DFW Airport has longest walk to farthest gate, report says

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strog91@reddit

There’s no way this is accurate.

DFW is arguably the best-designed airport in the world. Thanks to the trains you’re never more than 30 minutes away from any gate.

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boldjoy0050@reddit

I like it as someone who lives here, but hated connecting in Dallas before I lived here. The older terminals are very cramped in the walking areas and there isn't enough seating at the gate.

DEN is a much better designed airport and has higher ceilings and wider walkways, making it feel more modern.

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DEN is one of the worst designed airports in the world. You have to go through security and then board a train that goes linearly through the terminals and back. When the train breaks hundreds of people miss their flights.

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boldjoy0050@reddit

Oh trust me, the train breaks at DFW and people miss their connecting flights. Maybe ORD is a great place to connect as you can walk to all of the gates in the same terminals. It’s just a long walk.

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strog91@reddit

ORD sucks. It’s a one hour walk from one end of the airport to the opposite end of the airport. No train, no bus — just you and your own two legs.

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Orzorn@reddit

But DEN has a major issue in that you're virtually required to use the train. You also have to use it to go get to where your luggage is. In DFW, they always do their best to make luggage come out virtually on the other side of the wall from your arrival gate.

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boldjoy0050@reddit

Doesn’t really matter for DFW because 75% of passengers are connecting here and not leaving the airport.

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tjspeed@reddit

Yeah I’ve walked what felt like literal miles at ATL and at DFW from drop off to getting to the gate is like less than a hundred yards.

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CrownedClownAg@reddit

Atlanta has the trains though

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HockeyCookie@reddit

It takes you longer to get to the trains in ATL than it does at DFW!

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Return-of-Trademark@reddit

True, And yet, you’re still walking for a long time

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rimjob_steve@reddit

A regular walk at ATL is infinitely further than anything I’ve experienced at dfw…..

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PoleVaultingIsHard@reddit

I’ve walked what felt like literal miles at ATL

Me too, but in MIA.

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Snobolski@reddit

DFW is arguably the best-designed airport in the world.

Thanks, I needed a laugh.

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Texas_Redditor@reddit

It’s a “study” from a shoe company based on them looking at Google Maps. Them repackaged by the local CW station that fired most of their employees and “repackages” things using AI. This Reddit thread probably put in more human effort than everything that led to this.

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BlkSkwirl@reddit

But I’m always guaranteed to never have my return flight land at the terminal I parked when my left. Leave from A, return to C. Leave from B, return to A. Leave from D, return to B. They never seem to match up.

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OverthinkingAnything@reddit

Completely agree.

Whomever wrote this absolutely 100% hasn't arrived at gate C282772 at Denver.

That last C gate is so so far from the train and then you still have to do the escalator + train boarding + escalator triathlon hunger games.

DFW is a successful and in some ways superior large airport design and I'll die on that hill.

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coldfox02@reddit

Exactly! I really don’t think they did any research making this article

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gulgin@reddit

They didn’t, they used Google Maps to figure out walking distances… which represents basically nothing like reality.

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Cornualonga@reddit

Those E gates in the outer building take awhile to walk to. It’s probably one of them.

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PoliticsIsDepressing@reddit

I’ll take it! If you’ve ever been in Charlotte, you’ll quickly realize that we have it the best with our massive airport. It’s claustrophobic in Charlotte!

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HockeyCookie@reddit

It has way too many people paying through it too. So congested in the terminals.

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LunarTera@reddit

Agree, went to Charlotte on business and felt like I was in hell

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too-fun-sidekick@reddit

Noone’s been to Atlanta I gather

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jwfowler2@reddit

...or O'Hare.

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mathmagician9@reddit

Or Denver

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SimpleSimon665@reddit

or LAX

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HockeyCookie@reddit

Yesterday I landed in that stupid iinternational satellite terminal. You have to walk the entire length of that thing twice to get to the global entry point. Then exit. Then you have to navigate this crazy maze of corridors just to get to the neighboring terminal to get your domestic fight.

