My wife and I flew through here in March/April 201...

My wife and I flew through here in March/April 2016, so please forgive the late review. Unless things have drastically changed, I would recommend another airport for your transit, unless Shanghai is your destination. To be fair, I've heard good things about the actual city of Shanghai. Nevertheless, the airport itself is big and cold. Our first interaction with an airport employee upon departing our plane after a 13-hour flight from Chicago was not a good one. The young man kept telling us to "just go!" because we apparently we not moving fast enough. Our next interaction with employees occurred at the transit counter...and I can't say they were much friendlier either. During a few instances employees were shouting, apparently at each other...or at us. Not sure, though :( Either way, it was a bit unsettling. On our return trip a few weeks later the employees seemed even more robotic, mean and unhelpful. Granted, this may have been more of the general atmosphere of the place giving me that impression, but either way, I wanted to get out of there quickly. Sadly, our flight was delayed, and I was more than a bit distressed. No way was I going to spend an evening in that place! Thankfully, our flight was not canceled. However, I do wonder why they chose to have us board via the ugly, cramped gate downstairs. This was a huge inter-continental flight, and we got standing-room only in a room that resembled a DMV...complete with the drab walls and harsh florescent lighting. Sorry, PVG, but next time it will be Seoul, or Tokyo, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong for our stopover to the Philippines.