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.
And that’s why J.D. Power’s list of best airports is so weird.
- They show San Diego as average, Houston Hobby as below average and LaGuardia as worse than that, Washington’s National airport as even worse still, and probbaly only nails that Philadephia is absolute rock bottom among large airports.
- Among ‘mega airports’ Minneapolis and Detroit are listed at the top (they are good!) but followed by Phoenix which is trash.
New York JFK is listed as sixth best, which seems insane, but no more so than listing Miami as 8th best and ahead of San Francisco which is actually more than decent.
Denver, at least, is listed as being below average along with Atlanta, LAX and Chicago O’Hare with Charlotte and Newark being the two worst in the category in the U.S.
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. 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!
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 is terrible, 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.
I have no idea in what world SAN would lead over LGA. Might be easier to get but that’s about it. Maybe with the new terminal that’s opening.
MIA is the worst airport in the US. If you found a bunch of meth/crack/fentanyl addicts and asked them to design an airport, so they could support their horrible habit, you’d end up with MIA.
Just curious why you consider PHX trash?
As a PHX resident the airport is easy with parking etc. and the train between the terminals, parking, and rental cars makes it pretty straightforward. Security is generally very organized as well.
Compared to some of the airports that you mention it is far superior. As a former Exec Plat on AA for many years I avoid CLT and PHL if at all possible.
Sure better transit to LGA would be, you know, nice (take the Q70 bus from the subway, it’s free!). Sure you walk a bit more now (I hear 10,000 steps a day is healthy?). But it’s a very, very pleasant space to spend time, and the ride share pick up area has plenty of space and is efficient. I’ll take the new LGA over the old one 10 out of 10 days of the week. I’ll take the new LGA over EWR 15 out of 10 days of the week. If you want to talk overrated, the new EWR TA should not get a pass – it’s a costly monstrosity that is light years from the air train, it always “feels” overcrowded, it has jet bridges that block the outside views and it has lounges that are new and nice but open to the terminal below and loud and not as big as you’d want them to be. But yeah, Newark is Newark… but we haven’t even talked about terminal B yet! Oof.
Highly disagree on Philly being rock bottom (although I agree it is not at the top) – PreCheck security is extremely quick (I can’t recall the last time I waited more than 5 minutes, and usually I’m at the ID check in under 60 seconds), a lounge situation that has improved immensely between Chase and the new AA FL/AC, all gates connected airside with a short and frequent shuttle between F and A/C, and a large number of local restaurants that is still growing (Sabrina’s is a great place for breakfast).
There is a single-seat direct connection to downtown via train (unlike (EWR/LGA/JFK/BOS/BWI) and I can always grab a taxi within a couple minutes. Parking is relatively affordable both for off-site shuttles and parking with a quick walk into the terminal. Once at the front door of the terminal, you don’t need to hop on a train or walk a crazy long distance to get to your gate (unlike ATL/IAD/DEN).
The airport has been above average for top 30 US airports on-time records in 2021-2024, despite having AA and F9 as the two largest airlines.
What makes Philly so awful in your eyes?
I fully, fully, anticipate that the one thing upon which people in Washington will agree is that BWI is a better airport than DCA.
/s
Agree with all that, except that IAD has grown on me. If you are in NOVA outside the beltway, it is easy to get to, and that is where a lot of the region’s growth is. But there is still way too much walking and riding to get to the gates. C/D is old and crowded, though it has a Polaris lounge. But A/B is very nice, walkable from security, and has good lounges for the non-US airlines. DCA T2 has definitely upped its lounge game. BWI is the airport in the area I least prefer.
PHL suffers from never having replaced its cramped concourses and not making enough efforts on cleanliness. However, I will agree EWR Terminal B is somehow even worse.
I detest O’Hare. I will do everything in my power to avoid a plane change there. I especially hate the fact that most connecting flights, at least for me, involve the tunnel between B & C. I find nothing remotely charming about that tunnel. PHL, on the other hand, is my home airport so perhaps that explains my affinity for it. It is very easy to access and not that hard to get around once you are there. My only complaint, now that AA has upgraded their lounges there, is the TSA check point in Terminal A, the international terminal, is small and lacks a dedicated Pre Check line.
