SEATAC, Wash. — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport ranked below most "mega airports" in customer satisfaction according to a recent JD Power survey, coming in 18th out of 20 on the 2023 edition of the list.
However, a Sea-Tac spokesperson said the airport wasn't surprised by its place in the rankings, and believes it will rise back up the list once its many construction projects are completed.
The rankings are based on over 27,000 surveys of travelers who have been through at least one of the airports on the list in the past 30 days. Sea-Tac has a number of active construction projects ongoing, with $4.6 billion in capital projects either in progress or planned in the next 5 years.
"The challenge with airports is you can’t close it all like a downtown skyscraper for two years and build, you still have to run the airport operations in the middle of doing construction and renovation. It’s like renovating your house one room at a time while still living in it," said Perry Cooper, the Media Relations Manager for Sea-Tac.
The 2023 North America Airport Satisfaction Study from JD Power ranked airports on six factors, in order of their importance: terminal facilities; airport arrival/departure; baggage claim; security check; check-in/baggage check; and food, beverage and retail.
A "mega airport" as defined by JD Power is one with 33 million or more passengers. In 2022, the airport saw 45.9 million passengers, which is 11% fewer passengers than recorded in 2019. The airport is expecting to reach pre-pandemic passenger numbers in 2024.
There was a study commissioned by Gov. Jay Inslee to look into where another major airport could be built in western Washington, with Sea-Tac expected to reach capacity in 2032. However, community pushback in part led to that study being reset in May, with the new recommendation being to study how existing airports can be upgraded to handle the rising population.
