The best airports are the ones get are easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience. That has little to do with how much high-end retail there is (airports offer expensive shopping for their benefit, not for yours).
That means the best airports are close-in, and once you get there security is near the entrance and gates are near security. There’s enough taxiway space and runway capacity to handle flights, too, minimizing delays.
The Points Guy Airport Rankings
All over my Google News I’ve seen reports on rankings by the TPG website, from national stories covering overall results to local pieces on how their airport did. Each year The Points Guy staff put out a list of what they believe are the best and worst airports in the U.S. Rankings are very useful: Make a ranking, send out to media, get coverage.
The problem is that their rankings make little sense. San Diego is controversial as the best airport in the country, but I think it’s fun to argue about these things. Most of the rest of the list, though, seems to get airport rankings wrong relative to other airports on the list. That’s largely because of two factors, I think:
- Weighting the importance of factors wrong. They’ve increased the importance of an airport’s amenities this year, but is that what’s most important to travelers?
- Context matters. Honolulu flights are on time, but is that because of the airport itself or weather? They may like New York JFK amenities but they’re dispersed across terminals which aren’t connected.
What’s most important in an airport is going to have some subjectivity. I think I can make a pretty strong case for what the right factors are, but people can disagree. In a ranking like this it would be helpful to see the data behind the survey, and the percentage applied to each category.
Even better – and I hope they’ll consider this for future rankings – would be to offer either a widget or downloadable spreadsheet that lets readers adjust the importance of each factor and re-sort the list for themselves.
What’s Most Important in an Airport?
For local passengers the most important things are:
- How easy is it to get to and from the airport? That’s a function of both distance from city center and connectivity.
- Once there, how quickly can you get through security and to your gate?
- How congested is the airport facility? Does it have wide enough taxiways and enough runway capacity – in other words does it have the necessary throughput?
For connecting passengers, how quick and easy is it to transfer between gates? How efficiently can an airport handle connecting baggage? And of course throughput matters to connecting passengers too — perhaps even twice as much since they’re both arriving and departing by air.
Everything else, I think, is way down the list. The retail shopping experience is about raising revenue for the airport (and for airlines who may be sharing in that revenue). That’s why both DFW and Chicago O’Hare removed moving walkways — so that passengers would be less likely to skip by shopping.
Airport restaurants are mostly bad. Tortas Frontera at O’Hare is a notable exception. It’s important to be able to get food before a flight if you’ve rushed to the airport, and also quickly between flights – throughput for conveniently located restaurants is especially important at a banked hub.
To be sure there are things on my wish list for airports. Since I’m at the airport so frequently I’d love to be able to drop off and pick up dry cleaning (Austin’s valet parking offers this but I rarely drive and park), a drug store where I can fill prescriptions and pick up sundries, even a grocery to grab food to cook on the way home! It’s rather sad that Dallas Fort-Worth kicked out the airport barber shop.
I don’t much value the chapels but an airport clinic is nice.
Still, none of these things move the needle, at mot they’re tie breakers between airports that are:
- equally convenient to get to
- equally convenient to get through
- offer the same degree of through-put for planes and baggage, with needed facilities for efficient maintenance
And when ranking these things the facts on the ground make all the difference. Honolulu may be an incredibly on time airport, but is that because of the airport or because of the weather? I think each airport needs to be judged in the context of where it’s located.
What the TPG Airport Rankings Get Wrong
These rankings looked at the 50 busiest airports and came out with some perfectly reasonable results, and others that border on the absurd. For instance,
- Washington Dulles is the 19th best airport in the U.S., while the far-better Washington National is 29th. National airport is closer to the city, better connected to transportation, and — at least until ‘Project Journey’ is completed — security is close to the airport entrance, gates are close to security. It does everything you want an airport to do.
Meanwhile Dulles is an abomination. When metro to the airport is eventually completed, it will only drop you off near (not at) the airport. Taking the airport train to United gates and you’ll be dropped off nowhere near United gates. Instead the train stops where the airport once planned to eventually build a new concourse, but that’s nowhere in the near-term time horizon.
- Atlanta, their number four in the country, is one of the most corrupt and actively works to protect Delta from competition. That ought to be disqualifying. It’s also a sprawling complex making some connections time-consuming and cumbersome, and it’s some distance from the city in Atlanta traffic.
