DFW International named best airport in North America (Houston, Atlanta: rental car, rental)

[SanJac]

Nobody really chooses airports based on ratings/ rankings. People choose based on airlines and maybe location...

Good for the airport CEO bonus I guess?

[As Above So Below...]

I miss having DFW as my home airport, but I do NOT miss American Airlines. They're awful. United isn't wonderful but they are a lot better.

But I can easily believe DFW is the best major hub airport in the country.

[brock2010]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

LaGuardia's gone through a recent renovation and is a lot better than it was. I've had to go through there recently and it was a breeze. Huge improvement from the past.

That's good to know especially since I'll be there next year.

[DabOnEm]

DFW airport is okay. What is more impressive about DFW airport is the airport grounds and how large of a complex it is. The actual terminals and whatnot are nothing special to me. As a hub airport, it gets beat by Denver IMO which is the best domestic hub IMO. Only real megative thing about DIA is the food options are terrible.

[ThomasCrown]

When you consider all the ancillary aspects of DFW that are much better than nearly every other major airport out there, it's a really strong contender to be considered the best or among the best airports in the US. DFW benefits from being spread out and having a lot of space for parking and expansion, more security checkpoints than most other airports per terminal, etc. It is by far the quickest airport you can fly in/out of if you are parking a car and have to take the Skylink to get back to your originating terminal to get to your car, and at the end of a long day, that counts for a lot with me.



There are plenty of lounges for flyers who have airline status or AmEx benefits, and they are good at DFW, not the best I've seen, but nice.


Restaurant choices are good, better than most. I would like to see some of the terminal restaurants/bars become more automated, like you see with United's terminal at Newark and some others. So easy to use the touchscreen terminal to order your food/drinks/pay and go without having to wait for anyone. I think they'll add this eventually to DFW, it's becoming more common as airports go through renovations.


I just got back from Chicago on Tues... flying out, I was through security in about 3 minutes at DFW, and that was not using a Pre-Check access point either. Going through the non Pre-Check checkpoint at ORD took 20 minutes with a fairly small line of people. When it's busy, getting through security there can take over an hour. I've never had that kind of wait time at DFW, even when forced to use a non Precheck entrance.


Most frequent travelers would love to have DFW as their main hub.

[urbancuriosity]

DFW has a lot going for it. As Thomas mentioned, security generally moves very fast there. I also really like how you can walk between Terminals A, B, C, and D. I often schedule a 1-2 hour connection window and enjoy the exercise. Yeah I know that's odd. I like the access to the airport as well both by car and light rail. My most recent time there was for a downtown stay and I didn't even bother to rent a car. The food options are reasonable. Baggage delivery is reasonable as well. All in all, it's a nice hub.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

LaGuardia's gone through a recent renovation and is a lot better than it was. I've had to go through there recently and it was a breeze. Huge improvement from the past.

I've flown in and out of LaGuardia beginning as little kid. The re-fresh of B and C look awesome. The old spaces smelled like dirty bandaids and grease and both B and C felt vaguely dangerous. That said people who fly often tend to focus on curb to gate and parking spot to gate times . Pre-refresh I/we quite reliably made it from Uber/taxi/curb to gate in 10-12 minutes. I'd guess post re-fresh curb to gate times are 2 or 2.5X slower.


_______


DFW kills it in terms of parking spot to gate times. Literally hundred of times I've parked my car, gone though TSA pre-check to gate in 8-10-12 minutes.


______


Someone about was extolling DIA.......parking spot to gate times at DIA don't even compare to DFW.

[roodd279]

Nobody really chooses airports based on ratings/ rankings. People choose based on airlines and maybe location...

Absolutely untrue. You're thinking about departure / arrival. But if it's a layover - then I 100% choose my airport based on the airport, all other things being equal. Nothing to do with airlines or location.


Those ratings are indirect, at best - but they can help an inexperienced flyer find a great layover instead of awful. For instance - I would always choose CLT over MIA. I would always choose LGA or JFK over ORD. "Why" doesn't matter - my personal choice - but choices nonetheless.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Someone about was extolling DIA.......parking spot to gate times at DIA don't even compare to DFW.

Yep. DIA is not a fast airport. Only having two security checkpoints, which are basically right next to each other, means sometimes the line is LONG. I think DIA is a fine airport, but I'd pick DFW over it every time.

We are willing to pay a good amount more to fly out of COS instead of DIA. There's really no comparison between the two assuming flight times, destinations, etc. work out of the smaller airport. Even the airport staff seem friendlier and less stressed.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

Yep. DIA is not a fast airport. Only having two security checkpoints, which are basically right next to each other, means sometimes the line is LONG. I think DIA is a fine airport, but I'd pick DFW over it every time.

We are willing to pay a good amount more to fly out of COS instead of DIA. There's really no comparison between the two assuming flight times, destinations, etc. work out of the smaller airport. Even the airport staff seem friendlier and less stressed.

when I mentioned DIA I was specifically talking about it as a connecting airport. It is definitely one of the better ones with a really efficient terminal design. the only downside with connecting in DIA is the food options need to get better.

Smaller airports in general are going to have much less stress than larger international airports. No surprises there between COS and DIA. This is one reason why I like flying into Palm Springs or Ontario when doing SoCal travel because those airports are really simple. Doesn't mean they are better for layovers than LAX because they are not.