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Snobolski@reddit

Or SFO. Suck it, B23.

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Mueryk@reddit

Worst airport walk I have ever been to was in Finland. Going from International to Domestic terminals was so long workers used motorized scooters. It was probably half a kilometer/20ish minute walk. No shortcuts, trams, moving walkways, etc. Just go.

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ludosc@reddit

Yeah HEL just keeps going and going. Took forever to get to the baggage claim and then the train station. Probably didn't help that i didn't sleep at all on the flight from DFW.

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Natasha5145@reddit

Or Philadelphia

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penguinseed@reddit

I was pushing a stroller through O’Hare and I had to take six (6!) elevators to get from my plane to the rental car facility.

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boldjoy0050@reddit

At least ORD has a train directly to rental cars. The bus system at DFW is the worst.

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howdyonedirection@reddit

i’ve got to get my grievances out about SLC truly felt like the longest walk of my life getting from a gate at the very end of the airport to baggage claim

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fadedblackleggings@reddit

Or Austin, with the weird walk over the bridge to get to the rideshare area.

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NoCatharsis@reddit

Good thing it’s always nice and cool in Austin so it’s an enjoyable walk with all your luggage in direct sun.

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HockeyCookie@reddit

There is no way this is true. I just walked what seemed like two miles after landing in the LAX international satellite terminal.

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Liberteabelle1@reddit

I always felt like that, depending on the terminal, DFW has the longest jetways. I have a nasty ankle (5 surgeries) and walking up the looooooong jetway after my flight (that makes my ankle swell at 30000 feet) is my idea of the seventh level of hell.

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coldfox02@reddit

I’m sorry, but have they even been to this airport or just looked at maps? This has to be some AI slop reporting as the longest walk from an entrance to gate could be around like D20 to that new D1 area and that’s still pretty short.

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BulgogiDude@reddit

Longest walk I ever had was in Houston

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thecravenone@reddit

The source is a shoe company you've never heard of. This is an ad.

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StandardDiver2791@reddit

But if you ever use DFW for connections between flights, it can be a hike. And there are times when the Skylink escalators are down or the trains aren't running.

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deputytech@reddit

But then you get to use the trampoline moving sidewalks, and that’s always fun

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StandardDiver2791@reddit

I would routinely come in after midnight. They were often out of service or were turned off.

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coldfox02@reddit

If skylink is down for sure it can hurt, but this is their Methodology. So they even admit they just took a "main entrance" which you cant even apply to DFW.

"Methodology

To put this ranking together, the team at KURU Footwear started by identifying the 10 largest and 10 smallest airports in the US based on land area. From there, we measured the walking distance from each airport’s main entrance to its farthest gate using Google Maps. When available, we also referenced interactive maps provided on official airport websites to help verify routes.

To keep the results focused on airports that serve a broad range of travelers, we narrowed the list down to the five longest and five shortest airport walks. We only included airports located within 60 miles of a major metropolitan area, which means smaller regional and rural airports were left out of the final rankings.

We surveyed 1,000 adults (ages 18 and older) across the United States on April 3, 2026, to gather insights into their travel habits and perceptions."

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StandardDiver2791@reddit

True. I'm retired now, but flew 40-45 weeks a year for almost 25 years, most of it from DFW. Notwithstanding their flawed methodology (which you highlight) it's not an easy place to get between terminals on tight connection unless in the same terminal - even when the escalators and trains are working.

Overall, I don't like DFW - I joked to colleagues that I lived near DFW as a defensive measure: so I'd never have to connect through it. Where I parked for the outbound rarely matched the terminal on my return. It could definitely be more user-friendly.

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fjzappa@reddit

It sure beats airports where all parking is remote. Yes it can be a hike to get back to your car, but the time pressure is generally much less than on the outbound leg.

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GuardedKnight@reddit

Denver is god awful - I’d put LAS in that bucket as well. One would think in the vast expanse of a desert, we could design an airport in an intuitive manner - rather than end up with an obligatory tram ride.

