Utilitarian at best: The international airport the designers forgot
OR Tambo International Airport (JNB), the airport of South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg.
The flight
QF64 from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Sydney.
The arrival
Johannesburg is heavily reliant on cars – but there's a Gautrain line direct from Sandton in the northern part of the city to the airport (15 minutes). I get to OR Tambo a day before my international flight, via air from Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport (FAHS), a flying hour north-east of Jo'burg where I've been on safari in Kruger National Park. That Airlink service arrives at Terminal B and I spend the night at the excellent Intercontinental OR Tambo Airport, conveniently situated opposite the Terminal A International Arrivals Hall. This is Africa's second-busiest airport (behind Cairo) serving both Jo'burg and the capital Pretoria. It is the only one outside the Middle East to host flights to and from all inhabited continents.
The look
This is the international airport that designers forgot. It's a lot better than it was before the 2010 FIFA World Cup-inspired expansion and upgrade but as important airports around the world continue to up their user experience game, OR Tambo is utilitarian at best. It's plain, uninspiring and sprawling. However, this is a country with well-documented economic struggles. Utilitarian doesn't mean completely terrible, which it really could be, given South Africa's infrastructure crisis.
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