Thursday, August 26th, 2010

The enthusiasm sometimes generated by snagging cheap fares, be they cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages is sometimes tempered by having to fly out of an undesirable airport. New York’s airports scored the worst in the most recent America’s Favorite Cities survey, in which Travel & Leisure readers ranked 30 U.S. cities’ airports on a variety of different factors, including food, on-time performance, shopping and efficiency of airport employees.

The five highest ranked cities based on their airports were 1) Houston, 2) Orlando, 3) Minneapolis/St. Paul, 4) Portland, OR, and 5) Providence, RI.

The highest rated American airports shared certain traits including:

• Getting passengers to and from destination on time.

• A wide variety of dining options

• Entertainment options, such as live music, kid’s play areas, and spas

• Free wireless Internet access

The five cities whose airports were rated the worst were 30) New York, 29) LA, 28) St. Louis, 27) Washington, D.C., and 26) Boston.

While the busiest airports tended to be ranked in the bottom half, customer traffic alone cannot explain city airport rankings, given that Atlanta’s airport which is the busiest in the world, came in with an overall ranking of 11. Even though Atlanta ranks near the worst (No. 26) for its on-time performance, its fourth place finish for food helped increase Atlanta’s overall ranking to 11th, suggesting that good food helps offset the hassle of a busy airport.

Airports ranked in the lower half of the survey tended to charge up to $10 for WiFi access.

Travel & Leisure observed that a key way airports are able to increase their travelers’ “happy factor” is to infuse local flavor into its terminals. Austin’s Bergstrom Airport, ranked number 9, offers barbecue and Tex-Mex from popular local restaurants (Salt Lick and Maudie’s) as well as a stage for live music.
www.cheapfares.com