Airports have become among the most dreaded places to visit for the American public. You may be excited to get to your travel destination, especially if it’s a long-anticipated vacation, but first you have to run the gauntlet of the check-in and security measures at the airport. Not to mention the unexpected delays that have become ever more frequent in the crazy post-Covid travel chaos and that may leave you fuming at an overcrowded gate.
While the general experience is pretty bad, some United States airports are even worse than others, and you may want to pack extra patience if you’re headed for them. Here’s a heads-up.
A recent Forbes ranking found that John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California was the “angriest” when analyzing Twitter posts from travelers flying through major airports around the US. Despite being home to one of the happiest places on earth, Disneyland, the airport was unfavorably ranked due to noise, unfriendly staff, TSA complaints, and delays.
Overall Forbes Advisor analyzed more than 37,000 tweets directed at the 60 busiest airports in the U.S. from March 2022 to March 2023. In second and third place are Jacksonville International Airport in Jacksonville, Florida and Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska.
While travelers had a negative experience at some airports, still, there were some bright spots.
Travelers who flew through Indianapolis, Seattle-Tacoma and Kansas City were less likely to share an angry experience on Twitter, according to the report.
The Indianapolis Airport has previously been named the best airport in North America by the Airports Council International.
If you think that passengers may be complaining about their experience only on the ground at the airport, think again. There’s no relief in the air either. In this Forbes data, passengers are lodging bitter complaints against the airlines too, and even the TSA.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently released an “Air Travel Consumer Report,” which revealed that Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Jetblue Airways had the top three amounts of consumer complaints. The TSA received over 14,000 complaints in the report.
Whichever airport a traveler flies through this summer, it is expected to be extremely busy. AAA recently shared with Travel + Leisure that Memorial Day Weekend will be the busiest since 2000.
