tuscl

OT: For the road-warriors

Papi_Chulo
Miami, FL (or the nearest big-booty club)
The best and worst US airports


San Diego International Airport is the best U.S. airport, according to a new report by The Points Guy.

The travel website examined 34 key factors including amenities, flight delays, cancellations and ride-hailing prices of the 50 busiest U.S. airports, to determine the list for 2019.

San Diego has high scores for amenities (No. 11), flight timeliness (No. 16) and the top overall rating for commute time, as San Diego’s airport is located less than four miles away from the city’s downtown area.

Coming second is Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which has been known as a traveler favorite for years, according to The Points Guy — it topped the site’s list in 2017 and 2018. However, the airport slips to No. 2 this year, due to a lower ranking for arrivals and departures times.

As for the worst, Orlando’s International airport comes in next to last, due to its long commute times (No. 46) and poor amenities (No. 42). Orlando’s airport is more than 20 miles away from Walt Disney World.

With only one lounge and few restaurants, Chicago’s Midway International Airport comes in last, ranking in the bottom five for amenities (No. 46) and long wait times (No. 46).

Here are the five best and worst airports, according to The Points Guy.

Five best U.S. airports
1. San Diego International Airport

2. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

3. Portland (Oregon) International Airport

4. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

5. Sacramento International Airport

Five Worst U.S. Airports
46. Southwest Florida International Airport

47. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

48. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

49. Orlando International Airport

50. Chicago Midway International Airport

Scott Mayerowitz, executive editor at The Point Guy, tells CNBC Make It, “Many among the top 25 domestic airports are either overseeing construction projects or are bringing in new concessions designed to keep travelers spending money in terminals for as long as possible. That’s great news for travelers,” he says.

Some of those new amenities include airport yoga rooms, more nursing stations and private spots for travelers to unwind.

However, some airports are slower with change and updates, according to Mayerowitz.


The full list of the 50 airport rankings is at the bottom of this webpage:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/tpg-best-a…

25 comments

  • TFP
    •
    5 years ago
    Main thing I like about San Diego airport is the time you step off the plane to the time you make it out of the airport is quite short. I remember my first trip to HKTJ last year, I think we landed at 2:33pm and I was on the 992 bus at around 2:45. Most of that time was spent waiting to deplane.
  • Muddy
    •
    5 years ago
    LaGuardia has to win worst. Joe Biden is right it’s like a 3rd world country airport. And the construction all around. Fuck that noise.

    I usually drive when I’m road clubbing though.
  • mark94
    •
    5 years ago
    I remember pilots saying that San Diego was an accident waiting to happen. Partly because of the way the runway was situated, partly because of all the military flights in the area.
  • jackslash
    •
    5 years ago
    LaGuardia is terrible. Detroit is not that bad. Midway is far from the worst.
  • doctorevil
    •
    5 years ago
    HIgh on my bad airport list was the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong. The runway was built on a jetty that stuck out into the harbor. Aircraft had to come in low over the city and make hard turn onto the runway. Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGnokcAu…

    I flew into that airport twice. The first time was during the day. On the side of the runway was the wreckage of another aircraft that a couple of days earlier had run off the runway and into the harbor. The second time was at night in a heavy rainstorm. The pilot missed the approach twice and had to go around. On the third attempt the pilot landed so hard the flight attendants screamed when we slammed down on the runway.
  • rickdugan
    •
    5 years ago
    Agree that LaGuardia is horrible if you are forced to be there for any length of time. It is not too bad getting in and out, but once you are past security there are almost no food options and the small bathrooms were designed to accommodate maybe 1/10th of the people who use them.

    LAX is a slightly better version of LGA, but still pretty bad too.

    Orlando has decent amenities, but it takes a fuck long time to get through the place. JFK suffers from these same problem on the departure side. For me, ease of getting in and out of an airport is as important as the amenities and I hate flying out of both airports because I have to build in a big cushion to get through security and to the terminal.

    Airports I love are certain smaller market ones like JAX, CLT MKE and MCI. Each has decent amenities and is not tough to get in and out of.

    Most of the rest that I travel, like DFW, LAS, MIA, DCA, BOS and a few others are more middle of the road, each with pros or cons but nothing that makes me love or hate them.

    For connecting airports, I hate ATL, which is why I am not a FF on Delta. If you have a tight connection window and your connecting flight is in another terminal, then you're toast. I also avoid O'Hare at all costs from December through April.

