The Most Stressful Airports During the Holidays (flight, route, holiday)

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by Bo

I think I can link to the image in it. The southernmost airport on the list is Charlotte. The westernmost airport is O'Hare in Chicago. Most listed airports are in the snowiest parts of the US.

The southernmost airport on the list is actually Charleston, but you are right, snow is a big factor.

[BOBNCHI]

"The Most Stressful Airports During the Holidays......"

Are the ones I'm traveling through!

[Mr. Zero]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

we use lga all the time . but we take early am flights out . we have tsa precheck and breeze through everytime . we do avoid traveling during holidays though .

We fly out of LAX and JFK every year during the holidays, and always book the earliest flights as well, usually around 8am or earlier. Even traveling with little kids, it's been pretty stress-free... although to be fair, we also have Clear, Pre-Check and SkyClub access.

[canudigit]

I'm surprised that Phoenix Sky Harbor didn't make the list. We have never had a good experience there, the number of people in the metro area has far surpassed the size of their largest airport.

On the flip side, an airport that is in a northern climate that we have never had a negative experience with is Detroit Metro. They do have a high volume of flights in and out but they always seem to have enough staff to keep things flowing fairly steadily and the concourses are huge, bright, and airy.

[GoCardinals]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

we use lga all the time . but we take early am flights out . we have tsa precheck and breeze through everytime . we do avoid traveling during holidays though .

I lived in Queens and Smithtown Long Island for a good 15 years and have used LGA quite a bit as well.

And ironically enough, one of my worst experience at LGA was with an early morning flight. We arrived at the airport an hour and 25 minutes before the departure. I think it was 4:30 AM and the flight was at 6, if I am not mistaken.

I saw this line of passengers building up for ID security check.
I dropped my family off and went to drop off the rental car.

Perhaps the shuttle took slightly longer due to a detour caused by the construction at the airport but by the time I came back, the security line had grown all the way outside to the street. My family had already passed through and were waiting in the departure lounge.

I waited and waited in line as it was not even crawling, and figured that I will miss the flight at this speed.

I then requested the person behind me to hold my place for a minute, and I went upfront only to find out that there were two EXTREMELY SLOW TSA agents trying process the ID security check up. There were A LOT, I MEAN A LOT people waiting in line.

I requested a couple other TSA agents that my family has already gone thru the checkup and my flight leaves only in a few minutes and I If could be processed to join my wife and kids, only to find how rude and cold they were to brush aside my genuine situation.

So I called my wife and told her not to wait for me.

Of course I missed the flight but Southwest was good enough to book me into another flight at 11 AM
And it was not only me, but there were quite a few other passengers who were going thru the same dilemma.


There was another incident where we were sitting inside the plane waiting for departure. The wait kept getting longer and uncomfortable as the pilot finally announced that there were 27 planes AHEAD of us waiting for their turn to take off. And this was not a bad weather or Holidwy season.
We ended up waiting for two and half hours in the plane.

Parhals you got extremely lucky to never have a stressful experience at LGA, and I don’t mean to jinx you but I think there is a reason why LGA tops this list posted in the OP.

[GeoffD]

Meh. We flew out of Montreal yesterday. The drive up from Vermont wasn’t great in pouring rain and the roads were a bit slick for the first 30 minutes but I’ve done far worse airport drives. Parking wasn’t a problem. Checked a bag at first class checkin with no wait. VIP security queue empty. Free cocktails and food at the Maple Leaf Lounge. The flight boarded on time. The lamb curry wasn’t great but service was good. My bag came out in Vancouver with a 5 minute wait.

I got stranded at O’Hare on Dec 26th missing my connection after the 2009 Northwest Amsterdam-Detroit attempted bombing. United booked me in the on-airport hotel at their cheap $100 rate and I caught the first flight in the morning.

I had a flight cancel in Charlotte connecting to Florida a couple days before Christmas. I was Chairman’s Preferred with US Airways at the time. I changed airports, rebooked my rental car, and got on the next flight. Top level frequent flier status is very useful at times like that. With no airline status, I would have been stranded.

I’ve flown dozens of times at Christmas and only ever got stranded that once.

There’s no way I’d fly Thanksgiving. That’s way worse than Christmas. At Christmas, the traffic is much more spread out.

[james777]

Originally Posted by Frihed89

Maybe it's the stressful people and not the airports?

No, it's definitely the airports. You're just lucky you don't live over here and have to put up with the TSA.

[KayAnn246]

I travel to and from RDU all the time. I find it the least stressful airport. I will be traveling in and out of CLT next year. I've traveled through CLT to Orlando but usually, drive to Charlotte.

[kyle19125]

By far of those airports previously listed I have found PHL (Philadelphia) the worst in terms of delays and weird layout. Even when planes are outbound with seemingly on-time departures, you almost always get stuck idling on the runway with the pilot announcing something to the effect of "we're 17th in line for takeoff"....

[KayAnn246]

I'm surprised DTW didn't make the list.