America’s 10 worst airport websites: No.9 – Branson Airport
Branson Airport (read our review) is the only privately owned, privately operated commercial service airport in the United States. It opened in 2009 and has plans to grow big.
The first thing one notices when they navigate into Branson Airport’s official website is a lot of advertising, self-promotional and other kinds of banners around the web page.
There is almost no page anywhere on their website without at least three different advertisement banners with “AMAZING DEALS”, “SPECIAL OFFERS”, “BOOK NOW”, “LOW FARES” etc. posted to grab the visitor’s attention.
Below is a screenshot of Branson Airport’s main page with every advertisement and self-promotional banner marked in red. Can you find them all? (Hint: there are ten, and banner No.2 cycles through nine different advertisements too!)
Finding the actually useful stuff is not easy since the website lacks a site map and its structure is… unconventional to say the least 😛
And now for the worst part: Branson Airport has no dedicated web page on accessibility, and no mention of it in their FAQ either.
Whoever made the site was probably too busy writing on every page how awesome Branson Airport is and might have overlooked writing about its accessibility facilities.
To add insult to injury, there are three airlines that are partners with the airport and the only information on accessibility and travellers with special needs can be found in the two of those airlines’ “checking procedures and travel tips” pages. The information there is inadequate and hard to find, but at this point it’s better than nothing.
You can find the specific subsections on accessibility at the airlines’ “Check-in Procedures and Travel Tips” pages through the links below:
Sun Country Airlines: Passengers with Disabilities and Special Needs
AirTran Airways: Passengers with Disabilities and Special Needs
I am truly sad that Branson Airport’s website does not actually mention what facilities and services are available to passengers with special needs who visit Branson Airport while the airlines hosted there have a couple of paragraphs each about their own special needs services. I think a new airport should be a bit more accommodating towards its passengers, especially ones with special needs.
I expected a modern and considerate approach from the website of the only privately owned, privately operated commercial service airport in the United States. Sadly that does not seem to be the case with Branson Airport’s website and I have to include it in America’s 10 worst airport websites. I’ll sum up the reasons below:
- No dedicated accessibility page
- Almost no airport accessibility info available
- What little accessibility information exists is hidden inside the airlines’ sub-pages
- Tons of advertisements and self-promotions, making the site hard to navigate
- Lack of a site map makes browsing even harder
This is No.9 in our America’s 10 worst airport websites series