McCarran Airport moves up in Zagat survey

By Ashley Livingston

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 | 12:53 p.m.

McCarran International Airport improved a notch in the latest Zagat survey of fliers and travel professionals, ranking No. 16 among 27 U.S. airports that were ranked.

For the survey, which was released Nov. 24, almost 10,000 frequent fliers and travel professionals were asked to give each airport a rating of fair/poor, good/very good or excellent.

The definitions of each rating were left up to the interpretation of each participant.

Zagat Survey Manager of Communications Tiffany Barbalato said each rating was then assigned a numerical value, which was averaged to assign points according to the well-known surveyor's traditional 30-point scale.

Receiving 13.77 points on this scale, McCarran placed below top contenders Tampa International Airport's score of 20.63 points, and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's score of 18.55.

In general, Barbalato said, the airports with less traffic tend to rank higher.

According to data collected by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2007, McCarran was the sixth busiest U.S. airport.

Airport spokesman Chris Jones said McCarran regularly does its own surveys using the feedback received as a guideline for addressing the concerns of airport patrons.

Jones said that McCarran places a huge emphasis on customer service partially because it serves a city that people generally choose to come to rather than have to visit on business.

In another airport satisfaction survey done this year, McCarran fared much better.

In its May 2008 ranking of North American airports, J.D. Power and Associates reported that McCarran tied for second place with Orlando International Airport for highest customer satisfaction.

Ashley Livingston can be reached at 990-8925 or [email protected].