Tag Archives: Holidays

US airports with the longest wait times, O’Hare ranked third

While it’s important to get to any airport early, some flight hubs are notorious for taking an age to move through security lines and passport control.

Ahead of the holiday travel season, luggage storage company Bounce has ranked the airports with the longest wait times

To determine which airports had the longest waits, Bounce analyzed the average times for security screening and passport clearance at airports across the country in 2024, sourcing the info from the US Customs and Border Protection Airport Wait Times and TSA Wait Times respectively.

The 10 airports with the longest wait times in the US :

RankAirportState/TerritoryAverage TSA Wait TimeAverage Passport Control Wait TimeAverage Combined Wait Time
1John F. Kennedy International AirportNew York15:0524:4339:48
2Orlando International AirportFlorida15:3423:4239:16
3O’Hare International AirportIllinois11:5325:5937:52
4Los Angeles International AirportCalifornia11:3223:5335:25
5Austin–Bergstrom International AirportTexas15:5319:2935:22
6Miami International AirportFlorida14:4020:1934:59
7San Francisco International AirportCalifornia12:4321:0133:44
8George Bush Intercontinental AirportTexas13:5319:1633:09
9Ontario International AirportCalifornia13:3219:3533:07
10Salt Lake City International AirportUtah15:17

The airport with the shortest wait time, per the study, was Palm Beach International Airport in Florida with a combined time of seven minutes and 27 seconds.

Top 10 airports with the shortest wait times:

RankAirportState/TerritoryAverage TSA Wait TimeAverage Passport Control Wait TimeAverage Combined Wait Time
1Palm Beach International AirportFlorida05:2901:5807:27
2John Wayne AirportCalifornia09:0305:3514:38
3Phoenix Sky Harbor International AirportArizona11:1105:4516:56
4San Antonio International AirportTexas08:0411:0219:06
5San Francisco Bay Oakland International AirportCalifornia07:3912:5820:37
6Sacramento International AirportCalifornia07:0513:3620:41
7Portland International AirportOregon08:4412:3321:17
8Philadelphia International AirportPennsylvania10:4811:0221:50
9Raleigh–Durham International AirportNorth Carolina08:4713:1922:06
10Tampa International AirportFlorida10:23

Fortunately, on average, US airports have cut the time passengers spend waiting down from around 29 minutes and 35 seconds to 27 minutes and 16 seconds.

Hopefully this information helps for the holidays!