During my recent trip home to California from Japan, I had to make a connection in an airport I’d never been to before: Honolulu, Hawaii.
As someone who travels for a living, passing through new airports is par for the course. But in this case my flight from Tokyo arrived late and that meant I had less than an hour to get from one plane to the other. And I had my young son in tow.
The two of us ran as fast as we could through an airport we were totally unfamiliar with and between making a few wrong turns and having to go through U.S. customs, we of course missed our connecting fight home. And that meant spending the next 9 hours sitting in the airport waiting for another flight.
It goes without saying that countless other travelers have had similar experiences and it never gets less frustrating. If only we all knew ahead of time which airports require more time than others to make a connection.
Guess what? Now, we do. (At least for U.S. airports) The travel company Upgraded Points has just completed an analysis of 25 of the most connected airports in the country to determine which locations require the largest time cushion to ensure a successful connection.
To arrive at this determination, the study analyzed domestic flight data across 14 distinct factors affecting terminal navigation. Each data point was scaled for accurate comparison, and factors were weighted based on their importance to flight schedules and terminal navigation.
The result of this effort is a ranking of both the airports where you’ll need the most time, and those where you’ll need the least time, in order to successfully catch a flight connection.
“No one wants to spend their layover sprinting to a distant gate,” said Keri Stooksbury, editor-in-chief at Upgraded Points. “Accounting for an airport’s on-time flight performance, terminal infrastructure, and traffic helps travelers better predict the time needed for transitions between flights.”
So what did the Upgraded Points analysis reveal? Here’s a closer look.
Top 10 Airports Where the Most Time Is Needed for a Layover
If you want a better chance of catching your connecting flights, consider steering clear of Texas altogether. Major airport hubs in the state demand the longest time buffers in the entire country, with Houston Intercontinental and Dallas Fort Worth leading by a noticeable margin.
Some of the major international gateways elsewhere in the country, like JFK and sprawling mega-hubs like Atlanta, Denver, and Chicago O’Hare may also be challenging, due to their sheer size, which adds significant time to layover. (Even under ideal conditions).
Here are the 10 airports requiring the most time for layovers ranked in order:
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston: 2 hours, 17 minutes
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW): 2 hours, 16 minutes
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York: 2 hours, 2 minutes
- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), Atlanta: 1 hour, 57 minutes
- Denver International Airport (DEN): 1 hour, 56 minutes
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD): 1 hour, 54 minutes
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT): 1 hour, 51 minutes
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): 1 hour, 50 minutes
- Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR): 1 hour, 39 minutes
While large hubs are well represented, airports like Las Vegas and Newark prove that long walks, complex terminal layouts, and other logistical challenges aren’t limited to the busiest airports.
Top 10 Airports Where the Least Time Is Needed for a Layover
Certain hubs are engineered for efficiency, featuring compact designs, fewer terminals, and shorter walking distances to help streamline passenger transit. Even as some of these facilities handle massive daily passenger volumes, their architectural footprints offer a stark contrast to sprawling mega-hubs:
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA): 50 minutes
- Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW): 56 minutes
- Dallas Love Field (DAL), Dallas: 59 minutes
- Honolulu International Airport (HNL): 1 hour, 5 minutes
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW): 1 hour, 13 minutes
- Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP): 1 hour, 14 minutes
- Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI): 1 hour, 18 minutes
- LaGuardia Airport (LGI): 1 hour, 23 minutes
- Seattle–Tacoma International Airport: 1 hour, 27 minutes
- Washington Dulles International Airport: 1 hour, 29 minutes
