(orchestral music)
- [Scott] What makes an airport
good depends on your needs.
Do you care most about on-time departures,
short lines at TSA, quality food options?
How about a dog to ease your stress?
Seriously, this is a thing.
But at the Wall Street
Journal we have a system.
Each year we look at 15 metrics.
Five related to operations,
five around value,
and five about convenience,
including a grade from WSJ readers,
to determine the best of
the country's airports.
And by the same metrics, the worst.
So which ranked best this year?
A few clues.
It has a newly rebuilt terminal,
a power outlet in each seating unit,
and a ton of sunshine which
helps with on-time departures.
And yes, it's the one with Duke,
the poodle dressed in a John Wayne outfit.
(jazzy music)
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport,
which bills itself as
America's friendliest airport,
took the top spot in this year's ranking.
And the city's aviation director
was delighted to hear it.
- It's a great testament to our team
and all of the investments
that we make in our facilities.
We want to try to make sure
that that passenger experience
is as painless as possible.
And we try to stress customer
service day in and day out.
- [Scott] Before we get to
this year's worst ranked,
here's why Sky Harbor was on top.
The airport, which placed third last year,
excelled in many of the metrics,
including short screening waits,
a low rate of delays and cancellations,
short taxi to takeoff times,
and ever a low average Uber cost
to get from the airport
to the convention center.
It's biggest jump from
last year's ranking however
what it's wifi speed.
Sky Harbor ranked 18th out
of the 20 largest airports
in wifi speed last year.
Consumers complained.
It's now second.
Another factor,
average yelp restaurant
ratings improved this year
at Sky Harbor,
while restaurants at last year's winner,
Denver, slipped slightly.
- Sometimes you get tired of seeing
the same national brand at an airport.
But here,
we have some really
great local restaurants.
- [Scott] Despite it's high
scores in many categories,
Phoenix still scored low in several areas.
It ranked 19th in the number
of nonstop cities served
with a lack of international flights.
- We would like to see that portfolio
of international destinations expanded.
(tense music)
- [Scott] More international flights
didn't help this year's
worst ranked airport however.
Outdated facilities, flight
delays, and poor food reviews
once again put Newark at the bottom
of the Journal's airport
rankings for large airports.
The executive director
of the port authority
of New York and New
Jersey wasn't surprised.
- Well, one thing that
one has to recognize
is that all three of the
port authority's airports,
in customer experience surveys,
rank at the absolute
bottom of the surveys.
That is the reality.
- [Scott] New York's Kennedy airport
placed only one spot higher at 19th,
and LaGuardia took last place
in the mid-sized airport rankings,
receiving a grade of D plus
from Wall Street Journal
readers on average.
Focusing on Newark,
domestic fares were
second highest on average,
lines at TSA averaged
the second longest wait,
and the airport bottomed out
in percentage of flights that
landed on time at just 66%.
Oh yeah, and the food at Newark
was ranked worst among big
airports in average Yelp reviews.
But the port authority is undergoing
a massive $24 billion rebuild
at all three airports.
At Newark,
a new terminal one is
currently under construction.
When completed, the three
billion dollar facility
will replace current terminal A.
- They've simply outlived
their useful life.
Newark terminal A is almost 50 years old.
In the age of technology
and the age of air travel,
that's simply unacceptable.
- [Scott] Terminal one is
still about two years out.
In the mean time,
Newark has upgraded some
bathrooms and concessions
to respond to customer complaints.
- Our ambition is to be at the top
of the passenger experience surveys.
We have our eye at moving
from the back of the pack to world-class.
