Most common and strangest items left at RSW, Fort Myers airport
Thousands of items are left behind at RSW every year. Here’s some of the most unusual!
Satisfaction can be “guaranteed” but in many cases, it’s not delivered.
And at airports like Southwest Florida International (RSW) in Fort Myers, the quest to make everyone happy, or satisfied, can be especially challenging because of the volume of people coming and going every day.
In 2024, RSW set an all-time high with more than 11,000,000 passengers flying in and out of the region. This year the airport is on a similar pace with four months to go, including the start of the tourist and snowbird season.
In the latest North American Airport Satisfaction Study from J. D. Power for 2025, released Sept. 17, RSW once again is rated among the top medium sized airports in the U.S. earning Top-10 status.
On a 1,000-point scale based on 30,439 completed surveys of U.S. or Canadian passengers on items such as ease of travel, level of trust, terminal facilities, staff, food, beverage and retail, and more, RSW earned more points this year but dropped in the rankings from third (675) to 7th, coming in with 683 in 2025.
A historic expansion project is underway at RSW, including the construction of a new terminal.
Three of the top seven medium sized airports in the rankings were from Florida. The other two airports in the Top-10 are:
What airport came in at No. 1? Indianapolis International Airport scored the best (713) for medium airports once again.
Medium airports as defined as those with 4.5 to 9.9 million passengers per year.
Air travel has come back from the pandemic in a big way, despite a slowdown in 2025.
More than 10 million people passed through TSA checkpoints over the long Labor Day weekend, according to a Transportation Security Administration release, and the nearly three million travelers that Aug. 29 marked the highest volume ever for the Friday before labor Day and teh 15th busiest day in the nearly quarter century of TSA’s existence.
The 20th annual North American Airport Satisfaction Study from J. D. Power shows that customer satisfaction was up 10 points on a 1,000-point scale, despite the crowds and widespread cancellations and delays. The survey revealed overall satisfaction increases of 8 points for mega airports, 10 points for medium airports and 15 points for large airports.
The lists saw some familiar names on top, with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport scoring the highest passenger satisfaction among mega airports for the second year while John Wayne Airport, Orange County ranked highest again among large airports and Indianapolis International Airport once again took top marks among medium-sized airports.
In Florida, Orlando International Airport moved up one place to 7th for mega airports and Miami International Airport moved into 8th. Tampa International held on to 2nd for large airports.
“While the annual growth rate in passenger volume seems to be leveling off, we’re still seeing record numbers of travelers pass through the nation’s airports, and, for the most part, they are enjoying the experience,” said Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. Power.
The study credited the increase to improvements in the dining and retail offerings and “ease of travel” through the airports, along with some larger capital improvement projects. Also, an emphasis on local color helped a lot, the study found.
“One of the bigger drivers of this year’s increase in passenger satisfaction is food, beverage and retail programs, which improved 14 points year over year across all airport segments. Airport efforts to incorporate authentic local food and beverage brands into their terminal offerings have helped to fuel that increase,” J.D. Power said.
Better experiences also translated to more spending. Passengers who rated their airport experience as “perfect” spent an average of $42.39 in the terminal, the study said. That was $16.54 more than passengers who rated their airport experience as “just OK.”
Bigger airports saw more crowding in 2025 study
Security (and long lines) is more of an issues in the big airports.
The study found that, on average, 56% of passengers traveling through medium airports and 50% of travelers in large airports spent 10 minutes or less getting through security. Those passengers were also the ones most likely to call an airport “mildly crowded” or “not at all crowded.”
However, 23% of mega airport passengers spent 21 minutes or more getting through security and 57% describe the airport as “moderately crowded.”
The Department of Homeland Security has been taking steps in the last few months to streamine TSA checkpoints such as dropping the requirement to remove shoes, launching facial recognition eGates to speed up verification, and adding a faster PreCheck lane and programs to expedite families at some airports and military travelers at airports near larger military installations.
