Had to transit at Los Angeles airport (LAX) today on my way back from a trip to Asia back to my home in Canada. After having been on this trip to Narita, Haneda (both airports in Japan) and Incheon in South Korea I have to say LAX is a real third world shithole in comparison. To start with in any other local neither a visa/travel authorization is needed when just staying in the transit lounge to wait for a connecting flight. In the US they make everyone get through immigration (even I had no intent nor interest whatsoever to set foot into the US) then had to fetch bags at customs, which is super weird given that my travel did not terminate in the US. I was literally just waiting 3 hours for my connecting flight. The icing on the cake is that I had to change terminals and had to walk, no terminal connecting shuttle bus, no train, nothing. You literally have to walk from one terminal to the next and all that outside. For weird reasons lax decided they need 7 terminals plus a "B" terminal. No other airport in Asia which handles similar or larger passenger volume has that many terminals. Inside the terminals at LAX an utter chaos as if one just landed in Bogota. Disgusting and outdated restrooms, the food service offering is mediocre at best. American city planners really should travel more and learn from concepts in Asia and Europe. Infrastructure in the US seems to be at the brink of collapse.
Government owned infrastructure in the states is poorly built and maintained. The main reason is that there is no money left after spending for salaries and pensions of overpaid government workers. Truth be said, the US is a zombie economy.
Airport is not a tourist attraction, it is an utility place. While it look nice in newer airports, the function is the same. That is why even lounges are like a zoo. As related to rechecking baggage, there are only 15 preclearance locations internationally to be considered same as domestic airports, mostly in Canada. There are US custom agents onsite, even UK doesn’t have one. So yes, you have to recheck the bags if you are transiting only. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance JFK refreshed terminal 4, LGA built a new terminal, now they look more modern but food prices also went up more than the inflation.
You would probably not say this if you had to frequently travel. Convenient, efficient airports are a major advantage in the uphill battle of business travel. Many security procedures in the US are completely outdated and make oftentimes zero sense and don't increase safety by one iota. The screening technology at most major US based international airports is laughable and very slow in comparison. Flying in Korea and Japan is a joy and some of the restaurants there are so good that it's worth to arrive an hour earlier to have a good meal before an evening business flight on a Saturday or Sunday to other global hubs. At Incheon you get a high quality Korean freshly prepared meal for the price that does not even buy a whopper meal in the US. Go figure...
.... with all suitcases (23kg x 4) for over 1 mile at 29 degree (Celsius) heat while getting eyefucked by thug looking individuals who hang around and check out trashcans. Not cool.
Not a frequent flyer anymore, put my time on the road enough, Monday 4am out Friday 11pm home kind of life in early 90s. That was a different challenge, you sat on a plan waiting for take off for hours sometimes. Chicago was the worst, jammed up the sky every day. I still flew to LAX regularly before the pandemic, twice a month kind of thing, only with a weekend bag or less for up to a week. Anyway, I don’t dislike travel but I just don’t have time to travel for fun at the moment.
You are right about one thing, in many categories we have it today better than ever before. We often ignore over overlook this fact. Still, I can't help but notice the stark differences between economies that invest in maintaining their infrastructure and those who let it crumble to the bare basics tolerable.