lineups, poor equipment and confusion is EXACTLY what you need after a long tiring flight!
Heathrow, hot summer transfer shuttle to Terminal 5, constant slamming of the brakes in a packed bus. Multiple security checks. Yuck. But, whenever we haven't had to go through terminal 5 its been fine!
I got stopped at schipol on a transfer, just like you did at chicago - totally messed up the transfer, I didn't even go through security, it was just a check for import duty. I haven't been there since and that's 20 years ago... and I never will
My worst experience was last september in Schiphol. due to layoffs during COVID they had an insane shortage of people. I arrived 4 hours in advance (the maximum you were allowed, as they had people show up 6-8 hours in advance before and they were holding up the lines for others) and they had started boarding by the time I reached the gate. On the way back it was a 90 minute wait to get our luggage.
LaGuardia with those DAMNED people movers that took packed crowds to the planes. They weren’t even busses. Loaded containers of humans. Hated it and avoided that airport ever since
My most confusing experience was on a European flight from Spain. We were waiting at the end of the runway for takeoff, but the tower didn't give clearance because according to their systems, we were already airborne. However, we were clearly on the ground at the end of the runway. So, we were standing and waiting while the engines were running, and we had to wait for Eurocontrol and the airport to sort out their differences. It took them about 50 minutes, which was lucky because after one hour of running the engines on the ground, the airplane would have had to return to be refueled.
Chicago for me too...March 2020 connecting through Midway to Vegas. I land and they announce a ground stop (COVID was new and got into the tower). I jumped on twitter, saw that and knew this was not a short term stop. Said screw the bags and took a cab over to O'Hare and booked a new flight on the way. Was in the air 2 hours later. Midway ended up being shut down for 3 days, so got lucky that I was impatient. Also, the 1st time you gotta find that little janitor's closet door for the shuttle bus between Terminals A and C at Newark sucks.
I am not a fan of O'Hare either, but I truly think part of my issue stems from the fact that we fly out of Indy and or Cincy (CVG) and they are better designed, smaller, and people are friendlier and it seems like if I have a connection in Chicago that I haven't really gotten anywhere. I will say that last fall we connected at Midway and found it nicer... I realize all experiences are personal, but our worst experiences in order are: Toronto Pearson--total incompetence everywhere, but one restaurant on two most recent trips, Logan International (Boston), San Juan, PR--got pulled out by security because I failed to remember I had a handkerchief in my pocket, LAX--security lines all the way out the doors, CDG (Paris)--security lines all the way out the doors too, Moscow--seemed like a third world one. Favorites: IND, CVG, DTW, DEN, SFO, DIA, and PHX. International: MUC, BUD
Heathrow’s not great. When there October ‘22, airlines had to share areas. So we had to wait until is was Qantas’s turn. Once through security it was fine. Cheers from 🇦🇺
The staff at Chicago O'Hare were always horrible to me and my family. The White passengers would get no trouble from the customs guys, but they would always pick on us because we're South Asian, wasting our time by asking invasive questions. How do I know they were being racist? Well after probing us, they would put us in a white room....where there would be a dozen or so other South Asian families, for 20 minutes before finally letting us go.
Nah. The same shit happend to my husband and I. He's Swiss and I'm an American. More than likely people other than white have issues, but it's definitely not none.
@@jessicaely2521 Agreed. I can't make any direct comparisons based on skin color, but I can definitely attest that White people get some portion of harassment at ORD--especially if flying United, who takes particular pride in abusing their passengers.
Oh yeah Chicago. The first time I flew to Switzerland was through Chicago. My shoulder had issues and I couldn't do the body scan thingy. They did the wand and they randomly tested me for bomb making material. I went off for having bomb making material on my hands. They tested my laptop, tablet, cellphone, and bag for this material. Everything went off. They wanted to take all my stuff away from me ontop of my EpiPen (they searched my purse and found it). I said whatever the officers name was and then proceeded to say my family can sue you personally if I go into anaphylaxis shock and I die because I don't have my life saving EpiPen? That made her give me my EpiPen back. The other stuff I said I want to talk to your manager. The person came out looked at what kind of liquids I had and I had lotion. He looked at it and then asked me "it smells like you just put lotion on." I said yes and he said "don't do that before coming through security. The lotion has one of the key components of bomb making materials" and told me have a good day. I of course missed my flight, but there was no snow storm. It was the middle of summer.
