The Best and Worst UK Airports for Customer Experience
While the airport experience usually only lasts a few hours at most, the time we spend leading up to a flight can profoundly impact the success of any trip. Long queues and confusing signage can add unnecessary stress while passengers navigate the airport to reach their gates on time.
Meanwhile, the possibility of delays or even cancelations adds to our travel worries, with only 51% of UK flights departing on time in 2024[1]. Significant delays risk derailing travel schedules and causing missed connections or plans.
Whether flying for business or pleasure, a bad airport experience can cause all manner of problems. With this in mind, the travel and luggage experts at Bounce.com have analyzed the rates of delays, cancelations, and complaints, among other factors, at the UK’s largest airports. Using this data, we will reveal which airports are the most problematic and which provide the best travel experience.
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The UK’s most problematic airports
1. Manchester
Airport rating: 2.39 / 10
Manchester Airport is the most problematic airport in the UK, earning a rating of just 2.39 out of 10. With direct flights to more than 190 destinations[2], from Cologne to Carcassonne, Manchester Airport is the third-busiest in the UK and by far the busiest outside of London.
Manchester's poor performance is particularly worrying as an important travel hub for UK flyers. The airport scored two out of five for its cleanliness, ease of navigation, and queuing times, the lowest scores across each category. A high number of complaints to the Civial Aviation Authority (CAA), with 2.59 per 100,000 passengers, and a long average delay time of 20.01 minutes also contributed to Manchester’s low overall rating.
2. London Gatwick
Airport rating: 2.56 / 10
London Gatwick earned the second-lowest rating of just 2.56 out of 10. In 2024, more than 43 million passengers flew through Gatwick, which offers flights to destinations worldwide, including direct routes to far-flung cities like Shanghai and Singapore.
While Gatwick offers an extensive range of destinations, it also recorded a high cancelation rate, with approximately 1.43% of flights canceled in 2024. The airport also saw lengthy average delays of 23.31 minutes and slow queuing times rated just 2 out of 5 by passengers.
3. Southampton
Airport rating: 3.01 / 10
Southampton airport is the third-most problematic in the UK, with an airport rating of 3.01 out of 10. It is also one of the smallest airports in our study, servicing just over 850,000 passengers in 2024. The airport serves a range of destinations across the UK, the Channel Islands, and Europe, with Amsterdam and Alicante being two popular examples.
Unfortunately, Southampton had one of the highest cancelation rates, with 3.63% of all flights canceled in 2024. The airport also saw high complaints to the CAA, with 4.42 per 100,000 passengers and a rate of 0.18 per 100,000 for luggage complaints.
The most exceptional UK airports
1. Liverpool
Airport rating: 9.04 / 10
The UK’s most exceptional airport is Liverpool, which earned an impressive 9.04 out of 10. Liverpool John Lennon Airport offers a fantastic range of destinations, including major European tourist spots like Prague and Milan, alongside several lesser-known gems like Szczecin, Poland.
Liverpool has one of the lowest average delays, just 12.62 minutes, and a cancelation rate of 0.59%, meaning you’re much more likely to get to your destination on time while flying from here. The airport also saw very few complaints made to the CAA, although it did score poorly for cleanliness, with a rating of two out of five.
2. Belfast International
Airport rating: 8.35 / 10
Belfast International is the second-best-performing airport in the UK, with an overall rating of 8.35 out of 10. In addition to the many domestic flights from the airport, Belfast International also offers direct routes to many European destinations. Most of these destinations are in France, Greece, and Spain, including Bordeaux, Corfu and Barcelona.
Belfast International had one of the lowest complaint rates, with just 0.17 per 100,000 passengers, while just 0.42% of flights were canceled in 2024. While the airport also had a relatively low average delay time of 14.70 minutes, it only scored two out of five for its cleanliness and queuing times.
3. East Midlands International
Airport rating: 8.13 / 10
East Midlands International is the UK’s third-best airport, earning an overall rating of 8.13 out of 10. The airport provides flights to many destinations, primarily across Europe, including cultural hotspots like Salzburg and Rome.
East Midlands International has one of the lowest cancelation rates, at just 0.27% of flights, and very short average delays of 12.56 minutes. However, the airport received a moderate number of complaints, 0.96 per 100,000, and only scored two out of five for its queuing times.
The best and worst UK airports for each factor
Cleanliness
London Heathrow is the best airport in the UK regarding cleanliness, being the only one to score a four out of five from passenger ratings. No airport scored five out of five, with the majority earning a rating of three.
Six airports, including Manchester, London Luton, London Stansted, Liverpool, Belfast International, and Leeds Bradford, received the lowest rating of two out of five.
Ease of navigation
Newcastle and Belfast City airports are tied as the best airports for ease of navigation, both earning a rating of four out of five from passenger reviews.
Meanwhile, five airports were tied as the worst in the UK for finding your way around, all earning a score of two out of five. These included London Luton, London Stansted, Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh and Manchester.
Queuing times
No airport scored particularly well regarding queuing times, with the highest score being three out of five. Nine airports, including Cardiff, Newcastle, and Exeter, earned a score of three out of five.
The remaining twelve airports in our study all received a passenger rating of two out of five for queuing times. These included Bristol, Bournemouth, Birmingham, and Aberdeen.
Complaints per 100,000 passengers
Belfast City Airport had the most complaints made to the CAA in our study, with 8.24 per 100,000 passengers. This is nearly double the next highest rate of 4.79 per 100,000 in Cardiff.
