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The three worst airports for penny pinchers

These airports are among the most expensive to fly through in the world, mainly thanks to high landing fees.  

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Toby Melville/Reuters/File
A passenger aircraft flies above residential properties as it begins it final descent to land at Heathrow airport, west London, March 5, 2015.

Let's face it, international travel can be expensive.  Even if you're flying on points and miles, you're still on the hook for taxes and fees at the airports that you fly through (which is why connections add costs!).   

Here are my picks for the top three worst airports to fly through if you're in the mindset of saving money (and, if you're reading this post, I'm sure you already are):

1.  Cincinnati

This Wall Street Journal article states that Cincinnati has the highest per-mile landing fees in the country, which was a surprise to me.  Since the airport flies mostly regional jets, the per-person split on these smaller planes goes up, compared to a massive plane like an A380 that would be flying out of JFK.

2.  London Heathrow

The bane of my existence, London Heathrow has some of the highest fees in the industry.  And, if you're like me and love flying on British Airways Avios miles, flying through Heathrow on miles means flying British Airways, which charges fuel surcharges on all award flights- sometimes more than what the ticket would cost outright!

3.  Tokyo Haneda

Tokyo is known for having the highest landing fees in the world: both Narita and Haneda top the list.  Haneda wins the award for the world's highest landing fees though, at $6,850 per plane.  So, if you're reading this on your private jet, I would fly into Osaka instead...

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