Those are among the key takeaways from a study just released by CompareCards. Analyzing and averaging out ten years of U.S. Department of Transportation airport arrival data from the country’s 50 busiest airports for June, July, and August, the site made a number of determinations. Among them:
Newark-Liberty has consistently been the most problematic airport in the country, with one out of three planes landing late. LaGuardia was the second-worst and JFK the fourth-worst, with San Francisco coming in at number three. If on-time performance is important to you when considering which company to fly with, these are the budget airlines with the best on-time record.
Some 87.2% of flights into Honolulu — one of the top places Americans will vacation this summer — landed on time, giving it top honors for arrivals. Salt Lake City and Orange County, California were the next two airports on the list.
June has historically been the worst month for travel, with the most arrival delays of the year occurring that month in 30 of the 50 airports surveyed.
Delays got worse between 2017 and 2018 at Cincinnati, Washington Dulles, and Chicago O’Hare, while improving at Houston-Hobby, Dallas Love Field, Los Angeles International, Sacramento, and Fort Lauderdale.
Interestingly, arrivals at the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (which also happens to be one of the most kid-friendly airports in America), boasts a reasonably good on-time arrival rate, placing 17th best on the list.
Among the strategies recommended by CompareCards to ease the pain of summer air travel: Fly nonstop (the more connections in your itinerary, the more chances for delays); take the first flight of the day (your plane will likely have arrived at the airport overnight so you won’t be at the mercy of an incoming flight); plan as far in advance as possible; and consider alternative airports (both San Jose and Oakland, for instance, have better on-time records than San Francisco but are also convenient to the Bay Area). This is how long you’re going to wait at 40 of America’s largest airports.