Everett Potter's Travel Report

Best & Worst airports in the US - where did your local airport rank?

By Everett Potter

The major American airport that delivers the most seamless experience isn’t on any coast. It wins over fliers with shopping and dining options, the ease of check-in and security, and the friendliness typical of its city hub.

So breathe a sigh of relief if you’ve booked a flight through Minneapolis (MSP); Travel + Leisure readers have crowned it America’s best airport.

In our first-ever airport survey, we asked readers to rate America’s 22 major airports in seven categories: flight delays; design; amenities; food and drink; check-in and security; service; and transportation and location. The best-scoring airports have tackled these issues head-on, refurbishing terminals and adding amenities that make the worst airports look evermore outdated by comparison.

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Everett Potter is Editor-in-Chief of Everett Potter’s Travel Report.

This is the busiest flying week of the year and a good time to reflect that the journey, not the arrival, is what seems to matter more than ever these days. That's because flying from A to B is the toughest part of any trip. But if you're proactive, you can make your next flight experience easier and maybe even seamless. The good news is that with a little knowledge and some advanced planning, you can avoid many of the most common air travel snafus.

1. Let The Numbers Dictate When You Depart

You can quickly get monthly on-time performance statistics by airport, airline and flight from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. But before you get bogged down in the numbers, eyeball your chosen flight's on-time record. That's the single most important stat to crunch. For example, Jet Blue's Flight 155 from JFK to Orlando departs New York at 6:59 p.m. and was 21 minutes late on average for the first three months of 2009. A better bet is Jet Blue's flight 71, which departs JFK at 6:30 a.m. and arrived an average of four minutes early during the same time period.

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