Low marks for Cleveland Hopkins.
Just yesterday we were talking about improvements made to the airport and today we're learning about the growing pains that come with it. Hopkins ranks last for airport satisfaction in a new study done by JD Power.
The company said it interviewed 21,000 North American travelers who used airports from July to October this year. For mid-sized airports, Hopkins is 33rd out of 33 total.
The study focused on terminal facilities, airport accessibility, security checks, baggage claim, check-in and terminal shopping. The responses were collected right in the middle of Hopkins going through a major renovation project which saw massively long lines and upset passengers.
newsnet5.com has done several stories in the past six months about problems surrounding Hopkins renovations.
The study prompted a response from Hopkins saying, in part, that the "results are not unexpected" especially in the "midst of a major renovation." Director Fred Szabo also said, "Our satisfaction ratings have been consistently increasing in the recent past." We checked with JD Power and the last time it did this study was in 2010 when Hopkins ranked 14th out of 20 airports in that study.
JD Power reps told me it will now do this study every year. The airport director said he thinks the satisfaction rankings will "recover significantly once the construction is complete."
Sabo said the 20M renovation project is on schedule, and should be completed by May 2016.
"Those ratings are a snapshot in time, and we're in it for the long haul," said Szabo. "I'm not concerned about a rating that is only going to be valid for a very short time.
