Which U.S. Airports Take the Longest to Get to & From? Why?
Jennifer Billock August 11, 2015
Travel to and from American airports is a complete hassle compared to the rest of the world.
Factoring in travel time to and from the airport, a quick flight from one U.S. city to another can often be more taxing than just making the drive. With that in mind, statistician Nate Silver used Google Maps to analyze exactly how long it takes to get to the airport in major U.S. cities and how those times compare to the rest of the world.
The results were pretty sobering. When traveling to or from the downtown region of a major U.S. city, only three airports were reachable quicker by public transit than by a personal or private car: Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), which takes 30 minutes; Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) at 35 minutes; and Honolulu International Airport (HNL), also at 35 minutes.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, these airports had the slowest averages when using public transit to and from downtown: Los Angeles John Wayne Airport (SNA) at 3 hours and 20 minutes; Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) at 2 hours and 45 minutes; and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) at 2 hours and 35 minutes.
According to Silver, the problem boils down to inefficient public transportation options, either from lack of access, limited access, or slow-speed transit. Looking outside the U.S. at the rest of the world, USA Today notes that travel times appear to be much better. From downtown London to Heathrow Airport (LHR), for example, it only takes 15 minutes on the train. Other countries have similar travel times — downtown Shanghai to Pudong International Airport (PVG) takes 15 minutes; downtown Vienna to Vienna International Airport (VIE) takes 16 minutes; and downtown Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) takes 39 minutes.
[Photo: iStock]
Toronto's Billy Bishop (City Airport - YTZ) is in a class by itself. It's on an island just a few feet offshore from Toronto's downtown lakefront, in the shadow of the CN Tower. There's an underground tunnel with moving walkways to take you on shore, and from there, you can either take a 5 minute free shuttle bus ride or simply walk to Union Station and the Royal York Hotel. It took us about 15 minutes to get from customs to our hotel, with a quick shuttle bus and some shoe leather. No need to take transit to town when you are already there!
Outside the US the best one is Zurich, 10 Minutes! from there you can go sipping a beer on the beautiful lake of zurich in a 10 minutes walk!! I love it!!
"Baltimore" is not an airport...it is BWI and serves both Baltimore and Washington. And it can take you an hour or more to drive there from Capitol Hill, but the Amtrak from Union Station to BWI station takes 27 minutes. MARC Commuter rail has a few more stops and takes about 35 minutes. Either way, public rail transit from Capitol Hill to BWI takes less time than driving - especially during rush hour.
Lots of misinformation in this article. Maybe PVG to the outskirts of Shanghai takes 15 minutes on the maglev train, but it stops there. Also, these times really depends on traffic. There are plenty of airports where public transit can be much faster and is more predictable. LIRR + Airtrain gets you from Penn Station to JFK in 45 minutes. That's slower than driving with no traffic, but can be much faster. (I switched to LIRR after missing an international flight because of traffic on the Van Wyck.) Same for SFO, where BART takes 30 minutes and driving 15, but on a bad day it can take 15 minutes just to get on the freeway in San Francisco.
I wouldn't call Paddington "downtown London." In fact it takes about an hour to reach central London on public transport, but it's still the best option because of cost (Piccadilly Line tube being relatively cheap) and unpredictable road delays that snare taxis and minicabs. The real problem in the US is lingering cultural antipathy toward public transit in most cities. For airport travel it rarely presents the best combo of price, speed, and convenience. Fans will ride it anyway but you can't build a winning value proposition on fanboy love. Here in Seattle, after decades of resistance, they built a light-rail link to the airport that takes 35 minutes from downtown, plus wait time. Driving takes < 20. No wonder it's usually mostly empty as I drive past it to and from SEA.