Hate on PHL is so tired these days. Yeah, the airport needs a rebuild. But it’s also extremely easy to connect, has great food, and precheck lines are always a breeze. Lounge options are great now.
the worst part about the new terminal B at LGA is the carpet. i realize that it’s there to dampen noise, but one would think they could’ve used different construction materials and made all of the floors tile so it wouldn’t be a massive pain to roll carry ons around the terminal
I’m with you on so many of these opinions, but to say Atlanta isn’t “conveniently situated” is bonkers. It is inside the 285 perimeter less than ten miles from downtown Atlanta with easy access to all of the interstates. Atlanta’s subway system doesn’t go deep into the burbs, but the airport station is steps from baggage claim. Any new airport in the region will have to be FAR up north – which you ding other airports for, like Dulles and Denver, in this very article.
@Arthur – Agreed. Silver line extension has been huge as well.
Also agreed on BWI. (Hahaha yep, @jfhscott) I don’t even consider BWI as part of the area and always get annoyed I have to manually type “IAD, DCA” instead of “WAS” on Google flights.
I don’t know why EWR is always at the bottom ranking. I think the airport is just fine. Yes, it is expensive parking but what is cheap in the tri-state area? Yes, there are always constructions around the airport and it is always traffic, but NJ is so small so it must be crowded. Yes, there are delays (sometimes), but what airport does not have any delays? And yes, it has few toilets although not many like other airports do. In general, it is a lovely airport with few bars, restaurants and shops. Maybe I am an easy going person, but I think EWR should be ranked higher, not at the bottom.
@jfhscott:
Please tell us what brand of crack you’re smoking. I’ve been to airports in Iran that are better-run than the dreckhole that is BWI. Lousy food options, threadbare gate areas (outside of the WN gates), lousy lounge options, interminable wait times for checked bags (regardless of who you fly), a rental car center far from the terminal and plenty of speedtraps and power-happy MTA cops swarming the place (while Baltimore burns) are just some of the features of this pit of Hades. Not to mention the corrupt MD government continues to subsidize international service, since no airline would do it on their own dime (it’s the same as tying a liver around your kid’s neck to get the cats to play with him). I used to live pretty near BWI, and I always went through either DCA or IAD. They should bulldoze the place and salt the earth, so nothing will ever grow there.
I live near SAN so being in the middle makes sense – even before the new T1 opened this week. I rarely fly out of the low budget terminal. T2 isn’t bad. Only thing I dislike is how long it takes our baggage handlers to offload. It’s a guaranteed 30 minutes. Never less.
The one airport I will fly around to avoid is Denver. If United puts a connecting gate 30 minutes away, with no train, making you walk past empty gates till you get to the end of the dungeon basement and miss your connection because you sat on the tarmac waiting for a plane to get out of the way? Nope. I hate that airport. I will fly LAX before DEN.
DCA is great unless you’re flying from the old terminal which is a small, cramped, shithouse.
I think the comments show that what people look for in airports, and therefore what are the best and worst airports, is highly highly highly subjective. Me personally, most airports I’ve gone through have done the job. Some airports like JFK and ORD are horribly congested leading to long waits on the taxiway, but other than that I really can’t say I’ve had a problem with a lot of airports I’ve been through.
‘This is a load of barnacles.’ I’d trust J.D. Power’s assessment here about as much as I’d trust J.D. (our VP), which is to say… not much (and please, leave that poor couch alone!)
NYC airports are doing far better than ‘just fine’ these days. (@Peter is right, yet again). The new LGA (both Terminal B and C) are incredible since the renovations completed (and Terminal B there will be even better soon with the new Cap One lounge there).
The new EWR Terminal A is also incredible (and in 2026, a new Centurion there); even EWR C has two refurbished UnitedClubs that get the job done (of course, Polaris, too). Even Terminal B, if flying BA or Le Compagnie have decent lounges there.
JFK T4 and T8 have excellent lounges (DeltaOne, Soho, and Chelsea stand out to me), and while the construction is often disruptive, when T1 and T5-6-7 are open, it’ll all be worthwhile, soon enough.
All of these are relatively well-connected with public transit, rideshares, etc. NYC can take on any all other cities, any day, any time. We have actual competition among domestic and international carriers. Boohoo to those that think John Wayne (psh), MSP, or TPA could ever compete.