- Miami is the 12th best airport in the U.S., while Fort Lauderdale is third worst at 48? Almost anyone equidistant between the two in the region will prefer to fly out of Fort Lauderdale and avoid the mess that is Miami, with its crushing crowds, unhelpful staff, and erratic TSA. There are long walks inside of terminals, long walks to the train out to the rental car center, and insanely long walks to immigration. The lines for customs are absurd (though in fairness perhaps everyone coming into the airport is smuggling cocaine).
- LAX – which has much nicer facilities than it used to have – is a nightmare to get in and out of, both for arriving and departing passengers and for aircraft. Yet it’s listed a number 16.
- Filthadelphia is listed as 18th best.
- Dallas Love field at 37, Houston Hobby at 42, when I’d gladly fly out of either compared to their farther-out larger siblings which are ranked more highly.
- This list argues that New York JFK is better than Tampa, Minneapolis, DC, O’Hare, Denver, Boston, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, and Detroit – and 21 places better than closer-in New York LaGuardia. I’d choose any of the aforementioned airports over JFK any time.
New York JFK’s terminals aren’t well-connected, so an ‘additive approach’ to amenities there makes little sense. It suffers from New York airspace congestion and is difficult and time-consuming to get to.
- Delta’s former CEO Richard Anderson argued Detroit is the best airport in the world. Surely it has to be better than 47th in the U.S.
This comes down either to weighting the wrong things in the ranking, or weighting them inconsistently, it’s tough to know which without their making the data publicly accessible.
How Should You Rank the Best and Worst Airports?
Creators of the TPG airports list will argue that my priorities are off. They’d be wrong of course, but I think the only way to have this discussion is to start with basic principles and debate what an airport is supposed to do and then debate which airports do those things well.
My home town airport in Austin is great because it’s quick to get to and get through. The facility has become congested, though a 37.5% increase in gates that just opened helps.
San Diego, which TPG gives the nod to, is a choice worth discussing as best. Portland is a great airport. Phoenix is reasonably close to the city, though that’s probably all I can say in its favor.
If not for the intentional destruction of the Executive Terminal and closer of six other gates Dallas Love Field should be a contender, along with Washington National.
What are your choices for best and worst?
Tampa and Austin get my votes.
I don’t agree that FLL is better than MIA. FLL is a nightmare to transfer between terminals, and I have no lounge.
I’m admittedly absolutely biased by it being my home airport, my not knowing what it’s like to connect through it and my ignoring how weather there can mess up flight schedules, but I like San Francisco a lot. Easy to navigate, walks to gates not too long and mostly sufficiently roomy, decent food options, generally friendly folks servicing it, and a Bay Area Rapid Transit station right there so you can get to most parts of the Bay Area pretty easily and quickly.
Of those in other parts of the country I’ve traveled to a fair amount, I like Portland. But I find TSA there is often rude and inefficient for some reason.
I’ve mostly just connected through Dallas, but like it if I’m in one of the better terminals.
I don’t like any of the NYC airports, but would rank Newark last in that group. I’m not crazy about Boston, Chicago or Miami either.
ATL might be horribly corrupt but given they move over 100,000,000 people each year it’s pretty efficient. Of course it’s big but it’s very straightforward. 7 terminals all connected via a single straight train that runs every few minutes. All under one roof with enough clubs and amenities to satisfy most. And the traffic leading north to the city is much like any other large city. Take MARTA. It stops directly at the airport and can have you downtown quickly. It’s only about 8-10 miles. Back to the corruption: yeah, all of the other airports and their managing bodies are as pure as the proverbial driven snow. JFK, ORD? And using Austin and San Diego as comparison to Atlanta? Come on.
I like MIA a lot more than FLL. Very easy to get to from South Beach, if you fly AA and have Priority Pass you have access to three restaurants (one of them really good), and last but not least, you have nonstop flights from MIA to many international destinations (unlike FLL).
Number of nonstop destinations served by an airport should be a factor. PHX is far too lacking on longhaul international departures to be #2.
San Diego is great, you can step off the plane & be walking into your hotel room in less than 30 minutes if everything goes well.
Phoenix is my home airport. Some of it’s nice, most of it is ok, some of it is a dump. Generally clearing security is a less than 10 minute wait. Baggage handling could use some improvement. 30+ minute waits for luggage to come off are the norm in my experience
Rearding your statement concerning our fine Miami airport that ” The lines for customs are absurd (though in fairness perhaps everyone coming into the airport is smuggling cocaine).” Quit knocking the homeport – not everyone coming into MIA is smuggling cocaine – smuggling illegally mined gold is just as popular these days.
