Luton voted UK’s worst large airport in Which? survey

London Luton has been voted the worst large airport in the UK, according to a new Which? survey.

The north London hub received an overall customer score of just 43 per cent, with passengers citing security queues and a lack of seating as the reasons behind their low ratings.

It’s the fourth year in a row that Luton has placed bottom, despite a recent refurbishment and redesign.

One traveller commented that the airport seemed to have “taken all the bad ideas from other airports and incorporated them here”.

Belfast International was ranked the worst small airport and the worst airport overall, with a customer score of 42 per cent, and passengers commenting it was “tired and shabby” with a “poor layout”.

The survey asked more than 6,200 passengers to rate UK airports from one to five stars across 10 categories: queues for bag drop; queues at check-in desk; queues at security; queues at passport control; baggage reclaim; prices in shops/food outlets; range of shops/food; seating; toilets; and staff.

Airports were divided into large (more than 10 million passengers a year) and small (fewer than 10 million passengers a year).

The top large airport was Heathrow’s Terminal 5, scoring 66 per cent and four stars across seven categories, plus a full five stars for toilets.

It was followed by Birmingham and Heathrow Terminal 2, which scored 65 and 64 per cent respectively.

Number one in the small airports category was Doncaster Sheffield, which scored four or five stars in every category and a satisfaction score of 86 per cent.

London Southend slid into second place with 79 per cent, while Southampton’s 77 per cent snagged it third place.

Which? Travel’s Naomi Leach said: “It is clear that smaller airports are generally outperforming their larger counterparts with seamless security checks and friendly staff making the biggest impression with flyers.

“So if you have the luxury of choice when it comes to which airport you fly from, choose Doncaster Sheffield over Leeds Bradford, Southend over Luton, Edinburgh over Aberdeen and Belfast City over Belfast International for a smoother start to your trip.”

A spokesperson for London Luton Airport said: “We’re disappointed by our ranking but pleased to see this year’s customer score has improved 23 per cent compared to last year. This highlights passengers are now beginning to see the benefits of our £160m redevelopment.”