Absolutely positively without a shadow of a doubt MIA’s D60 is at the bottom of the gate barrel.
Add in the connecting flight experience of walking from the single number gates to 60 ……
You constantly crap all over Denver but I don’t understand it. Yes it’s a big airport, but it’s fine. I’ve been flying out of DEN for the last 10 years roughly 2 times a month and I think only one time has the train not been operational and it was quickly resolved. I feel like you don’t actually fly out of there, just parrot other stupid nonsense you see online.
@MIAZiggy — At least MIA Terminal D has a train. If you arrived at D60 and had to go to D1, unless you appreciate the exercise, you could hop on SkyTrain station 4 and go to station 1.
Now, if we really wanted to gripe about MIA, I’d start with how ancient Terminal F is… that place is stuck in the 1970s. Mostly Frontier, and some random Dominican and Cuban airlines there.
Gary,
You haven’t been through Denver security in over a year and it shows. It is now one of the better/best.
Also, making fun of the DIA baggage handling system from problems it had upon opening 30 years ago? Move on dude.
[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.]
I’m not sure why Atlanta should have a second airport nearby. The city is not even in the top 30 cities in the USA by population. Maybe make sure that all of the top 20 cities by population have at least two major airports first and then consider it. If it was to have a second airport, Delta should build it because they are the reason why there are so many flights at ATL.
Gary, your repetitive bashing of LGA got tedious a long time ago. LGA doesn’t try to be anything it’s not, it’s the 3rd largest airport in/near NYC with no space for footprint expansion. Building another runway was never an option. The fact that an entire new airport was built in the existing footprint, while never closing the old airport, is an amazing feat of design and construction engineering. The fact that gates are now further from the curb and security is mega-important to you only, everyone else loves the new airport.
Maybe instead of always bashing LGA you could offer some appreciation and compliments, it’s a universe nicer and better than the old LGA and many other airports. Not all airports can be like Jerkwater Isolated Austin Texas airport, the 30th busiest US airport, with its small handful of passengers. And based on all available evidence, you should appreciate LGA distances from curb to gates, it’s good exercise.
LGA’s Terminal A has the longest walk I ever experienced — especially when I had knee trouble. What happened to moving pathways? You’d think they don’t have them to facilitate retail access, but there was no retail along that stretch when I was there.
There you go again, knocking Denver. We live in a northern Denver suburb (35 minutes away) and have experienced none of the issues you raise. While we are Global Entry / TSA Plus holders, we are typically through security in about 10 minutes. I think the regular security lines are ok as well. We have never experienced a train delay, and the baggage system issues do not exist, as that was over 30 years ago. It is clean, efficient, and moves a hell of a lot of people through on a daily basis. I am sure there are issues, but I would rate DIA as near the top, not near the bottom.
@jns…you are looking at city populations only. In terms of metro area population (a better indicator of market size in this case), the Atlanta MSA is in the top ten.
@Steve S – Yes, I was through Denver security this summer and wrote about it. The signage is terrible for directing passengers to the right queues even!
@JB — LGA Terminal A? The tiny ‘marine air terminal’ with just Spirit today?? Surely, you meant one of the other terminals… (the new Terminal C has some longer walks, for instance.)
It seems to me like a lot of the LAX hate is centered around getting to/from the airport rather than the airport itself. The terminals, while rather siloed, aren’t that much better or worse than any other airport’s. But going between terminals can be a bit of an effort. Then again I don’t mind walking…as evidenced by the fact I will go out of my way to visit the Star Alliance lounge at Bradley when my flight is departing from Terminal 7/8.
@Longtimelistener — Thank you for correcting @jns on this often repeated misnomer about city vs. metro area and the total population. For instance, the city of Jacksonville, Florida, takes up nearly the entire surface area of Duval County, making it ‘on paper’ larger and more populous than the ‘city of Miami,’ but, no one reasonably would think Jacksonville is larger or more populous than the SoFla megalopolis. I think @jns knows better, and maybe just was playing dumb about Atlanta, or he has an irrational hate for that particular city for whatever reason… (like some of y’all do for Chicago, and it ain’t because of sports…)
LAX gets a ln undeserved bad rap. That’s my home airport and I fly out of there at least 2-3x per month. Sure, LA traffic can be a nightmare getting there, but after 32+ years of living in LA, I can’t think of a large venue of any type in the region that doesn’t suffer from congestion. LA county has 10 million people and the region has about 17 million people driving on roads built for less than a third of that population.
