Newark and Philly made the worst airports list — and nobody is surprised

We call it Flightmares on The Judi and EJ Show. And if you have tried to fly out of the New York-New Jersey area in the first quarter of 2026, you already know exactly what that word means.

Delays. Cancellations. Baggage that went somewhere you did not. TSA lines that made you question every life decision that led you to that terminal. It has been a rough few months for air travelers in this region and our listeners have been letting us know about it in real time.

Now the data has caught up with what everyone already felt in their bones.

Newark and Philly land on the worst airports list

AirHelp, a company focused on air passenger rights, tracked flight disruptions at major US airports throughout March — the same month a partial government shutdown was making things worse at security checkpoints nationwide. Their definition of a disruption covers cancellations, long delays, denied boarding due to overbooking, and lost or damaged luggage. Basically everything that can go wrong when you are just trying to get somewhere.

Newark Liberty came in at number two on the worst list with nearly 71 percent of flights disrupted in March. Philadelphia International checked in at number ten with just over 61 percent. If you flew out of either airport last month and things went sideways, you were far from alone. You were actually in the majority.

The only airport that fared worse than Newark was O'Hare in Chicago at 73.5 percent. LaGuardia came in at number three with 69.3 percent. So the entire tri-state corridor is essentially a disruption zone right now.

The small airport secret New Jersey already knows

Here is what our listeners have been telling us for a while now. Atlantic City International and Trenton Mercer are a completely different experience. Easier parking. Shorter TSA lines. Less chaos. The tradeoff is destination variety — you are not flying to as many places from those airports as you are from Newark or Philly. But for the trips where they work, the difference in stress level is significant.

The irony is that Baltimore-Washington International — a bit further down the road — came in as the number one best airport on the same list with only 46 percent of flights disrupted. JFK, which New Jersey travelers can reach, came in at number two at 47.5 percent. So if you are willing to add some drive time, the experience gets considerably better.

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Planes, trains and automobiles — and mostly automobiles

There is a broader trend underneath all of this that we have been watching. For a lot of New Jersey families, the airport hassle is starting to tip the decision away from flying altogether. Jersey Shore rental bookings started surging as early as February this year — earlier than usual — and a big part of that is people doing the math and realizing that a drive to Avalon or Cape May or LBI beats two hours in a terminal any day of the week.

The financial pressure is part of it. The affordability squeeze we talk about constantly on this show means that every vacation dollar counts more than it did a few years ago. But the airport experience is pushing people toward the car just as much as the cost is.

Skip the planes. Take the trains. Or just get in the car and point it toward the Shore.

New Jersey has been doing that for generations. Turns out 2026 is a great year to remember why.