Small airports provide better passenger experience than larger ones
The annual Which? member survey of UK airports finds that small airports are, on average, providing a better passenger experience than larger ones.
Small airports provide better passenger experience than larger ones
London Southend comes top for the second year running, jointly with Doncaster both scoring an impressive 85% customer score.
London City was judged joint third along with Blackpool (both 80 per cent), with Inverness and Southampton the other small airports to make up the top five as rated by 7,011 Which? members in an online survey conducted in June.
Which? rates airports on areas that matter the most to consumers, including pick-up and drop-off, seating provision, queues at security, passport control and baggage reclaim.
Southend airport managed to achieve a full five-star rating in seven of the 10 categories.
London Southend Airport Managing Director Roger Clements said “This is fantastic news and once again testament to all the hard work that the team here at London Southend has put in. We think ourshort walking distances, friendly staff and unique ‘Simply Easier’ promises to passengers – that they should wait no more than 4-minutes to go through security and that, on arrival with hand baggage, they are on the rail station platform within 15 minutes of leaving the aircraft with a fast and frequent service to the heart of London every 20-minutes – are the key factors of our success over the last two years and why more and more passengers are choosing London’s newest airport.” – See more at: http://www.southendairport.com/news/for-the-second-year-running-which-names-london-southend-airport-the-best-in-britain/#sthash.EBwfPjRh.dpuf
London Southend Airport Managing Director Roger Clements said “This is fantastic news and once again testament to all the hard work that the team here at London Southend has put in. We think ourshort walking distances, friendly staff and unique ‘Simply Easier’ promises to passengers – that they should wait no more than 4-minutes to go through security and that, on arrival with hand baggage, they are on the rail station platform within 15 minutes of leaving the aircraft with a fast and frequent service to the heart of London every 20-minutes – are the key factors of our success over the last two years and why more and more passengers are choosing London’s newest airport.” – See more at: http://www.southendairport.com/news/for-the-second-year-running-which-names-london-southend-airport-the-best-in-britain/#sthash.EBwfPjRh.dpuf
London Southend Airport Managing Director Roger Clements said “This is fantastic news and once again testament to all the hard work that the team here at London Southend has put in. We think ourshort walking distances, friendly staff and unique ‘Simply Easier’ promises to passengers – that they should wait no more than 4-minutes to go through security and that, on arrival with hand baggage, they are on the rail station platform within 15 minutes of leaving the aircraft with a fast and frequent service to the heart of London every 20-minutes – are the key factors of our success over the last two years and why more and more passengers are choosing London’s newest airport.” – See more at: http://www.southendairport.com/news/for-the-second-year-running-which-names-london-southend-airport-the-best-in-britain/#sthash.EBwfPjRh.dpuf
Benefits of small airports
The top five airports all scored five stars for walking distance to the boarding gate, their small size once again making for a more relaxed and unhurried experience. Their lack of queues, both at security and passport control, also pushed them up the rankings.
Larger airports scored poorly
The highest rated larger airport, Newcastle, only managed a customer score of 66%. Luton remained grounded coming bottom again this year with just 37%, dropping 6 percentage points from last year. The airport was described by one member as a ‘hell hole’.
Scraping just above it, all with less than a 50 per cent score, were the bottom six:
London Gatwick North Terminal (49 per cent)
London Heathrow Terminal 4 (48 per cent)
Heathrow Terminal 3 (46 per cent)
Heathrow Terminal 1 (43 per cent)
and then Stansted, second from bottom with 43 per cent.
Baggage claim biggest issue
Which? found that passengers were least satisfied with baggage reclaim, with 37 per cent of respondents naming it their biggest frustration.
Large airports were seen to be the worst for queues at baggage reclaim, with 14 of the 20 large airports looked at scoring only two stars.
Stop the Holiday Hassles campaign
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd, said: “The message from travellers is clear – larger airports continue to let people down on the basics, from baggage reclaim to food outlets. People deserve an enjoyable break without any stress, so we want to hear from consumers so that we can help to stop the holiday hassles.”