Parking has gotten a lot easier (and cheaper) with the reservation system. And the terminals are now well-connected in the rare event that a connecting passenger has to change airlines/terminals.
I mostly fly UA, and they have one of the best UA lounges in their network. Staff is always friendly and the food is “lounge decent.” When I get stuck flying Delta, my perennial distant second choice, while their gate staff is made up of DMV-rejects, the new-ish terminal is quite nice and nothing is more than a 5 minute walk from the head house. And the newer of the Sky Clubs is also a very nice lounge with food that is slightly superior to UA’s lounge.
Tom Bradley is also a very nice terminal, and the shared Star Alliance lounge is one of the nicer lounges as well.
The newer people moved – 40 years too late and billions over budget (government corruption doesn’t come cheap!). – will only make the airport more convenient, not less. A few steps won’t hurt the lard-asses who like to drive to the next block, and there will clearly be systems in place for those who have legitimate mobility issues.
I
Not sure *which* Denver International you are referring to. But certainly not the one I fly in and out of regularly. Never stuck by a train failure and the baggage is routinely faster than other places I fly!
@Stewart Hoover — Yeah! Bring back Stapleton!
Last visit to PHL was, well the usual. Connecting there last Jan and the runway was covered with snow! A real washboard experience especially when running over ruts. And of course the place seems to be stuck in a filthy mode. Tried to escape the filth by going into the amex lounge but that was more filthy than the gate areas!
As far as LGA, it is way better than it used to be but like you say no new runway, no new transit connection, no operational improvements. I still get a kick out of heading down the runway to takeoff and looking out the window to see another plane heading for me as you cross the X in the runway.
Denver International Airport? Bah! The real movers and shakers in Denver use Centennial Airport (KAPA), supposedly one of the busiest GA airports in the country.
Also slated for JSX service in the not-too-distant future.
@JohnnieD — Oh no… an intersecting runway… somebody tell MDW, too.
They almost got YUL’s ranking correct. One spot off. ORD is pretty good except for getting there and back – we leave or arrive very early or late to address that issue. For transfers it’s fine.
Atlanta does have a second airport- and a third, too! Let me introduce you to Chattanooga and Birmingham. And set aside the mileage and judge instead by actual transit time and they are about the same drive time from the north west suburbs. An argument could also be made for Greenville-Spartanburg for the NE suburbs. Pros: multiple airline options with connecting flights to their hubs, the wait thru TSA is about 3 people long, and the stores and restaurants have food, snacks for the plane, and magazines. Each have a bar and Birmingham has Priority Pass lounges (not sure about the other two). Cons: connecting flight rather than non stop
ATL is dominated by Delta. The reason some people want another large airport there is to have more of a choice. But another airport doesn’t usually produce much of a choice. NYC has three large airports in it and close to it and it causes a mess in many ways. Los Angeles has one large airport and several other ones such as Burbank, Long Beach, Ontario and John Wayne. The smaller ones take up some of the flying public but LAX is still very dominant. Chicago has ORD and Midway. Ord is still where most of the flying public goes. Although Delta pretty much dominates Atlanta, building another large airport nearby would be a large waste of money, in my opinion. A large, suitable location would have to be found. It would not be a close commute for a lot of the metropolitan population. To keep down the complaints, it would have to have few neighbors. It would have to be flat. Another key is that the size of ATL still allows for expansion.
I find discussions like this silly. I rank airports in two categories: flying to/from and flying through. The lousy TSA at DEN is only relevant in the first category.
@1990 – I think the only thing worse than the 1970’s Concourse F is the Outhouse on Concourse E. Usually one of Mayor Daniella’s trams is out of service, so long wait to get into a crowded terminal. Have you ever boarded from one of the downstairs gates in the Outhouse on E? It’s akin to a dungeon.