  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    I love PDK because of the 57th fighter squadron restaurant there but generally fly out of McCullom. Craig airport in Jacksonville is easy to get in and out of.
  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    @Doc.... I loved landing in Hong Kong.... that runway was more than a jetty, they lengthened it by reclaiming some land. Just poured shit into the ocean till it filled up and they could pave on it
  • doctorevil
    •
    5 years ago
    Daddillac: Given those favorite airports, I'm guessing you fly your own airplane. The Gold Club in Jacksonville backs up to Craig Airport. You can tell it used to be one those military airplane themed restaurants like the 57th Fighter Group.
  • minnow
    •
    5 years ago
    D-lac could be 1 of many things: 1) Flies his own airplane 2) Company has own flight department and pilot staff 3) D-lac uses charter company when need arises. 4) D-lac is fractional share owner.

    Yep, I recall CRG, and Gold Club. If I recall, PDK isn't that far from Follies. There may still be a club practically off the approach end of SAN runway.

    Good summary from rick wrt passenger POV.
  • Cashman1234
    •
    5 years ago
    I agree about LaGuardia- as it is miserable.

    Also towards the bottom is Newark, NJ. Its crowded, dirty, and everyone working there seems like they’d rather be getting dry fucked in the ass.

    I know Orlando gets a bad rap, but it seems pretty nice to me. The security lines can be long.

    I’ve flown into Jacksonville and Tampa recently, and they were nice - as they were smaller and less rushed.
  • londonguy
    •
    5 years ago
    LAX Is pretty bad, unfortunately I have to go through it in October, fortunately just once. Bangor was worse but thst was ages ago.
  • ATACdawg
    •
    5 years ago
    @drEvil: You are correct. The restaurant used to be called Henderson's and was done up with sandbags and "bombed out" walls and partitions. One of the city's health inspectors quipped at the opening, "I've shut down places that looked better than this!"

    It had very good food, but it was very expensive for that time (~1982) and dinner for two with a bottle of wine was about $45. They actually had a feed from the tower at Craig playing all the time.
  • captainfun
    •
    5 years ago
    Yes, LaGuardia is awful. San Diego is great, so close to downtown, many food options.

    Surprised that Atlanta Hartsfield is ranked so high. It's fine but not amazing. Detroit is surprisingly nice. So many other airports just so-so.

    Best small market airport: Palm Springs.
  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    I have a fractional share of sorts.... me and a buddy bought a King Air last year so I guess 50 percent is fractional. I have flown commercially maybe 5 times in the past 5 years, it is just a lot easier albeit more expensive to go this route. The plane was in Delta's charter fleet, so I felt comfortable with it as I know very little about airplanes
  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    ATACdawg... that is like the 57th fighter group.... you can sit with headphones and listen to the tower. They also have pretty good food. Great beer cheese soup.
  • ATACdawg
    •
    5 years ago
    Yup. This was named for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. They even had a wrecked C-47 and another wreck out back (can't remember what it was ; it's been 37 years, lol).
  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    If you are ever in Atlanta try 57th fighter, if you enjoyed the other place, very similar it sounds
  • shadowcat
    •
    5 years ago
    The proud Bird restaurant at LAX supplies great food along with the view of aircraft landing and speakers for the LAX tower.

    https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=…
  • Daddillac
    •
    5 years ago
    yeah but LAX is a dump of an airport, I really expected more out of LA
  • doctorevil
    •
    5 years ago
    There used to be a number of military aviation theme restaurant around. I seem to remember one near Fort Campbell, KY, themed on the 101st Airborne Division. I wonder if it’s still there. The 57th Fighter Group is the only one I know of still open. I like it but it’s showing some wear and tear.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    The 391st Bomber Group Restaurant that used to be on the south side of PBIA was a great spot to watch the planes take off and land and they served great food, closed a few years ago, now Trump's plane usually occupies the area where the restaurant was when he stays in Mar-A-Lago
  • herbtcat
    •
    5 years ago
    All sucky:
    Miami
    Houston
    LAX
    Heathrow (especially if you land from US and need to connect within the UK)
    Houston

    I know I said Houston twice. That's because it's twice as sucky as the rest.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    I don't travel much.

    Couple of years ago flew into Philadelphia (PHL) - felt kinda dumpy ftom what I recall.

    From what I recall it was a cinch to get in and out, not a lot of foot traffic and it was fast getting thru security (I flew in and out on a weekday in mid September)
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    I like DFW (Dallas/Ft-Worth) airport - it's huge and spread-out (27 sq-miles which is larger than many cities; Denver airport is the largest in the US at a whopping 52 sq-miles).

    As I mentioned I don't travel much - but many airports I've been to, it's one continuous terminal that everyone drives into - DFW has about 5 different terminals that are physically separate from each other by a good-distance - e.g. only those flying out of terminal-A drive into that terminal instead of everyone driving into the same area.

    The airport has a main-road/drag that is about 3 lanes in each direction and then there are off-ramps onto each individual terminal (kinda like a freeway within the airport grounds).
You must be a member to leave a comment.Join Now
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion