An airport’s purpose is to help you get somewhere. So the best airports are the ones which do that most efficiently.
- They are easy to get to (close to where people are coming from and going, with convenient transportation options)
- They are easy to get through (parking and rental car return near the terminal, security near the airport entrance, and gates near security, an efficient baggage system so that airlines that try to deliver bags quickly like Delta and Alaska may do so)
- They are easy for planes to get in and out of quickly (no congested alleys, sufficient taxi and runway capacity)
High-end retail helps pay for an airport, since the airport is taking a cut of sales (and often the airlines are, too). But the shopping experience isn’t integral to what makes a great airport.
Airports should also 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.
What’s The Best Airport In The United States For A Major City?
My favorite U.S. airport is Washington National. It is close to the city center, well-connected by public transit, and all connections at the airport can be made on foot (going to or from Southwest, Frontier, Air Canada and other airlines requires re-clearing security).
It’s a beautiful facility, with my favorite American Airlines lounge, plus United and Delta lounges, as well as options from American Express and Capital One.
American Airlines Admirals Club, E Concourse
Capital One Landing
Even the terminal 1 ‘banjo’ has its charms, even if it lacks for amenities.
And the historic lobby is a special place. Too bad it’s now just used for events.
Now that they’ve gotten rid of gate 35X, and connected all of the terminal 2 concourses behind security, it’s the airport is a much better experience overall. I don’t like backups into passenger chutes to exit into baggage claim, and I don’t like slot controls, but overall my complaints about this airport are few.
Notably, Washington’s Dulles airport does not offer nearly this same experience. It is far from the city. Once you reach the airport you’re still nowhere near your gates. And the major tenant of the airport, United, still operates out of ‘temporary’ gates built in the 1980s.
What’s The Worst Major City Airport In America?
Passengers in the American Airlines D terminal spent months walking up to a mile between gates because of safety issues with the terminal’s train. With DCA’s gate 35X gone, there may be no worse gate in America than Miami’s D60.
Yet surely the Denver airport is actually much worse. It’s nowhere near the actual city of Denver. It has the worst TSA setup in the country with consistently the longest waits to clear security.
The airport’s train system keeps breaking down.
DEN
“Trains down again. This one is painful. Been down almost 30 minutes. Security trying to manage crowds. TSA screening stopped. No more room for people on the platforms. “ pic.twitter.com/3dPtKBcoyL— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 3, 2024
“Photos don’t even begin to show how chaotic it is in DEN now. Problem with concourse train rail. One train every 10 minutes. Getting ready to run busses between concourses, impacting aircraft traffic.
This is going to last *days* until parts and maintenance flown in.” pic.twitter.com/HGmPiTAsB4
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) January 23, 2024
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.
What’s The Most Overrated Airport In The Country?
This one is easy: New York LaGuardia. 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.
Newark is Newark, everyone knows the problems of New York JFK, but the issue with LaGuardia is it somehow has garnered a positive reputation that doesn’t match the reality.
Which Airports Have Seen The Greatest Underinvestment?
Legacy US Airways hubs at Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Charlotte have known what it takes to please their major tenant. Their focus has had to be on costs, rather than their facilities. Not that Philadelphia is low cost, doing anything there is expensive, but that’s also precisely why they’ve been unable to do anything there to improve. Filthadelphia has been last among major U.S. airports in J.D. Power rankings, while Charlotte is simply not built for the passenger volume, moving walkways are almost always broken, and walks from the E concourse to connect to mainline American Airlines are miserable.
What About Other Major Airports?
Atlanta has a miserable setup for TSA, and some terrible walks. It isn’t conveniently situated. The region could use another airport, but Delta has enough political clout that they’ve blocked this.
Chicago O’Hare is unpleasant to get to, but I still love the tunnel connecting the B and C concourses. The physical spaces United occupies there (except for E) are so much nicer than the American Airlines concourses. They’re sure spread out, though! But they do a great job connecting B and C with that tunnel. Here’s the original backstory.
Chicago O’Hare B-C Tunnel
Detroit is a good, convenient airport despite being mismanaged. San Francisco is a very good airport, while LAX is a disaster. At least the terminals at LAX have been connected now, and they’re building a train system that’ll simultaneously make the airport less convenient (more steps to getting there) while hopefully relieving congestion – at a cost of more than $1 billion per mile. Still, the project should improve on what’s currently the worst airport rideshare situation in the country.
DCA does run well for every reason you cited- the passenger experience from driving up to the airport (car, taxi, airport shuttle) all the way through to boarding your flight is really great. Where the airport falls short is in an area that passengers are typically unaware or don’t understand. There is one radio frequency for *all* of ground operations. That’s unusual and it’s not a thing at other big airports for at least a couple of good reasons- it gets congested and it’s a terrible idea!
DEN has me stumped. For such a health-conscious part of the country, they made getting from security to the terminals virtually unwalkable. (If you go through security one particular way then it is possible to walk to A, but only A.) Everyone is forced to rely on that dumb train. The saving grace is the robot voice announcements are hilariously passive-aggressive towards individuals who are blocking the doors from closing (IYKYK). One silver lining to DEN is the outdoor lounges/observation areas with the firepits. You can enjoy glorious views of the mountains and the de-icing truck parking lot.
