Airport Q Ratings
Here is the first batch of readers’ Q Ratings of international airports — plus, as you’ll see, a few revisions in the instructions which will make the tallies more useful. The goal is to generate an idea of the comparative wait times at airports.
To recap, with Q Ratings a perfect score is zero, meaning there were no lines to wait in. The next time you pass through an international airport (even one in the U.S.), for each queue/line you have to stand in — for check-in, tax payments, security screening, boarding, Customs — subtract a point. The DQ is for a departure and the AQ, an arrival. If you can get from the curb and onto the plane having to stand in only three lines, the DQ is -3. If it takes queuing up five times to get from the plane to the taxi, that airport’s AQ is -5. (You cannot count the line at the Starbuck’s or duty-free shop, as those are not required.) For a same-day transfer, involving both arrival and departure, use TQ.
In each case, name the airport, give the date of transit and the flight departure or arrival time, list what each queue was for and state the total of the wait times and/or how long it took to, essentially, get through the airport (not counting bathroom breaks, tying your shoe, etc.). We’re looking for real-life data that travelers can use.
Write to Airport Q Ratings, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravel news.com (include the address at which you receive ITN). ITN will print ratings as they are compiled, and at some point the numbers will be displayed in a chart. Here are responses so far.
Terry Malarkey’s Q Ratings idea is good (Sept. ’07, pg. 44), but I would suggest a couple of modifications*.
To my Q ratings below, along with the place/reason for each queue, I have included the approximate amount of time spent in each, tacking the total of the wait times onto each rating.
I also have included each flight departure time, as that is the “target,” and travelers’ arrival times will vary.
The day of the week also would be nice to know. Perhaps, over time, we could show the daily averages.
Thus, our experiences led to these ratings:
ATL-Atlanta Hartsfield: DQ-3 (20 mins.)
My wife and I stood in three queues at Atlanta Hartsfield on Oct. 13, 2007, for an 8 p.m. flight: 1. airline check-in (approximately five minutes), 2. security checkpoint (five minutes) and 3. security screening (10 minutes).
BCN-Barcelona: AQ-1 (10 mins.)
There was one queue at the Barcelona, Spain, airport on Oct. 14 for a 10:30 a.m. flight: passport control (about 10 minutes).
BCN-Barcelona: DQ-2 (10 mins.)
Departing Barcelona on Oct. 31, we had two queues for our 12 p.m. flight: 1. airline check-in (five mins.) and 2. security checkpoint/screening (10 mins.).
ATL-Atlanta Hartsfield: AQ-1 (15 mins.)
There was only one queue on arrival in Atlanta, Oct. 31, around
3:30 p.m.: passport control (about 15 mins.).
D.W. Waddell, Marietta, GA
*Good suggestions, D.W., and they have been added to the instructions.
IAD-Washington Dulles: DQ-4
On Sept. 19, 2007, there was 1. check-in, 2. security, 3. boarding the van to get to the terminal and 4. plane boarding.
ZRH-Zürich: DQ-3
Flying out of Zürich, Switzerland, Sept. 20 entailed 1. getting boarding pass, 2. security, 3. boarding.
BUD-Budapest: AQ-2
Arriving in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 20, 1. Immigration, 2. luggage claim.
PRG-Prague: DQ-4
Leaving Prague, Czech Republic, Sept. 30, 1. boarding pass, 2. passport control, 3. security, 4. boarding.
IAD-Washington Dulles: AQ-3
1. Immigration, 2. luggage claim, 3. U.S.Customs.
NRT-Tokyo (Narita): DQ-4
Leaving Tokyo, Japan, on May 5, 2007, 1. boarding pass, 2. security, 3. second security check, 4. boarding.
SFO-San Francisco: TQ-5
Transferring in S.F., 1. Immigration, 2. luggage claim, 3. U.S. Customs, 4. security, 5. boarding.
