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O'Hare, Midway fall short of flying colors in recent customer satisfaction survey

By Fox 32 News
Published  September 18, 2024 12:53pm CDT
O'Hare International Airport
FOX 32 Chicago

O'Hare, Midway fall short of flying colors in recent customer satisfaction survey

Bad news for Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, as they both rank near the bottom in a new survey for customer satisfaction.

The Brief

    • O'Hare and Midway rank near the bottom in the J.D. Power 2024 Airport Satisfaction Study.
    • The survey highlights growing passenger dissatisfaction amid overcrowding and rising costs, despite record-breaking travel volumes across North America.
    • Top-performing airports excel by enhancing local identity, reducing crowding, and offering better-priced amenities, areas where Chicago’s airports lag behind, according to the study.

CHICAGO - Chicago’s O'Hare and Midway airports have landed near the bottom of a new customer satisfaction survey.

The latest J.D. Power 2024 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, a survey that gauges customer satisfaction at airports across the continent, was released Tuesday.

O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in the world, ranked third to last among mega-airports, while Midway came in fifth from the bottom among large airports. 

The study, which measured passenger experiences across key factors like ease of travel, terminal facilities, and food and retail services, revealed a growing dissatisfaction among travelers passing through the Windy City’s airports.

Despite record-breaking passenger volumes in 2024, with over 3 million passengers passing through TSA checkpoints in a single day on July 7, overall airport satisfaction scores remained high across North America. 

However, many travelers have been feeling the strain of overcrowding and rising costs, with Chicago's airports failing to meet expectations, according to the study. 

O'Hare and Midway face tough competition from airports that have focused on improving their local identity, reducing crowding, and offering more reasonably priced amenities, such as top-ranked Minneapolis-Saint Paul International and John Wayne Airport in Orange County. 

The 2024 study was based on over 26,000 completed surveys from North Americans who traveled through at least one U.S. or Canadian airport during the past 30 days.

For more information on the study, head over to J.D. Power's website.