MIA you can walk forever within a single terminal - ATL isn’t much better.

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fjzappa@reddit

The other bad thing about DEN is that you're only halfway to Denver when you leave the airport.

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britishmetric144@reddit

Denver is actually planning to fix that over the next couple of years!

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McRocketpants@reddit

Total AI slop

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Paradox1989@reddit

Just mapped out the distances.

DFW D18 TSA to gate D1 is only .3 miles, that's the longest distance from a skylink access.

If you want to stay on the west side only, you can walk all the way from B49 to D1. That gets you up to 1.4 miles

Moving over to the east side, you can walk all the way from gate A8 to D1 getting you up to 1.6 miles.

Of course if your in Terminal E, your screwed. There is no walkway connection to the rest of the terminals, you have to use skylink or leave the secured area and take a shuttle bus or .

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Chewy96@reddit

Yeah these people obviously never been to fucking denver airport

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fadedblackleggings@reddit

Right, I've been in numerous airports, and DFW's was the most accessible for anyone with challenges or who gets tired out walking.

All the others had the ride share pickups like 1/2 a mile away or some nonsense.

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Starr1005@reddit

Guess they didnt check Miami

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Doyometer@reddit

Some of the tubs we got in north Texas could use a good walk

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bfs2011@reddit

Says the person who has never been to Miami airport

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aardvarkpaul13@reddit

It can take well over an hour to get from the landing gate then go through the tram to get to baggage claim, then a shuttle bus to the rental car area. The airport is huge. Then you have the drive to your destination.

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dtr96@reddit

Really? Atlanta airport I was doing Olympic running to make it

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TheTige@reddit

Denver certainly feels worse.

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llort_tsoper@reddit

Denver takes a long time to get to your terminal, and without a doubt you board your plane a long distance from the check in kiosk, but if the escalators and people movers are working, it's actually doesn't require a ton of walking.

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badiban@reddit

The author of this article clearly has never flown to Denver

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NoCatharsis@reddit

Or MIA or SLC - those are the longest off the top of my head. ORD can be too.

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thehakujin82@reddit

Thank you for mentioning SLC. Of all of the airports I’ve been to — admittedly mostly on American — SLC has been the most memorably long walk. You walk roughly three-and-a-half miles from your gate to what you are certain is the opposite end of the airport… only for the hallway to turn 90-degrees and continue on for yet another two miles. Fuck me running, that’s a hike.

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howdyonedirection@reddit

i’m so glad others agree!! literally felt like the longest walk of my life. We got a gate at the very end of the airport and the literal passageways to baggage claim were never ending.

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Live_Ad8778@reddit

Work there, timed walked from D30 Checkpoint to C21 Checkpoint: less than 20 minutes. Whole set up is no gate is more than 20 minutes from another.

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Radiant-Month-1168@reddit

Lol, I guess you never been to salt lake city.

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Ramawatch@reddit

I’m pretty sure Delta paid SLC under the table to make the walk for AA travelers 2+ miles. It’s obscene.

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Radiant-Month-1168@reddit

I pretty sure it is a 5 mile walk. I never walk so far at any airport. I could have walked to my hotel faster than from the gate to the front of the airport.

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thehakujin82@reddit

I made a comment further up about walking three miles to the ‘end’ of the airport only to have it dogleg into another two miles. I am happy my estimate aligns with your five-mile estimate.

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Admirable-Extent-121@reddit

My thoughts exactly. I haven't been there in over 5 years but I remember thinking that because I didn't fly Delta I was on the wrong side of the "H" and my husband and I were literally running to catch our flight.

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NoCatharsis@reddit

I was thinking this too. Brand new airport and oops they forgot the people mover!

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321drowssap@reddit

The article is trash. They measure the distance between terminal B parking and gate E23B, an absurd route.

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AEW_SuperFan@reddit

E is not even connected directly. You would need to use the tram. Also is that one of those weird satellite gates with the tunnel that are only open every once and a while?

