News and notes from around the interweb:
- The 10 Worst Airports in the U.S. (HT: Paul H) Silliness! Only Miami and Philadelphia are reasonably-ranked. Washington National and San Francisco airports are among the very best in the country. Denver isn’t #10 worst, it’s the worst. Here are the actual best and worst.
Security at Denver is regularly a mess. The train to the concourses breaks down frequently. The place is too far from the city. It’s a fine place to be as long as you’re a connecting passenger, and not changing terminals.
- United’s million mile recognition is so good.
- 30% bonus on transfers from Citi ThankYou points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club through May 31
- Former Etihad CEO James Hogan is now an investor in Global Airlines. Hogan (1) likes ambitious premium ideas and (2) seems comfortable with ideas that lose money. He’s kind of the Masa Son of airlines?
- Don’t try this at home kids.
This guy pranked his wife on the way to the airport pic.twitter.com/IReG4QIpBS
— ✪ Evil Tean ✪ (@vileTexan) May 1, 2025
- Amtrak Director of Network Planning and Engineering indicted for bribery
The indictment alleges that, from about 2015 through 2021, Thompson engaged in bribery schemes with each of three companies who were his favored vendors in the Amtrak contracting process — Awarity, Arch Technology, and 20/20 Teknology, owned by Co-schemer #2. In each of these schemes, as alleged, Thompson repeatedly shared proprietary Amtrak bid information and other documents with his favored vendors before Amtrak contracts were awarded, giving the favored vendors advantages in the Amtrak contracting processes.
The indictment further alleges that Thompson likewise collaborated with them on bid and contracting documents, manipulated bidding lists, and structured existing contractual relationships, so that his favored vendors would get lucrative subcontracting deals and bypass Amtrak’s competitive bidding process.
- 20% transfer bonus from Capital One to Qantas through May 31. Qantas offers significantly more premium cabin award availability using its own points versus partner airline points like Alaska or American miles. Not cheap, though!
I’m glad that Frommers didn’t put LAX on its bottom 10 list. LAX, my home airport, often gets a bad rap. Yes, there is often bad traffic, and yes, the City of Los Angeles is incompetently run. But overall, the airport is predictably satisfactory. Our great weather means that ATC holds, more often than not, are related to the other airport. None of the terminals are so large and unwieldy that intra-airline connections are difficult. I rarely wait more than a couple of minutes for security (I do have both CLEAR and pre-check, and both UA and DL – my most frequent airlines – offer dedicated CLEAR pre-check queues throughout the day starting at 4am). The terminals are connected airside for inter-airline transfers. Terminal parking is expensive, as it is in most major airports, but if you pre-book and pre-pay, as I do, you can save as much as 75% off the $60/day “rack rate.” And with that parking being steps from baggage claim, it is actually convenient (and worth the price as I value convenience). DL and UA have fairly new terminal interiors with decent lounges, including a UA Polaris and DL 1 lounge. There are decent restaurant offerings as well, with (HMS Host operated) outposts of many iconic LA restaurants. And with all 3 major airlines, UA, DL, and AA, having hubs at LAX (and with each having a similar 15-18% of market share), prices tend to be reasonable and competition is good. No one has a fortress hub by which pax can basically be held hostage.
I routinely transit through SFO, DEN, and IAH, and my LAX experiences far exceed those in the other 3 airports.
@ Gary — My +1 reaches UA MM in <6 months! Looking forward to the moment. 🙂
Congratulations to the City of Denver and the management team at the Department of Aviation, which manages Denver International Airport (DEN), for being recognized as the worst airport in the United States. Can Denver also win the title of the worst airport in the world?
@ Gary — Well, at least ATL didn’t make the list. I think ATL, along with DCA, TPA and SFO are the the best airports in America. I’m surprised not to see LAX and IAD on the worst list. LAX, like JFK, is horrible for connections between different airlines, and IAD is just BAD.
I also like LAX a lot but the terminal 4 remodel is just awful. So slow. So much walking. So not useful. Analogic everywhere.
O’Hare didn’t make the list, that is interesting because it almost always makes these worst list of airports from various sources.
If any readers here reach UA MillionMiler, please share your story. Watching the clip here, I am a bit shocked that that is all this flyer got. It should be something more, ie. a box of chocolate, a bottle of champaign, etc. Is that all he got?
