<p>Which airport is most painless to use - Appleton, Madison or Milwaukee?</p>
<p>And how's Minneapolis' airport?</p>
<p>I've used all three, and Minneapolis's, too...Appleton & Madison are both teeny-tiny--and teeny-tiny is generally easier in terms of getting thru security and moving around. On the other hand, not much in the way of food, books, magazines, gift shops, etc. People are super friendly both places (and at Milwaukee, too). Milwaukee is bigger, so further distances to walk and security is "bigger"...but it's not O'Hare, Atlanta, LA, NY...I like the MIlwaukee airport...friendly people, good choices for food, sundries, gifts...comfortable waiting areas...considerbly more flights than at Appleton or Madison...</p>
<p>Minnapolis is a "big boy"...feels as big and spread out as O'Hare or Atlanta to me...probably more like Orlando, actually...lots of shops, food spots, long distances to gates, the potential for security line "clogs"...</p>
<p>Bottom line: pick the one closest to your ultimate destination (or the one w/the least expensive or best-timed flight options)</p>
<p>I've flown through Minneapolis and also Madison. Minneapolis is huge (one of Northwest Airline's hubs) but has lots of nice amenities. For the most part it is clean and has lots of little food courts and shops. It's not too hard to navigate either because of all the signs they put up. </p>
<p>I'd say Madison is a mid-sized airport. It's definitely smaller than others but at the same time it's nothing like the Colorado Springs airport (1 metal detector, probably about 4-6 gates TOTAL!). When I traveled to Madison last year at the beginning of June there were only 2 baggage claims but they were undergoing construction. Madison's pretty easy to navigate, almost all of the gates are just in a straight line if I remember right. I don't think they were done with construction when I flew back at the end of July, but I'm sure they're done now. It might be larger than I remember...</p>
<p>Madison was a little expensive to fly into, so if I were you I'd fly into a major hub like Minneapolis. You're more likely to have a nice big plane, a straight through flight, and it's not hard to navigate ;)</p>
<p>The Madison airport is in the process of finishing a complete renovation. They have a few direct flights (DC on NW is one example) but many go through Milwaukee (a very nice airport) Minneapolis, Detroit (also very nice) or, mostly, Chicago. O'Hare on a winter Friday afternoon/evening is awful, awful, awful. Avoid it at all costs.</p>
<p>Great to hear the Madison airport seems easy to navigate and is relatively small (I already sort of gathered it since it is a 'regional' airport...but anyway...) since I'm flying in there tomorrow. Guess it won't be too hard to spot my ride then ;)</p>
<p>My son regularly flies between Portland, OR and Appleton. Appleton is small and easy to use. I think about 3 mi from Lawrence campus. He has to transfer--either thru O'Hare or Minneapolis. Of the 2, I much prefer Minneapolis. Seems to run efficiently with most flights on time or somewhere close (unlike O'Hare, but that's another story). Although it is spread out it doesn't seem confusing, though the smaller regional flights leave from gates way off in one corner, so if you transfer there is a bit of distance to cover. I'm not familiar with Madison or Milwaukie, so can't help there. By the way, if you are travelling from the east, there are other cities to transfer through to Appleton.</p>
<p>Yes, my son's route "via free ticket" from Appleton to SFO last Thanksgiving was through Atlanta!</p>
<p>We have one kid near Minneapolis and another in Madison. From the PNW, we almost always use NWA and fly through Minneapolis (we avoid O'Hare at all times). In fact, we just flew home from Madison this past Sunday. As tsdad said, the Madison airport's remodel is almost done and looks very nice. As a smaller airport, just 10 minutes from the capitol, you can get there 45 minutes before a flight and be at the gate with 1/2 hour to spare. Minneapolis is a terrific airport, very easy to find your way around, even if you have to walk a ways to another concourse. It's fast to get to the rental car counters and right to your car and out to the freeway. You can drive to Madison in about 4 hours from Minneapolis to save some on the airfare.</p>
<p>overseas: Expedia often suggests flying through Atlanta to get from Appleton to Portland, too. But it's usually just a few dollars cheaper, and it just seems too cruel. Now, if it's ever lots cheaper, son may just have to suffer!</p>
<p>It is cruel....but he wanted those freebies!?! But the worst in his experience is sitting in Chicago, having flights there cancelled and sitting some more. He loves Detroit or Minneapolis as transit points. I have been though both and they are fine, good. I have never driven in the area though.</p>
<p>We live in Madison, son attend college in Portland. He has flown in and out of Chicago Midway (pain the a$$ but cheap flights on Southwest), flown out of O'Hare because he can sometimes get direct flights, flown from Madison (usually the most expensive option) and Milwaukee, which seems to offer the best comprimise on price, distance and convenience.</p>
<p>The Madison remodel is almost complete. They started it just before 9/11 so they were able to incorporate all of the latest security advances. They are now bringing tours in from other cities to see how they are doing it. It is very easy to check in, etc. Milwaukee is also not bad. It is significantly bigger so lines tend to be longer, but not nearly as much of a hassle as O'Hare. When we can, we fly out of Madison, but if the price is too much, the next place we look is Milwaukee.</p>
<p>Overseas: Was your son part of the group stuck at O'Hare on Tues Jan 3? My son arrived about 5 am on a red-eye from Portland. Was supposed to leave for Appleton around 8 am. By 10 pm no flights had gone out to Appleton, there were about 20 Lawrence students waiting at the gate and when the last flight was cancelled, they chipped $ together and rented cars to drive to campus. Son got in about 2:30 am on Wed, but managed to get to classes that morning.
