Miami's Airport Lands On Travel Magazine's Ten Best List
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The readers of Travel and Leisure magazine have named Miami International Airport as one of the ten best in the nation.
The magazine used ratings on location, food, shopping, cleanliness, staff communication, check in, baggage handling and Wi-Fi rank each airport.
MIA came in 10th.
In describing the airport's best features, the magazine wrote "If you're landing here to party at South Beach, you won't have to travel too far; the airport is ranked sixth for location. And after those late nights, you can recover with a treatment at one of the airport's No. 3-rated spas before heading home."
The airport, however, got dinged for baggage handling, check in and the security process.
Airport officials said they had a record-breaking year for passenger traffic in 2011 and surged to a new record in the first quarter of 2012 with the most passengers ever during that period. More than 10.2 million travelers passed through MIA in the first three months of the year for an increase of 9.5 percent over the same period last year.
In the last two quarters, MIA has overtaken New York's JFK Airport as the U.S. airport with the most international flights. According to a preliminary report from Airports Council International, MIA was also the 18th busiest passenger airport worldwide for the month of January, moving up from 26th in calendar year 2011.
Rounding out Travel and Leisure's Top Ten:
9. Denver International Airport (Colorado)
8. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Washington)
7. McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas)
6. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Maryland)
5. San Francisco International Airport (California)
4. Orlando International Airport (Florida)
3. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (Michigan)
2. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (North Carolina)
1. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (Minnesota)
