Vancouver International Airport (YVR) ranked as the sixth best large airport in North America for passenger satisfaction, according to a J.D. Power survey released September 19, but that rank might have been expected to be higher.
A WestJet plan takes off from YVR/Shutterstock
U.K.-based travel consultancy Skytrax ranked YVR as the best airport in North America for the ninth year in a row earlier this year, and both Skytrax and J.D. Power use traveller surveys as the basis for ranking airports.
The J.D. Power ranking involved surveying 40,183 people who travelled through at least one North American airport in the previous three months with the questioning taking place between September 2017 and September 2018. Skytrax, in contrast, surveyed 13.73 million people.
Unlike Skytrax, J.D. Power did not release an overall ranking. Instead it revealed results for airports that were divided into size categories. In J.D. Power's mega-airport category, for example, it determined that Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport ranked No. 1. That category of airport welcomed at least 32.5 million passengers last year.
Vancouver’s airport welcomed 24.166 million passengers in 2017, which was sufficient to rank in J.D. Power's large-airport category.
John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, ranked as the continent’s No. 1 large airport with 815 points on a 1,000-point scale. The top five large airports on the continent were rounded out with Dallas Love Field (810 points), Oregon’s Portland International Airport (804 points), Nashville International Airport (802 points), and Tampa International Airport (799 points).
Vancouver’s airport achieved 781 points for its sixth-place rank.
Other Canadian airports that were included in the ranking were Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (No. 12 in the mega-airport category), Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (No. 8 in the large airport category) and Calgary International Airport (No. 16 in the large airport category).
J.D. Power’s survey asked about six factors in order of importance: terminal facilities; airport accessibility; security check; baggage claim; check-in and baggage check; and food, beverage and retail.
Skytrax’s rankings earlier this year not only ranked YVR as the best airport in North America, but also as the 14th best airport in the world, down one spot from its 13th place ranking in 2017.
