Awards are nice. But they only matter when you can use them to make rational decisions. FlightStats inaugural Airport On-Time Performance Service Awards fall into that category.
The company just determined the finalists for 2010 honors. Start your trip from one of these airports, or connect over them, and chances are you run less risk of delay. That counts when you’re counting days on vacation.
Major International Airports:
Vancouver is a major transpacific gateway for Air Canada, as well as a number of important Asian carriers such as Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines. Not only are delays low, its positioning as the farthest northwest transpac hub put Asian cities within comparatively easy reach of folks flying from North America. The airport is nicely connected to the United States. Transborder flyers get to pre-clear U.S. Customs at YVR. That means when you’re flying back to the United States just get off the plane as if it were a domestic flight, grab your bag and go.
Seattle/Tacoma International is similarly well positioned geographically, and nicely connected to the rest of the U.S. via hometown Alaska Airlines and other major carriers. Both Vancouver and SEA offer good nonstop European connections as well as transpacific flights. A new third runway at SEA has helped cut delays considerably.
Copenhagen is SAS’ prime hub. Instead of connecting to European cities over London Heathrow, Frankfurt, or Paris Charles De Gaulle, consider CPH and—just perhaps—save some time. You can fly SAS nonstop to Copenhagen from Chicago, New York, or Washington, D.C.
Charlotte not only fields an increasing number of transatlantic and Latin American flights, US Airways is seen by lots of southern flyers as a smaller, less frenetic alternative to Atlanta.
Memphis is really two airports: passenger flights by day and deep into the evening, and FedEx’s prime transshipment point by night. The latter says something about how relatively delay-free MEM is. FedEx’s reputation is pegged to on-time deliveries. Delta is the airport’s passenger hub carrier, and Amsterdam is MEM’s only nonstop European destination. Memphis’ terminal is manageable and humanely proportioned.
Major North American Airports:
FlightStats’s five contenders for this category aren’t necessarily the biggest airports in the country. And that may have something to do with why delays are comparatively low.
Salt Lake City: If you’re making a connection to the West Coast or Mountain West SLC is a real alternative to Denver and Phoenix. Located in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake is a Delta hub, and the carrier can fly you nonstop to Paris from there.
Memphis: Looking to change planes for a slew of southern and central U.S. cities? You could do far worse than MEM. Geographically it’s one of the best-positioned airline hubs in North America. Summertime thundershowers can slow things down on occasion, but snow is rarely an issue.
Charlotte: If the Carolinas, Mid-Atlantic or deep south is your destination, Charlotte makes sense. US Airways’ fields forays of flights to each of these regions from CLT.
Portland, OR: Alaska Airlines and partner Horizon Air are prime players at this eco-friendly airport, which sports some of the best beer in the world. From PDX the nooks and crannies of the Pacific Northwest unfold. If you’re looking for a stealth flight to Japan, one that’s not all that well known, try Delta’s daily 767 Portland flight to Tokyo Narita.
Seattle/Tacoma: Again, Alaska and Horizon—armed with that delay-cutting third runway—have transformed the way people see Sea-Tac.
