One of my biggest peeves about airports is the lack of facilities available for those stuck on long stopovers on long-haul flights.

I've visited many a country ONLY on stopovers. Imagine people's only impression of your country being that hideous 10-hour stopover, midway between a 19-hour flight. 

Off the top of my head Qatar, Calcutta, JFK and Washington airports ring old horror bells.

After a stopover in Qatar was extended from six to ten hours on a flight from Cape Town to Beijing, I was so sleepy that I just lay on the airport floor with my head propped on my bag. I'll probably never voluntarily go to Qatar for anything else in my life, but the impression of it being a horrid place because of my one experience remains. It also makes me wonder why countries don't invest more money into making their airports convenient and comfortable for tired travelers.

You'd think at the very least, there would be public shower facilities (who wants to sit next to someone on a long-haul flight how hasn't bathed or brushed their teeth in 14 hours).

What else? Oh ya, a massage room. Beds for rent. Comfortable lounge chairs. A swimming pool. A gym. Yoga classes. Healthy food options. A proper grocery store...

At any rate, I noticed an interesting article in The Economist referring to a website titled: The guide to sleeping in airports.

Apparently the website collected over 6,200 user reviews on airports and made a list of the best and worst airports in the world to sleep in.

From The Economist:

"The airport where you really don’t want to end up spending a night is Paris Charles de Gaulle, followed by Moscow Sheremetyevo and New York JFK. Why? Apparently it’s a combination of bad smells, wrong temperatures, homeless people sharing the terminals and unfriendly staff. At the other end of the spectrum, the best airports for a long snooze are Asian, with Singapore Changi (for the 12th year in a row) beating Seoul Incheon and Hong Kong to the top spot. That's the same top three, albeit in a different order, as in Skytrax's recent general ranking of world airports."

According to The guide to sleeping in airports:

Best Airports:

1. Singapore Changi
2. Seoul Incheon
3. Amsterdam Schiphol
4. Oslo Gardermoen
5. Hong Kong
6. Dubai
7. Frankfurt International
8. Munich
9. Vancouver
10. Denver

Worst Airports:

1. Paris Charles de Gaulle
2. Moscow Sheremetyevo
3. New York JFK
4. Los Angeles
5. Delhi
6. Chicago O'Hare
7.Mumbai
8.Manila
9. Rome Fiumicino
10. London Heathrow

At any rate, I recommend you read both The Economist's article Airports of the Night and The guide to sleeping in airports.

Image from lettertoamerica.