Probably the best user experiences I've had in the past ten years have been on either side of the world and it's probably no surprise that both the airports concerned are small in terms of use, but efficient and friendly.
Inverness
We arrived by easyJet and were quickly off the aircraft to the carousel to find our cases awaiting us, and we were in there in double quick time too. The car hire (a major company) was accomplished extremely quickly and we were driving out of the airport car park less than 20 minutes after our aircraft wheels touched the runway.
On the return journey we had that sinking feeling when we saw 'indefinite delay' on the departure boards. Within minutes a general public address announcement was made acknowledging the delay but assuring us that we would be kept up to date with the latest news.
They were as good as their word giving almost a running commentary as events unfolded, first explaining that our aircraft (this was in the days when easyJet's fleet was mainly B 737) was at Pisa having broken down (I think that was the term that was used) following its flight from the UK (Bristol).
We were later told that a replacement aircraft was being flown from Stansted to Bristol to pick up the INV-bound passengers and then fly us back south. We knew when it had arrived at BRS, when it had taken off for INV and its ETA at INV such was the regular flow of information.
The replacement aircraft turned out to be an A 319, and this was the first time I had flown on one of easyJet's Airbuses. We arrived back at Bristol just two hours late.
My main gripe about airlines and airports is lack of communication with passengers when things go wrong. The Inverness experience was almost a classic in the proper way to go about things, although I realise that at much bigger airports it's probably not practical to provide continuing updates of this detail.
Melbourne Avalon
It's almost a Ryanairesque Melbourne because Avalon is closer to Victoria's second city of Geelong than Melbourne.
Its sole commercial operator is Jetstar (Qantas's low cost airline) and there only about six daily rotations (to Sydney and Brisbane) by Airbus 320 aircraft. Although Avalon probably handles fewer than one million passengers a year it's quite a big site and it has a runway in excess of 3,000 metres. There is talk of a rail link to it from the main Melbourne-Geelong line: Melbourne Tullamarine, the city's main airport with around 30 mppa, hasn't got a rail link and none is in prospect.
We flew out of Avalon to Sydney on a Sunday morning on a full Jetstar A 320. Because we were the only departure for several hours the passage through the airport was incredibly smooth, friendly and quick. Naturally there was plenty of space - and we departed on time.
We returned several days later in the middle of Avalon's rush hour. Two Jetstar A 320s leave Sydney around teatime for Avalon within an hour or so of each other. We were on the second one but the first suffered a delay and actually flew just behind us and landed at Avalon as we came onto the stand.
We got off very promptly and made the short journey to the carousel area where our suitcase appeared within three or four minutes. By then passengers from the second 320 began to appear and it was busy by Avalon standards outside the terminal. Despite this the security people patrolling the roadway were very laid back and allowed our daughter to stop her car for several minutes on the restricted parking road to await us, and we noted others given the same privilege.
Even at the very busy Tullamarine airport members of the public are allowed to stop their vehicles at no charge right outside the terminal to drop off air passengers.
