Atlanta airport ranks below average for customer satisfaction, study shows

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport may be the world’s busiest, but it is not the most satisfactory, according to the latest JD Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study.

This year, Hartsfield-Jackson ranked 15th among 20 “mega airports,” which JD Power defines as those with at least 33 million passengers a year. In 2025, 106.3 million passengers traveled through the Atlanta airport.

Hartsfield-Jackson was tied with George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston in customer satisfaction, both receiving 606 points out of a possible 1,000, below average for mega airports. The scores are based on a combination of factors: ease of travel through airport; level of trust with airport; terminal facilities; airport staff; departure/to airport experience; food, beverage and retail; and arrival/from airport experience.

For a third consecutive year, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport ranked the highest among its peers, with 684 points. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were second and third, respectively. O’Hare International and Newark International airports were tied for last place.

At left, travelers walk to a security checkpoint in Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on March 16. At right, passengers go through TSA security check at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on March 21. MSP was ranked first, while O'Hare was tied for last, in customer satisfaction in JD Power's latest survey. (Abbie Parr/AP; Kiichiro Sato/AP)

In this year’s study released Wednesday, all of the highest-ranked airports recently completed, or have nearly completed, multibillion-dollar improvement projects, JD Power noted.

But Hartsfield-Jackson is in the midst of modernizing its facilities, including expanding Concourse D, which is set to be finished in 2029. This year the airport opened a new Domestic Terminal South parking deck and it is demolishing the old structure starting early next year.

“ATL improvement plans have a 20+ year timeframe. As construction phases in and out, JD Power would also expect to see changes in ATL’s satisfaction scores,” Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at JD Power, wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But construction is not the only thing influencing customer satisfaction. Effective signage and clear way-finding systems that help passengers get to their gate, as well as airport frontage and terminal design that reflect the city’s character, are some of the biggest drivers of passenger satisfaction, according to the study. Food and beverage options also have a major impact.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian in remarks at an Atlanta Aero Club luncheon Tuesday praised Hartsfield-Jackson for its efficiency and connectivity.

“New York City does not have the airport that Atlanta, Georgia has. Not even close,” he said. “The convenience, the availability, the schedule, the frequencies, the opportunities around the world — and that’s something we all should be very proud of and protect.”

To be sure, New York’s LaGuardia has built gleaming new terminals, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is also modernizing its facilities and both airports rank higher than Hartsfield-Jackson in the JD Power study.