Airport Confidential

ederal travelers who make frequent trips from New York's Kennedy Airport have to cope with some of the most crowded airport parking lots around. And those who travel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta know to bring luggage with wheels because of the long distances to gates at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport. These and other facts were recently published in Consumer Reports and The Wall Street Journal. In its October issue, Consumer Reports, the ultimate consumer watchdog publication, scrutinized everything from FAA safety data and air- port fares to the number of ATMs, pay phones and food outlets to come up with ratings of airports in major metropolitan cities. The Wall Street Journal's reporting was a bit different, focusing instead on airport amenities such as bookstores, rocking chairs and hotel swimming pools. Five of the top 10 federal destinations were included in both ratings (Atlanta, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and St. Louis). Here's a look at the pluses and minuses of these airports, according to the two reports: