Study Names America's 3 Happiest Airports in 2025

Depending on where you're flying from or to, air travel in the United States can be smooth sailing or a major annoyance.

Some airports are better than others at making sure your experience falls in the former category rather than the latter. The annual J.D. Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study attempts to measure how hundreds of different airports fair in keeping their customers happy.

The newest J.D. Power survey is out for 2025, with responses fielded from July 2024 through July 2025. The study ranks the best mega, large and medium airports in North America in terms of passenger satisfaction, based on seven categories.

• Convenience of travel around the airport
• Level of trust with the airport
• Terminal facilities
• Airport staff
• Experiencing department from the airport experience
• Experience arriving at the airport
• Food, beverage and retail

Mega airports are defined as facilities with 33 million or more passengers per year, while large airports serve 10 to 32.9 million passengers per year and medium airports welcome 4.5 to 9.9 million.

With that said, the three "happiest" airports in terms of customer satisfaction are Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, John Wayne Airport, Orange County and Indianapolis International Airport.

Seals of approval

For the second year in a row, Minneapolis-Saint Paul won the crown in the "mega" category, earning an overall score of 660 out of 1,000. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport came in second at 649, followed by Phoenix Sky Harbor International at 634.

John Wayne Airport also won the "large" category for a second straight year, earning the highest-overall score of any airport, a 730. Tampa International Airport (709) came in second, with Dallas Love Field(705) checking in at No. 3.

Finally, Indianapolis won the highest honors in the medium-sized airport class for the fourth-straight year, scoring a 713 and edging out  Ontario International Airport in Canada (709). Buffalo-Niagara International Airport logged a 698.

Happier campers

Overall, scores are up 10 points out of 1,000 in this year's survey, which Michael Taylor, J.D. Power's managing director of travel, hospitality and retail, attribute to factors such as improved facilities and more local flavor at terminals.

“While the annual growth rate in passenger volume seems to be leveling off, we’re still seeing record numbers of travelers pass through the nation’s airports, and, for the most part, they are enjoying the experience,” said Taylor. “A big part of this recent increase in passenger satisfaction is due to recently completed improvements in many airport facilities themselves. A few big capital improvement projects have now been completed and many more are underway or about to break ground.  

"A decades long trend of bringing unique, local flavor to the passenger experience has positively impacted the airport experience with these local touches having a major influence on passenger satisfaction.”