Airports - the Best, the Worst

When It Comes to Airports, Phoenix Is the Best — and New York City Is the Worst

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New York City's airports aren't looking so hot right now.

CAILEY RIZZO

Phoenix Sky Harbor is the best American airport and LaGuardia is the worst, according to a new study by The Points Guy.

The study examined the 30 busiest airports in the country and calculated rankings based on flight delays, cancellations, security wait times, distance from city center, public transit options, availability of Wi-Fi, parking rates, and the arrays of food, bar and lounge options.

Operating standards were the most heavily weighted categories, followed by accessibility by car or public transit.

Phoenix Sky Harbor did not reach first place in any of the individual categories, but it consistently ranked among the top for all of them, allowing the airport to nab first place. It has comparatively few flight delays and cancellations, and is very easily accessible from the center of Phoenix.

The runner-up was Portland International Airport in Oregon. Other strong contenders were San Diego International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, and Honolulu International Airport.

On the other end of the spectrum, the three in last place were all of New York City’s airports: Newark, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia (in that order). All three airports are not easily reached by public transit, often operate with significant delays and have very long security wait times.


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Other airports trailing far behind the others were Chicago O’Hare and Detroit Metropolitan.

There is a slight correlation between business of airport and its ranking on The Points Guy list. Out of the 10 busiest airports in the country, four were rated among the worst. However, there are a few outliers that prove just because an airport is busy does not mean it needs to be bad.

Phoenix Sky Harbor is the 10th busiest airport in the country and still managed to be voted the best.