I felt like a zombie as soon as I touched down in Belgium.
21.09.2023 - 18:11 / travelandleisure.com / Paul International
Amid a turbulent season of delays and cancellations impacting air travel, airline passengers are reporting a higher level of satisfaction with the overall airport experience itself.
The findings come from the new J.D. Power 2023 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, which surveyed 27,147 travelers between August 2022 and July 2023 to find that overall satisfaction with airports is up three percent. Airports in the Midwest took most of the top spots, while passengers traveling through coastal airports reported lower satisfaction.
The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) was ranked highest overall amongst “mega” airports for the second year in a row. The airport provides air travel for 36.7 million travelers per year and operates over 1,000 daily flights. (J.D. Power defines a mega airport as one with 33 million or more passengers annually.)
“We are always looking to raise the bar for customer service as we take Detroit to the world and bring the world to Detroit,” Chad Newton, Wayne County Airport Authority's CEO, said in a statement on the airport’s Facebook page.
Detroit’s airport features a variety of amenities, dining, and shopping including Be Relax Spas, Illy Coffee Cafe, Gordon Biersch, P.F. Chang's, Pandora, and more. The airport also has a Westin hotel attached to it, with a dedicated TSA security entrance that connects the hotel to the airport for travelers on a tight layover to save time.
The top-ranked mega airports, after DTW, are Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) and Harry Reid International Airport in Paradise, Nevada. The lowest-ranked mega airports are Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), and
New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
The report also analyzed airports of different sizes and ranked them accordingly. For large airports, Tampa International Airport (TPA) took the top spot, whereas Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) was ranked lowest. For medium airports, Indianapolis International Airport (IND) was the highest ranked and Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) was the lowest ranked. (The report defined a «large» airport as one with 10 to 32.9 million passengers per year and a «medium» airport as one with 4.5 to 9.9 million passengers.)
Among the large airport categories, New York City’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) saw the biggest jump in passenger satisfaction after an $8 billion renovation project, which opened brand new terminals and other amenities for passengers.
I felt like a zombie as soon as I touched down in Belgium.
For fans of nostalgia TV as well as avid animal and travel lovers, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom is back in a big way. Sixty years ago, this beloved show innovated the nature adventure genre, enthralled viewers with its global destinations, won multiple Emmy Awards and galvanized conservation goals and gains. It offered an eagerly anticipated, families-gathered, weekly gaze at creatures in far-flung locales to a television audience that averaged 34-million Americans for much of its initial, astonishingly lengthy 25-year run. Between then and now, weaving through subsequent decades, Wild Kingdom had been transformed again and again, showcased on Animal Planet and as a web series. Now there is a fresh fourth project, the all-new Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, which will premiere October 7 on NBC-TV (as part of its “The More You Know” programming block on Saturday mornings), as well as via NBC.com and NBC VOD. It is co-hosted by wildlife expert Peter Gros (who joined the original series in 1985) and wildlife ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D., a National Geographic Society research fellow and host of the PBS podcast Going Wild. Currently primed for 26 episodes set in North America, Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild kicks off with journeys to California’s super-parched Mojave Desert for desert-dwelling tortoises, the Maine Coast for Atlantic puffins (nicknamed “parrots of the sea” because of their colorful triangular beaks), the Florida Coast for aqua-agile manatees and Austin, Texas, for high-soaring-quick-swooping Mexican free-tailed bats. I reached out to Gros and Wynn-Grant to share their behind-the-scenes insights and inspirations, as they forge modern Wild Kingdom paths, while still applauding the footsteps of legendary zoologists Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler, who, as co-hosts of the documentary show’s dawn in 1963, put this legacy wildlife wonderland on the map.
The United States is supersized, from its sprawling big cities to its epic natural splendors. And its citizens? When it comes to friendliness and national pride, we can be a little “extra” too.
Low-cost airline Breeze Airways is continuing to expand with a new flight from New York to Florida in time for a warm-weather winter escape.
A burger and fries by the beach in San Diego, California. (Photo Credit: sophia_ross/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
After more than three years, Hong Kong’s flag carrier is resuming regular service to a major U.S. hub— Chicago O’Hare International (ORD).
A trusted piece of luggage is the cornerstone of any good travel uniform. Sure, comfortable shoes and a sweatshirt to keep warm mid-flight are key pieces of the puzzle, but nothing ruins a journey quite like a broken handle, malfunctioning wheel, or busted zipper. Beyond a solid structure, though, there are myriad considerations to make when finding your ideal bag: How much are you willing to spend? Are you team carry-on or prefer to check? Do you like the sleek look of a hardshell case or want the flexibility of a soft-sided piece? We used this criteria to create what we hope is a handy guide to shopping for the right luggage. Hover over the icons below for more information, and click ‘read more’ for a full review from our well-traveled team of editors and contributors.
Furthering its partnerships with yellow taxi cab companies, ride-hailing company Uber earlier this week announced its latest collaboration with Los Angeles Yellow Cab and its five partner taxi fleets in Southern California.
What are the friendliest places in America? The self-storage company Neighbor.com has just released its fourth annual list of America’s 25 Most Neighborly Cities, in honor of National Neighbor Day. The 2023 study ranks U.S. cities based on factors like charitable donations, volunteering, crime rates and more.
I'm a historically scrappy traveler. Whether flying with a budget airline or booking a seat at the back of the plane, I'll do just about anything to shave a few dollars off my travel plans.
Traveler satisfaction with North American airports climbed this year despite numerous challenges from an ongoing pilot shortage to record passenger volumes.According to the J.D. Power 2023 North America Airport Satisfaction Study released Wednesday, overall satisfaction improved by 3 points to 780 on a 1,000-point scale. The rise was propelled by improvements in three key areas, including terminal facilities, food and beverage and retail service and baggage claim.The study, currently in its 18th year, examines overall traveler satisfaction with mega (33 million or more passengers a year), large (10 to 32.9 million passengers a year) and medium (4.5 to 9.9 million passengers a year) North American airports across six factors, including terminal facilities; airport arrival/departure; baggage claim; security check; check-in/baggage check; and food, beverage and retail.The big winners among North American airports were Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (800) Tampa International Airport (832) and Indianapolis International Airport (843), which ranked highest among mega, large and medium airports, respectively. 2023 marks the second straight year that Tampa and Indy have won their respective categories.
U.S. tourism businesses just finished their first post-pandemic sales missions to China — their first trips in four years.