An airport is not supposed to be a mall with gates. If you’re at the airport, you’re trying to get somewhere – quickly – you are flying, not taking a bus. So a great airport is one that gets you to it, through it, and out of it as fast and efficiently as possible.
- how easy is it to reach the airport from where people actually are? An airport close to downtown with direct rail access is great. An airport that requires a long drive, an expensive transfer, or a shuttle to reach the terminal is not so good.
- How much of a schlepp is the airport once you arrive? Is security by the entrance with gates close after screening, or does the airport force long walks, trains to remote concourses, bus gates, and layouts mean you’re traversing the airport for as much time as you’re flying?
- How well does the operation run? Bureau of Transportation Statistics data is useful, though not only. On-time performance and cancellations are part of the picture, but that is also a function of weather and which airlines have a significant presence there. It’s also runway and taxiway configuration, too.
Aiport access, passenger throughput, and operational reliability are much more important than pretty terminal. However, there are some minimum standards. Airports should be clean; offer sufficiently staffed food and sundries options for travelers staying a variety of lengths of time; have decent lounge and shower facilities if international connecting gateways; and offer enough space around gates with seating, power ports, and wifi. But these are secondary to getting you in and out quickly.
The Best Airports in America
With this criteria in mind, these are the actual best airports in the United States.
- Washington National Airport is close to downtown, with metro connected directly to the airport. The airspace and operating environment can be constrained, both in terms of congestion and allowable routes. River visual approach is very cool – just look out the window – but any deviation can scramble fighter jets or at a minimum cause a diversion. You’ve got the White House and Capitol immediately adjacent.
This airport is easy to get to, through and out of. And it happens to have some great lounges, even – Capital One’s Landing is arguably the best lounge food in the United States. There’s a Centurion lounge, the nicest American Airlines Admirals Club on the E concourse (the first that was done in their new aesthetic) and there are Delta and United clubs. The United Club is actually the airport’s old formal dining room, a very cool (albeit small) space that could use a refresh.
- San Francisco is relatively close-in, and BART goes directly to the airport (ignore or avoid the homeless). The drawback is the runway layout: in poor visibility, arrival rates fall sharply because the parallel runways are too close together for normal simultaneous operations. Now, the FAA is cutting operations by forbidding simultaneous landings across their runways. That’s going to make the airport a lot less convenient, more congested and more delayed.
Arguably, the attached Grand Hyatt San Francisco Airport is the best airport hotel in the United States.
- San Diego remains one of the country’s most useful airports because it is close in and simple. It doesn’t have direct rail, but compact footprint makes it easy to get around.
- Portland has the MAX Red Line going straight to the terminal and runs every 15 minutes or better most of the day. It’s not super far from downtown. And it also happens to have good maps and signage and a sense of place, too. But that doesn’t trade off with accessibility. So getting to it and through it are easy.
Also good are Chicago Midway, Houston Hobby and maybe surprisingly Boston which has real public transit access, including the Silver Line serving terminals and a workable Blue Line connection. It’s home to the first U.S. Chase lounge and is getting a Centurion and JetBlue lounge. And it’s worth giving credit to Minneapolis and Detroit also.
Boston Logan
Chicago Midway
The Worst Airports In America
Here are my 8 picks, all are worse than Atlanta!
- Denver is the clearest case for worst in the country. It is far from where people are. The ride from downtown is long. Most passengers are dependent on the train to the concourses and those keep breaking down. The airport has repeatedly struggled with security problems. It is a bad local airport even before you get to weather or airline issues.
Denver’s airport has been a disaster for the past 30 years – since the time leading up to its opening. Case studies in failure have been written about its baggage handling system.
The airport is terrible to get to and from, and to get out to its gates and back, for local passengers. In fairness, if you’re only using it as a connecting airport the experience isn’t nearly so bad. And the lounges, though crowded, are good! You have both Capital One and Centurion lounges and these are the best collection of United lounges, too.
- Newark is a mess both structurally and operationally. Access has always been challenging. The existing AirTrain is old and being replaced, but the replacement is years away.
