These 10 airports are the worst for connecting flights — you’ll have to hustle to your gate

It’s a plane nightmare flying out of these spots.

A new ranking reveals the 10 absolute worst airports in the US for connecting flights — with two primetime hubs in the NYC region landing on the list.

FinanceBuzz, a personal finance site, takes into account the number of gates on the opposite ends of terminals, the distances to the very farthest gates in an airport, and the need for transportation like trams within the airport for flyers to reach their gate.

Coming in at No. 1 is Denver International Airport, where the longest walk between any two possible gates is 34 minutes, according to the data.

It is perhaps fitting that someone created a Strava running challenge map there called “gate change gnar.”

Walking end to end in just one terminal takes 23 minutes.

Both NYC airports in Queens — LaGuardia and JFK — placed fifth and sixth, respectively, on the list.

The 39-minute travel time between any two potential gates earned LGA its spot.

JFK, meanwhile, was ranked for its low connectivity score stemming from the 17-minute journey between security and the farthest gate.

Although not in FinanceBuzz’s listing, Newark Airport has consistently been considered one of, if not the worst airport in the nation for layovers and other stressors.

LAX in Los Angeles, the ninth worst in this dataset, had the worst and longest possible distance between two gates at nearly an hour of ground travel.

The 10 worst US airports for connecting flights

Denver International
O’Hare in Chicago
Salt Lake City
John Wayne in Santa Ana, CA
LaGuardia
JFK
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
LAX
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Conversely, Richmond International Airport in Virginia was ranked the nation’s best airport for connecting flights, as there’s only an eight-minute gap between any two potential gates.

Not far behind, Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan airport came in 10th with an 18-minute travel time for that distance.

Hartford’s Bradley International Airport was ranked the fifth best since it only takes three minutes to traverse its largest terminal.