SAN, like most California airports, can only function with perfect weather, which luckily it has most of the time.
If the marine layer drops down low, or the winds blow from the east, SAN falls apart.
That being said, flight schedule expansion is pushing SAN to its limits. They’re out of pavement for the time being, and the controllers are dealing with 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bucket on a good day.
I’m sure there’s a million reasons why it didn’t happen but I always liked the Miramar concept for a better more future flexible location.
Flying GSP to ATL. Got one of the @Tron specials 739 Delta/Lion air purchases. Only 35 minutes runway to runway so we will take one for the team so the longer hauls have TVs 
Genuinely surprised GSP-ATL is mainline.
The fiancé is an FA for Delta and loves picking up those legs since we live up here.
Also was told by her that a high number of million-milers fly out of this airport due to BMW, Michelin, and other big manufacturing companies up here, might be reason for keeping it mainline
Used to fly about 10 flights a day on 717s, but we’ve noticed they are starting to cut back and fly 6-8 flights a day on the 739s
Flying to so cal mid dec and trying to figure out my flights.
Trying to avoid lax at all cost. I think John Wayne is in the lead now. May have to change to fly into SAN and then leave out of John Wayne
I’m sure this has been discussed previously but the Salt Lake City airport is incredibly nice. Tons of good restaurants too.
Happy to report we did see some fall colors even if the weekend freeze they got robbed us of most of them. Denver is a beautiful city, can’t wait to get back.
Also we got through the DEN airport in record time coming home sunday. I think it was 20 minutes curb to gate including the terminal tram and everything. Traveling a few weeks before a major holiday might be a cheat code for nice airport experiences?
Doing the SAN-DEN route on Southwest this weekend! (to see the Cats, of course)
This will be my first time leaving the airport, I’ve only ever connected. Excited to see @Randy’s boy Blucifer in all his (her??) glory!
Fascinating article here on AA
First time ever flying anything but basic economy this week. Delta comfort plus for ya boy (paid for by the company). S/o to my boss for being old and demanding we get comfort plus.
Unfortunately we are flying to Canada.
Do not be shy on the snacks they give you, they come back multiple times take it all, this ain’t coach brother. Take what you want, take 2 things, take 3 things, no problem.
Wall Street Journal airport rankings szn… sorry for the lengthy post but the article is behind a paywall so figured I would paste it here
PHOENIX—Searing heat. Erratic sports teams. An unending influx of Californians.
Residents of this desert city have plenty of gripes. One thing you’ll hear few complaints about: the airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a breeze to get to. It offers a solid lineup of airlines and flights. And travelers rarely fret about flight delays and cancellations given the never-have-to-look-at-the-forecast weather.
It’s a combination that helped land the airport atop The Wall Street Journal’s annual ranking of the country’s busiest airports—again. Sky Harbor took the crown in 2019, before a pandemic pause in the rankings.
| OVERALL RANK | AIRPORT | OVERALL SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix (PHX) | 63.4 |
| 2 | Minneapolis (MSP) | 63.2 |
| 3 | Los Angeles (LAX) | 62.9 |
| 4 | Atlanta (ATL) | 62.7 |
| 5 | Detroit (DTW) | 61.4 |
Click to see where every airport landed in the full ranking.
Source: 2023 WSJ Airport Rankings
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport finished a hair behind Phoenix among the 20 busiest U.S. airports on this year’s list. Los Angeles International Airport took third, just behind them.
The Journal’s report card ranks the 50 largest U.S. airports on 30 measures divided into two categories important to travelers: The first group measures reliability, the second value and convenience.
Each accounted for half of an airport’s overall score, with 10 reliability measures, from Transportation Security Administration waits to time on the tarmac, carrying the most weight overall. After all, the thing we care most about in our travels is getting there on time.
New this year as a measure of customer satisfaction: a survey of travelers done by Dynata for the Journal on amenities that airports get right and wrong, from food and drink to bathrooms to parking.
No airport had a perfect score or anything close to it, a sign of the never-ending stresses on these complex, 24-hour businesses. Sky Harbor, my second home as a Phoenix resident, scored 63.4 out of 100. That wouldn’t earn report-card bonuses in any household.
| OVERALL RANK | AIRPORT | OVERALL SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose (SJC) | 71.2 |
| 2 | San Antonio (SAT) | 70.4 |
| 3 | Sacramento (SMF) | 70.0 |
| 4 | Indianapolis (IND) | 69.9 |
| 5 | Houston (HOU) | 69.0 |
Source: WSJ Airport Rankings
San Jose Mineta International Airport in California, the winner in the midsize category, topped all airports with a score of 71.2. San Antonio finished second (70.4), followed by last year’s midsize winner, Sacramento (70)
San Jose shined in reliability, as well as value and convenience. The Silicon Valley airport prides itself on its short walks—you can still walk to the rental-car center—short security lines, on-time performance and therapy dog and cat programs. Earlier this year it introduced a new tagline: Fly Simple.