I guess O’Hare is mostly an issue when connecting since out dated and layout sucks, and also Midwest weather. If O’Hare is the starting location or departure it’s fine. I have a similar experiences that you had but in Phoenix and Miami, that’s why I usually avoid them as connecting locations.
I avoid that airport like the plague. Growing up in Iowa I remember seeing all the flights constantly canceled so I’ve always tried to avoid it. The couple of times I’ve flown through there I ended up getting delayed.
I’m also not a fan of O’Hare. The stupid signs tell you to follow them for the tram…except for there isn’t one (keep reading). So, you go find the bus that goes to each terminal. Then, the next time you fly through O’Hare you think, “Oh, I’ve got this.” You go to get on the bus….but no..now they have freakn trams!!
All you had to say was that you flew threw ORD! That said, I will mention this, ever since I signed up for that Pre-Check, that's been a license for the Thugs Standing Around to screw with me. I've not flown overseas lately, so I can't say how bad Customs is these days but I can just imagine!
O'Hare was my worst airport experience too. The airline actually gave away our seats even though we were there in plenty of time from our first flight. Not O'Hare's fault specifically, but I still avoid it.
@@luisridez9219 No doubt it was United. UA has the preponderance of flights at ORD plus they're known for being hostile to their passengers, including routinely overbooking flights and giving away seats.
Chicago O'Hare is my nemesis. Got dinged with dreaded SSSS. Missed flight. Had to spend the night there last April. Not good. Later in the fall my flight from Paris to JFK was rerouted to Ohare. Agggg
O'Hare is unfortunately the airport I use most and it is just awful! TSA Agents there are bottom of the barrel, the baggage collection always takes 30-45 min flying internationally, half the time you land a little earlier and have to wait for a gate so your "Arrival Time" ends up being later than they estimate and for the longest time, they didn't even have a US Citizens Only Line when you came back from abroad at Terminal 5 it was just everyone stand in one line! Would happily trade that for any other airport
I love flying out of BMI...only problem is if the connecting flight is delayed at all (usually Dallas or chicago), your definitely missing the flight back to bloomington
O'Hare is a horrible airport and it's directly tied to the fact that it's a home base for United Airlines which continues to be a horrible, horrible airline in every way.
Good words, Run toward and get stopped. Walk with purpose and be cool. Good thoughts, I plan every trip and make a B and C plan incase something happens to the A plan. I then am relaxed cause I know I have whole plan. 🌴🌴Aloha
My worst stories are too long to go into... CDG: confusing markings, unhelpful staff; LHR: understaffed, no explanation for locating luggage; IAH: rude (racist) TSA agents... Best airport experience: KEF. Excellent every time.
And since that's the world headquarters for United, it's doubly bad. UA prides itself on being ridiculously hostile to passengers, and having that many United employees concentrated in one area is enough reason not to fly there.
Being Military and living in Chicago way west suburbs, I tend to fly out last minute unfortunately. I pre plan a carry on bag or suitcase with a blanket, pillow to stay overnight at the airport. Unfortunately we do not have the option to just go home, once your flying, you stick it out. Ohare has definitely been an issue with late or broken down train’s/buses and planes lately. Ohare is the bare bones airport attempting to be a larger connecting airport. At least your not in Midway, I refuse to fly out of there no matter how much cheaper it maybe. I’m almost to the point I want to fly out of Milwaukee from now on until they catch up with the plans at Ohare. Seems to be a 40 year plan being completed at snail speed.
Don't worry Mike, they work at customs, because they were rejected as cops. So that they have bad senses for honesty isn't your fault, although they annoy everyone with that
My worst airport experiences have all been by far at YYZ Toronto International airport. They talk to people like animals. There was a restaurant in Chicago called Dicks last resort near the Chicago River where they are rude to you on purpose in an entertaining sort of way. I am wondering if they took their training at Pearson. 😂 In a way I can't blame employees who work at Pearson, it must be soul crushing. Every time I have a connection through I try my best not to check luggage in and god forbid if there are any flight interruptions. If Toronto is my final destination I will chose to fly into YTZ Toronto Billy Bishop airport 100% of the time. Not to mention that airport is right by Queens Quay in the downtown core.
YYZ is the worst airport hands down. The workers lack any sense of humanity. Pretty sure Satan is in charge of their HR. Plus they will 60% of the time lose your luggage so I will only travel with carry on out of Pearson.
