NYC is already off to a hectic summer of travel with Newark International Airport currently dealing with telecommunications outages and staffing shortages. Now, new data suggests you might want to avoid another NYC airport this summer if you can.
According to Money Talks News, the 15 worst U.S. airports for international travel this summer have been revealed—and NYC’s JFK Airport is among them.
The finance site used U.S. Customs and Border Protection data to discover which U.S. airports tend to have the longest wait times at Passport Control during the summer season. Upgraded Points researchers calculated the average Passport Control wait times from the 2024 summer travel season (June 1 to August 31, 2024) for both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens, in addition to the average maximum wait time for all travelers, across U.S. international airports.
The 15 worst U.S. airports for international travel summer 2025:
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Nashville International Airport (BNA)
- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)
- George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH)
- San Fransisco International Airport (SFO)
- San Diego international Airport (SAN)
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
- Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
- Seattle/Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
- Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
- Miami International Airport (MIA)
New York City’s JFK Airport was found to have an average wait time of 24.9 minutes for all travelers. Although that might not sound too long, when Passport Control is the last step to arriving home after a long travel day, every extra minute can make the process more frustrating.
The average maximum wait time at Passport Control for all travelers at JFK was 63.3 minutes. However, only 7.3% of travelers that passed through JFK Passport Control in summer 2024 had to wait more than an hour. Moreover, U.S. citizens got through Passport Control nearly twice as fast as non-U.S. citizens on average.
LAX Airport had the longest wait times, averaging at 31.8 minutes for all travelers. The Los Angeles travel hub’s maximum wait time for all travelers came out to a whopping 80.8 minutes—nearly an hour and a half stuck in line!
You can find the full ranking and its details on Money Talks News.