One of the most infamous of these queues is the one at the airport. In 2020, passenger volume worldwide hit 4.7 billion, that’s at least one flight for every other person on this planet. Then the pandemic hit, and demand for passenger air transport dropped like a fly, causing airports to let go of staff who were redundant in that situation. Once the pandemic ended, passengers came back to the airports, but airport staff didn’t, and so some traumatising queues began to form.

Where can one, in that case, find the best and worst queues? Well, Casago, an American holiday rental company, has compiled an analysis of passenger reviews on www.airlinequality.com from 1 to 5 stars, ranking airports and countries on the percentage of their reviews in the 4- or 5-star rating category.

Now, when talking about queues, you’d think the busier the airport, the worse they get, right? Well, not really. For one, if we look at Europe, one must scroll down to 18th place in the passenger volume index to find an airport whose queues are in the bottom 10, and even then, it’s only the airport with the 5th worst queues, London Stansted. The reverse is also not true, as the top 10 queue airport in Europe placed highest in passenger volume is Athens, at 19th place as per 2022 data.

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Still, it’s surprising to see the 36th busiest airport in the entire world, Singapore Changi, squeeze out the highest queue satisfaction by a 3% margin, at 74.50%. The world hub is famous for its cleanliness, but it’s the airport you’re likely to spend the least time standing around in if you were to visit them all, so you may have to give up a few places in the line to enjoy this place a bit more.

The other airport to make it both onto the list of busiest airports and the list of airports with the best queues is Tokyo Haneda, in Japan, which comes 4th in the latter list and 16th in the former, actually being busier than Singapore. Its score comes in at 68.25%.

The podium positions here are filled by Siem Reap Intl. Airport and Cape Town Intl. Airport, in Cambodia and South Africa, respectively. The first has a score of 71.43%, while the other has a score of 70.45%.

In the global top 20, the USA has 4 airports with quality queues, and Japan and New Zealand each have 2. Every other country appearing has 1, including Portugal, whose Porto Airport lands in 17th place worldwide.

Some of the worst airports for queuing, on the other hand, include the likes of Venice, Kuwait, Geneva, and Belfast. But the worst queues go unquestionably to Grenoble Alpes Isère Airport, in the French city of Grenoble, with a staggering 1.59% approval rate for their waiting times. The 2nd worst airport for queueing, Sangaster Intl. in Jamaica, already scores double that of Grenoble, at 3.23%. The unceremonious podium is finished by Berlin Brandenburg Airport, who scores just 5.73%.

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Other notable airports in the bottom 10 for queue quality include Bordeaux, Paris-Beauvais, London Stansted, Newark, and London Luton. Within these bottom 18 queues, 4 of them are found in French airports, 3 in British, 2 in American and Greek, and 1 each for every other country on the list.

Looking now at a continent-by-continent basis for those which the study gives data for, we start off with North America, and… All the best queues are found in the USA. In descending order, they are Fort Myers, Portland, Detroit, Tampa, Cincinnati, Raleigh-Durham, Washington National, Nashville, Orlando Sanford, and Chicago Midway. They vary from 66.67% approval to 41.67%, with a fairly even spread among those between.

The least impressive queues in North America are slightly more varied, with the US only taking up half the spots. The worst by far is Sangster Intl., which scores half that of 2nd place Punta Cana Intl. Airport, in the Dominican Republic, which has a 4/5-star review rate of 6.98%. In third place is Newark, serving the city of New York, with a score of 9.09%. The other countries to appear are Canada, whose Toronto Pearson airport is the 6th worst queue-wise, Panama’s Tocumen Intl. (7th place), and Mexico’s own Mexico City Intl., in 10th.

European rankings

Over now to Europe, and Belgrade, Serbia, has been ranked the best in terms of queues. The airport was named Europe’s best airport for quality of service by the Airports Council International (ACI) in 2021, and it was renewed in 2023 alongside an award for friendliest airport and most committed team. For queues specifically, it has a 66.67% approval rate, tied with Fort Myers and Wellington on the global level.

They’re followed by Finland’s Helsinki Vantaa Airport, scoring 63.22%, and Stuttgart, at 61.90%. Malta Intl. then has a 60.00% approval rate, in fourth place, followed by Portugal’s airport in Porto, which ranks the fifth best airport for queuing in all of Europe with a score of 58.82%. The top 10 are completed by Ireland West Knock Airport, Athens International, Zurich, London Southend, and Kyiv Borispol.

On the other side of things, the worst airports in Europe are Grenoble Alpes Isère, of course, followed by Berlin Brandenburg, Bordeaux, Paris-Beauvais, London Stansted, London Luton, Heraklion, Belfast, Brussels South Charleroi, and Geneva.

Finally, for the continents covered by Casago’s study, we have Asia. Singapore Changi is the best, having been named the best airport for the 12th time this year. This is followed by Siem Reap Intl. in Cambodia, Tokyo Haneda, Hong Kong Intl., Noi Bai Intl. in Hanoi (Vietnam), Tokyo Narita, Incheon Intl. in South Korea, Bahrain Airport, Taoyuan International, serving the Taipei area, and finally Kempegowda Intl. in Bangalore, India.

On the other end, Kuwait’s airport is the worst, with a score of 11.11%, followed by Turkey’s Dalaman Airport, serving a tourist area in the Southwest, Nepal’s Tribhuvan International (Kathmandu), Islam Karimov Tashkent International in Uzbekistan’s capital, King Abdulaziz Intl. (Jeddah), Chennai Intl., Phuket Intl. in Thailand, Ninoy Aquino Intl. (Manila), Istanbul Airport, and Pune Airport in India, with a score of 19.05%.

Author

Star in the 2015 music video for the hit single “Headlights” by German musician, DJ and record producer Robin Schulz featuring American singer-songwriter Ilsey. Also a journalist.

Jay Bodsworth