@@WoltersWorldShorts Unfortunately, it depends on which airline you're flying. DTW and MSP are Delta hubs, while ORD is a United hub. For myself, I avoid UA at all costs, so DTW and MSP are often in my travel plans, but if you need to fly UA for any reason, then you're probably stuck going to or through ORD.
My worst airport experience? Hard to decide but I have spent the night in DFW, LAX and ATL. The music played in the terminal was the worst at LAX (very bad jazz with 10 songs played over and over). ATL music was OK and DFW was actually pretty good.
I thought you were in Savannah when the video started and thought you were going to complain about SAV. A really nice small airport BTW. I live in Bluffton so I am maybe a bit biased. Personally I hate MIA, IAH, LGA (I hear it may be getting a lot better), EWR and LAX.
I don‘t fly through LA, OR NY airports mostly because of the incredibly rude customs and TSA people. I will not go into details, but trust me avoid these hell holes.
OMG, Mark. You opened a can of worms. I’m flying out of O’Hare today to Traverse City Michigan. I’m expecting to see a wanted poster with your picture near security. The comments here are really negative.
Really? I've had pretty good experiences at SFO. That said, SFO is a United hub, and I *always* avoid United in favor of Delta, so that raises the quality of my experience by 10 or 20 points. lol
Worst airport this part of the world (New Zealand / Australia) is Sydney, rude security people rude customs people, rude information people, just full of rude people. try to use Melbourne, Brisbane, or Auckland if you can.
You want the worst one? Go to Mexico City MEX airport. You will see a real shame..... Services, facility, Difficult to Navigate, All pure crap. Obsolete, overcrowded . Almost all flights get delayed. Very bad management. So, Please, people, do not complain about DFW, ORD or any other big airport of US till you see this crippy MEX one. I am sure you will see the difference.....
![INCIDENT REVIEW - American Airlines Boeing 787 Engine Ingests Cargo Container at O'Hare [10.17.24]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/23DvMHkncdk/mqdefault.jpg)
![ALLY - OH MY! [ REACTION ] 'Amarin Nitibhon' #ALLY_OHMY #ALLY #allynitibhon #แอลลี่](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nX9qpHjVfbQ/mqdefault.jpg)
The few times I've used O'Hare it felt like the gate we arrived at must have have been in Indiana. It's the terminal that never ends.
O'Hare is one of the top 20 largest airports (by sq ft) in the world. Miami Airport is extremely small when compared to O'Hare. Also if you fly with United O'Hare is the headquarters for United. Since this is the case its gigantic when compared to other airlines.
Ugh. We are going through Chicago to Italy and coming home. Here’s hoping it will go smoothly.
Get Global Entry
I'm an American living abroad, and I really hate to say this but American airports are TERRIBLE to go through. Security personnel are ALL INSANE and on some kind of power trip and are desperate to over check everyone, not just people who could be concerning. They are really over the top. Any bad experience I have ever had has been in an American airport, every time. I avoid flying home and stay away a lot because of it.
Anywhere and every time I fly on American airlines. Maybe it's just me. If I had to say 1 airport. Fort Lauderdale customs lines can be 2 hours and are always backed up. When the pilot says we got here early blah blah you need to sit on the plane another half hour, that's the customs line. All 3 of them backed up. 30 years and 100 times later and it's never changed.
Worst experience I had was Chicago too. Customs officers were straight up making fun of me and my partner... horrible experience
I bet those customs officers used to snoop through their mothers' purses and their dads' briefcases when they were little.
Are you Iranian? I am Iranian American and I always get checked after 911 for about 10 years I would get pulled over to the side
I basically had the same experience at O’Hare and now I go out of my way to avoid connections there. Never again.
My worst experience was in Dallas/Fort Worth, where I had a connecting flight to Charlotte, NC. The plane landed on time and I had two hours to get to my connecting flight. Most of those two hours were spent getting through immigration (about 6 or 700 people waiting in line and only three booths open). Then I had to get my bagage, go through customs and re-check bagage. My connecting flight was leaving 7.30 pm and when I got the gate it was 7.45 and thus too late. Next flight to Charlotte was fully booked, so I had to wait until 5.30 am next morning, spending the night on a hard chair.
Lesson learned? When flying from Europe never have a stop over in the US if you can avoid it, as you have to go through immigration. Or if you can't avoid it, make sure that lay over time is at least 3.5 hours.
