Philadelphia Airport’s score improved by 26 points while Honolulu’s fell by 13. A year ago, Honolulu was 47 points ahead of Philadelphia. That advantage has now shrunk to just eight points, leaving Hawaii’s busiest airport barely ahead of one of the country’s most consistently awful rated airports.Philadelphia International Airport finished dead last in the latest J.D. Power passenger satisfaction study, just as it has for six consecutive years.
The 2026 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, released September 16, ranked Honolulu 23rd among 24 large airports, with a score of 604 points out of 1,000. Across the same category, satisfaction rose by an average of 13 points, while HNL moved in exactly the opposite direction. Honolulu had actually improved from 593 in 2024 to 617 last year before reversing course. And while the number of airports in the category went from 27 to 24, making direct ranking comparisons hard, those year-over-year scores show how much ground Honolulu lost.
Even Philadelphia is finding ways to improve.
Philadelphia remains an aging airport with serious structural problems of its own. But its improvements to restrooms, charging facilities and dining options are being recognized by passengers including us. The airport hasn’t undergone some miraculous transformation, and its outdated terminals still need a lot of work. Nevertheless, passengers are saying there is meaningful progress there while satisfaction at Honolulu has slipped again.
J.D. Power attributes much of the improvement nationally to major construction projects finally delivering results, particularly better passenger circulation, clearer signage and more appealing terminal environments. Food, beverage and retail satisfaction also increased, helped by airports adding local restaurants alongside familiar brands. The study doesn’t identify which particular conditions caused Honolulu’s score to fall again, but the factors helping other airports are the same ones recognized by anyone who has followed the problems at HNL.
Honolulu’s problems go deeper than appearance.
Executives at Hawaiian Airlines once told us directly that Hawaii’s airports were design deficient, among other problems. That observation has stayed with us through years of traveling in and out of Honolulu, and it goes well beyond the worn furniture, outdated bathrooms and frequently confusing signs. Much of HNL feels fundamentally awkward to navigate, with disconnected and inflexible facilities, long walks and an assortment of additions that never produced a particularly cohesive airport.
Longtime BOH reader Frank brought that issue up again just yesterday in a comment on our recent report about new Hawaii airport restaurants. He welcomed the overdue culinary improvements but described wheelchair accessibility as horrible, with “super-long walks to the gate areas” and especially difficult journeys to baggage claim and the airport exit. He called HNL largely a 1950s-era airport in need of complete renovation. His comment came independently of our consideration of the new survey, which made the timing particularly striking as we were considering this article.
We’ve encountered many of these conditions ourselves, including during our January investigation of Honolulu’s promised airport upgrades. Some areas are cavernous yet offer surprisingly little useful seating, while getting from one part of the airport to another can become an exhausting exercise. Readers with mobility difficulties have described having to stop along the way without finding a convenient place to rest, and the absence of clear directions only makes those distances more challenging.
We also heard from reader William, who told us he had worked at HNL for 35 years. In his detailed account of conditions inside Terminal 1, he described inadequate air conditioning, dirty restrooms, uncomfortable gate seating and signage that remained deficient even after supposed improvements. His perspective carried weight for us because he was describing conditions he encountered on a daily basis while working there, rather than an occasional Hawaii visitor’s disappointing visit.
For all that, we wouldn’t like to see Honolulu to lose everything that still makes it distinctive. The cultural gardens remain the airport’s great standouts, beautiful, peaceful and remarkably well maintained. Their trees, water features and traditional landscaping provide an experience unlike what passengers encounter at most mainland and international airports. They are worth preserving, although much of the surrounding airport has aged far less gracefully.
J.D. Power specifically identifies a sense of place as one of the factors that improves passenger satisfaction with airports, and Honolulu already possesses something special in those gardens. The problem is that travelers eventually have to leave them to make their way through facilities that can feel decades behind the airport’s more appealing spaces.
Then there are the lounges, another example of how uneven the experience at HNL has become. We’ve long found Hawaiian’s Premier Club underwhelming, particularly compared with the premium facilities travelers encounter at other major airports. Yet our firsthand review of the Plumeria Lounge found a much more pleasant atmosphere, attentive service and reasonably good food. We visited it again days ago and we still feel the same way. Hawaiian now plans a new nearly 13,000-square-foot lounge in the Mauka Concourse for early 2028, which could finally give eligible passengers a more competitive experience. It won’t change what everyone else faces, however, getting through the airport. And we don’t know what it’s entry requirements will be.