- New York JFK is fragmented and bad at the basic job of being an airport. The AirTrain helps only in the sense that it exists. Terminals are disconnected. It’s a terrible airport to get to. It’s a terrible airport to connect between terminals at. They keep forcing passengers to bus to take transit to get an Uber.
And several terminals are dilapidated. Lots of lounge options in terminal 4 to wait out your inevitable delays, though. Tough luck if you’re flying domestically on not-Delta, though.
- Miami combines long distances with a worn-down feel. Concourse D is notoriously long, and Miami still too often feels like an airport that treats walking a mile to your gate as normal. They’re just taunting us with their signage that MIA stands for ‘Modernization In Action’.
- LAX has improved only enough to stop being the automatic answer. The Los Angeles Metro Transit Center is open, but passengers still need a shuttle connection to the terminals until the people mover opens and that was supposed to happen three years ago. The airport is unpleasant to get to and get out of. Traffic is terrible, circulation is terrible, and standard rideshare was moved off-airport to the LAX-it lot which most passengers take a slow bus to which first stops at all terminals.
- Charlotte deserves to be in the bottom tier because the place has outgrown itself. It’s a medium-sized airport forced to cosplay as a major hub. The ceilings are low and corridors packed solid body to body. There’s no room at the gate.
And it’s a terrible walk from American’s E regional concourses to the B and C gates. E has nothing redeeming about it. Planes also too often get trapped in the alleyways so that published short connections are rarely possible. The Admirals Clubs are packed solid and bottom-tier. Charlotte has a nice Delta Sky Club, though. And rocking chairs, I guess.
- Washington Dulles is far from the city and once you make it there you’re nowhere near your gates. The airport train dumps you off nowhere near United gates, and it’s a United hub. They built the train stop where a new terminal is supposed to be, but it’s been over 15 years – and the temporary midfield concourse has been in service for 45.
- Philadelphia also known as Filthadelphia. The walks are terrible. The place is run down. It does have a good Chase lounge (and the worst American Express one).
Overrated And Underrated
There are airports that aren’t among the worst or the best but where public perception of them just doesn’t match their actual quality or utility. I think the best example of this is New York LaGuardia, surely the most overrated airport in the country, because how of decrepit the buildings used to be and because of… a water feature?
This should not be controversial, even though it will be.
The rebuilt LaGuardia is far prettier than the old one. It is a nicer place to wait. That is not the same thing as being a better airport. The renovation did not solve the core problem: there is still no direct rail service into the terminal complex. You are still depending on buses. The airport is still constrained operationally. And the new terminals often require longer walks than the ugly but more compact old version.
At LaGuardia, much of the investment went into making the airport feel more upscale while leaving the underlying transportation problems unsolved. It went from a dump that was still easy to get through, with security by the entrances and gates right behind those checkpoints, to a suburban shopping mall with much longer walks.
To be sure, the old Central Terminal was ugly and leaking.
Yet for all the renovation, we didn’t get the airport any better connected to the city, and we didn’t get an additional runway. Instead, we traded the future stream of retail income for more attractive buildings. I will die on the hill that this was the wrong way to prioritize limited resources. Yet the airport is now hailed as a marvel.
Perhaps the most underrated airport in America is Chicago Midway. Also consider Houston Hobby.
People underrate Midway because they compare it to O’Hare’s flight options rather than to the actual job of an airport. The rail connection is direct. The airport is compact. You do not spend your trip crossing a zip code to reach your gate.
You left out Miami airport’s very best and very worst points:
There is some really great airport food on the concourses!
The chaos people moving through the terminal—everyone from the passengers, airport employees walking/pushing wheelchairs/driving golf carts—most of them don’t subscribe to the American convention of keep right+pass left (or left = fast, right = slow); instead they go by the chaos theory of “just go wherever I please.” The motorized ones often subscribe to the law of gross tonnage rather than the law of “yield to pedestrians in what is primarily a foot traffic area.” Next time you’re there, watch the robot wheelchairs closely. Even these veer across the centerline so that they device is driving on *its* left. I think the programmers deliberately did that so that the robots would imitate the human operator behavior at that airport.
All airports are pretty bad for the left/right thing but MIA is much worse than average.
I do love the food choices though, and I’m saying that as a guy who normally shuns airport food.
