Waiting for your suitcase to turn up on airport baggage belts can be frustrating, but one passenger told Newsweek how she has managed to avoid this stress for nearly 20 years at one of the most stripped back airports in the world.
The laid-back setup was captured at Naxos Airport by Isabelle Kube, who shared a viral video of the airport on the Greek island from her TikTok account @isabellekube. The clip has amassed over 184,000 views since it was posted on July 12.
A caption shared with the post says "Naxos airport baggage claim is just pure iconic." The footage shows a handful of people standing near a small entrance with a "Baggage Claim" sign at the top. The camera walks past the entrance into an empty space with a small, rusted-looking baggage belt.
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Asked whether it's ever been busy at this airport, Kube told Newsweek: "It has always been very speedy. The planes have always been very small and only one plane is at the airport at one time—so I think maybe 10 to 15 minutes for luggage has always been standard.
"Now planes are a bit bigger but timing has been roughly the same for the wait and it goes by so quickly being in the beautiful sunshine outside waiting," she added.
Located just under two miles from Chora, the capital of the island, Naxos Airport is a "very small airport" that "currently does not have the capacity to serve many international flights," with most of its traffic coming from flights out of Athens, the capital of Greece, notes the airport's website.
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It is the 22nd busiest airport in Greece, with nearly 54,000 passengers, according to its website.
Closer to home, jet-setters in the U.S. are bound to face delays with five of the top 10 busiest airports in the world (total passenger traffic) reported to be in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Airports Council International (ACI).
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia topped the global ranking, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth (airport code DFW) in Texas ranking third, Denver (DEN) ranking sixth, Los Angeles (LAX) in eighth place and Chicago (ORD) taking the ninth place spot, the ACI found. In 2023 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta served nearly 105 million passengers.
A note overlaid on the aforementioned viral clip of Naxos says: "My favorite baggage claim at any airport ever."
In a later comment, Kube noted that she's been traveling to Naxos Airport "for almost 20 years and gets excited by its simplicity every time!!"
TikTok users were impressed by the no frills setting of the airport in Naxos.
User hello kittykath said "They haven't changed it I see. Love it!" and thoughtfulreflections simply wrote "cute."
Tia said: "I come to Naxos every year but never the airport and I'm surprised how small the baggage claim is!!"
COVID Zito said: "Small airports are the best but that's rich people secrets."
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