James F. Olander, Arlington, VA
SFO-San Francisco: DQ-1
With a boarding pass that I printed out at home 24 hours before the flight, I stood only in the TSA line, Sept. 12, 2007.
LAX-Los Angeles: DQ-1
With my boarding pass preprinted, there was only the TSA line, Sept. 15. (I had a chance to go stand-by on an earlier flight, so maybe that counts as two more lines: one to make the request and one to pick up a new boarding pass.)
Since I have had a knee replacement, I definitely set off the gate, necessitating complete wanding and pat-down searches both in SFO and LAX.
Joyce Conklin, San Mateo, CA
LAX-Los Angeles: AQ-3
We returned from Australia to LAX, March 11, 2008. We waited for 1. luggage, 2. Customs and 3. security.
While the Q rating wasn’t too bad, the size of each line was horrendous! Also bad were the conflicting orders (shoes off, shoes on, coat off/on, plastic bag out or in) and the rush. The overworked staff often was rude (though I’m not sure I could hold it together under the circumstances). The push to get everybody through security left me feeling that they didn’t know if each bag was secure or not. Two hours was not nearly enough time to clear Customs.
When I didn’t wait behind an unsigned red line that I didn’t see, one man told me that they didn’t need any more signs that people don’t read. This was after touring in Australia and New Zealand where staff were unfailingly polite.
Carol Moomaw, Concord Township, OH
MIA-Miami: TQ-6
We arrived from Belize City at the Miami airport on Friday, Jan. 18, 2009, and transferred to a domestic flight to San Francisco, so perhaps this isn’t a purely AQ rating,** but from the plane door to the transfer departure gate for the next flight, the Q Rating was -6 and it took one hour 50 minutes:
1. In the hallway just after leaving the plane, we were told to line up because passport control was overcrowded; we waited for 15 minutes, then were let into passport control in small groups; 2. passport control; 3. baggage claim; 4. Customs; 5; recheck luggage for the transfer flight, and 6. security check
Nancy & Don Eager, Hayward, CA
**Nancy and Don, as you point out, a same-day transfer involves both an arrival and a departure, so a transfer will have its own rating category — TQ — and we have added that to the instructions.
ORD-Chicago (O’Hare): TQ-6
I queued up as follows at O’Hare International on Nov. 19, 2007, for a Paris-Chicago-Los Angeles flight (originally scheduled to go via Chicago and St. Louis).
1. Long wait at Customs; 2. wait at baggage claim; 3. short wait to recheck baggage; 4. wait for train to domestic terminal; 5. wait in security line [At this point, after seeing that my flight to St. Louis was delayed two hours, I waited at the American Airlines desk to ask about an alternate flight. I then waited at the desk for the next direct flight to Los Angeles.]; 6. wait in line to board.
C. Clark, Los Angeles, CA
DEL-Delhi: DQ-11
For my departure on a 15-hour nonstop flight from Delhi to Chicago on American Airlines flight No. 293, here is my list of queues:
1. To get in the airport’s front door, there was a passport-and-ticket check.
2. Having our checked luggage x-rayed and banded (we did this before check-in).
3. Ticket and passport check in front of the American Airlines counter. AA personnel checked our names off on a list and asked us security questions.
4. Check-in and getting our boarding passes. They also gave us tags to attach to carry-on items.
5. Immigration.
6. Security x-ray of carry-on items.
7. Getting wanded (women/men in separate lines). After the wanding, we picked up our carry-on items. In the meantime, security had stamped the tags.
We then waited for our flight to be called.
8. We queued at the door to the corridor to the gate when the flight was called. There was a passport-and-boarding-card check.
9. Another passport/boarding card check before entering the departure lounge (at the gate).
10. American Airlines’ own security check (men/women separate), where they hand-checked all carry-ons (and took away the water that we bought airside).
11. Second wanding.
12. Queue to the jetway to board the plane.
There were no “fast track” or business/first-class lines at any point.
Esther Perica, Arlington Heights, IL