Have a Tight Layover? These U.S. Airports Are the Worst for Connections
A short layover can get stressful pretty quickly at a big airport. A new study looked at how long it can take passengers to get between gates at 50 major U.S. airports.
Denver International Airport ranked worst for connections. Travel Bulletin looked at walking distances and the time passengers may spend using trains and shuttles.
At Denver, the longest trip between two gates was estimated at about 34 minutes. An average trip across one of Denver’s concourses could take around 16 minutes.
Denver wasn’t the only airport where a short connection could be tricky. LaGuardia, Salt Lake City, Austin-Bergstrom and Dallas-Fort Worth also landed near the bottom of the list.
Denver Is Getting Another route soon
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The airport does have one walking bridge between the terminal and Concourse A. However, passengers traveling between Concourses A, B and C generally need the train.
That is going to change. Denver International Airport recently announced plans to turn parts of its underground baggage tunnels into passenger walkways between Concourses A and B and B and C. Construction is expected to start in 2027.
The airport says the new walkways will give passengers another option if they don’t want to use the train.
LaGuardia And Salt Lake City Are Near The Bottom Too
LaGuardia Airport ranked second-worst for connections, followed by Salt Lake City International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
The study estimated that the longest trip between two gates at LaGuardia could take about 51 minutes.
LaGuardia has three terminals. Passengers who need to move between terminals can use a free airport shuttle bus. LaGuardia also has a pedestrian walkway between Terminals B and C.
Salt Lake City is known for a lot of walking. The airport has even joked about “the walk” on its own website. According to the airport, walking a full loop through both concourses and the connecting tunnels is about 2.43 miles.
DFW Has Skylink
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport rounded out the five airports at the bottom of the study. However, DFW has Skylink. The train connects all five terminals from inside security.
DFW Airport says trains arrive about every two minutes and the average ride takes around five minutes. Travel Bulletin found that Skylink covers about 84% of DFW’s longest gate-to-gate route.
Have you ever missed a connection in one of these airports?