Seems I have to disagree with TPG rating the San Antonio Airport in the Top 50. This airport has denied Chick-fil-A restaurants on site in an attempt to appease the LBGTQ community and suppress freedom of religion. James Madison “The Father of the Constitution” and champion of religious freedom lost his nephew, James Madison Rose, at the Alamo fighting for Texas Liberty, not wimpy city council political correctness. SAT should be kicked out of the top 50 airports for dishonoring Texas and the defenders of the Alamo and the city council should be tarred and feathered like chickens and tossed into the San Antonio River.
Hey, Mr. Gary! A list might also consider those facilities with US Pre-Clearance..at least for arrivals.
Connectivity at JFK…I don’t get it, it’s mainly an O&D airport, who in their right mind connects there? If you are an AA or DL flyer, you have better options to connect.
TPG using number of lounges as a key criterion is beyond stupid. Many of the JFK ones are single airline use. 13 at EWR sounds okay until you realize that the (domestic/non-Polaris) lounge situation in C, where the majority of passengers are, is undoubtedly the worst of any major terminal/airport in the US.
TPG’s interesting but ultimately it’s down to ability to manage and grow capacity, if you want to avoid delays (airfield, terminal processing, ground access etc) which are the critical factor. SFO (my hometown airport) has some terminal capacity capability and nicer spaces but the airfield is pretty much capped. JFK needs a new runway but good luck there, and anyway it’s multi-terminal layout (rather like LAX) from the 50s is inefficient. Yes, those mobiles at IAD are a mess.
@Gary – These are most certainly subjective and impossible-to-please-everyone rankings, but I agree they can be done much better. I feel like these are never weighted in a way that would remove some of the natural biases in these rankings. Far more people are familiar with JFK/LAX/ORD/ATL than are with TPA/PDX/AUS/etc which often leads to those airports finding their way farther up the list even though they don’t deserve it. Rankings should be weighted according to the airports the respondent has visited in the last ~18 months. Other factors should be weighted as well. The majority of passengers flying through ATL or CLT aren’t going to Atlanta or Charlotte, so the distance from / connectivity to the city isn’t as important whereas 90% of people flying into TPA or COS aren’t connecting, so ease of connections isn’t that important. I totally agree that amenities are only valuable when they are easily accessible (a great restaurant in a different terminal that isn’t connected airside is worthless to me) and the number of lounges should be weighed against the likelihood of having access to said lounge. In the end, you’ll never make everyone happy, but TPA is objectively the best airport in the country, so there is that.
@UA-NYC – A host of foreign airlines use JetBlue to feed people to JFK for connecting flights around the globe. Delta also has a large domestic to international feed through JFK. FWIW, I generally avoid connecting there like the plague.
“everyone is smuggling cocaine” was enough to get me to unsubscribe from the RSS feed.
No one is answering the question Gary asked! C’mon folks…
Biased because it is my home airport, but DCA wins. It just works. Closer to the city than most any other major airport, quick security, TSA Pre and Clear at all checkpoints, lounges in all concourses. Good non lounge food, short walks, quick taxi line usually, and decent operations across the board.
I am also a huge fan of smaller midwestern airports, e.g. IND, CLE, DSM. Tons of space but low volumes so ops never get clogged up. Good dining, usually quick to get rental cars, friendly staff.
Agree w everything Gary wrote. Love my home airport SFO which has great food in all terminals and is easy to access by transit and otherwise. OAK is not bad either. DCA is definitely in top 5. IAH is not bad once you get there – ditto for DEN. LAS is close but awful inside.
“it’s some distance from the city in Atlanta traffic.”
I live in Atlanta and never require more than 20 minutes to/from home/airport no matter the traffic. People in the northern suburbs only have themselves to blame for shunning better transit options.
Love PVD. Easy to get to and from and lines are short. Growing number of destinations. Best kept secret in the Northeast.
@bill – after 5 years of commenting I guess my sense of humor has to wear on you eventually! sorry to hear that 🙁
One thing that I would like to see in more airport’s — and specifically airside — would be a good gym. Especially nice if like me you like to get to your home airport early, but also nice if you have a long layover. LAS McCarran used to have a gym airside — is it still there? Also LAX has a 24 hour fitness so close that it is possible to squueze in a workout there I’d you have say a two hour layover. Anyway would love to see more airport gyms!
