Hive & Seek

Bags packed? Ready to go? Here’s my assessment of the airports I traveled through during my trip to Spain.

The rubric that I used for my airport assessment:

• Signage – Were there any signs posted? If so, was it clear?
• People to assist – Was there anyone to help if needed?
• Friendliness – were the people working at the airport nice and efficient at their job?
• Cleanliness – was the facility clean, and cared for? (bathrooms, seating, etc.)
• Extras – apps, phone charging areas, etc.?

Each area will be graded on a Likert scale of 1-5. One being the worst, and five being the best.

During my trip to and from Spain, I had the opportunity to travel through seven different airports. Five of these airports were what I consider to be large/major city airports. I decided to write this quick assessment of these airports as a way for you to determine whether or not you would like to travel through these airports, or try to avoid them if you have a choice. Sometimes we don’t have a choice, am I right? If you don’t have a choice, at least you can be prepared and have some techniques to deal with some of the situations that may come up.

The major airports that I traveled through were:

• Chicago
• Madrid
• Barcelona
• London-Heathrow
• Detroit

Let’s start with the first major airport on my journey, Chicago O’Hare (ORD).

• Signage – What signage? We don’t need no stinkin’ signs! Seriously, there were no signs for the international terminal. Score = 1
• People to assist – Nope. Nada. Although to be fair I did stop a cleaner, and she did manage to help me. Score = 2
• Friendliness – Most people who I encountered were polite but not overly friendly. The exception, was the cleaner that did eventually get me to the shuttle that took me to the international terminal. Score = 3
• Cleaniness – The airport was busy, and undergoing some construction so we’ll be lenient. Plus, I did stop one of the cleaners from her cleaning duties. Overall, the facility was clean. Score = 4
• Extras – No app that I know of. The charger that I tried to use located on my chair did not work. I moved, still no luck. I did eventually find a chair that had a working plug for my charger. Score = 2

ORD overall score = 12

Madrid (MAD) is an airport that I feel like I could navigate in my sleep, because I spent so much time there!

• Signage – Signs were good for everything except for locating the hotel shuttle buses. Molly (my daughter) would say that the signs were non-existent for uber, so we will take that into consideration when scoring. Madrid is a big airport, but overall it was pretty easy to navigate. Score = 3.5
• People to assist – During my first trip through MAD, I did utilize the information desk. It was staffed with friendly, English-speaking people. There were a plethora of police who were also available to help if asked. Score = 4
• Friendliness – The first time I traveled through this airport, I would have given them a 4 out of 5. Nobody was rude. They were professional but not overly friendly. However, my second time through ruined that score. Even after some time to gain perspective, I can’t get past the slow baggage return and the lack of customer “service” at the customer service desk. The friendly security personnel did redeem the service level a bit. Score = 3
• Cleanliness – The bathrooms were clean. The seating area was clean. Score = 4
• Extras – No app that I am aware of. There were charging stations, but only in one area and difficult to get to if the area is busy. Score = 3

Overall MAD score = 17.5

Barcelona (BCN)

• Signage – There were no signs for Uber/taxi. We ended up exiting the airport on the wrong level. Luckily, Macey is cute, and the security guard let us back in to get back to the proper level. Score = 3
• People to Assist – Security and police were willing to help if asked, but there were no specific information people. Score = 3
• Friendliness – People were not rude, but professional and not overly friendly. Score = 3
• Cleanliness – The facility was clean, but really banged up. By banged up, I mean that there were several glass doors and windows that were shattered. It was weird, and it made me feel uncomfortable. Score = 2
• Extras – There was a mall in the airport. I didn’t need to use a phone charger at this airport. Score = 4

Overall BCN score = 15

London-Heathrow (LHR) – I had A LOT of anxiety traveling into London. I barely had a one hour layover and had never been to this airport before. This is what I did, and it may work for you. Before landing in London, I typed in my arriving flight number and my departing flight number into Google. I asked what terminal I would be arriving in, and what terminal I would be departing from. I was informed that I would be arriving at terminal five and leaving via terminal three. AI asked me how long my layover was and made me panic a bit more when it said something along the lines of “oh, that’s a tight timeline.” The beauty of LHR is that they have a GREAT website (noted in the score under extras), and even before I landed I knew what signs I was looking for, what the signs looked like, and where I would be going.

• Signage – AMAZING! As noted above, I already knew what to look for and where to look because of their website videos and explanations. Score = 5
• People to Assist – AMAZING! There were people in colors matching their terminals directing you every step of the way. One person even let me take a shortcut so that I would not miss my terminal shuttle. Score = 5
• Friendliness – AMAZING! Everyone was so polite and not just professional. They made you feel comfortable every step of the way. Even when I got flagged for an extra security check at the gate, I couldn’t get angry because the security people were so polite and complimentary. They really liked my packing cubes haha. Score = 5

• Cleanliness – Very clean. The bathrooms almost had a Bucee’s level of clean. There were cleaners in there directing us to clean stalls as they opened. Score = 5
• Extras – Not only does LHR have a VERY user-friendly website, it also has an app that you can download and use to navigate your way through the airport. This is next level for me. Score = 5 (p.s. there is basically a mall in the airport here as well)

Overall LHR score = 25 – This score is well-deserved! The app, the people, and the signage all made it easy to navigate and ensure that I was able to make my next flight.

Detroit Metro (DTW) – To be honest, I usually avoid traveling through Detroit. It just seems like there are so many delays (mechanical, staffing, you name it)! On this occasion, I did not have a choice and was pleasantly surprised. Note: I did the Google trick at DTW as well, and it worked GREAT! It really alleviates some of that “will I make my connecting flight?” anxiety.

• Signage – Plenty of signs to get us pointed in the right direction. I was a little confused because I filled out my customs information on the Mobile Passport Control app, but had no idea where the line was for people who do that. I just joined the fray, and luckily, the line moved pretty quickly. Score = 4
• People to Assist – There were people directing us once we reached passport control. They kept the line moving and orderly. Score = 4
• Friendliness – Bonus points for DTW because the passport control lady said that she noticed that I lost a lot of weight! She was really nice :) Score = 5
• Cleanliness – I didn’t have enough time to use the bathroom between flights, but the facility appeared to be clean as I trekked from one terminal to another. Score = 4
• Extras – None that I noticed. Score = 3

Overall score for DTW = 20

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Based solely on this trip to Spain, here are my airport rankings:

#1 – London-Heathrow: hands down the best airport I have ever been to. The app alone makes this airport great. If you’ve had a bad experience at London-Heathrow feel free to comment.

#2 – Detroit Metro: this one surprises me too!

#3 – Madrid: I was in this airport three separate times. Of those three times, only once was a bad experience, so I think it’s appropriate that it falls into the middle of the list.

#4 – Barcelona: Some areas need improvement in this airport. Broken glass and more signage would dramatically improve the score.

#5 – Chicago O’Hare: Signs are my biggest thing. People should be easily able to follow signs to get to where they need to be.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are mine, and are based solely on one trip to and from Spain. You may have had a better, or worse experience at one of these airports. If so, feel free to comment. I would love to hear from you!

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