Airport Ranking: DFW #1, DTW #2
Flying high: Metro Airport jumps to No. 2 in satisfaction
Joel J. Smith / The Detroit News
Detroit Metropolitan Airport has put years of passenger complaints behind it and emerged as one of the nation's best airports.
The airport climbed to the No. 2 ranking among 17 large U.S. airports in an annual J.D. Power and Associates consumer survey released Tuesday. In the first year of the airport survey in 2000 -- before Metro Airport's McNamara Terminal had opened -- the facility ranked among the worst, falling below the industry average. Last year, it rated sixth best among large airports.
Only Dallas-Fort Worth ranked higher among large airports, according to the 2007 North American Airport Satisfaction Study. The poll asks consumers about services ranging from check-in to baggage handling to food and beverage quality.
Detroit Metro improved the most in airport accessibility, security checks and terminal facilities, according to J.D. Power.
Mike Conway, a Detroit Metro spokesman, said credit for the airport's success should be shared with the airlines and the Transportation Security Administration personnel who screen passengers.
"Everybody is doing the best job they can to make a more positive experience for our customers," Conway said. "People are most happy when their planes arrive and depart on time. So having a powerful airfield with plenty of gates helps in that regard."
Travelers, pros not surprised
Aviation experts and travelers weren't surprised at Metro's rank.
"I wouldn't rank Detroit second," said Michael Boyd, president of The Boyd Group, a Colorado-based aviation consulting company. "I'd rank them first. How can you get lost there?
"You'd have to be from another planet not to see just how good Metro Airport is. It's a world-class airport."
For the nationwide survey, J.D. Power interviewed 10,200 airline customers, including 419 who used Metro in the past year, said Jim Gaz, J.D. Power's service director of travel and entertainment.
Each was asked 28 questions in eight categories: airport accessibility, baggage claims, check-in/baggage claims, terminal facilities, security checks, food and beverage, retail services and immigration/customer control.
Nationwide, consumers grew less satisfied with baggage claim, because regulations limiting what can be carried aboard aircraft have resulted in more checked luggage. Twenty percent of passengers experienced a flight delay.
Gaz said the survey also showed a nationwide decline in customer satisfaction in retail and food and beverage services.
"Detroit Metro either went up or stayed about the same from a year ago," he said.
Gaz said he wouldn't be surprised to see Metro Detroit climb to the top spot when the $426 million North Terminal opens in late 2008. That facility will replace the 50-year-old Smith Terminal.
'They did a bang-up job'
Barbara Amacher, 60, of Rochester Hills flew out of Detroit with her husband to vacation in Ireland earlier this month. She wasn't surprised at Metro's showing.
"The McNamara Terminal is so open, so clean and so nice-looking compared to other airports we've visited," said Amacher. "Because you can only go two ways to the gates -- left or right -- it's not confusing like some airports. They did a bang-up job building Metro."
David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association in Washington, D.C., said he's always amazed when he visits the McNamara Terminal, which handles more than 500 daily departures for Northwest Airlines.
"My experience at the Detroit airport has been absolutely terrific," he said. "I've walked the full length of the McNamara Terminal (one mile) to check out the facilities, and it's marvelous. It's an A-1 airport."
That's a far cry from the 1990s, when Metro was the airport you wanted to avoid, he recalled. "But now it is an airport of choice," Stempler said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /705230403
