The best airports (and worst airports) in America

With its quiet spaces, yoga rooms, healthy food outlets, retro lounge chairs and general lack of queues, San Francisco International Airport is what we all dream a traveling experience should be like. Plus, it’s earthquake-proof, eco-friendly (T2 was the first airport terminal in the U.S. to receive a gold award from the Green Building Council), a great place to score a novel (independent SF retailer Compass Books has two outlets here, in T2 and T3) and might just have the best cocktail bar and restaurant in an airport in the nation. At the American Express-run Centurion Lounge in T3, famed NYC bartender Jim Meehan, of PDT, has created a gun cocktail list and star Napa Chef Christopher Kostow, of the Restaurant at Meadowood, has put a menu together featuring the region’s finest produce. It’s free for Centurion and Platinum cardholders (it’s $50 entry if you’re not) and all food and booze is included. There are also lot of things to do here: The airport is an art gallery, with works courtesy of the SFO Museum and the San Francisco Arts Commission on display throughout the terminals, and there’s the Aviation Museum and Library before security in the international hall. Forget to have that manicure, pedicure or waxing before you left, or in need of a massage or facial? There are three XpresSpa outlets across the airport to have you sorted in no time. Now, can we just get stuck here please?

Delayed for a night? Forget the airport hotels and book a room at the designer Hotel Zetta San Francisco, a three-minute walk from the Powell St cable-car turnaround, where you can expect luxuriously hip rooms, murals and the best flourless chocolate cake in the city.

_{^{Photograph: Courtesy SFO}}

Okay, so we know what you’re thinking: How the hell is LAX on the list of the best airports at number two? Well, if you’ve been to the new Tom Bradley International Terminal, the centerpiece of a $8.5 billion modernization, you’ll understand why. With its plethora of shops (from Burberry to local legend Fred Segal), top airline lounges (slide into Qantas’ First class lounge and the Star Alliance lounge, which has a terrace with a great view), food and beverage outlets (hit popular Venice outpost James’ Beach and Petrossian for Champagne and caviar), Tom Bradley is quite possibly the best shopping center in America that’s masked as an airport terminal. Downstairs, a new arrivals experience—including a bunch of e-passport kiosks—means that endless queues are becoming a thing of the past. The best part? LAX’s other terminals are in the midst of a makeover, with new fashion outlets, bars and bookstores on the way— terminals one, two, six and seven are up next. In the proximity stakes, LAX is a 30-minute hop from both Downtown and Beverly Hills, making it readily accessible, while the average TSA line will take about 10 minutes, except around Thanksgiving and peak season during the holidays.

Delayed for a night? Book into the InterContinental Los Angeles Century City hotel, 20 minutes away, and grab dinner at SoCal eatery Park Grill, which is known for its meat dishes, salads and decent wine list. 

_{^{Photograph: Courtesy Flickr/Creative Commons/Eric Mueller}}

An American Airlines hub of epic proportions, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport might just have everything you need in an airport (or life, really): a yoga studio, running track, a hall load of artworks, free WiFi and a tequila bar. Right across the five terminals of DFW, with Terminal D the star standout, expect a plethora of eating, drinking and shopping opportunities. There’s a high-speed ‘skylink’ train that connects all of the gates easily; what you want to do is allow enough time to explore Terminal D, which has 30 food and drink outlets and an art gallery. It’s here that you’ll find shops from the likes of Brooks Brothers, L’Occitane and Swarovski; a Mini Suite hotel (where you can book a room that has a daybed sofa and computer with 32-inch TV equipped with high-speed internet and DirecTV, and several shower rooms are also available); and some top eateries. Our picks are III Forks Prime Steakhouse, the outpost of Fort Worth fave Reata Grill which serves up Cowboy sandwiches for breakfast plus Texas’s best fish tacos and epic enchiladas, and Sky Canyon, which is all about modern Texan cuisine in the form of barbecue brisket tacos, Texas pecan pie and craft beers and cocktails. With several TSA stations in every terminal, DFW is one of the nation’s fastest to screen through. If you are staying in Dallas or Fort Worth, the airport is only a half-hour drive from each city with traffic.

Delayed for a night? The onsite Grand Hyatt Dallas Fort Worth is attached to Terminal D and features modern upscale rooms plus a rooftop pool, and Grand Met, a restaurant and lounge which features Mediterranean and Pacific Rim-inspired cuisine, and an excellent wine list spanning Oregon to Italy.

Named after Charles Lindbergh (who did flight tests of the Spirit of St. Louis here before he historically piloted the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris in 1927), this airport is the most convenient in the continental U.S., with the airfield just three miles from downtown San Diego. It gives off the impression it is a small airport—you might think you’ve landed somewhere rural when you step out of the plane—yet there’s two terminals with just over 50 gates and 22 passenger airlines serving SAN. Arrival is a breeze: You will be in a cab within 10 minutes of wheels down and in the Gaslamp sipping on a Ballast Point Sculpin IPA 15 minutes later. On departure, TSA lines are generally less than 10 minutes. Once in the terminal, bookworms should head to local bookseller Bay Books of Coronado, which includes a section for San Diego authors, while those in need of flip flops should head to the Beach House. After local brews, farm-to-table food and cocktails? Skip the shopping and park yourself at Bankers Hill.

Delayed for a night? Grab a cab and head 15 minutes to popular Pacific Beach and book a room at Tower 23. Be sure to have a 10oz hanger steak and a mojito at bar and eatery JRDN before escaping to your room and waking up with the waves crashing.

Not only does Reagan National have a spectacular on-time performance compared to many other U.S. airports—82 percent for all of 2014—it has one of the best aircraft approaches of any city in the U.S. (well-heeled travelers know you’ll wing your way past the White House and the Lincoln Memorial). Plus, DCA has direct access to D.C.’s Metrorail system and it’s a 15-minute drive to downtown. Reagan also has a Legal Sea Foods outlet where you’ll find New England beauties aplenty, from clams to lobster bakes, chowders, shrimp and the must-order Maine buttery lobster roll; you can also expect craft brews, including Allagash White. There’s also a good range of shops here, with more than 100 retailers, including Lacoste, Vineyard Vines, CNBC News and Sunglass Hut. Regan has 44 gates and very short wait times in TSA lines and at restaurants, which is particularly impressive given that 20 million-plus passengers use the airport every year.

Delayed for a night? Given Reagan National is so close to the city, head in for the night. After you check-in at W Washington, D.C., head straight for rooftop bar POV where you’ll catch views across D.C., including the White House and Lincoln Memorial, while sipping away on a Hemingway Daiquiri.