Newark Airport has the most TSA complaints of any US airport

Airport security is a delicate dance. Shoes, jackets, and belts off! Check your pockets! Electronics out? Yes? No! Electronics back in your pockets. Put your 100ml liquids in their clear, quart-sized bag in a container! And so on and so forth. It’s like a game where the rules are constantly changing. And some airports make this experience much worse than others.

According to a new study by Upgraded Points, Newark Liberty International Airport has received the most complaints from passengers regarding their experiences with the TSA over the past nine years.

To identify the airports with the most TSA-related complaints, the company collected complaint data from the TSA FOIA Electronic Reading Room at all 44 of America’s largest airports between 2015 and 2023. Complaints were then sorted by volume, airport size and season to ensure accuracy.

Thanks to this data, we now know that Newark Airport received twice as many complaints as other American airports – 6.38 complaints per 100,000 passengers. Of the complaints, 44.8% were about TSA PreCheck, 14.6% about customer service, and 14% about mishandled baggage.

In second place is Palm Beach International Airport, which received 5.78 complaints per 100,000 passengers. Close behind in third place is Orlando International Airport with 5.6 complaints per 100,000 passengers.

Reddit presents a wide range of opinions on Newark Airport. Some commenters claim, “EWR is not what people say it is,” while others say, “Newark was never good to begin with.” Specifically regarding TSA PreCheck at Newark Airport, one Redditor clarifies, “EWR continually disappoints. Whether it’s the TSA PreCheck or the people who have no idea what’s going on and barely do anything to help, all at a snail’s pace.”

Yet Newark just completed its $2.7 billion renovation, which appears to have improved the passenger experience in Terminal A, from which Air Canada, American Airlines and JetBlue fly.

If you are landing or departing from Newark Airport in the near future, always make sure you depart through Terminal A. Otherwise, there is a high probability that you will have to file a similar complaint with the TSA.