One of the best things about living in Metro Detroit is not having to fly through O'Hare because of DTW. The one time I had to fly through O'Hare, it made me appreciate DTW more😂😊.
O'hell is called that for a reason glad to see its never changed
I live near O'Hare, so thankfully I never have to change terminals (or worse, airports!). There's no great way to get between terminals, and each terminal has about 2 miles of gates!
Great rant! I suppose anyone that travels by air has a story to tell. I never connect thru O’Hare, JFK, Newark, Paris or Lisbon. Others, I’m sure, can add to my short list. Cheers. 👋🏻
Returning from Euope to LAX. Seemed like a couple of international flights arrived at about the same time. Took forever to get through Customs because they had only 2 lanes open. When I got my slip, I looked back at all those waiting and said, "Dobby has received the gift of a slip. Dobby is free!" 2022 Vancouver, the security person got all p*ssy because I did not take my CPAP machine out of my carry on. I said I did not see any sign warning me of that, and Ms. Security got a real attitude. Meh. Took and extra 3 minutes out of my day and I had time to spare. Another dude was having a similar problem with Ms. Grumpy-pants.
LAX worst airport ever, rudest employees, no charging ports, just full of outrageously expensive crummy food, chaos.
My worst experience was Tucson to London. Connecting flight to Dallas got delayed 2 hours and then cancelled due to broken plane. Rebooked onto new flights that connected at Phoenix. Got on plane, flew toward phoenix but circled for an hour before returning to Tucson due to Storms. Waited in ground 3 hours for storm to clear and then flew back to PHX. Got yet more flights this time stopping at New York. Got to the gate and that plane broke too, so waited 2 hours for replacement plane. Eventually we take off and make it most of the way, but the engine breaks and so emergency diversion to Pittsburgh. Fire crews surround plane etc. Then we park up, and I'm told its 15 hour wait until next flight to London. At this point i haven't slept in 24 hours and I barely sleep during the 15 hours as it was so uncomfortable. 15 hours later the flight to London happens without incident
I don’t believe your worst experience didn’t involve CDG
By far the worst experience I had was at CDG
Oh. I HATE that airport with a passion!
CDG is the 5 level of HELL 🤨
Same! Worst experience I've ever had at an airport was CDG! We were flying to LAX with a layover in Calgary, Canada and they wouldn't let us check in without filling out electronic forms to enter Canada. Those forms aren't necessary if you're not leaving the airport. I showed them the airline procedure AND the Canadian govt procedure and they insisted. We were unable to fill out the forms because the airport wifi is so poor. After nearly 2 hours of begging and pleading my case, she let us board, with a snarky "fine ma'am but if you get hit with a $6 fee for not having this form, that's on you!!!" When we transited through Canada all we needed was our passport and boarding pass. I'm avoiding CDG in the future for sure.
Well CDG made me miss a connection due to airport layout, but then I got couple hundred euro compensation and a flight 6 hours later, so all in all I felt ok about it.
Not sure why CDG gets so much hate.
They have lay down couches available for free, which is so nice when traveling late night / early morning. Also, the lights are dimmed in this area, so travelers can take a nap.
I also really liked the prayer area. There were three prayer rooms, one Christian, one Jewish, one Muslim. The Muslim room was filled up, I was the only one praying in the Jewish room, and the Christian room was empty.
Anyway , I have only had good experiences while transiting through CDG.
I did go through customs in IAD and it was great…i don‘t smoke and did not buy whiskey in Munich so I had nothing to declare…the customs guy looked at me funny and asked again about booze. My wife said ‚we drank it all over there‘. He closed the passports and smiled.
You had me at Chicago O’Hare. Worst everything ever.
Yep
Heathrow was the worst for me and my mom. Our flight came really late and we had a connecting flight going home so we waited awhile at customs and even though we showed her our Canadian passport, she still wanted to see our Libyan passport (this is when I assumed she was a racist), then she detained us for 2-3 hours (even though we didn't do anything which confirmed my suspicions). By the time she let us leave, our flight had left and we needed to stay at a hotel overnight.
Lesson learned never use your other passport especially Libya is in the alert list.
@@mpoiya no like we gave her our Canadian passport but because my mom is wearing a hijab and she asked us where we were coming from, she still asked for our other passport.
heathrow is right up there, also the security always takes something of mine every time I go.
plastic tipped pliers out of a helmet bag? really?
