The 10th Day of Patmas

On the 10th Day of Patmas, I give to you…the 10 Busiest Holiday Airports!

The holidays are a time of heavy travel commitments. As such, airports tend to be busier during this time of the year than any other time of the year. Which airports are the busiest? The following list is based on an Orbitz report indexing U.S. major airports by flight bookings over Thanksgiving weeked, 2011 (http://pressroom.orbitz.com/index.php?s=43&item=891). You can probably guess some of them. Others may come as a surprise. But if you want a slightly less stressful holiday travel season, you might want to avoid the following airports this season.

1. Los Angeles International (LAX) - Los Angeles, CA
2. Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) - Chicago, IL
3. Orlando International (MCO) - Orlando, FL
4. San Francisco International (SFO) - San Francisco, CA
5. Boston Logan International (BOS) - Boston, MA
6. New York LaGuardia (LGA) - New York, NY
7. Denver International (DEN) - Denver, CO
8. John F. Kennedy International (JFK) - New York, NY
9. Newark Liberty International (EWR) - Newark, NJ
10. Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) - Seattle, WA

LA tops the list, which slightly surprises me, in that I figured Chicago would. Orlando being high on the list surprises me as well, as does Atlanta not being on the list. Atlanta is traditionally the busiest airport in America anyways, though, so I’m sure it’s busy enough.

I’ve personally flown through/to/from 6 of the top 10 airports. Some were easier to get around than others. O’Hare is definitely super busy. LA can be difficult to get around too. Seattle never struck me as all that busy…maybe I hit it at good times.

The same report also lists the least busy airports for the holidays…and #1 on the list is our own Mineta San Jose International Airport! I guess that’s cool. I never travel over Thanksgiving or Christmas by air, but sometimes I do for New Years. Nice to know my local airport is considered to be among the easiest. I guess everyone just goes up to SFO.

So, for your holiday travels, consider flying out of SJC…it might make your life easier. And if you are going through any of the top 10 this year, good luck! I’ll be thinking of you while I’m spending the holidays not travelling!