The most stressful airports in the USA have been revealed
The most stressful airports in the USA have been revealed, with Chicago O’Hare International ranking the most stressful, and Phoenix International as the least.
Here at StressFreeCarRental.com we want to make everyone’s vacations as relaxing as possible, so we have released our 2024 Stressful Airport Index to reveal which airport in the USA is the most stressful.
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The most stressful airports in the USA
The most stressful airports in the USA
It’s extremely important that passengers feel relaxed before getting on a flight, or when arriving back home after their holiday. And a bad and stressful airport experience can make or break a vacation.
So we have ranked the fifteen most popular airports across the USA and analyzed data to reveal the worst airports for travelers to pass through.
We did this based on five stress-inducing factors: passenger numbers, distance from the city center, number of flight destinations, car parking charges and the overall airport satisfaction score.
There are certain airports which can make travelers feel more stressed than others – and the 2024 Stressful Airport Index has shown us which factors at certain destinations are worse.
Our findings have revealed that Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois is the most stress-inducing, largely due to the high car parking charge and the number of flight destination options.
With over 33 million passengers, 249 flight destinations and the second most expensive car parking charge for a week at over $283, it ranks almost 10 points higher than any other airport.
New York JFK International is ranked as the second most stressful airport in the USA, being over 20 km driving distance to the nearest city, having one of the worst Flightradar scores and a high weekly car parking charge of $191.67.
The most expensive car parking charge on the index is Seattle International in Washington at $376 for a week.
Dallas/Fort Worth International in Texas has one of the highest number of passengers at over 35 million, is the further distance from the nearest city and has the most flight destination options at 258.
However, it has one of the cheapest weekly car parking charges at $75, bringing it down the stress rankings to third place.
George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas, has the cheapest weekly car parking out of all the airports at just $51.20.
It also has the lowest passenger numbers out of all the airports on the index at 19.8 million, along with San Francisco International which has 20.4 million.
Phoenix International in Arizona is ranked as the least stressful airport on the index as the closest to the nearest city (3.7 miles), having one of the fewest passenger numbers, the least flight destinations and cheaper parking options at $72.
Denver International also has one of the cheapest weekly car parking charges at $54, however, it is the furthest airport from a city and has some of the highest passenger numbers traveling through making it the fourth most stressful.
Despite having the most passengers traveling through (45.4 million), Atlanta International ranks ninth most stressful and has the best Flightradar score of 84%, joint with Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International and San Francisco International.
Methodology
Sources correct as of May 2024
- Passenger numbers (2024) –https://www.stratosjets.com/blog/busiest-us-airports/
- Distance from airport to city centre (miles) – https://www.mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php, for Charlotte, Seattle, San Fran, Phoenix, Houston are all from Google maps 8th May.
- Number of destinations to fly to – https://www.flightsfrom.com/
- Weekly car park charge – Car parking.- each airport’s website. Dates selected was 12th – 19th 7am – 7pm, closest terminal selected. cheapest option selection (accurate as of Wednesday 8th May) – Dallas airport flew from American Airlines. because Atlanta, Miami and Las Vegas weren’t available to book we used the website hourly rate x 7
- Overall airport satisfaction score Flight radar score – https://www.flightradar24.com/ (accurate as of Wednesday 8th May)
The most stressful airports in Europe for 2024 have been revealed
The most stressful airports in Europe have been revealed, with Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris ranking as the most stressful, and Zagreb in Croatia as the least.
Here at StressFreeCarRental.com we want to make everyone’s holidays as relaxing as possible, so we have released our 2024 Stressful Airport Index to reveal which European airport is the most stressful.
Jump To:
The most stressful airports in Europe
The most stressful airports in Europe
The most stressful airports in Europe have been revealed, with Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris ranking as the most stressful, and Zagreb in Croatia as the least.
Here at StressFreeCarRental.com we want to make everyone’s holidays as relaxing as possible, so we have released our 2024 Stressful Airport Index to reveal which European airport is the most stressful.
It’s extremely important that passengers feel relaxed before getting on a flight, or when arriving back home after their holiday. And a bad and stressful airport experience can make or break the holiday.
So we have ranked the ten popular airports across Europe and analysed data to reveal the worst airports for travellers to pass through.
Destinations were ranked based on five stress-inducing factors: passenger numbers, distance from the city centre, number of flight destinations, car parking charges and departure delays.
There are certain airports which can make travellers feel more stressed than others – and the 2024 Stressful Airport Index has shown us which factors at certain destinations are worse than others.
Our findings have revealed that Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris is the most stress-inducing, largely due to the high volumes of passengers travelling through, and a high departure delay score.
Other overwhelming and stressful factors at Charles-de-Gaulle was the expensive car parking charge – at €100 for a week.
Out of the ten popular airports analysed, Zagreb airport in Croatia has been named the least stressful with a departure delay score of 1.4 out of five and the city centre being just 22.04 km away from the airport, making for a less stressful journey for visitors.
The most expensive car parking charge on the index was Heathrow in London – with passengers having to pay €143.34 for a week.
Rome airport was the cheapest to park at (€27.60), followed by Madrid charging (€36). However, Rome ranked as the fourth most stressful due to over 40 million annual passengers and 225 destinations to fly to.
Lisbon airport is the closest to the city centre – at just 13.12 km away. The Portuguese airport receives over 33 million passengers annually, with a departure delay score of 2.3 out of five.
Schiphol airport in Amsterdam has one of the highest number of destinations passengers can fly to, at 260. This stress-inducing factor makes the airport rank in second position overall.
The Dutch airport also charges passengers €113.50 to park there for a week, and is over 19 km away from the capital city.
Despite almost 80 million travellers passing through Heathrow airport each year, the London destination has a departure delay score of 1.8 out of five.
Schiphol, Charles-de-Gaulle, Rome and Lisbon airports all have a higher departure delay score of at least 2.3 out of five, despite receiving millions less annual visitors.
Dublin ranked as eighth most stressful in the index, the Irish airport is just 15.57 km away from the city centre and charges passengers €107 a week to park.
Methodology
Sources correct as of April 2024
- Passenger numbers (2023) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe and for Croatia (2023) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Croatia
- Distance from airport to city centre (km, measured in driving distance) – https://www.mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php
- Number of destinations to fly to – https://www.flightsfrom.com/ (measured 22/04/24)
- Weekly car park charge – Each airport’s website. Dates used 14th – 21st June 2024, 7am – 7pm. Cheapest option was selected. Where a terminal was requested, terminal 1 was used (terminal 2 for Heathrow and ‘public car park’ option for Zagreb.) Measured 22/04/24.
- Departure delay score out of five – https://www.flightradar24.com/ (measured 3.30pm UK time 22/04/24)
NB:
- Heathrow airport parking was converted into € from £ on 23/04/2024 using https://www.xe.com/.
- Athens car park used the price without discount.
- Lisbon, Dublin and Berlin all scored a total of 21 – to make this an equal ranking, Lisbon was awarded two more points and Dublin one more. This is based on the 2023 passenger numbers.