Great piece, Gary. Couldn’t agree more that airports will be ranked differently based on the importance of different factors to individual travelers. How about a user-based survey that not only allows for a rating of categories but a ranking of categories in order of importance? I could be wrong but I’d bet great shopping would be low on the list.
Have to join in on the defense of MIA, though. As my home airport, I’d take it over FLL every single time. MIA is close to most of the city, parking is close to security, weather disruptions are not that frequent, and non- and 1-stop options around the globe are plentiful. In spite of being an AA fortress, international airlines are extremely well represented here. Lounge options for AA are now excellent – new ACs and FL + recently expanded Centurion Lounge (still ridic crowded, but that’s another column). Pre-check lines are never long and with GE I can get off an international flight and be home in 30 mins. What’s not to like?
But to be fair, if I were a tourist returning a rental car and flying DL or a non-US citizen landing in the afternoon bank of Euro arrivals, I might not be such a fan; so this is the perfect example of different priorities for different travelers.
Perhaps I’ve just taken too many flights out of D60…!
Gary: The “cocaine” comment made my day.
On the airport front, three things jump out at me.
First and foremost (as your picture implies), those mobile lounges at IAD are simply disqualifying, and the off-center rail link doesn’t help. Anyone who’s been there knows that. The TPG survey doesn’t pass even this most basic of common-sense tests.
Second, the analysis for a flyer’s “home” airport is simply different: DFW, for example, has four Admirals Clubs, which make other airport “amenities” irrelevant for originating passengers. On the flip side, parking becomes relevant only at a home airport (give or take Uber). So that makes another common-sense test flunked.
And third, the analysis for elites and frequent flyers is also simply different. For them, there are almost never any lines to speak of: they all have Global Entry or at least PreCheck.
But, hey, let’s all just pretend that one size fits all.
PHL hands down is my least favorite big airport. SAN is okay but horrible if renting a car. CLT is good as long as you do not have to connect to a regional flight out of the E gates.
DCA is one of the best
DTW is highly underrated, both the Delta terminal and the North terminal (AA, United, SWA, etc.).
Flights move in and out efficiently.
Lounges shouldn’t be a consideration in any “best airport” ranking. If you need to pay (or fly frequently) for a lounge to stomach an airport, then airport’s not up to much. I’ll use a lounge if it’s good and available, but I’m not buying a United Club membership nor getting the Club Card to escape all airport concourses.
And to that end PDX (my home airport) is my favorite, so TPG got that one right. I can get there 2 hours before departure, enough to rebook onto an earlier flight if something happens to mine. And I can do that while having breakfast at the Capers cafe for a very reasonable price (no airport uplift) with my laptop open and checking early morning email. And I can buy a healthy salad from the farmer’s market to eat on the plane. Even when I do have lounge access (international itineraries) I don’t use it because the airport facilities are just fine.
I also agree with those slamming TPG for their ranking of DTW. I use that airport quite a bit now and even the North Terminal is pretty decent. DTW isn’t the best by a long shot, but it’s way better than ATL, IAD, ORD, MIA, LAS and a lot on that list.
PDX is best, no contest
SAN is mediocre at best. Overrated in the TPG piece
MCI is terrible, but they are getting a new one reportedly
LGA is terrible. Not confident it will change even after $4 billion
I’ve flown international flights out of IAD for years, and haven’t had the same issues with this airport. O.K., the people mover train doesn’t drop customers off directly at the UA gates, so you’ll have a 5-10 minute walk to get to them. It’s honestly not that big of a deal. And I’ve been reasonably certain that European-bound flights will actually leave the airport during the winter months, something that can’t always be said for many other East Coast airports.
For local flights out of the D.C. area, the “gate 35x experience” at DCA can’t be beat as far as a bottom-of-the-barrel cattle line-up-and-board-the-bus-to-the-airplane experience! And the Metro ride into or out of DCA to catch a flight or travel to your hotel works fine – until it doesn’t, due to near-constant Metro track repairs and train breakdowns. But what else could you expect from a Metro system who’s new motto is “Back to good”?
Searac has a lot to recommend it. Transit is too slow but proximity to Seattle downtown is solid, and there’s a carpool lane which you get every time with rideshare or taxi.
