Date: October 15, 2016
Every year, Sleeping In Airports conducts a survey asking travellers to rate their airport experiences. Survey participants can rate as many airports as they have visited, but they can only rate an airport once. Duplicate votes are automatically deleted. For our 2016 results, the survey was open September, 8, 2015 – September 5, 2016.
In our 2016 survey travellers were asked to rate the following on a scale of 1 (awful) – 5 (excellent):
- Overall Airport Experience
- Terminal Cleanliness
- Services, Facilities & Things To Do
- Customer Service
- Immigration/Security
- Comfort (Rest Zones and Gate Areas)
- Sleep-ability
An optional text box gave survey respondents the opportunity to provide a review or more details about their airport experience. These user comments combined with information we gather from airport web sites about the services they provide makes up the content included in our Best & Worst articles.
For our 2016 Airport Survey, there were 27,880 qualifying responses.
Our Best & Worst Airports lists
When the site first started, we did a survey based on airport “sleep-ability” because, well, the site is called Sleeping in Airports and that’s what our visitors were doing. Over the years, as the site has attracted more diverse survey respondents, we have expanded the survey to include more of the overall airport experience. This year we now provide 3 Best and Worst Airport lists:
- Best and Worst Airports for Sleeping – Results are based on Comfort and Sleep-ability scores. Travellers who did not need to sleep or rest in the airport, did not provide a rating. As an additional point for validation, those airports listed in the ‘Top 10 Best Airports for Sleeping’ were required to have (1) known sleep friendly features, such as armrest-free seating, sleep pods and/or day rooms (2) known designated rest zones and/or (3) survey comments or reviews from travellers who slept in or rested at the airport during a layover, flight delay or simply while waiting for a flight.
- Best and Worst Airports for Overall Experience – Results are based on the Overall Experience scores, including factors such as terminal services and facilities, things to do, food options, immigration, security, cleanliness, etc. Other factors travellers mention in their comments include ease of terminal navigation, queues, additional fees imposed by airports, construction inconveniences, etc. Ratings were based on responses from all travellers regardless of why they were using the airport (final destination, home airport, layover/transit). Our regional results are all based on the overall airport experience.
- Best and Worst Airports for Layovers – This is a new category in 2016. Results are based on the Overall Experience scores of travellers who indicated they were using the airport on a Layover.
Results are based on the average scores rated and the number of votes for each airport.
Survey “Aftermath”
Year after year, THE MOST common comment we read is “how did XXX Airport rank higher than XXX Airport”? Results are based on average scores and number of votes. Perhaps your favourite airport did not receive as many votes as the one above it. Or in the case of multi-terminal airports, perhaps only one terminal ranked well and the older terminals brought the airport’s average down. Remember, the survey is based on the traveller’s overall experience, not on the airport’s shiny new architecture, safety records or on-time performance. Small terminals that are not glitzy, but excel in providing a positive travel experience are known to outrank many mega-airports.
If you do not agree with the results, tell us about your experience at the airport.
About Sleeping in Airports
Sleeping in Airports is a web site that provides over 1100 airport guides and reviews for travellers who predominately find themselves with long layovers or stranded in an airport due to delays. Started in 1996 as a guide specifically for travellers looking for a place to sleep the night before an early morning flight, the site has evolved to provide complete airport guides geared towards all travellers looking for information about the availability of airport lounges, wifi, transit hotels, sleep pods/cabins, food, shopping, transportation, etc.
We understand the results often receive some media attention, so just to be clear, we are not an airport rating association. We are simply reporting the results of the feedback provided in the 27,880 responses to our annual survey.
The survey is a summary of the praise and critiques provided to us by travellers throughout the year. As we have not personally visited most of the airports featured on our various Best and Worst lists, we rely heavily on what the travellers are telling us and we look for common themes in the numerous survey responses upon which to write our articles. It is our hope that by publishing the positive and negative aspects, that airports will see what they should continue doing, how they can improve and, perhaps, be inspired by some of the other airports in their category. Over the years, several airports have made improvements as a result of our survey.
We encourage airports to contact us with information about any new services and facilities they have introduced for passengers and we will include it in our guides.
2017 Results
Our survey results are published annually on October 15. Sign-up for notification and we will let you know when the next results are online. This is a once-a-year annual mailing, so you will not receive other mail from us!