These US Airports Rank The Highest For Customer Satisfaction, According To Travelers

For lots of Americans, commercial flying, whether it's for a business trip or vacation, is a necessary and regular part of traveling around the country. In the skies above America, overall passenger volume continues to hit new highs, and with more flights serving more cities, it's hard to deny just how accessible air travel has become for the average person. Thanks to the rise of budget airlines and their low-cost tickets, flying has also become increasingly affordable for American travelers.

This doesn't mean, however, that commercial flying has become more satisfying or enjoyable. Many would say it's the opposite. From the long TSA lines, to increasingly packed cabins and unruly passengers fighting for overhead storage bin space, the modern air travel experience has become stressful in many ways. Often, this stress is felt long before you actually get onto the plane, making the airport experience itself a crucial part of air travel.

If you've flown a lot, you know just how much airports can vary in quality across the country, with things like access, cleanliness, aesthetic design, and quality of service all having a huge impact on the overall travel experience. Whether you're looking at massive international hub airports, or smaller regional facilities, some American airports regularly stand above the crowd when it comes to customer satisfaction, and we've highlighted five of them here.

While smaller American cities and less populated regions don't give air travelers much choice as to which airport they'd like to use, flyers traveling to or from Southern California are fortunate in that they have a few different options depending on their itineraries. 

The massive Los Angeles International Airport is by far the largest and busiest airport in the area, handling the vast majority of long-haul international flights in and out of Southern California. However, those traveling to a destination in or around Orange County have the option of skipping LAX and using John Wayne Airport. Located in the city of Santa Ana, about 40 miles south of LAX, John Wayne was ranked number one among large airports in J.D. Power's 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Survey. It also earned the highest total score among all airports of any size, with an impressive 730 score on a 1,000-point scale.

John Wayne Airport is no stranger to J.D. Power satisfaction awards, having ranked at or near the top in its category many times over the last decade. Flyers give John Wayne high ranks for its terminal facilities, the ease of getting through the airport, and the ease of access to the airport itself. That last part is especially important given how bad traffic can be in Southern California, especially on the notoriously gridlocked roads in and around LAX.

Mega airports, as they are classified by J.D. Power, are America's largest and busiest airports, seeing over 33 million passengers per year. Not surprisingly, the 2025 survey found that these airports typically have larger crowds and longer wait times, which can lead to lower satisfaction ratings from flyers.

In this category of mega airports, Minnesota's Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) stands at the top of its class for traveler satisfaction. 2025 was the second consecutive survey win for MSP, which has been the highest-ranked mega airport for three of the last four years. Among other categories, travelers give MSP high ranks for its food and beverage quality, and for its terminal facilities, which have undergone hundreds of million dollars in updates and modernizations.

MSP may not have made our list of the world's most luxurious airports, but Minneapolis-St. Paul International is highly regarded for its design and atmosphere, with some likening the vibe more to a high-end hotel or shopping mall than your typical airport hub. The Independent recently named Minneapolis-St. Paul as the number one airport in the United States, based on things like architecture, staff friendliness, and dining options. There's even a $150,000 Steinway piano that travelers can try out while they are passing through the terminal.

The Indianapolis International Airport might not be as vast or busy as Denver's strange and sprawling airport, but travelers seem to love it. Often dubbed 'The Best Airport in North America', this airport regularly gets high marks from flyers. Categorized as a medium-sized airport by J.D Power, Indianapolis was ranked highest in its group for customer satisfaction for the fourth consecutive year in 2025 and for the eighth time overall since 2010. In the J.D. Power survey, Indianapolis was specifically ranked number one for food and beverage options, as well as in the terminal facilities category.

Unlike those massive airports where it can feel like you're literally traveling miles to reach your gate, flyers in Indianapolis say they enjoy the ease and speed of getting to the gates and passing through security checkpoints. A reputation for cleanliness and an abundance of natural light in the terminal are other things that make traveling through Indianapolis a satisfying experience for flyers. 

It's not just the J.D. Power rankings where Indianapolis International scores high. The airport was ranked number four among all U.S. airports in Condé Nast Traveler's 2025 Reader's Choice Awards, with available dining options and the attractive design of its terminal earning high praise. Indianapolis was also ranked among the top of mid-sized North American airports in the 2025 Airports Council International Airport Experience Awards. 

The Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, may not be quite the fashionable, global wonder that Singapore's acclaimed Changi Airport is, but when it comes to American airports, this one punches far above its weight when it comes to traveler enjoyment. 

As Michigan's second-busiest airport, Gerald R. Ford International served more than four million passengers in 2025, when it won the Airport Council International's Customer Experience Awards in a few different categories. These include the best customer experience for departures, the cleanest airport facility, and the most dedicated staff among North American airports. 

Ford International has also won the USA Today Reader's Choice Award for Best Small Airport on multiple occasions. Among the amenities travelers will find at the airport are aviation-themed playrooms for kids, an observation deck in the terminal, an outdoor aircraft viewing park, and even a self-serve wine wall. As a relatively small airport, Gerald R. Ford might not have the passenger volume of others on this list, but if you happen to visit Grand Rapids, you can at least plan on having a pleasant experience at the airport.

Another Southern California airport that travelers give high marks to is Ontario International Airport. Not to be confused with Ontario, Canada, this growing airport is located in the city of Ontario, California, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. In recent years, Ontario has become an increasingly popular choice, not just for travelers going to or from the Inland Empire, but for other Southern California residents looking to avoid the traffic and congestion of LAX. Lately, that group includes an increasing number of international flyers taking advantage of Ontario's smaller size and easier access.

In the 2025 J.D. Power Airport Satisfaction Survey, Ontario International ranked second in the medium airport category, just a few points behind Indianapolis. The ACI, meanwhile, ranked Ontario among America's best medium-sized airports for departures in its 2025 Customer Experience Awards. Interestingly, Ontario is among a number of California airports that allow visitors to register as guests to send off or welcome their loved ones directly at the gate, as was commonplace back in the pre-9/11 era of flying. 

If you're less concerned with traveler amenities and instead are looking for the best American airports for plane spotting and geeking out on aviation, there are some airports in the U.S. that are all about aviation enthusiasts.

The airports on this list were selected by consulting the most recent customer satisfaction rankings from organizations like J.D. Power and the Airports Council International. In most major surveys, the airports are broken down into separate categories based on annual passenger volume, and we've included small, medium, large, and mega-sized airports in the list. We also looked at other travel industry surveys and rankings, including magazine and newspaper readers' choice awards.