The World’s 10 Best (and Worst) Airports of 2017

The world’s best and worst airports? The latest attempt at a global ranking comes from AirHelp, an online service that assists airline passengers in securing compensation for delayed, canceled, and overbooked flights.

AirHelp rated the airports according to three factors: on-time performance, quality of service, and passenger sentiment. The three factors were given equal weight, with the final score reflecting their unweighted average.

In all, the ranking covers 76 of the world’s airports.

The Top 10

Here are the top 10 airports, listed in order from first to tenth:

1. Singapore Changi
2. Munich International
3. Hong Kong
4. Copenhagen
5. Helsinki
6. Cincinnati Northern Kentucky
7. Barcelona
8. Madrid
9. Auckland
10. Frankfurt

Handily, the site allows users to re-rank the airports according to any of the three rating factors in isolation. So, for example, you could re-sort the list to focus solely on the passenger experience, which it could be argued is what matters most. Doing so yields notably different results, with Sao Paulo topping the list and two Moscow airports landing in the top 10.

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The Bottom 10

Following are the 10 worst-rated airports, beginning with Kuwait at the very bottom of the 76-airport list:

1. Kuwait Airport
2. London Gatwick
3. Manchester
4. Newark Liberty
5. London Stansted
6. Edinburgh
7. Mumbai
8. Dubai
9. Bangkok
10. Delhi

Among U.S. airports, Los Angeles International was just outside the worst 10, at number 66, and Boston was ranked 63rd.

Reader Reality Check

What are your picks for the world’s best and worst airports?

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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

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