Have O’Hare or Midway Airport seemed relatively shabby recently?
If so, you’re not alone.
Both of Chicago’s airports have again been ranked below average in JD Power’s annual airport customer satisfaction survey.
O’Hare tied for last place with Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey among the nation’s 20 largest “mega airports.”
O’Hare has ranked poorly over the last few years, but this is the first time the airport has taken last place. In 2024, O’Hare ranked 18th out of 20, then rose to 16th place last year.
JD Power surveyed 24,000 travelers from July 2025 to July 2026. The survey asked travelers to rate “ease or travel,” trust in the airport, as well as staff, food and retail.
Why did O’Hare rank so poorly?
O’Hare ranked badly because of its ongoing concourse construction, according to Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s managing director of travel, hospitality and retail.
O’Hare started an $8 billion terminal expansion last year. A portion of the airfield is torn up for the 19-gate satellite terminal, Concourse D, expected to be completed in late 2028. The city still hasn’t started work on the Global Terminal expected to replace Terminal 2 by 2033.
Until the renovation is complete, O’Hare will continue to be too small for how many people it serves, Taylor said. More than 84 million passengers passed through O’Hare last year.
“It’s a very crowded environment,” he said.
O’Hare has been operating at capacity since the airport unexpectedly came to dominate U.S. passenger growth. United Airlines and American Airlines added many flights in a bid to control more gates, after the Federal Aviation Administration last spring imposed a flight cap at the airport.
The city’s Aviation Department did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
What about Midway?
Midway fared slightly better in the survey, ranking just below average in the “large airports” category.
The airport ranked slightly higher than past years. Midway came in 17th place out of 27 airports surveyed this year. In 2025, it ranked 19th. In 2024, it came in 23rd.
Part of Midway’s issue is that it’s landlocked and has no room to grow, Taylor said. Passengers are also growing used to recent changes to bag fees and assigned seating by Southwest Airlines, the airport’s main carrier, he said.
Passengers also dinged Midway for its food services, he said. Taylor suggested that some of the food offerings, like the Billy Goat, did not offer an authentic experience.
Some of the highest-ranked airports in the survey recently completed full makeovers. The recently overhauled LaGuardia Airport in New York City ranked third in the “mega” category.