The post America’s Best Airports for 2026, According to J.D. Power first appeared on Crafting Your Home.
The best mega airport in America scored 684 on a 1,000-point scale. On the report cards most of us grew up with, that is a D-plus. J.D. Power’s index is not a percentage grade, but the gap to 1,000 shows how much room is left at the top. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport still won its category for a third straight year in the 2026 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, released September 16.
Satisfaction rose in every size class anyway. The study drew on 24,710 surveys from U.S. and Canadian residents, fielded from July 2025 through July 2026. Travelers were happier even though passenger volume ran at or near the records set in 2025.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport placed second at 663 and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport took third at 642, according to J.D. Power. Mega airports handle 33 million or more passengers a year.
Two years earlier, the same three airports stood in the same order. Time Out’s coverage of the 2024 study had Detroit at 643 and Phoenix at 633, so Detroit gained 20 points across the span and Phoenix only 9. At the top of the largest class, staying good has beaten getting better.
Tampa
Tampa International Airport scored 715, ahead of Portland International Airport at 708 and Dallas Love Field at 698. Large airports serve 10 million to 32.9 million passengers a year.
The Points Guy reported that Tampa finished second in the 2024 study at 685, two points behind John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Tampa has since added 30 points, and the 2024 winner is missing from this year’s top three. A seven-point cushion over Portland is thin by any measure.
Charleston
Charleston International Airport won the medium class at 712, ahead of Ontario International Airport at 705 and Indianapolis International Airport at 695. Medium airports serve 4.5 million to 9.9 million passengers annually.
Charleston’s number tops Portland’s 708 and Dallas Love Field’s 698 and trails only Tampa’s 715 among the large-class podium. Medium airports also posted the biggest year-over-year gain of any class, 16 points. Size tiers keep the rankings fair, yet they say little about who is winning travelers over.
Billion-dollar rebuilds are the common thread
The Transportation Security Administration said in a June 25 release that it was prepared to screen nearly 18.7 million air travelers over the Fourth of July holiday, the source J.D. Power cites for record traffic. Crowds ran high, and scores rose anyway.
J.D. Power says each top-ranked airport has recently completed, or is close to completing, a multi-year project costing more than a billion dollars. Michael Taylor, the firm’s managing director of travel, hospitality and retail, said in the release that “every detail counts.” Read plainly, the leaderboard doubles as a receipt for capital spending.
Denver is the cautionary tale for anyone mid-build
Denver International Airport scored 602 in 2026 and landed near the bottom of the mega class, Hoodline reported, drawing on Denver Post coverage. Its ranking history tells the story: 14th in 2022, seventh in 2023, 12th in 2024, 14th in 2025 and lower again this year. Its raw score improved, but rivals with bigger gains passed it.
Taylor told the Denver Post that construction almost always drags satisfaction down, with relief possible once the work wraps. Travelers in the middle of a build are paying for a payoff that arrives later.
Newark gained 20 points and still finished at the bottom
Newark Liberty International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport tied for last among mega airports at 585. Newark had ranked last a year earlier with 565.
Part of Newark’s weak showing is due to a lack of upgrades and difficult trips to and from the airport. Taylor said access to Newark is stressful and construction will not help, though better days are coming for New Jersey flyers. A 20-point jump is real progress, and a low floor moves slowly.
Related: Northeast Flights Are Flying Again, but Duffy Warns the Delays Will Take Days to Clear
Food and retail rank sixth of seven drivers, well behind moving through the building
J.D. Power lists its seven dimensions in order of importance: ease of travel through the airport, trust, terminal facilities, staff, departure experience, food and retail, then arrival experience. The thing food writers obsess over sits below staff and terminal facilities.
Concourse dining is still improving. Food, beverage and retail scores rose 8 points year over year across all classes. A hard-to-navigate terminal can undo a good meal.
Signs and local flavor matter more than glossy finishes
J.D. Power found two design attributes that drive the highest satisfaction. One is clear signage that gets passengers to their gates, and the other is terminal design that reflects the airport’s home city. Authentic local food and beverage brands fueled the dining gains.
Airports still have to balance local names against national chains, because many passengers seek out the familiar. Authenticity has a ceiling.
Lounge demand exposes the price problem on the concourse
J.D. Power’s separate 2026 U.S. Airport Lounge Satisfaction Study, released August 19, opens with a blunt observation: a bottle of water in a U.S. airport now routinely tops $5. Among lounge visitors, 39% said high terminal food and beverage prices drove the visit, and 45% said they wanted to escape crowds. The study drew on 2,991 travelers surveyed from April through June.
Better concourse dining scores and higher prices can coexist, and some travelers are voting with their feet.
Related: 7 Airport Lounge Mistakes You Should Avoid
Perfect trips are rare, and they pay
Passengers who rated their experience “perfect” spent an average of $47.60 in the terminal, $20.22 more than those who called theirs “just OK,” J.D. Power found. Perfect is scarce, occurring in just 12% of airport journeys. Nearly nine in ten trips fall short of what travelers themselves consider flawless.
For concourse operators, the $20.22 gap turns satisfaction into a line item, and the holiday travel season is next.
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