@Gary Wow! Excellent use of a subjective airport ranking to counter a subjective airport ranking. LOL! 😉
Everyone values something different about an airport and everyone places different emphasis on different things. My focus on on-time performance is Carlos’s focus on WiFi, is Jodi’s focus on healthy food options, is Pat’s focus on parking.
But, FWIW, DEN is one of my least favorite O&D airports. So far from downtown Denver it might as well be in Kansas and the security scheme is an unfixable sh!tshow. Connections are fine, though.
@ T — Yes, that and his chosen co-habitant can now be UA Gold for life (BFD). The reality is kinda pathetic.
I still have PTSD from the winter storm in DEN a few years ago.
The old pre-renovation DEN was great. Then they wasted a decade refreshing aesthetics when they should have focused on capacity. Meanwhile, every frat boy and his sister moved to DEN until the crowding is LA level
What do you expect at MIA when the bid process last for years and then after 10 rounds you wound up with the least qualified vendor/contractor with close ties/relatives to “The Boys Downtown”.
Looks like Daniel K Inyoue airport inn Honolulu is off the list.
It usually was number one or two.
SFO is the best airport in the U.S. and that’s even with the current construction issues.
@John Robert Stone you didn’t see O’Hare because it’s vastly improved from 10 years ago. There are now 6 parallel runways and the gates to manage the traffic. T5 added 10 new gates and the City of Chicago has broken ground on construction for the new Global Terminal that will change the face of ORD for the next 50 years. Good things are happening in Chicago.
Denver isn’t that bad with the exception of their security mess. LGA is the worst, next to maybe the Southwest terminal at Miami.
I feel like the security line situation at SEA deserves a dishonorable mention.
I also don’t feel like DEN is particularly bad as long as you accept it’s effectively in Nebraska and plan accordingly. (If you discover you’re going to get there way too early, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge nearby has a nice wildlife drive where you can usually see prairie dogs and buffalo)
After 30 years, can we just admit DIA was a failure and focus instead on razing the failing Stapleton subdivision in favor of a compact Midway/Love/Hobby-style municipal O&D airport instead?
The city of Denver and it’s airport are an example of how DEI causes massive failures by prioritizing the wrong issues. Millions of dollars have been wasted due to incompetence. The voters are getting what they asked for let them suffer the consequences.
@ DaninMCI — New LGA is way better than old LGA!
DFW, LAX, and ORD are far worse then DEN, especially if making a connection through them.
The authors of this article are way off base.
DEN does suck. I know several of the people that were leading it while making the billon dollar upgrade disaster decision. All have since left CO. Kim Day wanted her way, and a 2 AM closed Denver board meeting pushed it thru.
TBF the picture shows the old security configuration, not the new which is much faster.
Now if they could tackle the horrible bathrooms, constantly broken escalators and trains, baggage delivery system that takes 30 to 45 min to get your bag and end the going on 4 years construction, that would be nice.
I am sorry. I have been traveling into and out of Denver International Airport for the past 12 years 2-4 times per month. With the recent new security gates at level 6, I nearly walk thru security. Fast, efficient and polite. Once the north security gates are open, will even be better. And the new United lounges are excellent.
Have any of you actually flown in the US? DEN is far from the worst. Getting through security never takes all that long. JFK is godawful, especially returning international flights. Shreveport Airport is quite possibly the worst in the country. AUS is hit or miss, unless you end up in the South Terminal, then you’re going to always have a bad time. DFW is ok, but if you are on a tight timeline the tram between terminals making catching the next flight nervewracking. Abject nonsense.
Newark has to be the worst, old crowded dirty terminals, delays all the time. It is a horror show.
I have flown in and out of Denver many times. The train from downtown is reliable & reasonably priced. Transiting is also good. I have never had delays, lost luggage or any other problem.
When I saw the title I couldn’t help think of Alec Baldwin’s line from Glengarry Glen Ross: “Second place… a box of steak knives.”
I came here just to see @Denver Refugee’s comment as it is his namesake and I was not disappointed.
@Gene is absolutely right, the new LGA is incredible, all the new lounges, everything. One of the best airports in the country currently.
The new Terminal A at EWR is also exceptional. People gotta get out and experience these so that they don’t think it’s still like it was in the 1990s.
In my mind there should be two lists: worst airports to fly to or from and worst to connect through.