Southern California residents have many airports to choose from when it comes to getting out of town, and a new study suggests nearly all of them rank high for customer satisfaction.
J.D. Power released their 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Study on Wednesday, which found that overall passenger satisfaction scores across the nation are up 10 points this year (on a 1,000-point scale).
That’s because many airports have gotten some serious upgrades recently. Some, however, are more important than others, according to the study; J.D. Power researchers ranked seven “core dimensions” based on importance:
- Ease of travel through airport
- Level of trust with airport
- Terminal facilities
- Airport staff
- Departure/getting to airport experience
- Food, beverage and retail
- Arrival/getting from airport experience
In their study, J.D. Power ranked airports based on their size – the categories being mega, large and medium. Mega airports are defined as those with 33 million or more passengers per year, large airports with 10 to 32.9 million passengers per year, and medium airports with 4.5 to 9.9 million passengers per year, researchers at J.D. Power explained.
The three facilities under the mega category that ranked the highest for customer satisfaction in 2025 are Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).
For large airports, the most satisfied customers in the country can be found right here in SoCal: John Wayne Airport (SNA) — the second straight year it’s ranked No. 1, the study found. SNA is followed by Tampa International Airport (TPA) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) for high customer satisfaction.
Finally, for medium airports, another SoCal airport cracks the top three. While not at No. 1 (that spot goes to Indianapolis International Airport (IND) — the fourth year in a row it’s gotten top marks), Ontario International Airport (ONT) ranks second, while Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) rounds out the top three.
Other California airports that made the list include:
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO): 9th in mega category
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): 15th in mega category
- Sacramento International Airport (SAC): 11th in large category
- San Jose International Airport (SJC): 12th in large category
- San Diego International Airport (SAN): 15th in large category
- Oakland International Airport (OAK): 21st in large category
- Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR): 9th in medium category
The 2025 study is based on 30,439 completed surveys from U.S. or Canadian residents who traveled through at least one U.S. or Canadian airport and covers both departure and arrival experiences, including connecting airports.
The study was fielded between July 2024 and July 2025.
You can read more on the study here.
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