Heathrow is the worst for sure. Sorry you had to experience that
Coming to heatrhow i was almost denied because my mother was born in the Soviet union and it led to a very long intergation
Nowadays if you have a connecting flight you must be extra generous with time, as for me I do my best to fly direct and gladly pay more if needed.
Mine was missing a connecting flight in Dallas Ft Worth cause the flight from Portland left late when the pilot was running behind. Got rebooked on a different carrier or else waited an extra 2 hours for a direct on original carrier. Got denied on the new flight cause my info was transferred wrong long story short. Worth waiting 2 more hours as the second new flight had no problems. This was near the 4th of July weekend 2021. On the way home an engine failure on one flight arriving to Albany 145am instead of 1130am.
My worst airport experience was in 2021, landed at GRU (Brasil) and stood in line for almost 3.5 hours going through immigration! There were 3/4 International flights arriving at around the same time and only 4 or 5 immigration officers - ridiculous. 2nd worst was YTO (Canada) when after all the luggage had been collected it dawned on me that mine was still on the plane which was going on to London. The upside was the airline (Canadian Airlines, now defunct unfortunately) was very helpful and managed to locate my things just in time.
My least favorite airport is Atlanta, I will go out of my way now to avoid it.
But my worst time was in Nassau, Bahamas where I flew in from a small out island and then was told I needed to go through customs there and check into the United States. I was prepared to check in when I ultimately landed in Fort Lauderdale but no that's not the way they do it I was told!!! I was late getting there because of a delay in Georgetown Exuma and then had to go to another building altogether and then they looked through my stuff, at my passport and said "Welcome to the United States"!! I almost said, but didn't, "I'M STILL STANDING IN THE BAHAMAS !!!!" I just made my flight within five minutes of the door closing!! I now make sure I have at least two hours between connections!!!
I got stuck in Chicago too!!! It seems everytime I have to go through there, I at least get delayed. I avoid it at all costs
Coming back from Jamaica into Atlanta was a nightmare. I think there was 3 international flights jammed into customs. Missed our connection and spent the night in the airport. Not to mention the rude attendant at the airline desk ignoring all of us trying to reschedule.
They should rename that airport to O'Hell lol
Flying to me these days is like going to the dentist to have 10 teeth pulled.
We had an unpleasant experience at ORD in February, going domestic to international. It took 90 minutes from gate to gate. Ignored our PreCheck as we went through security - again - and rude about it. We were lucky to have a long enough layover for our flight to AKL. Skipping ORD in the future.
I hate the Montreal airport. I flew in from LHR and had a connection to LAX. I and everyone else had to spend almost 2 hours going through immigration even though we just got off a plane. After that, the doors to get to the gate were locked. Even the pilots were locked out with us. It was horrible. The flight ended up leaving an hour late.
Last July my family and I were taking off from Frankfurt and experienced a bird strike in the left engine. Scary to say the least. Full flaps, brakes, and reversers. Sat on the runway for three hours surrounded by fire trucks. Then they sent us through customs again. We then were harassed by customs because we got our passports stamped twice in one day. We left two days later with the same plane and crew.
I had a similar experience at ORD. And now I do my best to avoid it.
Preach!!!!
The Italian police in Rome airport jammed me up once because I asked them where the bathroom was. They took my passport and were writing a bunch of things down. It was like 20 minutes before I got my passport back and finally they told me where the bathroom was.
Chicago has the most annoying customs. They asked me all kinds of bizarre questions like why am I not married and why did I want to go to Albania and Serbia. Sfo and ewr are typically fine. It's only ORD that gives me problems.
My worst airport experience (by far) was the Cuzco airport in Peru. Small airport, flight to Lima was delayed over 4 hour due to fog. Did I mention there was no running water? There were trash cans filled with water to wash your hands in the restroom, and about 20% of my tour group got sick before our flight arrived in Lima. That would have been more tolerable if 80% of the group’s luggage wasn’t left on the tarmac and not loaded onto the plane, causing a 2 hour delay for paperwork to track lost luggage (everyone was returning to the US next morning).
Clearly, never been through Toronto Pearson (Canada)... the customs bureaucracy, lineups, poor equipment and confusion is EXACTLY what you need after a long tiring flight!
Heathrow, hot summer transfer shuttle to Terminal 5, constant slamming of the brakes in a packed bus. Multiple security checks. Yuck. But, whenever we haven't had to go through terminal 5 its been fine!