My three least favorites are:
DEN
ATL
SEA
All due to TSA.
My favorite is actually United at LAX. I travel frequently, since it’s my home airport and TSA lines are always short or at least quick to get through.
TAMPA and Dulles most under rated
Nice article but couldn’t disagree more on LGA. It’s genuinely a pleasure to fly out of im, in as much as a domestic US airport can be. I guess more walking is a little bit of a downside, but how can you make an airport not as cramped and not increase walking amounts?
DCA easiest airport. Only issue are the long PreCheck and even Clear waits. Never enough ID checkers. CLT B&C the worst. It’s like the black hole of Calcutta, particularly when AA decides to have a 772 board. AA CLT Admirals Club C something out of a 1984 time warp. However, the new A Concourse is nice and would be a great place for another AC.
MIA Concourse D too long and the hike that one must take to get to the rental car/transportation shuttle train.
ATL Security always a nightmare. Probably the worst in the nation.
While a dump I liked the old LGA Terminal. Easy and quick to get to and from gates and the AA AC. However, I left NYC in 2013 and since then airports have gotten far more crowded so I would have imagined those concourses before they were demolished were probably similar to CLT C&B.
SFO everything the city of San Francisco isn’t.
DEN and ATL both have the same issues with TSA given their physical design which prioritizes aircraft ops efficiency above the o&d passenger experience. DEN’s fatal flaw, as we all know, is there is no walkway alternative to the train. Should that change one day, on most metrics I’d argue DEN would take the crown as best airport in the country.
When the train is not an issue, transiting DEN is much more pleasant than transiting ATL. Bright, airy concourses, lots of moving walkways, good food options, and superior lounges.
I hate the tunnel at O’Hare. It’s garish and unpleasant, imo. LAX is my home airport (obviously) and I like it, but that may be simply that I’ve adjusted to it.. I’m also optimistic that it will get better.
Fun article and comments. I’m not as well travelled as you all but glad I can relate to so many of the points brought up. Makes me feel somewhat well travelled.
I don’t mind DEN to be honest but I’ve only went through security there once in the last 5 years or so. I love connecting through DEN (Cap 1 Lounge). But yeah unreliable train as your only option is not ideal to say the least.
DCA is fantastic, I just wish you could walk airside between terminals. Would make the Southwest experience so much better.
I like ATL as I get in a good 50 minute walk roundtrip end to end and the allure being in the world’s busiest airport is cool.
MIA doesn’t give me good vibes. FLL much preferred.
Unpopular opinion I’m sure, but DFW is my favorite airport in the country — the ability to SkyLink or walk everywhere, bustling activity but still places of sanctuary, etc etc
To each their own of course 🙂
@ Gary — ATL is vastly better than you advertise. However, a new south/central Georgia hub would airport would be most welcome! The Macon area could actully grow if Delta released its stranglehold.
LAX is much worse than Denver. Denver may be out in the sticks, but it’s transit connected unlike LAX and the amount of time it takes to get there from most points Denver is about the same amount of time it takes to traverse the horseshoe by vehicle (let alone from anywhere in the greater LA basin where you need hour(s) of extra time to get to the airport because of awful traffic. And god forbid you need to get to a terminal across the horseshoe. LAX can be reevaluated when they finally finish the people mover and the light rail.
The new MCI is great. Nice design and aesthetically pleasing throughout.
MIA D60, ORD’s M40 tells you to hold his beer. And LAX Tom is from the world center of bad taste, so he can take our neon tunnel and shove it up there to the tune of Rhapsody In Blue.
the underinvested hubs are consistently AA hubs… not a coincidence. and that includes DFW and MIA.
And the common theme is that DL’s hubs are some of the most efficient in the US – WN’s are probably lower cost per enplaned passenger – but also smaller and older. AA knows full well that AA and DL compete for connecting traffic to/from the eastern US far more than any other 2 carriers and AA cannot afford to incur higher costs.
ORD will become the most expensive airport in the country – at least among large connecting hubs – which will hurt UA and AA, to the extent that AA sticks around ORD after the massive new terminal is built.
ATL security checkpoint lines can be large but I find that precheck moves as fast as at other airports except for rare parts of the day and week.
I could care less how the city of Detroit operates; the airport itself is a beauty.
DCA is a nice airport but it is the perimeter restriction that hurts it. Since Congress hypocritically creates exceptions that LGA does not, DCA is accessible to more of the country than LGA is.
I hope LAX doesn’t become another LGA. Combining headhouses (e.g., T4/T5), one set of tracks only in the center of the horseshoe…there’s going to be A LOT more walking on both arrival and departure I don’t think it will save much time. It will look prettier than the LAX-it situation, though. Sounds a lot like the new LGA…prettier but functionally no improvement.
