World Airport Awards

Dallas airport soars as one of North America's best

The Grand Hyatt — and DFW International — both scored World Airport Awards.

Photo courtesy of Grand Hyatt

Travelers love to grumble about airports, but it turns out we've got one of the best on the continent. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport landed at No. 8 on the Skytrax World Airport Awards' list of the top 10 airports in North America.

These awards may sound "industry only" but are in fact voted on by you, the globetrotting public. It's the largest annual global airport customer satisfaction survey, and it is based on 13.25 million airport survey questionnaires completed by 106 different nationalities.

For this round, the survey operated from June 2015 to February 2016, covering 550 airports worldwide and evaluating traveler experiences with everything from check-in to shopping to security.

If you find yourself flying in or out of Vancouver, you're in the best airport in North America. Go through Singapore Changi, and you're in the best in the world. If you're looking to score some serious Duty Free deals, hang out in London Heathrow, and Tokyo Narita is where you want to have a meal before your flight.

DFW also scores a nod for having one of the best airport hotels in North America, the Grand Hyatt DFW.

Houston also shows up, both on the "most improved" list and for having some of the best airport staff.

But what of our other big airport, Love Field? Don't worry. Even though it didn't get a World Airport Award, it's still ranked highly by Travel + Leisure and Americans For the Arts.

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Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

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