LGA is not overrated – consider the other choices for NYC …. JFK and EWR are worse. The one eyed is king amongst the blind.
LGA isn’t overrated. It actually did get better connected with the free Q70 bus. It’s the only NYC airport that costs only a normal subway fare to get to and from. JFK/EWR charge out the posterior for an AirTrain which goes down more frequently than a sorority girl during rush.
Which LGA? The old LGA… sure, awful. The new LGA… it’s literally one of the best airports in the USA right now. EWR Terminal A is also excellent. JFK is undergoing a lot of construction, but once it’s finished new T1, T6/7 are gonna rock your socks off, dawg.
ATL should be on the list of best airports. It has a brilliant, decades-ahead of-its-time, design, with fast security and a great train. It is also close to downtown. It connects directly by subway to downtown, midtown and Buckhead.
Domestic lounges matter very little, especially if you are seeking to save time. Ideally, you shouldn’t spent more than 15-30 minutes in a domestic lounge. Yeah, some are marginally better than others, but none are worth any sunstantial time. They are all filled with hogs at the trough.
Love DCA, BOS and SFO. CLT is horrible in that yes….it’s outgrown itself. And I don’t like the clubs anymore because they are way too crowded. And some people think they are at their house and NOT in a public space.
@ 1990 — Gary prefers a dump that requires a 1-minute walk vs a gorgeous airport with a 20-minute walk. I’m with you. I’ll take the new LGA over the old one every time. The walk is great exercise!
For a 50-year-old airport, Tampa is still amongst the easiest to get around. From your car to the gate, it is less walking than going between two gates at Miami (then again, walking between your gate and customs at MIA seems further than just walking home – even if you live in Atlanta!)
How many people have seen the new PIT? They did an amazing job with the new terminal. Feels like a modern airport.
I concur, MIA sucks.
The new PDX is gorgeous, too, security a breeze. It just got a new Escape Lounge (accepts priority pass) that’s quite nice, showers and all. They also have a rule where everything sold in the airport can’t be more expensive than it would be off-airport. Do a good job of prioritizing local joints as well. I generally find it underrated, since it’s off the beaten path. Glad you also appreciate it.
There’s one airport that stands out in my mind as being relatively pleasant – and that’s BUF. Granted it might not have the most amenities but it’s modern and clean, and not too big.
And for the person that said that LGA is the only airport you can get to with a standard transit fare, it is in fact possible to get to/from JFK with a standard transit fare as well, if you take one of the buses that serves Lefferts Blvd AirTrain station, which does not require a fare – unlike Jamaica or Howard Beach.
If you are going from Midtown or LIC, you take the E train to Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike and then take the Q10 bus to the Lefferts. The ride from Kew Gardens to Lefferts isn’t exactly short (40 minutes plus or minus) but it’s manageable and kind of interesting.
If you are coming from Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn, take the 3 train to New Lots Avenue and then the B15. Travel time to Lefferts station from New Lots might be less than 20 minutes in good traffic.
@ Ron — TPA is a great airport. It was better before some army of consultants told them to move the rental cars 20 minutes away. Now, we just take a rideshare.
About Dulles, the other train that is too far away is the Metro train. It’s a long walk from the airport, and once you are there, it takes a long time to get to north-eastern DC and Montgomery County. The mobile lounges need to be removed. Now that the current Administration has got involved, hopefully we’ll see some meaningful positive changes sooner than the 15 years being promised by the airport authority.
LaGuardia is a beautiful airport now. If you are flying Delta, it takes a very long time to get from one end of the terminal to the other – a train inside the airport would be helpful.
I think Newark isn’t as bad as you make it out to be, but the last time I went there, it was a very long walk from the Terminal A station to the rental counters. Has that changed? One of the nice things about the airport is that it’s connected to Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.
Denver is a nice airport, but as you say, way too far from Denver. The previous airport was very close. A nice feature is the gas station that is convenient for those returning rental cars.
