1 week Ago By Mark Mahon
Commercial aviation is a competitive business, and so is the airport experience. The flying public—nearly three million Americans flew on an airplane on any given day last year—engages in a myriad of activities while at major commercial airports, from security screening to food consumption, business networking to aircraft boarding. The quest to please the aviation consumer begins before the consumer boards an aircraft.
As the nation heads toward the busy upcoming summer flying season, recent passenger surveys have yielded winners and losers in the all-important airport experience domain. Which eight-decade-old American airport has recently experienced passenger experience and flight disruption issues? Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). Changes are coming, though, for the world's eighth-busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic.
Disrupted Flights AirHelp , an online air passenger assistance service and passenger claims management firm based in Berlin, Germany, collected monthly data that ranked O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Chicago as the airport with the fourth most flight disruptions of any major airport in the United States that had at least 10,000 flights during March. The survey data indicated that 25% of O'Hare's commercial flights were disrupted in March. The AirHelp web platform defines a flight disruption as an instance where a flight is canceled (a rarity), delayed by more than three hours, overbooked, or when a passenger is denied boarding for some reason.
The chart below shows the five major U.S. airports with the highest percentage of disrupted flights in March, according to AirHelp data and local Chicago news coverage of the data: Airport % of flights disrupted Dallas-Ft.
Worth (DFW) 29% Miami International (MIA) 28.4% Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) 27.9% O'Hare International Airport (ORD) 25.
6% Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) 24.9% Airports, once seen as stressful transit hubs, are now romantic hotspots. Discover which airports rank best for finding love.
O'Hare: Some Passenger Survey Turbulence The Airhelp survey comes on the heels of a separate ranking late last year based on Skytrax data, Google Reviews, and aviation travel news coverage that was conducted by the online game site Solitaired . The gaming website rated O'Hare as the eighth most stressful airport in the United States, partly due to longer wait times for security screening. Here is how Solitaired described their survey criteria: "To uncover the best spots for stress-free travel, we analyzed data from Skytrax, Google Reviews, and multiple travel articles for more than 400 airports globally.
We then created a relaxation rating on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 representing the most relaxing airports ...
For [U.S. airports] ranking, we added one additional category, wait times.
" Solitaired placed O'Hare 37th out of 44 on the list of the best US airports for relaxing travel. As one local Chicago television news station noted, "the average wait time for security at O’Hare is 27 minutes, while the max wait time is around 61 minutes." It should be noted the same survey quantified the commendable quality of O'Hare's airport lounges.
Chicago's Southside airport, Midway (MDW), was ranked much less stressful—the 15th most relaxing airport in the US, according to Solitaired. The Solitaired rated Indianapolis International Airport (IND) as the most relaxing airport last year. The facility served over 10 million passengers in 2024.
Though passenger experience surveys are often subjective, public perception challenges have arisen for O'Hare International Airport over the past twelve months. A Fall 2024 J.D.
Power passenger satisfaction opinion survey of major North American airports ranked O'Hare International Airport 18th out of 20 mega airports. "Outdated, crowded and relatively unpleasant", said the Chicago Sun-Times in its coverage of the J.D.
Power survey results concerning O'Hare (ORD) and Midway (MDW). The carrier has announced several new routes, including one to Chicago O'Hare. O'Hare's sheer size—with eight active runways and 200-plus boarding gates—informs its busy daily operations schedule in a geographic setting that includes recurring blizzards and severe thunderstorms.
More than 80 million passengers passed through ORD in 2024. The airport was named the most connected U.S.
domestic mega-hub airport by aviation analytics provider OAG in 2024. Over 200 domestic destination connections are available at ORD. Though isolated travel challenges (a two-day blizzard, for example) can significantly affect survey rankings conducted over a 30-day period, O'Hare has lost some of its splendor since President Kennedy delivered glowing airport dedication remarks at O'Hare in March 1963.
Aging Airport Infrastructure As mentioned, President John F. Kennedy spoke at the dedication ceremony for O'Hare in 1963 as the airport became a commercial aviation centerpiece for the entire nation. "There is no other airport in the world where planes can make instrument landings on parallel runways, simultaneously.
There is no other airport in the nation which maintains three instrument landing systems. And there is no other airport in the world, and this should be a source of satisfaction to the people of Chicago. There is no other airport in the world which serves so many people and so many planes.
" — President John F. Kennedy , March 1963 That was then. The 2025 AirHelp survey data speaks to the experience of an increasing number of commercial aviation consumers in the United States and elsewhere.
The airport experience can seem crowded and impersonal, while flight delays can lead to frayed nerves and disrupted lives. O'Hare is now undertaking a decade-long multi-billion dollar infrastructure improvement campaign—more on that below. Importantly, the J.
