30 Worst Airports in the World, Ranked

Not all airports are equal. When AirHelp announced its ranking of 132 airports across the world, Hamad International Airport in Qatar, Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Athens International Airport were given reason to celebrate. The top three airports on the list all earned praise for their friendly service, timeliness and clean, modern amenities.

Unfortunately, not every airport came out looking so good.

The following 30 worst airports earned the lowest marks, based on data assessing on-time performance, public reviews of quality of service and passenger sentiment on social media. Suffice to say, these airports have provided passengers plenty to complain about.

On-time performance: 6.2
Quality of service: 8.3
Passenger sentiment: 3
Total: 6.91

*Note: Scores and rankings are based on pre-pandemic data from the Global Airport Rankings from AirHelp.

If you’re visiting Germany, chances are good that you’re flying into Frankfurt International Airport. If your goal is to shop for items that you can buy online for half the price, you’ll love it.

There’s a Birkenstock shop, along with several restaurants and even some designer clothing stores. The service, however, is lacking.

One reviewer said, “Worst Airport I have arrived and departed from. Only a few hand disinfecting stations. Hardly any food shops or places to buy drinks. Staff are less than average friendly and helpful. Going through to the gates it gets worse, crowded not very clean.”

On-time performance: 6.2
Quality of service: 7.8
Passenger sentiment: 6
Total: 6.91

Flying into one of China’s biggest cities, you’d think the airport would be in perfect working order. The website for Hong Kong Airport claims it’s “where amazing journeys begin,” but reviewers disagreed. Most claimed the service was poor and the amenities were severely lacking.

To sum it up, one reviewer stated, “Arriving flight was Virgin Atlantic and had to wait more than 10 hours for Hong Kong Airlines flight to Manila. Ambiance was terrible, the staff looked somber and not happy. The vetting of each passenger was long and completely inefficient. No facility for buying a cup of tea or coffee was available.”