Oldies remember the worst train system you had to go out of the gate to use that was slower than walking.

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fjzappa@reddit

REAL Oldies remember when that old train system was a quarter or 50 cents to ride.

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strog91@reddit

oldies remember the worst train system you had to go out of the terminal to use

It still works that way at a lot of airports!

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AbueloOdin@reddit

You can't even walk to terminal E? Can you? You'd have to take a bus or train.

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noncongruent@reddit

There's a ped tunnel underneath the apron:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/14FC7sUEuo65jV7W9

It looks like it has motorized sidewalks either side of the main concourse. That picture was taken over 11 years ago, who knows what it looks like now.

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AbueloOdin@reddit

I didn't mean the remote terminal at E. I mean getting from terminal B to terminal E, you'd have to take a shuttle or train. You can't walk that.

Each terminal is like 0.5mi half circumference? Assuming train or shuttle is in dead center and you start at worst case, you're only looking at 0.25 + 0.25 + tunnel to remote E. From initial estimates, it's hard to figure out where they're getting to the 1.5 mi claimed.

Unless they did something as ridiculous as using as the crow flies.

...

They used as the crow flies, didn't they?

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fuqsfunny@reddit

And you can't walk from B to E. No way to do that that I know of.

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winkman@reddit

How is Philly not winning this!?

Even before terminal F was built, I remember walking from A to the end of E, and man, that was a HIIIIKE!

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Impossible-Try-9161@reddit

They obviously did not visit LaGuardia in New York.

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MohandasBlondie@reddit

Bullshit - ATL is miserable for this.

Even now, we are stuck in MKE due to multiple canceled flights and the walk from ticketing to gate isn’t exactly short. No way DFW is even close. We get dropped off, we take 20 steps to ticketing, and gates are not much further off.

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LetMePre-Say@reddit

They left off Honolulu. From where you go through security, it was something like 1.1 miles to get to the outer gate hub where Southwest's planes landed. It's a combination of buildings, partially covered outdoor walkways, full exposure walking paths, and through partial constructed pods.

Kind of charming if you've got all the time in the world. But it's absolute hell if traffic makes you very late to the airport and you're sprinting before they close the door on the last flight of the day back to the mainland.

I didn't make it

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Significant-Act-8990@reddit

I'm a big critic of DFW airport / AA.....

But the one good / great thing is how close the gate is to where you get dropped off/ picked up. And if you fly AA - you have about 13 places you can enter (carry on). Seldom do you have to just stand in line forever.

Barring a last minute terminal/ gate change - it's gotta be among the shortest walks, and your fault if you're getting dropped off in the wrong spot. The Sky Link usually works great (currently under maintenance). Gate changes, hop on the train.

YOU MUST:

If AA check gate - when you enter the airport, AND just before you get dropped off. Track the inbound plane for accurate departure times (AA doesn't update often)

Have AA and DFW app downloaded - check security wait times. Eg. if C14 - wait time at C20 is 15 minutes/ C10 is 5 - why go to C20? Note there isn't a TSA pre-check at every security entrance (check app).

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stainless13@reddit

I’ve walked the entirety of the non-SkyLink terminals of DFW. 5 miles. Rivals Changi.

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high_everyone@reddit

Miami took me 45 minutes of walking from the gate to a rental car and half of that shit was outside.

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SoViciouz@reddit

The OP bot has clearly never been to SLC airport with their shitty setup lol

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YungGuvnuh@reddit

DFW is easily one best airports in the world logistically. It can probably look nicer and be more unique, but as a home airport, there's no airport I'd rather fly out of on a regular basis. It's still crazy to me how efficient it is.

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lithdoc@reddit (OP)

Logistically yes.

But the semi circular layout is a nightmare for operations.

Arguably the best airports operational are straight terminals - like DTW.

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fadedblackleggings@reddit

Better for people.

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lithdoc@reddit (OP)

In the old days - with curbside check in and 2 checked bags - yes.

That's why we still have the outdated "departures on the ground level" structure.

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