New York is a right of passage for travelers from all around the world. Everyone needs to take a bite out of the big apple at least once, and when it comes to getting there from many of the far reaches of the world, JFK is your best bet. Unfortunately, it’ll also be the reason that you’re: late for dinner, miss your broadway show or in some cases, miss your flight home. JFK Airport has just won the coveted award of the nations slowest security wait times, surprising quite literally no one.
Plenty of airports around the US struggle to value passengers sanity, and the TSA does seem to have a particular disdain for happy travelers, but no airport shows true repugnance for simple and efficient travel quite like New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to a survey from J.D. Power, a leading research firm, the average wait time in U.S. airports is 15:32, while JFK takes the cake for the nations slowest (congrats, btw) at 19:02. The only surprising element of this survey was that the number wasn’t at least double.
To be fair to New York JFK, they’re far from the only abhorrent U.S. airport in terms of overall passenger satisfaction or speed. And at last glance, there was no sign of any U.S. airport adding the world’s largest indoor waterfall, butterfly garden or movie theatre, like one would find in Singapore’s Changi Airport to help pass the time. Orlando came in a close second at 18.85, Toronto in third at 18.70 and Los Angeles (how could we forget Los Angeles?) at 18.68.
There’s never been a better or more convenient time to register for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, both of which can offer expedited airport security, with the convenience of leaving shoes on, and laptops in bags. Many credit cards including Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture and Citi Prestige offer complimentary enrollment. In addition, CLEAR allows you to take things a step further, skipping directly to the front of the TSA PreCheck lane, if you happen to have both. And now that you’re wondering how else to make the airport just a little better, here are all the best fast track opportunities around the world.
