World's Worst Airports

As if we needed this refresher...here's the link to the most miserable airports around.  The bottom line is that Des Moines airport (DSM) is a convenient and typically higher priced airport that's at the mercy of its larger connecting airport buddies for on-time departures.  We're a regional jet destination so unless you're looking at the "first flight out" in the AM (with no mechanical problems), you're sweating the weather in Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, etc.  I'd say "steer clear" of these airports but they're basically where all flights hub through.

This is why I'm driving to CA in August.  I'd rather see the US than spend hours in the tuberculosis incubator project sponsored by the CDC.

Here's a quote from the piece.

In 2007 so far, airplanes have been traveling about 74 percent full–near record "load factors"–with only 71 percent of flights arriving on time, the worst performance since the Department of Transportation began tracking such data in 1987. At some airports it's far worse. Only 58 percent of the flights at Chicago's O'Hare Airport depart on time. Flights leaving Las Vegas are more than 80 percent full. Charlotte, a relatively user-friendly airport, has surprisingly poor scores for both on-time flights and crowded planes.