Austin Airport has long walks if you are flying Delta. The planned improvements will change that. There is also a long walk between the airport entrance and the car rental center. When the airport first opened, the car rental counters were right next to the airport. That space has been replaced with other operations, and you now have to cross the entire area that used to be the car rental facility in order to pick up your car. I suppose it’s better than the alternative, which is having to get a bus. There can also be heavy traffic as you approach the airport, which is surprising given that it was built in an area where they could have laid out any roads they wanted to minimize traffic. Maybe that will change in time too.
I would put SEA Tac ahead of Portland. Great rail to downtown. A wonderful glass wall high ceiling food court which is a wonderful spot for those who don’t have lounge access.
As well I put LAX completely out of the worst category now as TBIT is beautiful and all terminals connected airside and good lounges. I always like to drop by Star Alliance Lounge when flying short hop up the coast to YVR or even the solid Delta lounge
As an AA guy JFK T8 is not awful. I keep an AC membership, which helps for domestic travel and when traveling with friends/family. For domestic travel seldom have I had to schlep back from the AC to the main terminal, most domestic flights go from the 30-40 gates. And when traveling internationally the BA/AA lounges are great.
Back in the day I had BA Gold too, which for domestic travel got me into the (then) Flagship lounge, which is now Greenwich. I would be peeved if I still had it and all that was available now is the AC.
I absolutely agree with Gary—Washington National Airport (DCA) is truly the crown jewel of U.S. airports. I mean, who needs Paris Charles de Gaulle or Singapore Changi when you can experience the blinding glamour of connecting from MCI, setting foot in the undeniable prestige of DCA, and then jetting off to the electrifying metropolis of DTW? Truly, a bucket-list journey for the discerning traveler.
This past Good Friday, I was blessed (truly, hashtag-blessed) to arrive at the legendary gate E46—a spot so exclusive, so shrouded in luxury, that as Gary so eloquently puts it, it boasts “the nicest American Airlines Admirals Club on the E concourse.” Yes, that’s right, the E concourse! If you know, you know. But wait, don’t let your monocle drop just yet. I have an unpublished, absolutely mind-blowing fun fact: American Airlines, in their infinite generosity, graces the Admirals Club in E with two-ply toilet paper. Not one, but TWO plies. Eat your heart out, Ritz-Carlton and Delta Air Lines. Of course, this extravagance is sustainable, given that the AC in the DCA D terminal has been out of commission for months due to “remodeling.” No expense spared, except for, you know, actual amenities, comfort, or a functioning Admirals Club lounge in the D terminal near my D40 departure gate.
Both local and regional public transportation are important to me. I don’t care how much walking is required inside the terminals. I appreciate the exercise. For me Chicago O’Hare is good while Tampa is terrible.
There are, to me, two questions. One is what is a great/ bad home airport. That is irrelevant to me. I’m not choosing where I live based on that,. The second issue revolves around how good an airport is for connecting. You might like BOS as a home airport, but it sucks as an international gateway if you need to go from A to E on DL. DTW is great as a connecting airport, as is ATL, where, unlike DEN, a broken train doesn’t really affect you. Most airports for connecting are neither great or lousy. I actually care more about concessions.
The landing in LGA is splendid. Everything else is meh
@Gary: Love Field, Dallas. DAL is a winner on all scores.
SFO has too-slow TSA.
If there ever was a topic that was subjective and hell and solely based upon one’s own personal experience, this is it.
I live in Berkeley.. OAK is the closest airport, and generally one I avoid. BART goes into OAK — well, into its parking lot (rather than SFO where it goes directly into the terminal) — but requires transferring to a different train/people mover for an additional fee. And once you’re there, you’re stuck at OAK. Few amenities, lounges, or restaurants. (Well, OK: Fenton’s.)
I vastly prefer SFO, even with the delays from fog (not the airport’s fault), the 750-foot separation between runways (predates my time; not sure why they are so close together, but I’ll blame SFO), and the upcoming FAA disastrous change in flight rules. The international terminal has great food options and art exhibits, not to mention lounges. Same with T1. T2 is good, and I have no doubt T3 will be when the remodel is complete. BART is an easy way to get there, but driving also is relatively easy. Long-term parking is a cinch, and the two AirTrain lines are swift, efficient, and frequent.
