Las Vegas' McCarran, New York's LaGuardia TopJ.D. Power's Airport Customer Satisfaction Survey

McCarran International in Las Vegas and New York's LaGuardia International garnered the highest level of customer satisfaction for large and midsize U.S. airports, respectively, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study released late last month.

Among airports in the United States serving more than 30 million passengers annually, New York's John F. Kennedy International and Philadelphia International airports followed McCarran.

For airports that serve between 10 million and 30 million passengers per year, Chicago Midway followed LaGuardia, and Baltimore Washington International ranked third. For small airports, Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby tied for first.

While those airports took the top honors for their respective categories in the study, Jim Gaz, senior director of travel and entertainment at J.D. Power and Associates, said airports on the whole performed better than they did in the last study.

"Airport satisfaction does appear to have improved since the last time we did the study in December 2004," Gaz said. "One of the key areas of improvement is in the security process. Clearly, passengers are satisfied with the level of security that they receive at airports in North America."

The study also showed that travelers in North America feel considerably safer traveling within their borders than abroad. Of 9,800 passengers who took to the skies through May of this year, 47 percent said they feel "very safe" traveling by air in North America, but only 13 percent reported feeling the same level of safety traveling outside of North America.

Thirty percent of the respondents feel it is "unsafe" or "very unsafe" to travel abroad, while just 4 percent shared that sentiment about traveling in North America.

In comparing airports, J.D. Power and Associates examined eight factors: checkin and baggage check, airport accessibility, security checks, terminal facilities, food and beverage, retail services, baggage claim and immigration and customs control.

The study found wait times to be the linchpin of customer satisfaction. Speed of baggage delivery received low marks and averaged 17.3 minutes, J.D. Power and Associates said. "However, as long as baggage is delivered within 20 minutes, passengers are generally satisfied with the experience," the study noted.

Given the proliferation of such expedited checkin services as kiosks and online boarding pass printing, travelers gave higher ratings to the checkin process. Wait time to obtain a boarding pass and check luggage averaged 13 minutes. "Tolerance for waiting is lower for the checkin process and airports only have 15 minutes before passenger satisfaction drops below the industry average for this measure," the study said.

"Customers may be more satisfied with the checkin process because of the options available to speed up the process," Gaz said. "For example, 16 percent of passengers go online and print out a boarding pass before arriving at the airport—up from just 5 percent in 2004. An additional 27 percent of passengers use a self-service checkin kiosk—up from 18 percent in 2004. These time-saving measures can go a long way in improving satisfaction."

The study found higher satisfaction with airports among leisure travelers than among business travelers and also among female travelers than among male travelers.

"Many travelers, particularly business travelers, are looking for various amenities in airports such as wireless internet connection, business centers—something that will allow them to be productive while they're on the go. Many airports have plug-ins available so people can recharge their PDAs, cell phones or computers. It's difficult when you're out of the office to get things done, so anything airports can do to facilitate especially business travelers being productive improves the airport satisfaction experience."

The study showed that 47 percent of respondents purchased food or beverage at the airport, compared with 54 percent from the study in 2004.

Furthermore, "Only 20 percent of travelers indicate they purchased retail items at the airport—down from 37 percent in 2004," the study said. Citing prices as the number-one gripe, food and beverage services received the lowest ratings among airport patrons.

"Travelers also have particularly low satisfaction within the area of retail services offered at airports," the study noted. J.D. Power and Associates conducted the study in association with Aviation Week, both business units of The McGraw-Hill Cos.