We’ve had some heavy stuff on the blog lately, and there’s more coming tomorrow, so let’s take a little break from serious content today.
A friend posted a link to the Washington Post’s subway identification quiz and said someone should do it for airports. So I did.
If you’re reading this via email, then I’m guessing you’re going to need to click through to the post to take the quiz. This one looks at the silhouettes of the terminals at 12 domestic US airports. If you like this, I’ll look to do an international one as well.
Good luck! Leave a note in the comments if you like this kind of thing.
Quiz is closed
87 comments on “Let’s See How Well You Know Your US Airports”
I liked it! Only had 3 right, but for a European I don’t consider that too bad ;). Would love to see an international one, hopefully that’ll be easier!
This was fun. 10 for 12 & yet I’m visually challenged – go figgure.
Missed DFW & MDW. I have a 2001 book that described in detail various large airports witch certainly helped.
What’s the title? I’d love to give it a read.
It was called “Stuck at the Airport, a Travelers Survival Guide” by Harriet Baskas.
Some info is quite dated such as the backround on Detroit.
I got 11/12, only because the extended area for A4A & A4B was missing in your diagram (see http://www.flychicago.com/midway/en/atairport/map/default.aspx?mapName=FullAirport). Great quiz!
11/12 I only missed Midway… That was fun. Thanks for putting it together.
Wow, like many of you guys I was 11/12 missing MDW. I wouldn’t expect everyone to get that one, but it is quite a well known airport to be tripping up so many otherwise perfect quiz-takers. That was a hard quiz even for an av-nerd. Round 2 please!
4/12, but I’m Norwegian (look it up!) and the only place in the US I’ve ever been is New York.
Great fun! Probably would have missed a couple (e.g., Honolulu) if not for the multiple choice. Do this again sometime, please…
I totally sucked at it with only 4/12. But I totally loved it. Thanks for making it.
12/12. A quiz needs to become at least a monthly thing! Very enjoyable and a nice break.
8/12. I loved this…keep it up!
Quite enjoyable…The multiple choice gave me a fighting chance…10/12!
11/12 – feeling silly about MDW, seeing I was there a few times last year.
3/12 :-(
6/12. . . but fun.
What, no ATL? I’m very surprised at that omission, given how big it is, though maybe it would have been too easy. Also, in the second version of the quiz (there will be one, right?), I suggest you include CLT, IAH, DTW, MSP, and any other major hubs you missed this time around.
Really, this quiz helped me realize how little I fly (~8-12 segments last year) and how little I pay attention to airport diagrams (I got 3/12, which makes sense, as it was mostly random guessing).
BWI was tricky even though I’ve been through there….I guessed MIA (I’ve never been there) because the AA terminal at the north. TPA vs. MCO will always mess me up because of their satellite configuration and I’ve never been to either.
12/12 Keep it up! Awesome fun!
Haven’t been to a few of those (or some in several years), so only 7/12 correct. The one I waffled a bit on was MCO. I guessed TPA, which has a similar layout with the main building in the center and 4 remote terminals accessible via people mover.
This was great fun. Thanks
11/12. BWI was the only one I missed–going through things quickly it looks a lot like MIA (especially without any other reference to scale)!
I’m a bit shocked that I got them all, but I look through the inflight magazines enough that I recognized the overall shapes of the terminals.
Speaking of disjointed Phoenix Sky Harbor, when I moved here in 1976, there were no Terminals 3 or 4. I flew into Terminal 2 (on American, United didn’t serve Phoenix in those days) and only a couple of gates had jetways. It was a much easier airport to navigate at that time. I’m hoping a way can be found to preserve the large mural inside terminal 2 when it’s torn down.
Fantastic! 10/12….answered Tampa for Orlando and Miami for Baltimore…oops. Please keep doing stuff like this, Brent….really fun way to start the day!
12/12 in 1:56! Great idea Brett, how about some more every so often?
Love it! Please do something like this again.
Sorry, meant to add a minor note. DFW recently added 10 “stinger” gates to the north end of Terminal B, so it, too has a small addition jutting out like the satellite E gates (though who knows how long until satellite E is mothballed again).
11/12 and I should’ve known PHX. I haven’t been to many of them but I adore Google Earth so that helped me a lot.
12/12 the only one I had trouble with was BWI since I have never flown to or from there.
Love this
11 of 12 in 4:37
8, not too bad.
I got 11/12 only missed BWIi because I’ve never been there, it was always more convenient for me to go into IAD or DCA. But this quiz was great and some of these were pretty challenging.
Yeah they were except for ORD – witch is almost a dead giveaway.
12/12!!! Maybe next time try airports such as CLL, SNA, , LGA, OAK, HOU, and DAL.
9/12 and ironically the only ones I missed were airports I have been to. This was a lot of fun. Thanks! Bring on the international version!
And I second your comment about looking forward to the end of Terminal 2 in PHX. What an, um, unpleasant place.
12/12 (although I guessed on Honolulu)
Great fun. Thanks for post!
Great views. I don’t think I understood how disconnected PHX and JFK are.
11/12, only missed BWI (Mainly because I’ve only been through the D concourse).
Woohoo! !! 100%! I’m a true air dork (and crew member. ..that helps allot).
11/12!
This was great fun!
9 for 12 in 6:23.
Missed:
Baltimore
Honolulu
Chicago Midway:
Oops.. Didn’t intend to submit that.
Honolulu: I thought I knew, but the rotation threw me for a loop, so I chose one of the other options instead.
Baltimore I’ve not been in since it was a US Air hub waaaay back in the day.
