Which airport do you think is the worst in the world?

Q What is your least favourite airport in the UK and worldwide?

Julie L

A Large hubs are (almost) always going to be less popular than small airports, so I shall concentrate on those – and throw in an extra award, for worst in Europe. For the British category, I am also going to narrow it down to a single terminal, because standards can vary dramatically within the same airport.

I have sought to judge the candidates on the overall experience of check-in, signage, security, departure lounge, retail and boarding, as well as the arrival process.

Based on multiple journeys over the past year, Manchester Terminal 3 is the clear winner (or loser) among UK airports. Before the budget airlines blossomed, T3 was a calm and organised location devoted largely to British Airways and its well-heeled customers. Now, it is heaving with Ryanair passengers (all other airlines having upped and left for Terminal 2). I am a proud member of the Ryanair tribe. But until the much-needed refurbishment of the ageing complex is complete, there are simply too many of us to make it an enjoyable experience.

In Europe, Munich deserves a special mention for its abysmal wayfinding when arriving and departing, as well as a sometimes uncomfortable transit process. But two bigger hubs share the top awfulness award: Paris CDG and Madrid. I literally go out of my way to avoid changing planes at either. Coming and going, each has a confusing multiplicity of terminals plus gruelling public transport links. Major capitals should deliver much more.

Worldwide, there is nowhere more miserable than New York JFK. Flying from Kennedy airport always seems marred by absurdly long queues (“We are 30th in line for departure...”). But arriving there is worse. After the aircraft touches down, my heart continues to sink because I know clearing US Customs and Border Protection will prove grim. (Obtaining pre-clearance at Dublin airport, always a valuable option, allows you to swerve a wait of perhaps two hours.)

Once you are “landside”, onward transport is shabby. The least bad option: the overpriced AirTrain to Jamaica station. Make sense of this labyrinthine muddle of tracks, and you can find a train to the Grand Central terminal in the heart of Manhattan: a reminder of how inspirational a transport hub can be.

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Q I have two nights in Lyon with my Interrail pass. For the day between them, I’d like to explore a nearby town – but I don’t want to use a day’s pass on doing so. Can you recommend anywhere nearby and a cheap way to get there – or should I just explore Lyon?

Andrew M

A Lyon is well worth as much time as you can spare. Start early at the quietly elegant 15th-century Cathedrale Saint-Jean. Then take the funicular railway to the summit of Fourviere hill. From the terrace, on a fine day, you can see the French Alps. Explore the extravagant late-19th-century basilica, Notre-Dame de Fourviere, whose towers represent the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. Visit the amazing Lugdunum complex, presenting the Roman history of the location – including an impressive theatre.

Back at river level you can explore some of the traboules that are a Lyonnais speciality: they feel like secret passages between the main streets. For another dose of culture, the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon contains plenty of appealing paintings within a Benedictine convent: Rubens, Monet, Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse are all represented on the second floor.

The walls of the city comprise an outdoor gallery: Lyon has around 200 murals, some of them vast, and all of them adding colour and style.

Lyon makes a reasonable claim to be the gastronomic capital of France. My favourite location is the magnificent Brasserie Georges, a vast dining hall close to Perrache railway station. It has been a Lyonnais institution since 1836.

The obvious side trip is the 45-minute rail journey to St-Etienne, which has a spectacular Museum of Modern Art as well as a mine museum. The train fare is €14 (£12.15) each way, or you could just build a brief visit into your journey when you leave Lyon.

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Q My partner and I were booked on a flight that was cancelled due to a strike. We want our £900 back. Unfortunately, we cancelled the credit card that we used to book the flights a while ago and are really struggling to get our money back.

The airline insists it needs to go back to the exact same card. This has been going on for weeks and weeks. We’re increasingly desperate to get the money. Can you help?

Name supplied

A The law is perfectly clear. If your flight is cancelled, and you decide not to travel, you should get money back within a week. The fact that you no longer have the credit card account that you used originally is irrelevant.

Before I offer some advice, let me explain why some airlines insist it is a problem: there is some potential for fraud, including possibly from inside the business. Refunding to the original form of payment stops fraudsters from steering cash to some random account. Yet many people book flights months in advance and then change credit cards. So there are plenty of cases in which passengers due refunds for cancelled trips no longer have access to the original account.

I was in a related position with a ticket on Eastern Airways; the airline went bust before the flight was due. I had closed the card account, and it took months to get the refund I was due.

An airline that is still in business has no such excuse. There should be a perfectly straightforward procedure – such as a bank transfer to an account in the name of the lead passenger, with proof that the address is the same as the one used with the credit card purchase of the tickets. But it is a problem for the airline to solve.

To focus the minds of the airline managers, I suggest you write a Letter Before Action (you can find templates online) setting out what you are owed and why, and giving two weeks for the money to arrive before you go to Money Claims Online – at which point the cost and complexity for the airline would increase sharply.

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