So to the OP: any of the airports you mentioned are probably fine, but just avoid O'Hare!</p>
<p>Horror! No he was in O'Hare on the 2nd! He used Lufthansa/United and he said that kids from school who use United (not NW) are always stuck at the gate. He was stuck for hours and it is hard when you have been flying for hours and hours to end up doing that. When he uses NW and goes through Minneapolis or Detroit, he goes sailing through!</p>
<p>I've only used Minneapolis of those four. It is very nice as far as airports go, big but easy and clean. Because Northwest went bankrupt a lot more airlines can fly direct and/or cheaper than before starting back in Jan.</p>
<p>I flew in/out of Milwaukee last week - a nice airport, big enough, but not overcrowded, etc. Nothing like the Monster that is Hartsfield. Air Tran flies there, so the fares are quite reasonable. </p>
<p>Also, there is a great used bookstore in the Milwaukee airport - it's under construction, but full of fun old hardbacks and plenty of paperbacks, for those who packed their book in their suitcase and were stuck without anything to read on the plane (me!) :)</p>
<p>I like Milwaukee too, but since it's an hour and half drive from Madison I almost never schedule a flight out of MKE during the winter. You never know what the weather is going to be like and it's too far to drive if it's snowing. I can't verify this, but Madison prices seem more reasonable during the winter than the spring and summer.</p>
<p>BTW, heading to DCA today from Madison for a weekend at home. It's a 15-minute cab ride from the heart of the campus.</p>
<p>I live in Minneapolis and fly quite a bit. As others have said - it really is one of the nicest airports around. Newly remodeled, big, bright, clean and lots of nice shops & eats. Getting through security is much shorter than many large airports - maximum wait is probably 10 minutes.</p>
<p>While much bigger than the other 3 you mention - they do have power walkways down the longer concourses, a trams down the longest concourse and to the rental car area. Also, they now have finished the first light rail line in Minneapolis which goes from the airport to either the Mall of America to the south or downtown Minneapolis to the north.</p>
<p>Milwaukee is much smaller - easy to get around but is not nearly as new, clean feeling or have as many amenities.</p>
<p>We're going to be flying into Minneapolis to visit schools there, then plan to drive to Appleton (Lawrence). Still looking for other schools that might be worth seeing in WI (DD doesn't want to look at Beloit for a couple of reasons, UW-Madison is supposed to be nice but has a couple of too-big school strikes against it (short 500 dorm rooms? ouch). </p>
<p>I'm thinking with the extra expense involved in buying one-way plane tickets, the fact that if we flew out of Appleton or Madison we'd likely have a stop in MSP anyway on our way to the Bay Area, the time involved in arriving early, checking in, etc., maybe we should just drive back to Minneapolis and fly back from there?</p>
<p>That sounds like a reasonable plan to me. As far as what else to visit, there are not that many private schools in WI. What are your criteria?</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd recommend going with whatever gets you cheaper seats. Of course one time I was in the twin cities and it would have been a 3 hour drive home. Of course our car was in Madison requiring a 2 wait, transfer and then a 2.5 hour drive home.</p>