If LAX wanted to build this right to minimize time at the airport AND reduce traffic, they would’ve built a station for every terminal where the existing roadways are, and move the roadways back. And two tracks for trains looping in opposite directions. I think people (especially LA people, who will do anything to reduce walking) are going to realize they don’t like walking from their gate, through the airport, across the roadway, and 1/2 to 2/3 of the way past the parking garages, and will want to continue using the roadways that conveniently run at the terminal door.
Odd that you leave out MSP.
it won “Best airport in the US” from Airports Council International (ACI) 7 out of 8 years in a row. (2016-19, 2021-23)
Also won Best airport by JD Power in 2022 and 2024. (second place 2023)
MSP is a fantastic airport.
Parking is decent.
Clean. easy to get around.
Baggage claim works well
Arrivals/Departures are fine.
Uber area awesome
only about 20 min from Downtown. (no traffic)
maybe 30 to 35 with traffic
Somewhat of a long walk from one end to the other, but it is rare that you actually have to walk from one end to the other, and there are moving walkways and also a tram.
by far my favorite US airport. better than DCA for sure.
I’m going to put out there that SFO is the best airport in the country. I’m biased because I live here, but the food options are great, every terminal is connected airside, and while it’s not super close to the city it’s well connected by transit (and now BART runs the line to the airport with higher frequency, so on weekdays you basically never have to wait more than 10 minutes for a train). I’ve never had issues with security lines (can always go to another terminal if it’s bad!). Baggage comes out kind of slowly, but that’s really my only complaint.
And DCA doesn’t count, because it’s not really an international airport. It’s not really even a national airport…
@Greg: Being TPA-based, I agree there. Nice and compact, like DCA. But it definitely loses to DCA in: bus/rail access, size and quality of lounge (AA’s, anyway). It also has no airside connection between concourses.
IAD, though, I don’t know. I lived for many years between DCA and IAD and greatly preferred the former for all the reasons listed. Now that they’ve finally completed the Silver Line out to IAD, that helps a little.
I’m old enough to remember the disasters that were the old Northwest and LC Smith terminals at DTW. The damage from the tornados in the 1990s that finally forced authorities to build the new terminals was more than welcome, and, unlike LGA, the new facilities were genuine marvels to behond. The light tunnel connecting the A/B concourses of the McNamara terminal put ORD to shame (that was the point when it was built).
That said, I do disagree that the airport is conveniently located. It’s midway between Detroit and Ann Arbor, but relatively far from the city center, and even further from the northern suburbs of Detroit in Oakland and Macomb counties where most of the money and power in the metro area are concentrated. Most people in the area are looking at anywhere from a 30-45 minute drive to get to the airport. The lack of public transportation besides an underwhelming bus to downtown makes it even harder to get to.
Would be nice if Delta renovated the old NW decor from their lounges there and opened an actual Delta One lounge, especially given the size of the hub operation there.
The easiest airports are the small regional ones where there is a PreCheck line and I can reliably show up 15-20 minutes before my flight and easily make it on board my flight and has great predictability. DCA no longer is that reliable in that way. But it’s much much better nowadays with lounges than it used to be.
Among US airports with at least some TATL service with a major alliance airline, Tampa is very convenient.
DEN used to be wonderful until it got over capacity and they started a forever construction project. I much prefer the old security setup to the new claustrophobic one
Denver still owes the late Gene Amole an apology.
IAH??
DEN: Now that construction is done on the South end TSA area, the lines are VERY fast. In addition, because TSA has a K-9 based at DEN, if there is a big backup, they bring out the dogs and pre-sniff the lines so that passengers can go through TSAPre style without removing shoes, etc. The terminal was built for 50 million passengers/yr, is currently doing 70 million, and is expected to be handling 100 million by 2030. That kind of growth takes time to accommodate but my understanding is that they are actively planning for it, including adding elevated walking bridges (with rest points and food, etc.) between the outer terminals so that manage it when the train does break down. Yes, work in progress and a PitA under various circumstances, but aside from the long drive out, I really like our airport.
This evaluation seems a bit off, like many in this space because there are really 2 categories: Departure airports and Connection airports.
DEN is a crappy departure airport but it is tolerable for connections. DFW is a tolerable airport for departures but horrible for connections. SFO is good for everything and IAD is good for nothing. MSP is great for connections. LAX is good for departures provided you don’t get stuck in traffic getting into the terminal. DCA is indeed a wonderful O/D airport but nobody connect there. IAH is usually pretty good though some of the gates are far apart.
What are some examples of Delta blocking expansion in Georgia?
@ Russ — Delta stopped a sebd airport form happening in metro ATL, making certain locations less desirable.
I’m a big fan of RDU Terminal C.
Thumbs up to DCA as long as you are not flying out of the old terminal (Southwest). It’s a dump, very crowded gates, baggage claim is small and chaotic, and I HATE those effing kiosks down by the gates.
DEN gets a cut from CLEAR pass they sell in the terminal, so they keep the lines long by closing half the gates.
Ever wonder why half the gates are ALWAYS under construction, but there is never any work being done?