My worst experiences so far have been at Frankfurt and Philadelphia.
I got stopped at schipol on a transfer, just like you did at chicago - totally messed up the transfer, I didn't even go through security, it was just a check for import duty. I haven't been there since and that's 20 years ago... and I never will
My worst experience was last september in Schiphol. due to layoffs during COVID they had an insane shortage of people. I arrived 4 hours in advance (the maximum you were allowed, as they had people show up 6-8 hours in advance before and they were holding up the lines for others) and they had started boarding by the time I reached the gate. On the way back it was a 90 minute wait to get our luggage.
I clearly remember that. Schipol was probably the worst airport in the world at that time. Had the exact thing happen to me. The horror.
LaGuardia with those DAMNED people movers that took packed crowds to the planes. They weren’t even busses. Loaded containers of humans. Hated it and avoided that airport ever since
My most confusing experience was on a European flight from Spain. We were waiting at the end of the runway for takeoff, but the tower didn't give clearance because according to their systems, we were already airborne. However, we were clearly on the ground at the end of the runway. So, we were standing and waiting while the engines were running, and we had to wait for Eurocontrol and the airport to sort out their differences. It took them about 50 minutes, which was lucky because after one hour of running the engines on the ground, the airplane would have had to return to be refueled.
Yikes
Chicago for me too...March 2020 connecting through Midway to Vegas. I land and they announce a ground stop (COVID was new and got into the tower). I jumped on twitter, saw that and knew this was not a short term stop. Said screw the bags and took a cab over to O'Hare and booked a new flight on the way. Was in the air 2 hours later. Midway ended up being shut down for 3 days, so got lucky that I was impatient.
Also, the 1st time you gotta find that little janitor's closet door for the shuttle bus between Terminals A and C at Newark sucks.
O'hare airport sucks! I expect a bad experience every time I have to go there
I am not a fan of O'Hare either, but I truly think part of my issue stems from the fact that we fly out of Indy and or Cincy (CVG) and they are better designed, smaller, and people are friendlier and it seems like if I have a connection in Chicago that I haven't really gotten anywhere. I will say that last fall we connected at Midway and found it nicer...
I realize all experiences are personal, but our worst experiences in order are: Toronto Pearson--total incompetence everywhere, but one restaurant on two most recent trips, Logan International (Boston), San Juan, PR--got pulled out by security because I failed to remember I had a handkerchief in my pocket, LAX--security lines all the way out the doors, CDG (Paris)--security lines all the way out the doors too, Moscow--seemed like a third world one.
Favorites: IND, CVG, DTW, DEN, SFO, DIA, and PHX. International: MUC, BUD
Heathrow’s not great. When there October ‘22, airlines had to share areas. So we had to wait until is was Qantas’s turn. Once through security it was fine. Cheers from 🇦🇺
The staff at Chicago O'Hare were always horrible to me and my family. The White passengers would get no trouble from the customs guys, but they would always pick on us because we're South Asian, wasting our time by asking invasive questions. How do I know they were being racist? Well after probing us, they would put us in a white room....where there would be a dozen or so other South Asian families, for 20 minutes before finally letting us go.
Nah. The same shit happend to my husband and I. He's Swiss and I'm an American. More than likely people other than white have issues, but it's definitely not none.
@@jessicaely2521 Agreed. I can't make any direct comparisons based on skin color, but I can definitely attest that White people get some portion of harassment at ORD--especially if flying United, who takes particular pride in abusing their passengers.
This happens a lot at CDG too. My Indian friend kept getting “randomly” screened when we were in Europe.
Oh yeah Chicago. The first time I flew to Switzerland was through Chicago. My shoulder had issues and I couldn't do the body scan thingy. They did the wand and they randomly tested me for bomb making material. I went off for having bomb making material on my hands. They tested my laptop, tablet, cellphone, and bag for this material. Everything went off. They wanted to take all my stuff away from me ontop of my EpiPen (they searched my purse and found it). I said whatever the officers name was and then proceeded to say my family can sue you personally if I go into anaphylaxis shock and I die because I don't have my life saving EpiPen? That made her give me my EpiPen back. The other stuff I said I want to talk to your manager. The person came out looked at what kind of liquids I had and I had lotion. He looked at it and then asked me "it smells like you just put lotion on." I said yes and he said "don't do that before coming through security. The lotion has one of the key components of bomb making materials" and told me have a good day. I of course missed my flight, but there was no snow storm. It was the middle of summer.