All gates connected, efficient airside train, solid TSA, especially with PreCheck and Clear, even with just Pre. Food of many types. It’s a good airport
I disagree with your IAD and DCA comparison. It may be reasonable for someone that passes through, but as someone that lives in the DC metro area, DCA is a pain in the arse. Yes, you have to walk a lot in IAD, but there are tons of lounges, more (and cheaper) flights, more (and cheaper) nearby hotels, more (and cheaper) parking, and the list goes on. Speaking of metro… It sounds like a great option for the occasional user. As a every day user, it’s unreliable, has frequent maintenance issues, and has riders only because it is one of few options. Metro is a hostage situation! This is a negative for both DCA and IAD.
Find a flight out of DCA and I bet there is a cheaper option out of IAD. 90% of the time this is true. The only benefit of DCA is if you fly into DC and all your business is in DC, then its the closest.
You’re correct to distinguish the airport experience for OD passengers vs connections. But I’d go a step farther, and also look separately at origination vs destination passengers.
For example, DFW is terrific when you live there, as even non-premium non-precheck passengers can often get from car to gate in 10 minutes – and half that if you do have precheck. But passengers visiting the area will usually be renting a car, and that experience is awful, waiting on a dark dingy sidewalk for a long ride on a shuttle bus that all-too-often doesn’t run frequently or has to pass up passengers because it’s already full.
I find it amazing that with all the airports we have in this country, that there is so little public transport easily available to get there or from there. I live close to both Bradley and Logan-but I can get to JFK easier through public transport than either of the others. The Logan Express bus from my town ends at 5pm-how useful is that for a returning flight? So any international flights, I use JFK. I vote for DCA-I’ve flown in and out of there a number of times and have had no Metro issues. It’s the only place in the States where a subway stop is right at the airport. I’d also vote for San Diego-where you can catch a bus from the airport and pay $1 to get to the town as a senior. Lounges are great-but if you only have an hour or 90 minutes and the lounge is in the wrong terminal, forget it! I don’t care about shopping-it’s all overpriced! I want decently priced food that’s at least edible, and security I can get through quickly.
TPG’s rankings without the reasoning behind them make the ranking useless. For what it’s worth, here are my top factors for a good airport:
(1) ease of getting to/from the airport, especially without using taxi, ride share or car (rail mass transit is a definite plus);
(2) likelihood of delay due to weather, airport layout, or airline hub scheduling;
(3) ease of getting through security and to the gates;
(4) inter-terminal or intra-terminal connectivity — I.e., how easy is it to change planes there? DFW and MCI take hits here, as does MSP..
The rest is fairy dust and foo foo. I don’t care about shopping for stuff that is 30% higher priced inside the airport than outside the airport. And, few places have good food, and it’s usually not convenient to get to those from where I am if I am in the airport.
@ Stephanie Woods: Many airports have rail mass transit from terminal into center city, including ORD, MDW, CLE, PHL, and DEN. And I’m sure there are more that I am not aware of.
1) NO ONE is ever going to agree on what is the best (or worst) airport. a) We each have our own personal criteria — subjective at its core — by which we judge; and b) we can, of course, *only* know the airports we use ourselves. (Don’t ask me about ATL: while I can read news stories about how corrupt it is, or how busy it is, I’ve never been there myself.)
2) My problem with the TPG ratings is that, despite what they say, there is no transparency involved whatsoever ever in their rankings. They say they have expanded the criteria, changed the way they weigh the criteria, and yet provide zero specifics. Indeed, @Gary, you echo some of my own concerns/complaints with their rankings, albeit much better than I (in the comment I made on their original post). Ultimately as you say, it’s merely publicity for TPG — a way to get media coverage for their own blog/website.
3) Let me confess that I am one of those people who *do* get to the airport 90-120 minutes prior to departure (depending upon not only the airport I am departing from, but also where I am flying to). This is particularly true with early morning departures out of SFO (my home airport, along with OAK) although this is primarily due to commute traffic from the East Bay, and the need to take the parking shuttle from the remote lot to the airport terminal. (If I am flying on my own — i.e.: w/o my wife — I generally just take BART directly into the International Terminal, then the AirTrain to whichever terminal I am actually flying out of.) For *me* SFO is a breeze to get in and out of (being used to California traffic), and my biggest complaints are a) no Alaska Lounge in T2 — of course there was no Virgin America lounge either, so it’s not as if the situation is any worse; and b) the restaurants serving breakfast would open at 5am, not 6, which is often too late for several departing flights. And despite SFO’s reputation for weather delays due to Karl the Fog, I haven’t experienced that more than once of twice in the past 19 years; I’ve experienced more delays due to weather at my arrival destination (or somewhere between here and there), causing slowdowns in departures from SFO. As for OAK, it’s even easier to drive in-and-out of…and there’s an In-n-Out close by!
