Based on Twitter activity, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., angers its travelers more than any other U.S. airport. To arrive at that conclusion, Forbes Advisor analyzed more than 37,000 tweets directed at the 60 busiest airports in the U.S. from March 2022 to March 2023. Forbes then used a machine learning tool to analyze the sentiment of each tweet and determine where travelers are most annoyed.
Two Florida airports made the list: Jacksonville International Airport (No. 2) and Tampa International Airport (No. 4).
It should be noted that Tampa’s airport usually is ranked among the Top 5 airports in North America by the annual J.D. Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study.
“Tampa International Airport is consistently ranked among the best airports in the world in terms of customer experience and satisfaction, which is reflected in the many supportive comments we receive from our travelers,” said Joshua Gillin, senior manager of communications at Tampa International. “TPA’s commitment to responsiveness means we engage customers via Twitter on a rolling basis each day, with the goal of quickly addressing any issues they may encounter here. We pride ourselves on being more receptive than many other facilities, which is why we have such high engagement – good and bad – with our customers.”
Gillin also pointed out that 2022 was a challenging year for Florida airports.
“In addition to daily concerns, there have been several high-profile events since March 2022 that have generated plenty of feedback, including the Airport’s closure for Hurricane Ian, some incidents of snarled holiday travel and a contest to name our 21-foot-tall flamingo statue, Phoebe, which drew thousands of passionate responses on the platform,” he said. “We take this as a sign that our devoted customers trust us to resolve any obstacles that may affect their travel plans, which only helps drive our reputation as America’s Favorite Airport.”
The Forbes analysis found that nearly two-thirds (65%) of the tweets aimed at John Wayne Airport could be characterized as “angry.” The words that popped up most in tweets from disgruntled John Wayne Airport travelers were “noise,” “staff, “TSA,” “complaints” and “delayed.”
By comparison, travelers fumed in a lower percentage of tweets targeted at two neighboring airports—Los Angeles International Airport (55%) and Hollywood Burbank Airport (54%).
Elsewhere, Indianapolis International Airport grabbed the award for the least hacked-off air travelers on Twitter, one of the internet’s favorite places to gripe.
Here are the Top 10 angriest airports, according to Forbes, along with the top Twitter keyword complains for each selection.
- John Wayne Airport – Orange County, CA. Top keyword complaints: Noise, Staff, TSA, Complaints, Delayed.
- Jacksonville International Airport – Jacksonville, FL. Top keyword complaints: Line, TSA, Garage, Delays, Employees.
- Eppley Airfield – Omaha, NE. Top keyword complaints: Delays, Weather, Cold, Police, Issues.
- Tampa International Airport – Tampa, FL. Top keyword complaints: Bags, Delayed, Luggage, Security, Canceled.
- San Antonio International Airport – San Antonio, TX. Top keyword complaints: TSA, Weapon, Officers, Firearm, Broken
- Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport – Atlanta, GA. Top keyword complaints: Delays, Traffic, Line, Security, Parking
- San Diego International Airport – San Diego, CA. Top keyword complaints: Waiting, Security, Line, Rental, Canceled
- Nashville International Airport – Nashville, TN. Top keyword complaints: Traffic, Police, Waiting, Passengers, Security
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport – Phoenix, AZ. Top keyword complaints: Rental, Line, Waiting, Bags, Delayed
- Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport – San Jose, CA. Top keyword complaints: Help, Security, International, Waiting, Parking
