Hoping to flee the Big Apple this summer? Avoid JFK.
Travelers hoping to whiz their way to-and-from through America’s gateway to the world are consistently subjected to longer waits at security and passport control than at every other U.S. airport, based on travel site Bounce.
Joining JFK on the naughty step are runners-up San Francisco and Miami, also known for his or her inability to process passengers quickly.
For a painless go through the government-mandated gauntlets, set your sights on Baltimore/Washington International as a departure point, based on the survey. San Antonio and San Jose took second and third pride of place.
Bounce, a booking site specializing in business travel, used the web wait times guides maintained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration, collecting publicly available data from each agencies’ web sites between April 26, 2022, and April 25, 2023.
Latest York’s biggest airport taking the highest slot for time wasting will come as no surprise to frequent victims.
Through the period studied, travelers’ waits at security averaged 22 minutes, 48 seconds. The typical wait at passport control was 25 minutes, 36 seconds, leading to a combined average wait of 48 minutes, 24 seconds.
By comparison, travelers at BWI waited, on average, a negligible 14 minutes and 48 seconds.
Some airports handle their relatively light amount of foreign traffic with aplomb, while falling down on the job at security. This 12 months, Florida’s Palm Beach International, where the wait for passport control averages just 2 minutes, 36 seconds, took home the the dubious first prize in the safety wait time category — an astonishing 34 minutes, 6 seconds. That’s a two-minute improvement over last 12 months.
Runners-up for the undistinguished honor are are St. Louis Lambert International Airport with 26 minutes, 36 seconds at security and San Francisco International Airport with 25 minutes, 36 seconds.
Conversely, travelers flying through Newark Liberty International are breezing through the body scanners, with a mean of only 3 minutes and 6 seconds, based on the info studied. Runners-up like Ontario Airport in California’s Inland Empire delivered a 4-minute, 6-second wait.
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport struggled probably the most at passport control, squeaking past JFK for a whopping 25-minute, 54-second wait.
Travelers should note, this list doesn’t take note of, time to retrieve baggage or navigate through the airport.
