Orlando airport ranks 6th in customer satisfaction survey
Orlando International ranks sixth in the new J.D. Power airport satisfaction survey, trailing its Las Vegas rival but leading Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
The rankings are among 19 of the nation’s largest airports and Toronto’s, all in a “mega” class, with Minneapolis-Saint Paul in first, San Francisco second, Chicago’s O’Hare next to last and Newark Liberty International at the bottom.
Overall, airports are not for smiley-face moods due to a convergence of factors.
“The combination of pent-up demand for air travel, the nationwide labor shortage and steadily rising prices on everything from jet fuel to a bottle of water have created a scenario in which airports are extremely crowded and passengers are increasingly frustrated – and it is likely to continue through 2023,” said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power travel intelligence lead.
“In some ways, this is a return to normal as larger crowds at airports tend to make travelers more frazzled, but in cases where parking lots are over capacity, gates are standing room only and restaurants and bars are not even open to offer some reprieve, it is clear that increased capacity in airports can’t come soon enough.”
The J.D. Power 2022 North America Airport Satisfaction Study could have been written specifically for Orlando International, where garages are almost always stuffed, while arrivals and departure lanes mimic traffic jams.
The airport’s big plan for relief, the opening Tuesday of Terminal C, is a work in progress. The $3.2 billion property, a price that includes gates not yet finished, is intended to provide capacity for nearly a quarter of airport passenger volume.
For now, however, its biggest airline is JetBlue, which in July ranked 6th in Orlando passenger volume behind American, Delta, Frontier, Spirit and, the busiest, Southwest. Other airlines at Terminal C are foreign carriers with relatively low passenger volumes.
Airport satisfaction was at a high in the J.D. Power 2021 report, reflecting low passenger counts because of the pandemic that left airports less crowded. The 2022 report shows overall satisfaction down 25 points on a 1,000-point scale.
Key findings in this year’s report include that crowds are back at a time of sagging airport capabilities, inflation is taking a bite out of wallets and shrinking urges to buy food, drink and other stuff, and, causing some of the most angst, parking is terrible.
In the large airport category, Tampa International tops 26 other airports in the new report. Among medium airports, those of Jacksonville, Fort Myers and Palm Beach rank in the top 10.
The other Florida airports scored a higher satisfaction index number than Orlando, and Tampa’s was far higher, but Orlando officials say they have a harder job running a larger airport with more passengers.
In 2017, Orlando International was ranked as the top mega airport and in 2018 tied for first place with Las Vegas’ airport.
