The Worst US Airports to Fly Through If You Have a Tight Connection

KURU Footwear evaluated US airports to determine whose terminals contain the longest and shortest walking distances. The results are as expected: Large, highly trafficked airports have the terminals with the longest distances — over two miles in the case of the farthest stretch — while the shortest walks belong to smaller airports.

Interestingly, the longtime busiest airport in the world, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, eluded the list of the top five airports in the US with the longest walking distances.

1. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas, Texas — 2.16 miles
2. Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia — 1.62 miles
3. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas — 1.52 miles
4. Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado — 1.45
5. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York — 1.38 miles

1. Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky — 0.11 miles
2. Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York — 0.12 miles
3. Harrisburg International Airport in Middleton, Pennsylvania — 0.13 miles
4. Lihue Airport in Kauai, Hawaii — 0.18 miles
5. Hollywood Burbank Airport in Burbank, California — 0.20 miles

KURU Footwear framed the data as an examination of how much legwork passengers might have to put in from check-in to boarding, but the results are worth keeping in mind for your next flight connection, too. While there are other factors to consider when it comes to making a connecting flight — such as whether you’re traveling internationally or domestically, if you’ll need to switch terminals, how busy a given airport is, and how efficiently that airport operates — the last thing travelers need when their gate is threatening to close is a two-mile hike.

On the other hand, KURU Footwear also polled 800 Americans on their travel habits, and if you’re anything like the 33 percent who spend an hour walking around the airport before their flight, now you know which airports will help you get your steps in before takeoff.