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Posted by
2460 posts

That article seems to be mostly an advertorial for buying travel insurance.
The criteria that they used were peculiar from my POV -food choices and lounge seats?
I'm more interested in ease of getting around, noisiness, and availability of human and efficient assistants...

Posted by
2267 posts

The fact that CLT is on one of their 'best' lists, and missing from their 'worst' list completely undermines the integrity of that blog post.

Posted by
7559 posts

I am afraid that an individuals opinions usually are just anecdotal, just not enough data points to get an accurate picture, so one bad experience taints the data.

But, opinions are like...well something everyone has, here's mine. It jives with my experiences, Detroit (DTW) is a breeze to go through, Surprised a bit about ATL, and since I fly Delta (that alone avoids Chicago Ohare, Newark, CLT, DFW, etc.) glad to see Logan well rated, since Delta is building up a hub there. The only Delta hub I avoid is JFK, can't say why, mainly because other options I know to be good.

However, reading through the methodology, busier airports suffer in the rating (Passengers per hour), with no evaluation of how efficiently they handle those passengers (lost luggage? delays? time through Security or immigration?). The vast majority of criteria are focused on food options and costs, shopping, play areas, lounge availability, and other "People" needs.

Basically, this survey looks mainly at how well entertained will you be during a layover, not how efficient and quick will my layover be, which I gather is what most people on here are concerned about. So short answer to the OPs question, probablt not a good guide for choosing an airport, unless your only option is a 6 hour layover.

Posted by
8447 posts

My criteria would be about the spaciousness, comfort & cleanliness of the waiting areas.

Posted by
4844 posts

Can't say I put a lot of stock in surveys and polls anymore. In the words of one of my graduate statistics professors, "If you learn what you should in this course, you can prove or disprove whatever you want. It just depends on the data you collect, and how you collect it." That was clearly the case in 1948(?) when all the newspapers declared Dewey had beaten Truman in the election.

Posted by
13946 posts

I'm with some of the other posters...the metrics used in the article are not the metrics I use in picking an airport.

I want an airport that provides great, safe service with minimal delays for weather, traffic, etc. I need for it to be a Delta hub so I have usually transited thru Seattle and SLC in the last 10 years since I got back to International travel. Since Covid I did a transit thru Atlanta and MSP which went pretty well, just was long.

I don't particularly care about food and shops although one of my favorite airport food outlets is in Seattle. I love Floret, which is run by a local Seattle restaurant. They absolutely have the best vegan coconut cake in the world.

So...while Seattle and SLC are in the Top 10, it's only accidental as their measures are not important to me.

Posted by
4000 posts

I do what I can to fly only nonstop flights. I have to wonder who these people are that put JFK and LGA considering there could be very long walks between gates. Whoever included JFK & LGA never changed planes in New York.

Posted by
305 posts

Coming from Portland, non-stops to Europe are virtually a non-starter. Unless I'm going to Amsterdam (Delta), London (BA), or Frankfurt (Condor), you can't get there from here. And I've learned never re-enter the US east of ORD. IAD-PDX for example is another six hours of Shoot. Me. Now. in a narrow-body.

For European hubs, Munich is by far the best for layovers. Very easy to navigate and relatively quick to get around. Zurich is also very good. FRA is fine particularly if you can stay on the A/Z gates. Avoid CDG. AMS is ok. BRU is small, but only served from the east coast.

Posted by
4519 posts

Considering that no US airport I know uses remote stands with buses, they are all good enough for me, I don’t avoid any airport. The old LaGuardia used remote stands (and was a pit) but it’s all redone now.

Posted by
2745 posts

I am pretty sure Washington Dulles still uses the buses.... they call them "Mobile lounges" to make it sound better LOL!

Posted by
2267 posts

LAX has buses as well, but different than anywhere else, as the remote stands are almost almost 'gates', little buildings with stairs/ramps to a jetbridge, but you have to take a bus to get to them. (I'm not sure how much they're used, not that the Tom Bradey satellite is finished.)