How annoying 😔. The sense of injustice would stick with me too.
I guess O’Hare is mostly an issue when connecting since out dated and layout sucks, and also Midwest weather. If O’Hare is the starting location or departure it’s fine. I have a similar experiences that you had but in Phoenix and Miami, that’s why I usually avoid them as connecting locations.
O'Hare was the worst for me when I came back from the Philippines. They kept checking my bag for like 45 minutes. I don't know why.
I avoid that airport like the plague. Growing up in Iowa I remember seeing all the flights constantly canceled so I’ve always tried to avoid it. The couple of times I’ve flown through there I ended up getting delayed.
Sounds like a nightmare. Can't imagine going through that.
I’m also not a fan of O’Hare. The stupid signs tell you to follow them for the tram…except for there isn’t one (keep reading). So, you go find the bus that goes to each terminal. Then, the next time you fly through O’Hare you think, “Oh, I’ve got this.” You go to get on the bus….but no..now they have freakn trams!!
All you had to say was that you flew threw ORD! That said, I will mention this, ever since I signed up for that Pre-Check, that's been a license for the Thugs Standing Around to screw with me. I've not flown overseas lately, so I can't say how bad Customs is these days but I can just imagine!
O'Hare was my worst airport experience too. The airline actually gave away our seats even though we were there in plenty of time from our first flight. Not O'Hare's fault specifically, but I still avoid it.
What airline?
@@luisridez9219 No doubt it was United. UA has the preponderance of flights at ORD plus they're known for being hostile to their passengers, including routinely overbooking flights and giving away seats.
Your captioning is entertaining
Chicago O'Hare is my nemesis. Got dinged with dreaded SSSS. Missed flight. Had to spend the night there last April. Not good. Later in the fall my flight from Paris to JFK was rerouted to Ohare. Agggg
Not fun 😞
O'Hare is unfortunately the airport I use most and it is just awful! TSA Agents there are bottom of the barrel, the baggage collection always takes 30-45 min flying internationally, half the time you land a little earlier and have to wait for a gate so your "Arrival Time" ends up being later than they estimate and for the longest time, they didn't even have a US Citizens Only Line when you came back from abroad at Terminal 5 it was just everyone stand in one line! Would happily trade that for any other airport
I love flying out of BMI...only problem is if the connecting flight is delayed at all (usually Dallas or chicago), your definitely missing the flight back to bloomington
Why can't Customs in American airports be simply electronically-monitored corridors, like they are in Britain and Ireland?
O’Hare is also my worst airport experience. The staffs there can be very rude.
Similar horrible experience at O’Hare. I avoid it like the plague.
O'Hare is a horrible airport and it's directly tied to the fact that it's a home base for United Airlines which continues to be a horrible, horrible airline in every way.
I guess my most annoying experience would also be Spain. But still not that bad.
The first time I flew........was on MOHAWK!
Good words, Run toward and get stopped. Walk with purpose and be cool. Good thoughts, I plan every trip and make a B and C plan incase something happens to the A plan. I then am relaxed cause I know I have whole plan. 🌴🌴Aloha
My worst stories are too long to go into... CDG: confusing markings, unhelpful staff; LHR: understaffed, no explanation for locating luggage; IAH: rude (racist) TSA agents... Best airport experience: KEF. Excellent every time.
The best thing about you being close to O'Hare is that you can get cheaper tickets than a lot of places.
O'Hare customs is an employee competition to see who can make the most people cry. There's no other explanation.
And since that's the world headquarters for United, it's doubly bad. UA prides itself on being ridiculously hostile to passengers, and having that many United employees concentrated in one area is enough reason not to fly there.
I saw the title and usually thought ‘heathrow’
Being Military and living in Chicago way west suburbs, I tend to fly out last minute unfortunately. I pre plan a carry on bag or suitcase with a blanket, pillow to stay overnight at the airport. Unfortunately we do not have the option to just go home, once your flying, you stick it out.
Ohare has definitely been an issue with late or broken down train’s/buses and planes lately. Ohare is the bare bones airport attempting to be a larger connecting airport. At least your not in Midway, I refuse to fly out of there no matter how much cheaper it maybe. I’m almost to the point I want to fly out of Milwaukee from now on until they catch up with the plans at Ohare. Seems to be a 40 year plan being completed at snail speed.