Improvements are coming, but the biggest problems remain.
Hawaii DOT can point to genuine work that has been completed. Honolulu’s Lobby 4 renovation is finished, other ticket-lobby improvements are underway, and recognizable Hawaii restaurant names, including Alan Wong and MW Restaurant, are finally expected to join the airport’s dining lineup sooner than later. We welcome those changes, particularly after years of finding far too little open when we’ve needed something to eat before an evening flight.
The timing of the survey was between July 2025 and July 2026, before many of the latest dining improvements and other planned facilities opened. The results are therefore a measurement of what passengers recently experienced, rather than a verdict on renovations that have yet to come.
But the larger physical work is still a long way from completion. The $218 million ticket-lobby renovation program is scheduled through December 2027, while the major Diamond Head extension is planned through 2032 with the separate Concourse E renovation going into 2030. Those investments may provide substantial benefits to passengers, although a new concourse alone doesn’t guarantee that all the awkward connections and long walking distances elsewhere will suddenly disappear.
Philadelphia, still last in the study, has already managed to gain passenger satisfaction without replacing all its aging terminal buildings. Honolulu has years of major construction ahead and another survey showing that its existing facilities are leaving passengers less satisfied than before. Someone arriving tomorrow with an aching knee, a suitcase to retrieve and a long walk ahead will still have to navigate the airport that exists today, regardless of what’s scheduled for 2032.
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I used to think Honolulu Airport was a paradise compared to mainland airports. The open-air concourses where trade winds carrying the scent of plumaria hit you in the face as you exited the aircraft stayed with you until you hit the H-1. Now it’s a crowded, and sometimes unclean, mess. Signage is poor and transfers are feared. I spent an almost 2.5-hour layover between Auckland and the mainland needing to exit one terminal, reclaim my baggage and enter another with lines so long it ate up my downtime and introduced the angst of possibly missing my mainland flight. I arrived at the gate for my mainland flight a nervous wreck. All along the Wiki Wiki was down, no one was available to offer guidance or instructions – a real fiasco. I am not anti-growth, but most places introduce better direction and real humans to interact with when on complex connections. The days of having the luxury of spending time in the Cultural Gardens is pretty much gone, lest you risk catching your next flight.
As a former employee of a defunct air commuter in HNL in the early ‘70’s, I remember when the Gull Wings were new. I still like the general look of them, not the cookie cutter look of mainland terminals. the koa wood is still nice to my eyes. Changing to the Terminals designations (A,B etc) that were done in the last few years are confusing for me. Just leaving the gate numbers would have been sufficient. More signage would have sufficed. The green carpet in the DH Gull wing is horrific!! I have no idea who chose that. What about some of the carpet tiles in serene blues to reflect our ocean and sky in Hawaii. The black airport seating has been there from day one from my memory!! the price of smart carts is unbelievable!! I needed one a few weeks ago, $8!! What a rip off. But sadly so much of Hawaii is outrageously expensive. I did see a golf cart in the middle of the airport after going though security. There were a few ppl going for a ride somewhere. We have the wiki bus. Sad.
Hawaii is a dumpster fire. Its a beautiful dumpster fire but a dumpster fire none the less.
We have airports that belong in the third world. We have bridges and other critical infrastructure failing with no inkling of a plan to move forward with repairs and improvements. The Lahaina fire was over three years ago and we’re finally getting around to expediting the building process while we continue to flail away with the STR issue.
Why is it that we can’t get anything done? Why can’t decisions be made in less than two years?
Its time to take a hard look at our government. Not just the people its comprised of, but the structure itself. There are no less than 6 permitting hoops that have to be cleared to rebuild the house that burned in the Lahaina fire, and its taking years.
Until we rise up together and demand more from our government, nothing will improve. I don’t care about your party affiliation, our current legislators have to be replaced wholesale.
Well said James!
You nailed it completely!
It’s beyond comprehension how Hawaii and Hawaiians have been abused and manipulated by incompetent inefficient government bureaucrats and elected officials. Sadly nothing will change until the citizens of Hawaii vote for a complete wholesale house cleaning at all levels of government. HNL is simply the poster child for the dysfunctional government of Hawaii that has been evident throughout the state for decades.