I remember when LAX had a single level, before going “double-decker.” It was a mess then, and it’s worse now. At CLT, I *once* had to go from E to the A gates, and now I will do anything to avoid passing through CLT. I used to fly in and out of MDW when I lived in Chicago, but now can’t avoid ORD. (I don’t mind the airport itself, but the journey from/to Chicago sucks; so, too, IAD.) I like DCA and LGA, but recognize that JFK is a necessary evil…
The only “distant” airport I don’t seem to mind is LHR, as the “Heathrow Express” is clean, comfortable, convenient, and cost-efficient…but that’s not in the US.
Missing a critical point on LGA…
Spending on the new terminal did not take away funds for the rail. They’ve been unable to reach consensus on a rail concept, so they plowed ahead on the terminal anyway.
They’re still debating an N subway extension vs an Airtrain to Jamaica.
Governor Cuomo wanted to put rail to LGA, but after he was railroaded out of office, his replacement succumbed to nearby homeowners and caved. Just reserved a spot at Terminal C parking for a 2 day trip to CMH at a cost of $160, but better that RT uber or cab ride.
I love it because it’s still better than Newark or Kennedy, and the AMEX lounge is great.
@Joe – the ‘unable to reach consensus on rail’ underscores what’s wrong in how the U.S. builds, too many veto points in the process that drives up cost and timeline. But it absolutely trades off with rail and a new runway even though those would necessarily be far in the future, because the income stram off the terminals for a given period of time can only be dsold once
So airports where Fatty has to walk more are bad? Got it. Maybe you could get a ‘lifestyle’ scooter like Cartman.
@Jason- CLT has made a particularly great improvement among its ongoing improvements (all big airports have ongoing improvements projects; renovation work is never truly done). The particular improvement of which I speak is the bottleneck where the D and E hallways and the main atrium meet: the old floorplan pinched foot traffic down to a tight space right there, but in the last couple of years they’ve moved around some interior walls and the old bottleneck is gone.
I’m sure that when the D and E terminals were first proposed, the architects were like, “hey, this is a bad idea to build this part ‘right here’ to a hallway that’s less than ten feet wide, we need to make this part wider, we shouldn’t build a world-class airport with a defect such as this bottleneck” and the project overlords were like “oh don’t be silly, it’s fine, let’s build it like that anyway.”
[Morgan Freeman narrative voiceover] but the architects weren’t being silly, they were being sensible, but their suggestions were ignored, so for the following decades the travelers had to jostle through that bottleneck…
Fully agree with DCA (my home airport). If folks can name another major airport serving a population center of over 5 million people where you can reilably get from curb to gate in under 10 minutes, I’m all ears.
*reliably* – pardon the typo.
I think IAD is more of a mixed bag. C\D is terrible, and as noted, the train stop was put a half mile away near a yet to be built new terminal. On the other hand, you can walk from main terminal to A\B, which is bright and cheerful, with great lounges. And while it is far from downtown, IAD is close to the growing center of Northern Virginia.
In all my years flying into MIA and then going to pick up a car rental, never ever had all the moving walkways been working.
I’d say half to three quarters have been out of order constantly.
And no fun dragging luggage over carpet when the very narrow walkways are AOG. Padded vinyl tile would be so much better and easier to maintain.
Nothing screams more than we don’t care about the user.
Simple fixes, come on MIA!
LCY. Wrong country but exactly what Gary wants. Exciting takeoff and landings, minimal functional amenities, train station literally outside the airport door. I’ve got off the plane and on the train in 7 minutes.
ATL should’ve been on the worst airports list.
Literally a southern trailer park with about 6 double wides lined up across from each other.
@Gregsdc
DFW any day or time of the week. It was designed in the old MCI style when the entire idea was curb to gate
Midsized airports:
Excellent: Wichita and Harrisburg.
MCI is freshly remodeled and nice, plus they do NOT have TSA screeners. That experience alone moves it up several notches.
Good to know, @Plane Jane. Like many others, I have transited DFW more times than I can remember, but I’ve only ever arrived locally once or twice, and that was to the rental car drop-off.
@Gene — I’m convinced Gary posts this article occasionally as engagement bait. And clearly it’s effective!
@Ken A — Bless you, sir. Never stop.