High flying LJLA named best UK airport by consumer champ
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has been named the best in the UK, by consumer bible Which?
Manchester Airport’s three terminals occupied all bottom three slots in the latest ranking, with Terminal 3 being voted the worst by the 7,000 readers polled by Which?
For the first time the consumer champion named two airports as equal best, in LJLA and Exeter, with identical ratings of 83%.
Originally, Doncaster Sheffield Airport was voted best UK airport operator, but it has now been removed from the list due to its planned closure.
Consequently, LJLA and Exeter were bumped up a place.
Which? said it is the first time ever it has conferred Which? Recommended Provider status to two airports.
LJLA scored five star reviews for queues at its check-in, bag drop, security, passports, control, and baggage reclaim, and four stars for its seating, toilets and staff, with three star reviews for its prices in shops, and range of shops.
The airport, which served 60 destinations this summer, has seen passenger numbers return to almost three million, which is around 75-80% of pre-COVID levels in 2019.
Manchester Terminal 1 received a 47% approval rating, its Terminal 2 got 41%, while Terminal 3 got the worst rating of the table, with 38%.
Which? said of LJLA: “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,’.”
Regarding Manchester, it said: “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.”
“One passenger claimed, ‘Security queues are horrific,’ 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.”