Long Live Miami’s Perpetual Pit of Indulgence! (not my quote, attributed to Holly Hegeman).
@WestCoastFlyer — Oh, yes. E is wild. Flew Qatar through there many times. The odd part international arrivals when they’d direct us all the way to D for customs and immigration.
Gary’s posted a few times on the plans for a new Flagship lounge at MIA; some discussion that it may involve resurrecting the space where the old Admirals Club was at in E.
Unless this have changes since I’ve been there, I recall the only CLEAR security section for American Airlines flights was ironically from E as well; like, really, nothing for D? I guess American is cheap (or hates CLEAR).
Can’t believe there’s an actual hotel in that old terminal. Yeesh. No thank you.
Gary, you obviously struck a chord here, and I didn’t read all the responses. But as someone who traveled through the old LGA for 35+ years, the new LGA is fabulous! I’m not sure, but I don’t think you’ve had to do that yourself. Otherwise, your rather harsh assessment would be less so.
@Mack — Well said. The new LGA is indeed… ‘fabulous!’ Finally, someone else actually ‘gets it.’ (The few LGA-haters in this comment section clearly haven’t been in a while. Like, fellas, there’s now a Bubby’s in Terminal C. Get some fluffy pancakes and live a little!)
Like Gary, I’m absolutely staggered by these rankings. Miami (both the airport and city) is a third world shithole. Persistently broken, glacially slow everything, filled with the most absolutely miserable workers and travelers. I’ll do anything in my power to avoid that place. And that’s without getting into the absolutely inexplicable delays at a city where it’s sunny near constantly. Not like I should expect otherwise from a city with a Mayor who made his own crypto nonsense. The city has been called Scam City USA with the FTC finding more petty crime in Miami than any other city in the country and the airport reflects the city quite well in the worst way possible.
I do actually kind of agree on Denver. My experience with baggage and security has been pretty slow and the security signage is very confusing. I’ve not encountered broken trams but that’s just me.
Current state O’Hare is probably accurate for what Gary said but absolutely not JDP. O’Hare has pretty quick security, is reasonably easy to traverse for the size of airport and pax throughput. Baggage handling is substantially better than in the past. Taxiing and gate availability is dreadful now though with T2 and satellite concourses’ construction. Hopefully that’ll improve but the project is slated to take 6 years so who knows. O’Hare amenities are pretty rough but it’s an airport designed around getting people in and out and as a traveler based here, I think it does that quite well. The infamous people mover to rental car is pretty decent even if it took too long and cost too much to build. Public transit connectivity is theoretically good connected to the Blue Line but the city has badly mismanaged public transit coming out of COVID so the whole system is not nearly as reliable, clean, and safe as it was a decade ago.
@raylan — I gripe plenty about Florida, specifically South Florida, and am pleased to no longer live there, but MIA does still have some sweet spots; namely, the access to the Caribbean and Latin American destinations, a decent AA Flagship lounge (with First Dining actually operating, unlike LAX) and an Amex Centurion (though, it’s a bit tight) in Terminal D, and a relatively modern ‘South Terminal’ (gates H and J), including LATAM and Turkish lounges that I’ve personally enjoyed, and a newly expanded Delta SkyClub.
On corruption and scams, yeah, that’s a real problem, not just in Miami, though it is particularly bad there, and I wish we actually had better law enforcement to focus on those particular problems; yet, that is not the local, state, or federal government we have at the moment…
On delays and cancellations at MIA, it’s mostly due to late afternoon thunderstorms, so try to book morning flights if you can. Anyway, hope hurricane season stays calm, because the real ‘threat’ to FL is a collapsing property insurance industry that likely will occur if ‘the big one’ ever hits SoFla.
Just FYI, since some don’t yet know it (including Gary): DEN now has the ENTIRETY of its TSA checkpoints on Level 6, up from the main floor shown in the pic (which is Level 5). This is new as of last month: all passengers clear security on 6, then immediately take an escalator down *two* flights to the train, bypassing 5 entirely (unless they need to check in there – it now has some of the check-in counters).
