America’s Worst Airports to Catch a Connecting Flight

When I travel I get into what I call “airplane mode” I walk probably 10x faster then I normally do and people can’t seem to get out of my way fast enough! I also prefer to get to the airport about 3 hours in advance. I want to leave PLEANTY of time to find parking and get to the airport via bus from the parking lot. And then of course we have to check our bags and go through all the check points. I don’t care if I am sitting for 2 hours waiting for my flight; I am there and ready to go!

I found this article online about the top 10 worst airports in the US for connecting flights. I noticed that many of them were in the Northeast and perhaps some of these delays are due to weather but regardless; keep these airports in mind when you are traveling and need to make a connecting flight. The original article was written by Daniel Bukszpan.

                 

10. Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport

The airport is located in Broward County, FL and is about 20 miles north of Miami. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that 78.88% of flights landed are actually on time. So if you were in that 21.12% that was on a late flight you were running through the airport at warp speed to catch your flight. Not to worry, 19.74% of flights don’t take off on time either.

9. Washington Dulles International Airport

Dulles airport is about 25 miles west of Washington DC and in 2011 it served over 23 million passengers. 21.39% of incoming flights that year were late and 20.19% of flights had late departures.

8. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

This other Washington DC airport served far less passengers then Dulles; 4.2 million less. Even with less traffic, 22.28% of incoming flights were late and 17.59% left late.

7. Philadelphia International Airport

In 2010 it serviced almost 31 million passengers and is the 12^th busiest airport in the world. Being so busy is going to cause some delays; 23.84% of incoming flights did not arrive on time and 21.1% of flights were late taking off.

6. O’Hare International Airport

In 2011, 24.52% of arriving flights were not on time and 25.6% of flights taking off were delayed. However, from 2004 – 2007 O’Hare was voted Best Airport in North America by Global Traveler magazine.

5. John F. Kennedy International Airport

24.66% of incoming flights arrived late and 22.49% of departing flights left late. Also, JFK’s Terminal 3 has been called the worst single airport terminal in America…ouch!

4. Logan International Airport

Logan International is the largest airport serving New England so naturally it will have some delays in 2011 they served 29 million passengers and 26.35% of incoming flights were late and 21.11% of departing flights left late.

3. LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia, Kennedy, and Newark make up the largest airport system in the US (all airports are on this list). 27.82% of incoming flights to LaGuardia were late and 22.49% departing flights left late.

2. San Francisco International Airport

The only airport on the list that is on the West Coast, 28.62% of incoming flights arrived late and 23.72% of all outbound flights left late.

1. Newark Liberty International Airport

With a massive 33.28% of arriving flights being late and 27.03% of departing flights leaving late Newark comes in 1^st for the worst airport for connecting flights.

When I was flying back from Norway we had to turn around for an emergency landing of course making us late to arrive and we landed just as our connecting flight was taking off. But we got food and hotel vouchers and it wasn’t all bad…now if we had to sleep on a cot I would be singing a different tune I’m sure.