Airports to Avoid or Choose to Avoid Travel Disruptions

While the past year or so has been a challenging time for airline travelers with rampant delays and cancellations, not all airports have seen the same level of disruptions. According to data just reported by TravelPulse for the period of June 2021 to June 2022, here are 4 airports to avoid, and 4 to seek out if you are trying to avoid travel disruptions.

Airports to Avoid

Denver International Airport (DEN): Denver’s airport saw more flight delays than any other U.S. airport in the one year time period. Over one fifth of their flights were delayed. Additionally, they were the third worst airport in terms of cancellations.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW): This airport canceled the most flights in the U.S. between June 2021 to June 2022. The total was 10,612 . This represents 3.4% of the airport’s total schedule. They experienced the second most delays of airports in the U.S. as well.

O’ Hare International Airport (ORD): Chicago’s O’Hare airport is notoriously busy and subject to delays and cancellations. This airport was reportedly particularly hard hit by staffing shortages which resulted in many flight disruptions. This airport cancelled nearly 3 out of every 100 flights.

Orlando International Airport (MCO): Orlando’s airport had a flight delay rate of 27.1 which was the second highest among the major U.S. airports for which data was reported. Their cancellation rate of 2.8% was not great either.

Airports With Fewer Disruptions

Daniel K Inouye International Airport (HNL): Honolulu’s airport was the nation’s best in terms of both cancellations and delay. The airport and Hawaii in general did a stellar job in terms of handling the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Portland International Airport (PDX): Portland Oregon’s airport cancelled just 1.6% of their flights in the year time period. Similarly, their flight delay percentage was relatively impressive which affected just 20% of its flights.

Oakland International Airport (OAK): Oakland, California’s airport was one of the best for flight cancellations which affected just 1.7 of their flights. Their delay performance was not quite as good with a total of 2.1%.

Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC): San Jose, California’s airport had one of the best records for flight disruptions. SJC was one of only 3 major U.S. airports to record under 10,000 delays. It also did well with cancellations with less than 1,000 in the subject year period.