Which? airports’ survey reveals contrasting fortunes for North West operators

Consumer magazine Which? has published its list of the UK’s best and worst airports, with contrasting fortunes for the North West’s two main sites.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has been named the best over a 12 month period, but Manchester was branded the nation’s worst performing organisation.

Which? said 3,842 of its members were surveyed about their experiences from June 2022 until June 2023, which does not include the current summer holiday period.

Among the questions they were asked was how long they spent queueing at security.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport received a customer score of 82%, but Manchester Airport received the lowest scores, with 38% for Terminal 3 and 44% for Terminal 1.

Which? members rated airports across 11 categories, including seating, staff, toilets and queues at check in, bag drop, passport control and security.

Customer scores for 24 airports were calculated on a combination of overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend.

The survey described LJLA as “first class” and “well run”, and staff were praised for being “friendly” and “helpful”.

London City Airport, which was praised for having a “relaxed” atmosphere, came second overall on 78%.

The rest of the top five was made up of Southampton (77%), Bournemouth (75%), East Midlands and Newcastle (which both scored 72%).

However, the passenger experience at Manchester Airport was less enjoyable, with one complaining of “huge queues” at check-in, and calling the situation a “joke”, while others dubbed the airport experience “crowded, noisy, generally stressful”.

The bottom five of the survey comprised: Manchester Terminal 2 – 50%; Belfast International – 49%; Luton – 49%; Manchester Terminal 1 – 44%; Manchester Terminal 3 – 38%.

In July this year Manchester Airports Group’s (MAG) three airports – Manchester, East Midlands and Stansted – were among the worst in the UK scored by customer reviews – with Manchester Airport judged the worst.

The poll, by travel insurance business Loveit Coverit, examined airline review site, SKYTRAX, to calculate the average customer review score for each of the UK’s 33 international airports over the past year.

Responding to the latest Which? report, a Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “We take all customer feedback seriously, but the Which? survey creates a deeply flawed and misleading picture of the service we are providing to our customers this summer.

“The survey is out of date – covering June 2022-June 2023 and not including the majority of this summer season – and is also based on a tiny and unrepresentative sample of the 25 million passengers who travel through Manchester Airport each year.

“Year-by-year the Which? survey becomes less and less relevant as response rates continue to dwindle, with half as many people surveyed this year as were 12 months ago. There were only 567 responses relating to Manchester Airport – 0.002% of our annual passenger numbers.

“As part of our commitment to delivering great customer service, we continually survey passengers. In July and August this year, 93% of those passengers rated their overall satisfaction with the service they received as good, very good or excellent.”

John Irving, LJLA chief executive, said: “LJLA has always focused on three words which are embedded in every member of staff that works at the airport – Faster, Easier, Friendlier.

“These make up the core philosophy of what we expect the passenger experience to be when flying through the airport, no matter what time of day. It is that ethos and hard work put in by our staff, along with our dedicated third-party operator staff, which makes it no surprise to see LJLA named as the UK’s number one airport by travellers this year.

“We are extremely proud to be recognised, and it shows that LJLA customers continue to be in the best hands when they travel through.”