They could even have something as low tech as sign board with changeable pages that slip into a frame. They couid have the board used chosen randomly even.
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When I was in Europe, I traveled through airports in Prague, Munich, Barcelona and Rome. Overall, security at these airports seemed less intense than in the U.S. We didnât have to remove shoes or electronics (Munich was a connecting airport so we just had to go through passport control there).
My impression was that these airports ran much more efficiently than the large airports in the U.S. Even though they were very busy, the process was less stressful than it usually is for me in the U.S. - once I got used to not knowing my gate until it was time to board. Luggage came out much faster too. In Prague it was waiting for us when we got down to baggage claim. Someone takes it off the carousel and lines it up so itâs not going round and round.
Interesting. Weâve found the airports in Johannesburg, London, Beirut, and Paris to be chaotic and frustrating. I particularly dislike Heathrowâs policy of posting your gate information at the last minute. More than once Iâve had to run to a gate even though I was at the airport for awhile. And Paris!! We were there the summer before the Olympics and it was a mess - very long lines everywhere. I canât imagine what it was like for the Olympics.
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Agree. Lisbon was terrible too.
My home airport has been a hot mess of chaotic construction for a while now so thatâs my benchmark.
Havenât been to the airports on your list but I had heard many negative things about Heathrow, so I purposely did not book flights that involved that airport. I canât imagine a scenario where Iâd be going to Beirut or Johannesburg, but I do want to get to Paris.
I was there in April, a couple of weeks after Easter so maybe there was a lull in activity. My experiences were not stressful at all. I was pleasantly surprised.
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AMEN RE: Heathrow. Gates posted 1 hour before the flight, and many gates were almost that far away to walk. Once we got to the gate, no rest rooms, no water, no nothing. Thank God we did not have a connecting flightâone of the domestic terminals is a 3 mile bus ride from the international arrivals!
On the flip side, once we arrived there, going through passport control was quick and easy, self-service, scan your passport, have your picture takenâgate opens and youâre off! Offered to EU passports and those from about 10 other nations (US, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, to name a few)
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Had a couple of glitches while flying Alaska recently. Once another couple was somehow able to get boarding passes for our seats even though the gate agent had them seated elsewhere and scanned their passes showing so. Second time was a bit more nerve racking. We were notified that we were upgraded and seats would be assigned at the gate. Got to the gate, and the agent says our passes were cancelled, and she canât assign any seats to us. 
Took a bit of investigation on her end, but we got to fly in row one after all. Sounds like the new software rollout is not going without bugs!
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My Delta boarding passes had a glitch today too. In our city we have something called âdigital IDâ with delta dedicated baggage and boarding lines. Well, for some reason on my phone, the boarding passes did not show digital ID. But the boarding passes also go to my husbandâs phone and it showed up on the boarding passes on his phone. So fortunately, he was able to take a screenshot of my boarding pass and text it to me so I was able to handle checking in my luggage and getting on the dedicated line with no problem. But itâs very weird and have no idea why that happened. I tried logging out and logging back in multiple times, but that didnât do any good. The next glitch is that we are supposed to be meeting our older son and his family to go skiing. As I mentioned elsewhere, there is very little snow and itâs so warm. They canât really make it and three of the four in my sonâs family are sick. This should be an interesting trip if they can even make it.
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You mentioned âSky Harbor in Mesa.â Just to clarify, was that actually at Sky Harbor in Phoenix (airport code PHX) or did you mean Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (airport code AZA or IWA), which is 30 miles east of Sky Harbor and located in Mesa? The airport in Mesa is a lot smaller. https://www.gatewayairport.com/
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Flew out of PHX recently. Shoes stayed on, likely because they were pre-sniffed by a bomb sniffing dog. Bins were plentiful, and nothing could be put on the belt directly. All X-ray machines were those 3D scanners where everything stayed in the bags. Seemed faster and more efficient that way. Also, everyone walked through a magnet with only a few people randomly sent through the human microwave.
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We were visiting Mesa. We flew into Sky Harbor.
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Flew home yesterday. DSâs flight, with his family, was on SWA and they kept changing their flight departure time. Ultimately their flight was on a different plane than the originally scheduled one that arrived at the airport, and they were 90+ minutes delayed with 2 small kids at night 
Our flight was fine but it took over an hour to get our bags and we didnât get home til 2 am UGH! But, good news- we had an empty seat between us. That was nice.
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Just flew Southwest from Austin to Maine. 7 hours total, very smooth. 
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My youngest (19) will be traveling with a group of friends tomorrow to the Philippines. Three flights with a bit of layover in between, 30+ hours. His longest and only flights to date were two hours. Makes me think of an extended trip from BWI to Osaka many years ago with one leg alone being 14 hours. They are in for a journey. Iâm hoping all goes smoothly and they get a bit of rest on the way.
Iâm proud of him for working weekends and saving money to pay for his trip while getting a 4.0 in his first college semester. What a cool thing to do over winter break. Come on United, do your part. "Fingers crossed ".
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Nice change from a few xmases ago 
The weird thing with DSâs flight yesterday was the multiple changes in departure. Their flight wasnât til 8 pm. Early yesterday morning they were showing a 2+ hour delay, so they were considering flying standby on an earlier flight but it would have had a long layover. But then SW updated to show only a 20 minute delay so they kept the original plan. They followed it on line and saw that the plane that was supposed to be the one that would become their flight was in the air. All good, right? Wrong. SWA changed the equipment such that their inbound flight was used for a different flight and their flight then became 90+ minutes delayed.
What is up with so many stowaways these days? 
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Not sure but their attempt turned out better than this one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/us/body-found-united-airlines-wheel-well-maui-hawaii.html
When I travel around Xmas I have taken to giving the flight attendants Starbucks gift cards as I board the flight. One for each attendant. They are so appreciative that they will give you all the drinks(including alcohol) and snacks you want. I do it mainly to be nice but the free drinks are nice. On 12/23 I was feeling quite good before we even made it to our resort.
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Having just flown back from Rome I agree with this. We flew out of JFK and while it wasnât horrible to naviagate the airport, they were much more strict with our bags, carry ons and security. Rome didnât measure anything and there was no line at security at all and we didnât have to remove our shoes. it was a very fast process compared to the US. Did feel bad for all those from out of the country traveling to JFK. The line for non citizens was miles long after we deboarded the plane. But again, you are flying into JFK in NY during the new year season.
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