What Are The Worst Airports In The U.S.?

Though La Guardia Airport is by far the least-busy of the three major airports in the NYC area, it managed to put a bad taste into enough travelers’ mouths to end up on the top of a new survey of the worst airports in the nation.

Travel + Leisure recently surveyed its readers on the 22 major airports in the U.S., asking them to consider a range of factors from baggage handling and cleanliness to location and WiFi availability.

La Guardia came in last its check-in and security process, baggage handling, WiFi, staff communication, and design and cleanliness.

“If there was a ray of hope, its location, which ranked 16th, was considered superior to six other airports,” writes T+L.

But before the other NYC airports start razzing their smaller cousin, they should look at how they fared on the survey.

JFK had the fourth-worst overall score. It came in 19th place for its long waits at check-in, security, and baggage pick-up. The staff was not helpful and good luck finding WiFi. And while LaGuardia may suck at most everything else, at least it’s closer to Manhattan than JFK, which ranked 21st out of 22 for its location.

Then there’s Newark. It was ranked 11th for location and convenience, but a 16th-place score for staff communication and 18th-place results for design, cleanliness, baggage handling, and check-in and security lines meant the New Jersey member of the NYC trio was ranked fifth-worst overall.

Showing no East Coast bias, T+L readers picked Los Angeles International as their runner-up for the worst airport title. It ranked at or near the bottom for location, check-in and security, safety standards, baggage handling, staff communication and cleanliness.

Rounding out the top five is Philadelphia International’s third-place finish. PHL came in 20th for design and cleanliness, its staff, check-in and security lines.

On the other end of the spectrum is Minneapolis-St. Paul International, where readers raved about the shopping and food and drink options. It was also the top finisher for check-in and security.

Charlotte/Douglas International and Detroit Metropolitan were finished second and third on the positive end of the survey.

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