In good company
Bush Intercontinental ranks as nation's fifth worst airport in business travelsite survey
George Bush Intercontinental was named the nation's best airport in 2009 by The Daily Beast, which credited IAH with on-time arrivals and departures, safety, accessibility, baggage handling, security waits and amenities.
That glory was short lived: In 2010, IAH dropped eight spots in the rankings to No. 9, with only only 82 percent on time departures, 80 percent on time arrivals and 11th (out of 27) in terms of amenities.
Lets Fly Cheaper caters specifically to those traveling for business, those for whom time is truly the equivalent of money, so the site ranks airports solely on the amount of flight delays reported over the past 30 days. For IAH, that number was 4,919 since Dec. 1.
And this year, though our biggest hometown hub didn't qualify for the online magazine's"Worst Airports in America" list (Hobby Airport did),business class fare specialist Lets Fly Cheaperdeemed IAH the fifth worst airport for business travel in the United States.
Lets Fly Cheaper caters specifically to those traveling for business — those for whom time is truly the equivalent of money — so the site ranks airports solely on the amount of flight delays reported over the past 30 days. For IAH, that number was 4,919 since Dec. 1.
Dallas/Fort Worth International ranked the worst on Lets Fly Cheaper's domestic list (with 7,231 delays over the past month), followed by Chicago O'Hare (with 6,817), Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson (with 5,472) and Denver International (with 5,300).
As far as international travel, Beijing Capital International Airport (the busiest travel hub in Asia and the second busiest in the world) was ranked as the worst airport, with 12,864 delayed flights over the past month. Changi Airport in Singapore, Paris' Charles De Gaulle, Madrid-Barajas Airport and Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai also topped the list.
The "worst" airports are also among the world's busiest, so the list isn't very surprising. But is it even relevant?