Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

O'Hare Ranks Near Last For Service, Midway In Top 10, J.D. Power Says

By Alex Nitkin | December 16, 2016 12:47pm | Updated on December 23, 2016 7:30am
 O'Hare Airport's Terminal 1
O'Hare Airport's Terminal 1
View Full Caption
Shutterstock

O'HARE — O'Hare Airport was ranked 27th in customer satisfaction out of 31 large airports in a report published by J.D. Power, while Midway Airport improved from 13th to number 10.

O'Hare scored far behind other major American airports on a range of criteria, including parking, wait times, infrastructure and staff professionalism, according to the report, which is based on responses from travelers about their experiences between January and October of this year.

Most of O'Hare's issues are related to aging facilities unequipped to handle an unprecedented surge in travelers, according to Michael Taylor, the report's author.

"The concourses are much narrower than what's needed today, and the check-in areas were never meant to handle the kinds of crowds you see there now," he said. "There's all kinds of wear-and-tear on the buildings, and the longer people have to wait, the more they notice that kind of thing."

The airport also ranked near rock-bottom for access to parking, the cost of which is "even higher than in New York," Taylor said.

O'Hare saw an "extraordinary" 10 percent jump in passengers from 2014 to 2015, servicing nearly 77 million travelers, according to the report.

Still, satisfaction rose by 9 points, J.D. Powers said, helped by generally good weather this year, which boosted operations and on-time performance.

“The weather has cooperated for much of the year, and that has made traveling through O’Hare much easier,” Taylor said.

Midway Airport also saw a surge in traffic, but new amenities have kept up with fliers' needs, Taylor said.

Chicago's smaller airport jumped in the rankings from 13th to 10th, mostly thanks to a rapidly improving food and retail operation, Taylor said.

A suite of restaurants like Manny's Express, Halsted St. Tap and Taylor Street Market help Midway do "a much better job of representing its city than the average airport," he said. "You walk in and you look around, and you immediately say 'Oh, I'm in Chicago.'"

Plans are underway to expand O'Hare's international terminal and add gates to its domestic Terminals 2 and 3.

The J.D. Power report is based on the experiences of some 36,456 travelers.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.