Woes of an air traveller

From mindless designs to badly-trained staff, airports all over the world could really do with a makeover

No matter how much I write about my experiences as a traveller, it is the one subject I still get the most requests about on Twitter. “Why can’t you do a piece on how bad immigration is at most airports? “Why are airline seats so bad?” And so on.

One of the problems with all airports is that they are designed without an estimate of passenger traffic(Shutterstock)

Will airports ever get better? Some will, I think. But it will vary from country to country...

Retail and duty-free shops dominate the public areas of modern airports (Shutterstock)

In many European countries, airports charge for trolleys (Shutterstock)

Two decades ago, no one could have imagined the Delhi airport will be this great (Shutterstock)

A few airlines such as Emirates have held out for very good lounges of their own (Shutterstock)

Gordon Ramsay runs a restaurant at the Heathrow airport

Gordon Ramsay Plane Food is one of the few nice places where you can wait for your flight at Heathrow airport in London