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Dwell magazine's June issue rates San Francisco's new international terminal the best airport in the U.S. Los Angeles International is pegged as the country's absolute worst:
Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world? You wouldn’t know it at the Los Angeles International Airport, where there’s nothing interesting to do to kill time during a layover. Like Heathrow, LAX suffers from a half century of insufficient and clumsy expansion. It is best described as a collection of drab terminals connected by a traffic jam, which starts out on I-405 and coagulates on a circular drive that loops around the Landmark Theme Building. (The Theme Building, looking like something a 1950s sci-fi set designer dreamed up, is LAX’s only architectural positive.) The terminals are painfully overcrowded and seating is limited—– likely as not, you’ll wait for your flight seated on a suitcase or the floor. Clear signage and amenities are scarce. The crying shame of it all is this is a primary gateway to Asia and the Middle East, with an international cast of characters strolling through its portals. The scene ought to be inspired and dynamic, rather than stressful and depressing.
All true. London's Heathrow, by the way, was deemed the world's worst international terminal.