4) The criteria outlined above is far more realistic, and far more inline with my own personal criteria, for evaluating airports:
— how easy it is to get “in and out” of the airport quickly and easily;
— how easy is it to get through security and to the gate;
— how easy is it to get a seat at the gate, and to “plug in” (if needed) to make sure your devices are charged up prior to boarding;
— the ability to get better-than-decent food, in a hurry if need be, at one’s leisure if time permits;
— and LAST, access to a more-than-decent lounge IF time permits (and if one has access in some way).
Jacksonville Florida should be on the BEST list..easy access,easy and cheap parking,good SC and a Vino Volo and other nice eating venues!!also easy rental car access.. vs trying to get to rental cars in SFO,SAN,PVD and a few others is a true nightmare…NOT customer friendly at all!!!
@Gary: You completely left out the crucial feature of convenience of car rental. Moving it to a centralized “off-airport” corral can add an hour to the total journey time and every visitor flying into a city to then get out of it has to rent a car. Case in point: SFO for wine country.
@dot —> This is the PERFECT example of what I was referring to when it comes to personal criteria. According to flightmemory.com, I have flown in to or out of SFO nearly 250 times in my life. Not once have I ever rented a car there. So whether it’s the easiest thing in the world to rent a car there, or the world’s worst pain-in-the-a$$ experience, not only would I not know, but it would also be irrelevant to my own judgement/personal rankings of airports. And since I have never flown into or out of JAX…
Cheers.
@Gary: DFW did not expel the barber. The barber’s shop left after deciding not to renew their lease.
BTW: How many times did you use it?
Gary I 100% disagree with you about Fort Lauderdale/Miami comparison. MIA is a ‘real’ airport with restaurants, several lounges, a fantastic Flagship Lounge, a huge immigration and customs area. In fact, two different areas depending on which terminal one flies into.
In MIA, there are three Admirals Clubs, one Flagship Lounge, one Centurion Lounge, a Sky Club, a Avianca Lounge, A LATAM Lounge, another priority pass lounge and many full service sit down restaurants. In FLL, there is one Delta SkyClub (in a terminal connected to nothing else). Sit down restaurant at FLL? Chili’s “too” at best. No other lounges in FLL for the majority of airlines. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No lounges, no restaurants, horrific TSA lines.
Now for immigration in FLL – you have probably not read the horror stories of folks arriving into FLl being forced to sit on planes for HOURS before even getting to a gate only to find multiple more hours at immigration then customs. The airport does not have enough capacity to handle the volume.
Outbound delays are just a bad at FLL as the airport has far more traffic than it can handle.
Now there are some good things about FLL. The rental car center is nice as is the parking in general. I give them credit for that above MIA.
MIA has FAR more services and amenities available. It is a much more comfortable airport to fly out of. The clubs which are available on each concourse (maybe G is an exception, but will be gone soon) make the experience really nice. There are long long walks in MIA I will admit, but FLL has just as many long walks between concourses with no alternate options. At least in MIA there is the sky train. I personally just walk as I like to get the exercise before or after a flight.
I live near FLL, yet will always go to MIA to get a much better experience. I can take the train which goes directly into the rental center then an easy train ride directly into the terminal itself. No bus to deal with. At FLL, it’s a sloppy bus from the train. Easily adds another half hour to wait for the bus then deal with traffic.
FLL is a poor comparison to MIA.
Has anyone experienced getting a checked bag from DCA (on AA) lately? The last 2 time I’ve come in there, no bags (I mean NONE of the bags) make it to the carousel (even though the screen says it will have my flight”s luggage). The bags have been outside the American Airlines luggage desk, cordoned off with those lane dividing poles and straps they have in ticking. I don’t really know how they get it there, because I haven’t been watching that space (I probably will going forward).
As most of my feelings have been echoed by commenters above, I only have 1 new thing to add:
Tortas Fronteras is so incredibly overrated. I can’t stand eating there anymore beacuse even though it is good, all I can think about while eating it is how people gush over it so much and it is just…fine.
Best: PIT and DTW; Worst: ORD and MDW with CLT coming in third. PIT and DTW are easy to get in and out of, easy to get around once inside. ORD, MDW, and CLT are cramped and take forever to get from one place to another and finding a seat at the gate is next to impossible. The more runways ORD adds the longer it take to get either to the terminal/gate on arrivals or the same getting to a runway outbound.