With the summer travel season—especially the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend—gearing up to be an exceptionally busy one, crowds and delays at the airport are on every traveler’s mind. While you can’t always choose which airport you fly to, from or through, AirHelp, a claims management company that helps air passengers get compensation for flight disruptions, has released its list of the worst airports for summer travel, a helpful tool if you have the flexibility to avoid certain routes.
The rankings are based on the percentage of disruptions the airport experienced in the last month, after a minimum of 5,000 flights. As the travel rush begins on Saturday, the list can help you make plans to avoid these airports or to build in extra travel time if you can’t.
So which airport is the worst? If you’re traveling to Sin City, a hangover and gambling losses might not be all you face when heading home. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas is both the busiest and the worst when it comes to delays, according to AirHelp’s metrics. A whopping 35 percent of all flights at the airport experienced some sort of disruption this past month, which does not bode well for the thousands of tourists expected to visit the city over the holiday weekend.
Coming in at number two and three, not far behind LAS, are Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport with 32 percent disruptions (plus a dearth of signage to help travelers navigate the airport) and Denver International with 30 percent disruptions. Rounding out the top ten worst airports is Honolulu International, San Francisco International, Orlando International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Dallas Love Field and Baltimore Washington International.
If you’re traveling through these airports, bring a pillow and your patience: you could be in for an extra-long journey.