Best and worst UK airports

When international travel restarted in spring 2022 many airports simply weren't prepared. Passengers at some of the biggest found themselves stuck in long queues, or crammed into overcrowded terminals, having to pay for an overpriced snack just to find somewhere to sit down. 

Yet it wasn't quite so bad for everybody. Our latest survey shows that there are some airports where you can expect to breeze through security and find smiling staff able to help if you have a problem.

To find out which you should try to avoid - and which to try - we asked more than 7,000 people about their experiences of flying from UK airports between July 2020 and July 2022. You can see their views in the table and reviews below.

UK airport reviews

There's one thing that the best airports in the UK have in common. They're all pretty small. That means they won't have the same range of flight destinations as the biggest airports in our survey - but you're likely to have a much better experience if you're lucky enough to be able to use one of them. 

Doncaster Sheffield airport was the highest rated airport in the UK, but shortly after we published this research, it was forced to close. We have now removed Doncaster Sheffield from the table.

For the first time ever this year we've awarded Which? Recommended Provider status to two airports - Exeter and Liverpool John Lennon. 

Best airports in the UK - Which? Recommended Providers

Exeter 83% 

The former best airport in the UK – Doncaster Sheffield – closed in autumn 2022. But your praise for the second best, Exeter, is strikingly similar. It’s not just that it’s more pleasant to fly from a quiet airport, with plenty of seating and short queues. It’s also that, as one person put it, ‘it’s a lovely, friendly local airport, with no fuss or frills’. That friendliness is evidenced by the five stars it was awarded for staff. Granted, it’s easier to keep smiling when you haven’t got lines of people winding around the terminal. 

The fact that Exeter got an impressive customer score of 83% while clinching just two stars for its range of shops suggests that you don’t particularly want your airport to look like a shopping mall. 

Verdict: Exeter does exactly what it needs to – sending you off on holiday and welcoming you back – with comfort and the minimum of fuss.

Liverpool John Lennon 83%

Less than 40 minutes’ drive from Manchester Airport, this much smaller hub is a different world. It might not have the same range of flights as its enormous local rival but it’s well worth choosing if you’re heading to Barcelona, Rome, Majorca or a number of other popular holiday destinations. 

Passengers parked easily, had a short walk to the terminal and got through check-in and security in no time. It got the maximum five-star rating for every queue – including the wait at passport control. 

Verdict: As one passenger said, ‘It’s much smaller, less manic and so much more civilised than Manchester,’.

Worst airport in the UK

Manchester T2 47% / T1 41% / T3 38%

For years Which? members have told us that Manchester Airport can be grim. ‘It’s just not a nice airport,’ one person said. Another complained that the layout was ‘poorly designed’. But this year it went from bad to worse – with a sea of two-star ratings and the lowest score for security queues at every terminal. 

‘Security queues are horrific,’ claimed one passenger, and ‘waiting areas are overcrowded, you can never get a seat.’ 

Verdict: While all three terminals fared badly in our survey, and are the worst in the UK, Terminal 3 got a particularly dismal score of 38%. Avoid if you can.

The biggest airports in the UK

London Heathrow  T5 60% / T2 52% / T3 51% / T4 48%

During the pandemic, Heathrow was given permission by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to raise the amount it charges airlines from £19.60 to £30.19 per passenger – more than any other airport. And this can get passed on to travellers. Yet, according to you, Stansted was largely better, while two Heathrow terminals were outperformed by Luton – voted the worst large UK airport in previous surveys. 

T4 clinched just two stars for all queues – on the way out and the way back. One person reported being stuck in long passport lines only to find their luggage ‘in a pile’ on the floor at baggage reclaim. Several of you described ‘unacceptable’ wait times. 

The enormous T5 was much better, ‘modern and airy’ with four star ratings for queues. ‘In the busiest month of the year it worked well,’ one traveller said.

Verdict: It's a mixed bag. Those travelling from T5 can usually expect a smooth journey through the airport, but the other terminals ranked lower than Gatwick or Stansted.

London Gatwick North 56% / South 55%

Gatwick's two terminals got a very average three stars for most categories – including baggage reclaim, seating, staff and toilets. Passengers told us that, while the airport was crowded, queues tended to move quickly. This is reflected in the four stars it was awarded for security queues at both terminals and for passport control at the south terminal. 

The mark-up at cafés and shops was a bugbear for many passengers, a sentiment not unique to Gatwick. ‘Food prices have risen very significantly since the pandemic,’ was one complaint we heard. 

Verdict: Nobody really loves Gatwick but, most of the time at least, it does the job.

London airports compared

Luton Airport 52%

These are exciting times for the UK’s fifth busiest airport. Luton was ranked the worst - or joint worst - airport in the country every year since 2013 (when out survey launched) until 2019. Not only has it climbed from the bottom spot this year, it’s got a higher customer score than two of Heathrow’s terminals, as well as all three of Manchester’s. It seemed to cope better with the mass cancellations and delays of spring 2022 than some of its rivals. 

'At a time when we were being warned of chaos in UK airports, Luton was very efficient and easy,’ one person told us. 

However, despite getting a reasonable three stars for security queues, it’s a long way from perfect. It got two stars for most categories, including toilets, staff, seating and queues at bag drop. ‘Dirty’ and ‘crowded’ were some less positive comments we received.

Verdict: Long-needed modernisation may be taking effect, but there’s a way to go yet.

Stansted Airport 54%

The UK’s fourth busiest airport was considered pretty innovative when celebrated architect Norman Foster unveiled his design in 1991. Since then, it’s more often hit headlines for long queues and over-crowding. One year it shared the bottom slot in our table with Luton Airport (above). 

However, like Luton, it coped reasonably well with spring 2022’s return to mass international travel. It gets three stars for its outbound queues, including security. Unfortunately, that’s put into perspective by a dismal one-star for passport queues on the way back. More than one person in our survey complained of ‘electronic passport gates not working’. Many people also complained that there was nowhere to sit. One-star for seating is, surely, not what Lord Foster intended.

Verdict: Better for an outbound than a return flight, if you don’t mind standing.

How we rate UK airports

In August 2022, we asked Which? members to complete an online survey about their experiences of flying from and to a UK airport in the last two years. Our results are based on 7,963 member experiences.