You can’t win ’em all

It may be the world’s busiest airport, but, in a recent study by J.D. Power and Associates (side rant: is there a study out there they don’t conduct?), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ranked 10th out of 19 large airports in airport satisfaction. The airport has slipped 2 places since the last study was conducted in 2008.

The study was based on passenger surveys in six areas: airport accessibility, baggage claim, check-in and baggage check process, terminal facilities, security checkpoints and concessions. It appears, however, that the study failed to take into account that some of these areas are not maintained or controlled by airport administration but by the TSA and other agencies. Hartsfield’s main problem was in the area of airport accessibility which includes passenger pick-up/drop-off, traffic flow, and parking to name a few. Ya think?

I’ll admit that I probably spend as much, if not more, time shuttling people to and from the airport as I do flying in/out myself. But, I am by no means an expert on Hartsfield. I do agree that the area of accessibility does need some work but I don’t have any clear suggestions on how to fix the problem.

For those of you that travel on a regular basis, what do you think about Hartsfield and the problem areas the study points out?

2 Comments so far

  1. bking on February 18th, 2010 @ 11:52 pm

    Like many of Atlanta’s problems, I think transit might be a bit of an issue here. Most folks I know don’t use MARTA to get to and from the airport – mostly because you still need to get a ride to the MARTA station, and at that point most folks would just as well take you to the airport itself. So you get a lot more folks driving instead of using the rail. Hence, more cars clogging the check in line, etc.

    BTW, you got a link to that article? I wonder how other massive airports fare, or if people inherently prefer smaller, less busy airports.


  2. Stephanie (locaboca) on February 19th, 2010 @ 8:11 am

    Sorry, I forgot to link to the study on the J.D. Power website here. Small and medium airports ranked higher than even the highest-ranked large airport which, funny enough, was Wayne County in Detroit.

    I think it’s a transit issue too although I know people who easily use MARTA or a shuttle, if in a more outlying area, without any problems.



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