THIS COLORADO AIRPORT WAS OFFICIALLY RANKED THE MOST STRESSFUL

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

This airport was officially ranked the ‘most stressful’

BY VERONIKA BONDARENKO THESTREET

UPDATED AUGUST 20, 2024 2:52 PM

 

Many factors can go into determining what kind of experience one will have at the airport but, generally, delays and cancelations will not help turn it into a positive one.

 

That is what consumer law company Whitney Law looked at when assigning different airports across the country the title of “most” and “least” stressful.

 

Colorado’s Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE)’s 6.41 cancelations for every 100 departures was officially the highest number in the country for the period between January 2023 and 2024 while the average delay lasted 22.9 minutes.

 

Another airport seeing high numbers of tourists on the way to resorts, New Mexico’s Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) landed in second place with a total score of 36.16/100 (Aspen/Pitkin got 30.32). The average departure was delayed by 14 minutes while 1.6 out of every Google (GOOGL) reviews mentioned stress in some way.

 

Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which frequently lands in various worst-of airport lineups, took third place with an overall score of 36.89/100. The review rate was 1.2 mentions of stress for every 100 comments while the average delay time is 15.2 minutes.

 

“It is fascinating to see which airports are the most stressful, especially with the surprising inclusion of some of America’s smaller airports,” a Whitney Law Firm spokesperson said in a statement on the findings. “While there are many factors that we can’t control in an airport, there are steps we can take to make navigating through them slightly easier.”

 

These steps are to arrive earlier and leave oneself more time than you think you’ll need while also reading flight status updates online so as not to arrive at the airport for nothing if a flight is suddenly canceled or delayed by a large amount of time.

 

In terms of airports where one can go for a low-stress experience, southeastern Virginia’s Newport News/Williamsburg International (PHF) ranked the top in the country with a stress score of 78.92/100 (in this case, higher is better as it means there are fewer things causing you stress).

 

Maryland’s Salisbury Regional Airport (SBY) and North Carolina’s Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN) brought in similar high scores and landed in second and third place, respectively.

 

In a separate study done by data analytics firm J.D. Power, Newark Liberty landed last when it comes to customer satisfaction in large part due to the high airfare prices coupled with the bad traffic to get to or from it. The study separated airports by size so Newark was the worst in the mega-airport category (Detroit’s Metropolitan Wayne County Airport took the top spot) while Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Hawaii’s Kahului Airport (OGG) got the worst score in the large- and medium-sized airport categories.

 

“Regularly checking your flight status for any changes or delays is also an important step, as well as familiarizing yourself with your terminal and gate beforehand,” the Whitney spokesperson said in a further comment. “If possible, packing lightly and sticking to just carry-on luggage can also save you a lot of time before and after your flight.”