November 22, 2024 08:16 AM

Top 10 Best & Worst Airports for Connecting on Time

Don't want to wait long for a connecting flight? Fly through Zurich Airport, but avoid Beijing Capital International.

Wayne Chen, president of Mo'Zippity Apps, created the Connect on Time app, the only app which provides specific gate-to-gate connect times for many of the world's top destination airports. He came up with list of the 10 best and 10 worst airports for connecting flights based on the number of barriers and amount of time needed at each port to get between its farthest gates after security and passport control lines have been cleared.

10 Best


1. Zurich Airport (ZRH)

10 min.

2. Salt Lake City International (SLC)

11 min.

3. Tampa International (TPA)

12 min.

4. Orlando International (MCO)

15 min.

5. Charlotte Douglas International (CLT)

16 min.

6. Denver International (DEN)

18 min.

7. London Stansted (STN)

19 min.

8. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL)

20 min.

9. Dubai International (DXB)

21 min.

10. Hong Kong International (HKG)

22 min.

The Best airports reflect a better than 70 percent on-time departure and arrival records, logical layouts, efficient security and passport control checkpoints, connected airsides, and gates that are no more than a half an hour apart.

10 Worst


1. Beijing Capital International (PEK)

1 hr. 27 min.

2. London Heathrow (LHR)

1 hr. 25 min.

3. Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)

1 hr. 23 min.

4. Shanghai Pudong International (PVG)

1 hr. 18 min.

5. Los Angeles International (LAX)

1 hr. 10 min.

6. Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD)

1 hr. 9 min.

7. Tokyo Narita International (NRT)

1 hr. 3 min.

8. Boston Logan International (BOS)

1 hr. 2 min.

9. Frankfurt International (FRA)

1 hr. 1 min.

10. Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)

59 min.

Beijing Capital airport has the worst on time record with only 30 percent of flights on time, leaving passengers with the stress of trying to reach their connecting gates on time.

To deal with these issues, Chen suggests allotting at least an hour between flights to account for unexpected delays and wait times at the Best airport and three hours at the worst airports."Give yourself the gifts of time and peace of mind," suggests Chen, "because no one else will."

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