“We’ve worked really hard to concentrate on the things that we can control,” says Scott Wintner, deputy director.
The worst-performing large airports won’t surprise anyone, especially given the nonstop headlines on congestion issues in the Northeast: Newark Liberty International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy. Dallas/Fort Worth International finished third-worst in our scorecard, dragged down by measures of reliability like heavy arrival and departure delays.
Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the region’s airports, describes Newark and JFK as “works in progress.” Newark’s redesigned Terminal A opened this year, and the Port Authority plans to overhaul the airport’s other two terminals. JFK is also in the midst of a revamp that will cost billions of dollars and take years to complete.
“We’re committed to a trajectory where Newark and JFK are world-class,” Cotton says.
Phoenix, where American and Southwest carry nearly three out of four passengers, was solidly reliable. It also performed well on money matters like airfares and Uber costs to downtown, plus amenities including baggage claim and car-rental facilities, though it fared poorly in rental-car costs on the November weekend we priced.
Sky Harbor had among the fewest flight cancellations of any large airport, shorter delays than most and far shorter time on the tarmac awaiting takeoff or getting to the gate. The average taxi-out time—the time from when a plane leaves the gate until takeoff—was under 15 minutes, compared with 26 minutes at JFK.
Weather helps a lot, of course. Airport director Chad Makovsky also credits the takeoff and landing choreography the airport, airlines, FAA and others have worked to perfect over the years. It’s essential, given the airport’s compact size.
The city-owned airport near downtown Phoenix sits on 3,400 acres and has just three runways. That compares with 17,000 acres and seven runways at Dallas/Fort Worth, where Makovsky came from in 2021. PHX passenger traffic, fueled by the region’s explosive growth, is up nearly 10% from a year ago and about 4% from 2019 through September.
“We have to be very efficient,” he says.
Sky Harbor completed some major projects in the past 18 months that are already a hit with travelers, Makovsky says. Nearly 75% of the airport’s passengers are local. Contrast that with an airport like Charlotte, N.C., where 70% of the passengers are connecting.
In December, a couple months before metro Phoenix hosted the Super Bowl, the airport extended its PHX Sky Train service 2.5 miles to the rental-car center. Travelers previously had to schlep bags to the curb and board a shuttle bus that wound through clogged airport roadways. The airport’s bus fleet went from 120 to a dozen backup buses.
“Being able to connect from any of our terminals to the rental-car center in like five minutes is pretty cool compared to what we used to have,” Makovsky says.
The airport opened a new concourse, for
, in summer 2022. It’s now coming to life as restaurants and bars start to open. A Bobby Flay outlet opened in the food court and a Guy Fieri sit-down restaurant is on the menu by the end of next year. Also on tap: a PGA Tour store with a simulator of the infamous 16th hole at the Phoenix Open. A Chase Sapphire Reserve lounge is due to boost the airport’s weak lounge lineup by next spring.
Makovsky says the new gates in Terminal 4, the airport’s busiest, provide a glimpse into PHX’s future as it builds another concourse in neighboring Terminal 3 and renovates existing concourses in Terminal 4. Many areas of Terminal 4, which opened 33 years ago, are showing their age.
The walkway to the new gates is significantly wider than other concourses at the airport, so there’s less passenger congestion. (Some passengers ding that area for the lack of moving walkways.) The gate areas are larger and windows have dynamic tinting so passengers can look out at the mountains even in the glare of the afternoon sun.
“At the end of the day, we’re trying to keep the stress down for customers,” Makovsky says.
Some fliers have suggested that Sky Harbor could have better signage, shorter walks and more long-haul international flights. (American and
offer nonstops to London and Condor has seasonal flights to Frankfurt.)
Richard Factor can’t find any fault with the airport. The inventor moved from New York to Sedona, Ariz., a tourist hot spot two hours north of Phoenix, about a decade ago. He and his wife travel frequently.
“The experience there compared to what it used to be back East is so much more pleasant that sometimes I think the airport itself should have a tip jar,” he says.
Would love to know what their cutoff is for large and midsize airports. Seems widly inconsistent from my point of view.
Says a lot about American airports that the highest ranked is 71…
Thanks for sharing! I’ve had 12 legs thru PHX this year, and I can see why it’s top of this list. Rarely a weather delay, easy to get in and out of, and if you are flying AA or SWA there are tons of flights. Also shoutout SJC, place is dialed.
I’d be curious to see a differentiating ranking comparing connecting and end-point airports. Newark is great if you are connecting for example but it would be low on my list of airports to fly out of with the security lines. On the flipside, I’ve found SFO and DEN to be relatively painless to get in and out of.
That ranking is laughable every year.
Things I never expected to read without being a joke for $1000
EWR is actually a fairly lousy connecting hub, but it’s still better than JFK or LGA. The UA EWR flight schedule is much more geared to O/D demand than connecting demand. For example, note how all the Caribbean flights leave too early for people flying in from the west to take a morning flight in.
imagine having LAX above Atlanta
John Wayne (SNA) is way better than some of the airports above it.
