Logan falls to No. 16 in customer satisfaction

A J.D. Power survey showed travelers were critical of Logan's accessibility, security checks, and baggage claim system. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press/File 2008)

Logan International Airport slipped in customer satisfaction to 16th among medium-size airports, according to an annual study that J.D. Power and Associates released yesterday.

Of the 60 small, medium, and large airports ranked nationwide, 48 received lower ratings when nearly 21,000 passengers were asked to rate their experiences on a scale of one to 10. There were 27 questions regarding airport accessibility, check-in and baggage check, security checks, terminal facilities, food and retail services, and baggage claim.

Logan, which placed seventh last year, said it was disappointed with its new ranking. The 1,050 passengers who shared their opinions about traveling to or from the Boston airport in the past year primarily criticized it for its accessibility, security checks, and baggage claim.

"We work very hard to make traveling through Logan a good experience for everyone," said airport spokesman Matthew Brelis. "Our own internal surveys show something different than the J.D. Power survey. We get high marks in ease of access, cleanliness, professionalism of the staff."

Of the medium-size airports, Chicago Midway International ranked number one; Oakland International Airport was last. Overall, the small Dallas Love Field airport, where Southwest Airlines Co. is based, racked up the most satisfaction points, while Minneapolis/St. Paul International was last.

The survey did show that travelers were more pleased with the quality and cost of food and retail items sold at Logan. But overall, some passengers left the airport with a bad taste in their mouths because of flight delays and cancellations, which have become more frequent in Boston and across the country.

Boston saw "a pretty big jump" in the number of survey respondents whose departing or arriving flights were late - 23 percent this year, up from 18 percent last year, said Jim Gaz, senior director of travel and entertainment for J.D. Power. That increase was comparable to the rise at other airports.

"Flight delays have gone up, which puts this entire negative halo effect around the entire airport experience," Gaz said. "They just get critical across the board."

Case in point: Passengers said they were considerably less satisfied with Logan's security checkpoint this year compared with last year, even though the time to reach the other side of the metal detector remained unchanged at 15 minutes.

And it's not like passengers at Logan had to stand in line longer than those at other airports. The average security checkpoint time for the 60 small, medium, and large airports nationwide was also 15 minutes.

Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.