D. Power survey data mentioned above noted that 59% of respondents agreed that their primary (home) airport actually helped to alleviate the stress of traveling —an important point for airport authority leadership everywhere. An Airports Council International report in 2023 emphasized the need for significant investment in aging US airport infrastructure: "Airports in the United States collectively need $151 billion over the next five years [2023-2027] in order to meet their infrastructure needs.
" — Kevin M. Burke, President/CEO, Airports Council International - North America The Stress Of Travel Beyond the passenger survey data related to O'Hare (ORD), commercial flying has become an increasingly stressful experience in the past two decades. In an August 2023 survey of 1,000 flyers from Expedia, air travel was listed as a leading cause of stress for 55% of the travelers surveyed, even more daunting than filing taxes or visiting the dentist.
The stressful nature of air travel for some genuinely matters as more and more Americans travel via commercial airlines. As the airline advocacy group, Airlines for America, documented last month, for the first time, more than half of Americans reported taking at least one airline trip sometime during 2024. American airspace is becoming more and more crowded: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handled about 45,000 daily flights from 520 airport traffic control towers in the United States.
Sean Duffy made his comments in response to a statement that cuts at the FAA had weakened the safety of air travel. From runway incursions to lengthy security screening lines, the solutions to stressful flying experiences involve airports, government agencies, facility designers, architects, airlines as well as individual consumers. The fire-induced stoppage of flight operations at London Heathrow (LHR) on March 21 highlighted the critical role of ancillary infrastructure in and near airports—and how quickly flight disruptions spread when things go wrong.
Flying in the present day can be a stressful experience, but using certain tips and tricks can ease potential annoyance. Weather Sways Passenger Opinion Certain factors affecting passenger stress and satisfaction levels may occur with some frequency at O'Hare International Airport, too. For example, weather.
A 2024 Weather Channel ranking of US airports with the most weather-related delays put O'Hare at third highest. According to the analysis: "No U.S.
major airport had more weather delays in our 10-year study than O'Hare, averaging more than 26,000 weather delays a year. If an incoming flight is delayed to O'Hare, there’s an almost 50/50 chance it’s because of weather." The Weather Channel survey noted Chicago's unique winter experience, stating that the city averages "more snowy days than any Northeast hub each year, wintry weather can be a major hassle for O’Hare.
" In fact, Chicago sees about 28 days of snow per year on average, including six inches of snow each March. Chicago is known as "The Windy City". The breezes blowing off Lake Michigan? Blizzards? Find out here .
Renewing O'Hare According to OAG data, O'Hare was the 10th busiest global airport in 2024 by total domestic and international seats: 46,992,360. That's nearly an equivalent number to the population of Spain. The airport's main commercial user, United Airlines, alone operates 45 daily nonstop flights to 39 international destinations from ORD.
As commercial aviation continues to grow and the associated infrastructure is pushed to the limit, the flying public may come to rely on consumer advocates like AirHelp and other advocates to navigate disruptions at an ever-growing list of mega-airports. Like many airports whose first significant expansion phases occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, O'Hare is now in the midst of a significant decade-long capital improvement effort called O'Hare 21 . United Airlines and American Airlines , the airport’s two major carriers, agreed to an updated project plan last spring as costs began to spiral.
The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) also just began a $300 million Terminal 3 rehabilitation project to improve the passenger experience. Notably, the improvement plan includes a new multi-billion-dollar Global Terminal that will double the capacity of Terminal 2, which it will replace. IATA: ORD - ICAO: KORD Year opened: Site selected in 1945 ⇒ Regular commercial use since 1955 Airport authority agency: Chicago Department of Aviation Active runways: 8 4 Terminals: 1, 2, 3, 5 Gates available: 201 (United Airlines: 90 gates; American Airlines: 71 gates) Destinations: 200 nonstop, 63 international Passengers (2024, total): 80 million Longest runway: 10L/28R - 13,000 ft.
Domestic use gate fee (per delivered seat): $1.48 " ..
. flight delays are estimated to have cost air travelers billions of dollars. FAA/Nextor estimated the annual costs of delays (direct cost to airlines and passengers, lost demand, and indirect costs) in 2019 to be $33 billion.
" — Airlines for America report , July 2024 The recent air passenger satisfaction data by J.D. Power and AirHelp represent an opportunity for the O'Hare International Airport community—airline and agency leadership included—to renew President Kennedy's vision from his 1963 O'Hare dedication remarks: "This is an extraordinary airport in an extraordinary city.
" Both airlines are competing for passengers at Chicago O'Hare. Follow O'Hare International Airport (ORD) at Simple Flying here ..
