Everyone's got their favorite airport or two. Odds are, you've probably got an airport you'll avoid like the plague, too.
But the Airports Council International has spoken, and it has chosen the best airports in North America for 2018. Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Detroit (DTW) were named the top airports among airports that serve 25 million to 40 million passengers each year. Dallas-Fort Worth took the top spot for the largest airports serving more than 40 million passengers annually, along with Toronto (YYZ).
We're based out of MSP, so we're a tad biased in loving our home airport. But this is the third consecutive year MSP has won in that category. And the airport consistently gets praise, from its stellar shopping and consistently on-time operations (snowstorms, be damned!) to some strange but earnest praise from CBS host Gayle King for … its bathrooms.
So how did these two Delta hubs (MSP and DTW) and American Airlines' DFW headquarters win out, anyway?
ACI surveys more than 650,000 travelers every year, who rank each airport based on check-in, bathrooms, security, restaurants, retail and more. And here's the kicker: The survey travelers while they're actually in the airport.
“MSP Airport’s consistently high ranking underscores the effective public-private partnerships at the airport and the airport community’s shared commitment to providing the best experience possible for travelers,” Brian Ryks, the CEO of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's Metropolitan Airports Commission, said in a statement. “I want to thank all our airport partners for their continued commitment to making MSP Airport second to none.”
“This is the second time in three years that DFW has earned the distinction of Best Large Airport for customer satisfaction, underscoring the efforts that our 2000 employees have taken to the make the customer experience our top strategic priority,” DFW CEO Sean Donohue said in a statement.
Across the globe, the outstanding Singapore (SIN) Changi airport and Shanghai (PVG) cleaned up among the biggest airports in Asia, along with Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM). In Europe, Rome-Fiumicino (FCO) and Moscow-Sheremetyevo (SVO) cleaned up as the top large airports.
Bottom Line
Running an airport is no small task, and some airports clearly do it better than others. While these awards aren't the final or only word on which airports are the best, they sure shed some light.
Subscribe to our Newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter & Instagram
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.
Hmm. Does this apply only to Terminal 1, or Terminal 1 & 2 combined? Just curious.