Chicago Midway I should’ve gotten.. Oh well.
12/12!! I guessed at one, and a lot had to be process of elimination, but 12/12!
11/12 (missed Honolulu), helps that I am east coast and Florida flyer. Maybe next time pull from old diagrams of airports that are no longer hubs to make it more challenging. Also, follow up with posting results. A perfect hub would be one where travelers don’t need to memorize the layout, signage and design would make transiting intuitive. Great quiz.
10/12 – TPA/MCO fooled me too.
You should do one with the runway layouts instead of the terminals!
Missed BWI (never flown there) and MDW (been years since I was there). 10/12 isn’t bad. Some were too easy like LAX and JFK. If you want to make it really interesting do the runway layouts. Side note, I did the Wash Post subway one and got 8/10. Missed Moscow and Beijing. I’m a maps nerd I guess.
Also 100% here. What’s my prize? How about first-class service the next time I do a paid FC trip on United Express? HAHAHAHAHA Fat chance!
9/12! Been to over half of them but I’m a good guesser on the ones I haven’t! Got Tampa and Orlando backwards though because they both have that center section with trains!
Loved it! 9/12. It’s like the fun game USA Today does by posting a picture of a tiny portion of an airport to guess the airport!
10/12, although I correctly guessed Phoenix for one of them because I made the assumption that given your background, it would be included. :)
Bring on the international version!
Loved it: 100% scored.
9/12 in 3:55. Good stuff Brett. I’d suggest once a quarter or at major holidays to do a quiz.
That was fun! Finally all those years being an airline dork paid off. 11/12 I always confuse Tampa and Orlando… Dang!
12/12 I know most airports, but the El Paso/Midway/Long Beach One was hard. I have been to Long Beach so it wasn’t that… But anyway. Thanks for posting the quiz!
11/12…liked it! Lets do more….
11/12. Finally, hours of looking at airports in Google Maps paid off :)
Just mistook Baltimore for Miami. I never noticed how similar their layouts are until this quiz.
12 for 12. Finally, all these years studying hub maps in inflight magazines have paid off. Also, this reminds me of the “art” at RDU. Inside the Starbucks by ticketing they have US/world terminal silhouettes just like these.
Great fun.
This was great Brett. While I only got 7/12 it was fun. More please.
11/12…also missed BWI. One note on the DFW comment. US Airways and Spirit have moved back into the main E concourse after the remodeling of the high E gates. DFW is now remodeling the mid E gates, and I’ve seen DL and Alaska planes out at the satellite gates.
This was a lot of fun…thanks Cranky! I guess I can thank my 12/12 on all the time I’ve spent looking at airports in Google Maps…
10 out of 12. I must be an AvGeek as I have not been to many of these airports in decades. Yes, please let us try more of these challenges.
12/12, but I paused and had to think a few times. MDW almost got me. Keep these coming, Brett, there are at least 4 more U.S. and 6 intl rounds that would be fun.
4/12. Not bad for a brazilian.
7 of 12, but I knew better on a few…
Some are impossible to miss, JFK, LAX, etc.
LOVED this! Would have had 11/12 but my hand didn’t do what my brain said. More, please! If you do continue at some point it might be cool to have some historic diagrams from airports which changed, too,
In the future try this with different formats such as terminal photos, gate arrays & the like.
11 of 12 Even surprised myself.
Thanks for all the feedback here everyone. Seems like a rousing success, so I will most definitely plan more quizzes in the future. Next up, international airports. Though I’m not sure when that’ll get put together.
11/12 (missed SEA). I should’ve taken notes, though — some I recognized instantly (like LAX and DFW), some I knew for certain after reading the choices (like PHX and HNL), and others I figured out only by process of elimination (like MDW).
11/12…great fun!
Great post!!! I got 11/12 BWI messed me up. Somebody has spent too much time looking at the terminal maps in the back of the inflight magazine. Obviously that includes me.
Got ’em all right. Gotta admit that I had to guess Honolulu. I wasn’t sure about it and guessed between Honolulu and Anchorage.
11/12. Fun; thanks for putting it together!
(And, for the record, 9/10 on the public transit one.)
Got 11/12, I had forgotten PHX got rid of Terminal 1 so it threw me off and thought it was DEN. I did not use anything but my memory too :P Great fun, do more of these!
7/12. I don’t know how I missed LAX.
12/12 :-)
12/12. Great quiz. Looking forward to next one!
10 of 12. Fun times.
Got 10 correct (got Seattle and Baltimore incorrect) And honolulu was a stab in the dark. Can’t wait for the international version.
10 out of 12. Fun quiz!
9 of 12! and that was fun!
Fun! One minor correction, your DFW map is out of date. Terminal B now has a long “finger” at about the 10 o’clock position. Have not been over in B lately, so not sure if it is fully operational yet.
Here is a diagram https://www.dfwairport.com/terminals/b.php
9/12 I was surprised I’d been to almost all of those airports and did some from memory. I hadn’t been to some in a long time.
Great quiz! You’ve opened the genie’s bottle, as we’ll be clamoring for more!
10/12 and I’ve never been to HNL. The other one I managed to miss was ORD–was tripped up by T1 being on the left and T5 on the right. Was psyched to see my home airport on here but then looked closer and realized it was the copycat MCO instead :(
My wife said I need to get a life 12 of 12.
Thank you for not calling Washington DCA the “R” word. It’s always National to ms.
Can’t believe I got two wrong, but I haven’t been to Midway in 30 years – no wonder I got it wrong. I can’t believe it extends over Cicero Ave!