Take your steps.
At some U.S. airports, the adventure can begin long before you arrive at your destination: After you finally clear security, you still have to get to your gate, which can involve walking up to two miles, according to a revealing new ranking.
In other words, forget the gym – you’re getting in a serious workout and just want to get out of town.
And while many airport hubs offer helpful time-saving measures like people movers, moving walkways, shuttle buses and trams, even these can still require a fair amount of good, old-fashioned walking between transfers.
To find out which airports really demand everything from their passengers, KURU Footwear took a close look at American airports and looked for those where the walking distances from the ticket counter to the furthest gate are the longest.
Here are the results of the survey, first reported by Reader’s Digest, which also asked 800 randomly selected travelers about their personal experiences.
The No. 1 ranked airport, which covers 16,000 acres in the middle of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, is the definition of sprawl – studies have shown that a passenger can walk up to two miles just entering or exiting the gigantic facility. Changing planes here? Then take your time.
Next up is Washington Dulles International Airport, where the curved mid-century terminal design and a nifty AeroTrain can’t solve all the problems of sprawl—passengers who defy IAD can walk up to 1.5 miles just to get from A to B.
Although Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport has an abundance of shopping and dining options, the average traveler has just one problem: they don’t have enough time to stop and take in the sights because they still have such a long way to go to their gate.
IAH is another airport where transportation options can’t save you from walking at least part of the way. Prepare to walk up to 1.5 miles (2.45 kilometers), researchers say.
Denver International Airport is in fourth place. To reach the most remote departure areas, distances of up to 2.33 kilometers must be covered on foot.
Meanwhile, New York’s JFK airport came in fifth place. If there had been more land available for development, the airport would of course have been built even larger and less user-friendly, but at 2.22 kilometers, it is still big enough.
That is, if you can even get to your terminal given all the construction work that has been going on recently.
Of course, the Big Apple’s largest airport has always been known for major disappointments – on a recent ranking of the airports that cause the average traveler the most stress, the often-hated airport came in at the very bottom.
A big part of that stress is that the airport is at its lowest ever level of time spent stuck on the tarmac waiting to take off or get to their gate.
