CompareCards Ranks Best and Worst Airports for Holiday Travel in 2019

Using a decade's worth of delay and cancellation data, the study finds Chicago-Midway, Chicago-O'Hare and Newark to be the three worst airports for holiday travel

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CompareCards

Oct 30, 2019, 15:32 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday season, if you plan to fly out of a Chicago airport, there's a decent chance that your trip will be cut short due to delayed flights. This is according to CompareCards' 2019 study on the Best and Worst Airports for Holiday Travel, which analyzed holiday flight delays and cancellations among the 50 busiest US airports to find out which airports have the worst track records when it comes to getting to your destination on time.

Key Findings

  • The Best:
    • Most On-Time Flights During Holiday Travel Season: Honolulu. Travelers leaving Honolulu can expect the most reliable air travel, with 86% of flights reaching their destinations on time. Kahului, Hawaii isn't too far behind with 85% of flights reaching their destinations within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival times. Portland comes in third with 78.4% of flights arriving on time.
    • Least Cancellations: Honolulu has the least flight cancellations, with .4% of flights facing cancellations.  Kahului isn't far behind with cancellations to only .5% of holiday flights, and Seattle comes in third with .7% of holiday flights cancelled. 
    • More than one in three flights originating at these airports were delayed: Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare, Newark, Denver and Houston Hobby.
  • The Worst:
    • Chicago #1 for Most Flight Delays. The study shows that Chicago-area airports are the most likely to have flights delayed during the holiday season. In fact, just 63% of flights out of Chicago's Midway airport reached their destinations on time, the worst of any airport reviewed. At nearby O'Hare, it's not much better, with only 65% of flights reaching their destinations within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival times. Just under 4% of flights are canceled there. Additionally, the worst day to fly out of Chicago is December 22.
    • Newark is #1 for Most Flight Cancellations: Not only does the New Jersey airport have the third-worst flight delay record on the list, with just over 65% of departing flights arriving on time, it also has the distinction of having the highest December holiday cancellation rates, with a 10-year average of 4%.

Rank - Most
Delayed or
Cancelled Flights

Airport

% of Flights
On Time

% of Flights
Delayed

% of Flights
Canceled

Worst
Travel Day

1

Chicago - Midway

62.7%

34.7%

2.6%

Dec. 22

2

Chicago - O'Hare

64.9%

31.5%

3.6%

Dec. 22

3

Newark

65.3%

30.7%

4.0%

Dec. 21

4

Denver

65.6%

32.7%

1.7%

Dec. 26

4

Houston - Hobby

65.6%

33.0%

1.3%

Dec. 27

6

New York - John F. Kennedy

67.3%

29.3%

3.5%

Dec. 29

7

Oakland

67.4%

32.0%

0.7%

Dec. 21

8

Dallas - Love Field

67.9%

30.6%

1.6%

Dec. 27

9

Baltimore

68.7%

29.8%

1.5%

Dec. 20

9

Dallas - Fort Worth

68.7%

27.8%

3.5%

Dec. 27

11

St. Louis

69.7%

29.0%

1.3%

Dec. 27

12

Salt Lake City

69.9%

29.2%

0.9%

Dec. 29

13

Los Angeles

70.2%

28.4%

1.4%

Dec. 21

14

San Francisco

70.4%

27.4%

2.2%

Dec. 21

15

Kansas City

70.6%

27.0%

2.3%

Dec. 20

16

Sacramento

71.2%

27.6%

1.1%

Dec. 22

17

Nashville

71.3%

27.2%

1.5%

Dec. 20

18

Philadelphia

71.5%

26.0%

2.5%

Dec. 27

19

Las Vegas

71.9%

27.4%

0.8%

Dec. 22

20

Cincinnati

72.1%

24.5%

3.5%

Dec. 26

20

Minneapolis - St. Paul

72.1%

26.4%

1.5%

Dec. 26

22

Fort Lauderdale

72.2%

26.6%

1.2%

Dec. 26

22

San Jose

72.2%

27.0%

0.8%

Dec. 22

24

Houston - Bush

72.4%

25.9%

1.7%

Dec. 27

25

Washington - Dulles

73.3%

24.4%

2.2%

Dec. 21

26

Boston

74.0%

23.4%

2.6%

Dec. 29

26

Charlotte

74.0%

23.8%

2.3%

Dec. 26

28

San Diego

74.2%

24.4%

1.4%

Dec. 22

29

Raleigh - Durham

74.4%

23.2%

2.4%

Dec. 27

30

Cleveland

74.7%

22.9%

2.4%

Dec. 27

30

Indianapolis

74.7%

23.0%

2.3%

Dec. 27

32

Pittsburgh

74.8%

23.5%

1.7%

Dec. 27

33

Orange County

75.1%

23.4%

1.4%

Dec. 22

33

Phoenix

75.1%

24.0%

0.9%

Dec. 22

35

Detroit

75.6%

22.6%

1.7%

Dec. 26

35

New Orleans

75.6%

23.4%

1.0%

Dec. 27

37

Orlando

75.7%

23.2%

1.1%

Dec. 26

38

Miami

76.0%

22.8%

1.2%

Dec. 26

39

Austin

76.2%

22.7%

1.2%

Dec. 27

39

Charlotte

76.2%

22.6%

1.1%

Dec. 28

41

Tampa

76.6%

22.3%

1.1%

Dec. 26

41

Washington - Reagan

76.6%

20.6%

2.8%

Dec. 27

43

Atlanta

77.0%

21.6%

1.4%

Dec. 27

43

San Antonio

77.0%

21.8%

1.2%

Dec. 27

45

Fort Myers

77.5%

21.0%

1.5%

Dec. 26

46

New York - LaGuardia

77.7%

18.9%

3.4%

Dec. 21

47

Seattle

78.3%

21.1%

0.5%

Dec. 20

48

Portland

78.4%

20.8%

0.7%

Dec. 21

49

Kahului

84.6%

14.9%

0.5%

Dec. 21

50

Honolulu

86.2%

13.5%

0.4%

Dec. 21

How to prepare for holiday flight delays:

  • Choose nonstop if possible. You may pay more for a direct flight, but it could save you a headache, and maybe even money in the long run
  • Know your rights. Airlines are required by the FAA to be upfront about what accommodations or refunds they offer passengers in the case of a flight delay or cancellation. If you're not getting that information, ask for it.
  • Book flights in advance. Booking early offers more options and a bigger variety of available flight times.
  • Take an early flight. If you go with the first flight out, your plane will likely be there for you already, thus upping your odds of getting out on time, barring any weather-related issues.

For more information and to see the full study, please visit: https://www.comparecards.com/blog/best-worst-airports-airports-holiday-delays-cancellations/

Methodology
CompareCards analyzed 10 years of Department of Transportation flight data (2009 – 2018) for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S. for travel dates Dec. 20-31 each year. On-time is defined as flights departing the airport that reach their destination within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

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About CompareCards:
CompareCards' mission is to help people make smarter, more informed, healthier financial decisions based on deeper knowledge of financial offers. Each month, over 2.9 million visitors come to CompareCards' website to independently compare credit cards side-by-side and choose a credit card based on interest rate, reward benefit, cost savings, and other factors that are important to each person. CompareCards provides easy-to-use, objective tools and educational resources that help people do everything from making credit card comparisons to managing their credit health. For more information, please visit http://www.comparecards.com.

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