This California Airport Was Ranked One Of The World's Most Family-Friendly Airports, And This Is Why

Traveling with kids brings up all sorts of unexpected situations and stressful moments, especially when you're crammed into a busy airport or a packed flight. Fortunately, airlines, airports, and travelers in general seem to be trying to assist families more these days. It's why one flight attendant has revealed the best way to prepare for a flight with your kids and why TSA's new campaign aims to make flying with kids less painful. Airports around the world are also getting on board with this family-first mindset, including Palm Springs International Airport in California, which is ranked the second-most family-friendly airport in America by iCandy's Little Flyers Index.

Second only to this lovely Southern airport ranked the most family-friendly in America, Palm Springs International has stood out among over 20,000 U.S. airports with its various amenities ideal for traveling families. These amenities include nine restaurants, such as Fig & Plum, which serves fresh and healthy sandwiches and salads in an open-air courtyard past the security checkpoint. This courtyard also has a coffee cart selling hot drinks and pastries, as well as a Mexican restaurant with outdoor seating.

Another reason Palm Springs International is so great for families is its outdoor playground. It's located past security, so you can properly relax and let the kids run around while you wait for your flight to board. The playground has slides under shady palm trees, as well as surrounding artwork, water features, and patio seating. You can't have a family-friendly airport without a nursing room. Palm Springs International's is located outside on the Agua Caliente Concourse walkway and offers everything parents need. Unfortunately, there's only one nursing room, so it can get busy.

When you're navigating an airport with kids, simplicity and speed are high on your priority list. Palm Springs International's streamlined layout is definitely a plus for families. There's only one terminal and 16 gates, so it's very easy to know where to go. The TSA security check is also pretty fast, most of the time, as there are only a little more than three million passengers each year. The open-air pathways to the gates, which have awesome views of the mountains, also help you feel more relaxed being outside and breathing fresh air while you wait.

Although Palm Springs International Airport was considered the second most family-friendly airport in the U.S., it was actually ranked 26th in the world. iCandy looked at over 100 international airports around the globe and stuck to a strict family-focused criteria for ranking them. This criteria included many elements already covered, such as restaurants and play areas, as well as pram rentals, family security lines, and annual foot traffic. Palm Springs International fell short when it came to not having pram rentals and multiple play and nursing areas. It scored a total of 54.38/100 on iCandy's index, which was only slightly below Memphis International, which scored 56.70 in large part because of its five nursing rooms.

Menorca Airport in Spain was the top-rated airport for families with an impressive score of 95, almost 20 points higher than second place. The airport's numerous play areas and nursing rooms, along with its low annual passenger numbers (just over 1 million) helped it achieve the top spot. The next most family-friendly airports in the world were Riga International Airport (Latvia), Warsaw Chopin Airport (Poland), and Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (Canada).