I’ve flown through there two times since then (in each case exiting to go into the city) and had nearly zero wait in TSA Pre, plus even the main TSA line is vastly better. It definitely involves a lot of walking, but DEN’s biggest remaining problems are needing to finish half of the entry hall revamp; not having – oddly, given its vast size – a consolidated rental car center, plus its A-84 gate for Frontier may top MIA’s D60 as the country’s worst.
Also, the airline check-in counters are currently on both Levels 5 & 6, given that half of 5 is still under construction, but will be entirely on 6 once the renovations are complete. Level 5 will return to its original (clearly pre-9/11) purpose of serving as a great hall, along with housing the arrivals area, baggage carousels, and connections to all the rental car & hotel shuttles, plus the exit to the A Line.
I’m admittedly a little confused by Gary’s criteria here:
“They are easy to get to (close to where people are coming from and going, with convenient transportation options)”
This is a bit too vague. Case in point: JFK. It’s only 15 miles from Manhattan, and obviously much closer to Brooklyn & Queens. But it’s nearly always a PITA to get there, and that “short” 15-mile trip has taken me over two hours on occasion via car (and nearly always at least an hour). Also, both it & EWR have the same terribly flawed AirTrain + regional rail model.
While LGA is obviously closer, it has zero train service. The Q50 bus is nice, but it’s always a known-unknown how long a trip on surface roads in NYC will take. And despite being only eight miles into Manhattan, it takes longer to get into the city than DEN into Denver: the latter’s A Line takes under 40 minutes with zero anxiety about quagmired roads.
This reads like Gary’s criteria derived from DCA (also a personal favorite), but despite LGA’s similar proximity, it’s usually considerably easier to get into the city from DEN than LGA. Yes, I’m serious: DEN has an on-site train that gets you into the middle of the city in under 40 minutes. I used to live in NYC, and the only way to get to LGA from Manhattan that quickly is very late at night. It obviously has no train, and while the Q70 bus is helpful, it’s less so if traffic’s quagmired. (Point being that closer proximity doesn’t always translate to shorter travel time.)
“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)”
Again, this is vague, plus it seems like a descriptor for the smaller airports here. (Or, alternately, as a description of everything LAX does entirely *wrong*, at least until its renovations are done.) At this point most larger US airports (even JFK) have consolidated rental car centers, and in JFK’s case is accessible via train. (DEN may be the oddest exception.)
Finally, one smaller airport – one that Gary curiously didn’t even mention – has all of the above, and is mostly done with one of the most remarkable airport transformations I can recall seeing anywhere in the US (on an existing terminal): PDX. On top of great architecture, it’s quintessentially Portland, and is one of the few airports where the food options are both good *and* heavily based on local eateries (as is AUS).
At least in Denver you can quickly get from one terminal to another without going out of security. Therefore, you can go to a lounge at one terminal and not worry about being too far from your gate.
Admittingly, the train into town is slow, but it is cheap.
You say Phoenix Sky Harbor is trash, yet don’t substantiate that comment. I’ve been in much worse airports than PHX; I wouldn’t rank it amongst the worst OR best. It’s very mid, just like the city itself.
SFO is overrated. While the newer facilities are nice, they’re already falling apart with escalators, walkways, faucets, urinals and toilets often out of service.
The T3 construction is extremely painful with parking tunnels and Air train bridges out of service, not to mention very long walks in the terminal itself.
The airport itself is more delay prone than other nearby airports, and rental cars are far and on the Air train which breaks down or goes into reduced service in the late evening hours and when it rains.
Nothing like taking a 2+ hour ATC delay when SJC and OAK are running on time, just to wait to pee on arrival since half the urinals are broken and covered with trash bags, just to have to wait for an Air train that’s running every 20 minutes for maintenance at or near midnight (or even down and replaced with buses).That’s the SFO experience.
I had the worst airport experience at SFO last March. Absolutely the rudest and most unorganized TSA screening in the nation, which says a lot. I participate on another forum for UA flyers where it’s also agreed that SFO is awful. The root of the problem? The people working there, from the TSA to the staff the UA lounge. They seem to let you know they hate their job. I had no desire to leave that airport and venture into the “City by the Bay”, but whatever bad vibes are in that city have crept into their airport. It’s just a very unfriendly place. Yeah, LAX is a mess. But, at least people smiled there, and were reasonably helpful. The international terminal is great if you are on the way out.