Interestingly, Belfast’s other airport, Belfast International, received the lowest overall complaint rate, just 0.17 per 100,000 passengers, so passengers may find a smoother experience flying from here instead.
Lost luggage complaints per 100,000 passengers
Southampton Airport received the highest rate of complaints to the CAA relating to lost luggage, with 0.18 per 100,000 passengers. While this means the vast majority of passengers will get to their destination with all the correct luggage, it still means that travelers using Southampton Airport are at the most significant risk of losing their belongings.
Three airports, Liverpool, Bournemouth, and Cardiff, recorded zero lost luggage complaints from 2022 to 2024. Passengers traveling through these airports will have peace of mind knowing their luggage is in safe hands.
Percentage of flights canceled
Aberdeen has the highest rate of cancelations, with 4.25% of flights canceled in 2024. This equates to more than one in 25 flights being canceled and is more than three times the UK average across all airports in our study, which stands at 1.34% or just more than one in 75 flights. While this high rate may make travelers think twice before flying from Aberdeen, the average length of delays at the airport is relatively low, at 13.40 minutes.
Bournemouth has the lowest cancellation rate, with just 0.06% of flights canceled in 2024, which is just one cancelation for every 1,667 flights. This means that flights booked to depart from Bournemouth rarely get canceled, which is reassuring for anyone traveling from the airport.
Average delay (minutes)
Flights departing from London Gatwick suffer the longest delays, with the average flight delayed by 23.31 minutes. This is almost five minutes more than the average delay across all airports in our study, which stands at 18.40 minutes. Long delays can sometimes be just as disruptive to travel plans as cancelations, causing travelers to miss connecting flights or business appointments. Only two other UK airports, Birmingham and Manchester, saw average delays over 20 minutes.
The airport with the shortest average delay is Belfast City, where passengers can expect their flights to depart 11.70 minutes late. Despite the impressively short delays at this airport, its lackluster performance across other factors meant it earned the most middling score among major UK airports, finishing in 11th place out of 21.
“Long delays and frequent cancelations are rife up and down the country.”
Cody Candee, CEO and Founder at Bounce comments on navigating UK airports:
“This research shows that UK airports have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to providing an efficient and streamlined service to travelers. This poor performance puts a lot of pressure on flyers who have to navigate the often confusing airport signage and long security queuing times.
With this in mind, travelers should prepare appropriately for their airport experience to be as straightforward as possible, taking the following into consideration:
- Check if your airline offers a twilight check-in service, allowing you to drop off your bags at the airport the evening before your flight. This can save a lot of time and stress before your flight, allowing you to skip the lengthy check-in queues and get to your gate much more quickly.
- If you’re struggling to fit all your travel clothes into your baggage, consider vacuum-packing them to maximize the space you’ve got. One downside to this is that your clothes will probably need a thorough ironing once they’re unpacked, so check ahead to see if your accommodation provides an iron in your room.
- Dress and pack with security in mind. When you pass through security, you will have to go through a metal detector. To make this process as swift and easy as possible, avoid wearing clothing with metal components, such as studs, buckles, and chains. Also consider how your hand luggage is packed, keeping any items that need to be taken out of your bag near the top, in a clear plastic bag.
- Make sure to download and set up your airline’s app before heading to the airport. These apps can be a great way of keeping updated with your flight without having to search for a departures board in the airport. Airline apps can also be used to store a digital version of your boarding pass, meaning you don’t have to rely on physical tickets or frantically find the right email in your inbox.
- One last way to make your travel experience as easy as possible is to invest in specialized equipment and luggage. These travel hack products could include suitcases with removable wheels, which are made to perfectly fit airline specifications and allow you to maximize your baggage allowance. Alternatively, travelers could invest in a stuffable neck pillow that allows you to save baggage space by filling it with clothing items.
While following these steps will make travelers’ airport experiences easier, some issues are out of their hands entirely. Long delays and frequent cancelations are rife up and down the country, with all major UK airports having an average delay of over 10 minutes. Such travel disruption can have a huge impact on people’s travel experience, increasing stress and altering plans.”
Methodology
We assessed UK airports across various factors to determine which are the most problematic and which are performing the best.
To do this, we collected the following data for each airport:
- Terminal cleanliness rating from Skytrax, collected from airlinequality.com.
- Terminal signs rating, collected from airlinequality.com, to indicate ease of navigation.
- Queuing times rating, collected from airlinequality.com.
- The number of canceled flights in 2024, collected from the Civil Aviation Authority’s punctuality statistics, normalized against the number of passengers over the same period, also collected from the Civil Aviation Authority.
- The number of delay minutes in 2024 normalized against the number of departures to calculate an average delay length for 2024, using data from the Civil Aviation Authority’s punctuality statistics.
- The number of complaints made to the Civil Aviation Authority about each airport across 2022, 2023, and 2024 was collected via a Freedom of Information request and normalized against passenger numbers for the same period.
- The number of lost luggage complaints made to the Civil Aviation Authority about each airport across 2022, 2023, and 2024 was collected via a Freedom of Information request and normalized against passenger numbers for the same period.
We removed any airports without complete data across all factors. Teeside Airport was also removed as its Skytrax review data was calculated using fewer than 10 reviews.
These data points were then combined into a single score, giving the four factors using Civil Aviation Authority data a double weighting and the factors using Skytrax review data from airlinequality.com a single weighting.
Additional sources:
[1] https://www.travelperk.com/uk/blog/delayed-cancelled-travel-statistics/
[2] https://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/flights-and-hotels/book-flights/
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