The Best Airports (And Worst) For Passenger Satisfaction

Notice more cranes and jackhammers inside and outside the terminal? You’re not alone. This year, passenger satisfaction at airports have stagnated as annoyance over construction projects mount.

Both the growing number of passengers as well as aging infrastructure have meant more and more airports are now under construction. While that’s a good thing for the future, passenger experience is suffering right now. The best airports have a great blend of top notch facilities, accessibility, baggage claim, security check, and food and retail options.

J.D. Power released its annual study of airport satisfaction, and things overall didn’t look so hot.

“With major construction projects now underway in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and many other airports, it is becoming impossible for travelers not to experience some form of disruption,” – Michael Taylor, Travel Intelligence Lead at J.D. Power.

The survey results are broken down into three segments based on airport size: mega airports, large airports, and medium airports. Mega airports have 33 million or more passengers per year, large airports have 10 to 32.9 million passengers per year, and medium airports have 4.5 to 9.9 million passengers per year.

The top airports in the US included Detroit (DTW), Portland (PDX), and Indianapolis (IND) in their respective categories. Rounding out the bottom included two New York City area airports (unsurprisingly) — LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR).

Related: Everything You Need To Know About New LGA Terminal B

Here is the full list of best airports in terms of passenger satisfaction (based on airport size): 

One bright spot and an improvement in years past — US airport security. Getting through airport security has improved with better TSA processing and biometric scanners. YMMV.