Don't worry Mike, they work at customs, because they were rejected as cops. So that they have bad senses for honesty isn't your fault, although they annoy everyone with that
*Mark
KEF is by far the worst airport I have ever suffered through.
My worst airport experiences have all been by far at YYZ Toronto International airport. They talk to people like animals. There was a restaurant in Chicago called Dicks last resort near the Chicago River where they are rude to you on purpose in an entertaining sort of way. I am wondering if they took their training at Pearson. 😂 In a way I can't blame employees who work at Pearson, it must be soul crushing. Every time I have a connection through I try my best not to check luggage in and god forbid if there are any flight interruptions. If Toronto is my final destination I will chose to fly into YTZ Toronto Billy Bishop airport 100% of the time. Not to mention that airport is right by Queens Quay in the downtown core.
YYZ is the worst airport hands down. The workers lack any sense of humanity. Pretty sure Satan is in charge of their HR. Plus they will 60% of the time lose your luggage so I will only travel with carry on out of Pearson.
Oh no! ORD isn't your friend, sir. Wow!
The *TSA* is why I can't ever travel again. I have a painful genetic condition. *NO HANDS ON ME!*
I avoid O’hare anytime I can!
You may want to avoid connecting thru Chicago in the future. Detroit and Minneapolis are better options for connections.
You aren't wrong 😀
Or Milwaukee
@@WoltersWorldShorts Unfortunately, it depends on which airline you're flying. DTW and MSP are Delta hubs, while ORD is a United hub. For myself, I avoid UA at all costs, so DTW and MSP are often in my travel plans, but if you need to fly UA for any reason, then you're probably stuck going to or through ORD.
My worst airport experience? Hard to decide but I have spent the night in DFW, LAX and ATL. The music played in the terminal was the worst at LAX (very bad jazz with 10 songs played over and over). ATL music was OK and DFW was actually pretty good.
I’m headed to Chicago this weekend… i’m scared 😱
It’s fine, just sucks if connecting from what I hear. I have that same issue but at other airports.
I may be the only person on Earth that likes ORD. CDG is the 5th gate to Hell on Earth.
that wasn’t a bad experience, that was a TERRIBLE experience.
True
I thought you were in Savannah when the video started and thought you were going to complain about SAV. A really nice small airport BTW. I live in Bluffton so I am maybe a bit biased. Personally I hate MIA, IAH, LGA (I hear it may be getting a lot better), EWR and LAX.
I hate Barajas airport in Madrid, those passport and customs agents have it in for Americans.
Oyay! 🙃 you'll if you watch til the end
United hates guitars !
I don‘t fly through LA, OR NY airports mostly because of the incredibly rude customs and TSA people. I will not go into details, but trust me avoid these hell holes.
The rudest customs/border patrol agents I’ve met anywhere are at ORD.
OMG, Mark. You opened a can of worms. I’m flying out of O’Hare today to Traverse City Michigan. I’m expecting to see a wanted poster with your picture near security. The comments here are really negative.
Where else do you fly from aside from Chicago?
Small town south of Chicago. Or Indianapolis or st louis
I think Zurich airport was one of my worst experiences.
I will pray that in your next life you can afford your own jet.
T&P appreciated 😉
I hate ORD with a passion.
CDG is definitely a close second with their awful announcement music.
LAX and SFO were the worst for me, DFW was the best.
Really? I've had pretty good experiences at SFO. That said, SFO is a United hub, and I *always* avoid United in favor of Delta, so that raises the quality of my experience by 10 or 20 points. lol
Worst airport this part of the world (New Zealand / Australia) is Sydney, rude security people rude customs people, rude information people, just full of rude people. try to use Melbourne, Brisbane, or Auckland if you can.
Not a fan of O'Hare. So sorry . . . hugs . . .
Me neither 😀
You want the worst one? Go to Mexico City MEX airport. You will see a real shame..... Services, facility, Difficult to Navigate, All pure crap. Obsolete, overcrowded . Almost all flights get delayed. Very bad management. So, Please, people, do not complain about DFW, ORD or any other big airport of US till you see this crippy MEX one. I am sure you will see the difference.....
I will be flying there later this year. Sounds like it will be fun
well that was your fault.. should have been more courteous going through customs Being courteous usually most of the time gets you through faster
Berlin was a disaster