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The UK’s best and worst airport terminals were ranked, and Terminal Three at Manchester Airport was placed at the bottom.
According to a recently published customer survey of UK airports and their facilities, Liverpool John Lennon was determined to be the top airport terminal.
Bounce, a company that provides luggage storage services, used data from Which? to determine the ranking of terminals. This ranking was based on customer ratings for the facilities, prices, availability of shops, and wait times at bag drop, baggage reclaim, security, and passport control.
Customers were asked to give each factor a score out of five and then provide an overall satisfaction score, all of which was weighted to give a final ranking out of 10.
Unfortunately for Manchester Airport, the final rankings placed two of its terminals in the bottom two positions.
Terminal Three finished bottom with a weighted score of 0 out of 10. Passengers were unhappy at the length of queues for check-in, bag drop and security. Seating options and the prices in shops were also ranked very low, contributing to an overall customer satisfaction score of 38 per cent.
On the list, Manchester Terminal One was given the ranking of second worst. It received a customer satisfaction score of only 44 percent and was particularly criticized for its expensive shop prices and long security queues.
The three worst airport terminals are London Stansted, Gatwick South, and Heathrow T2 and T3, with London Luton being the third on the list. Manchester’s Terminal Two ranked fifth in the bottom five terminal rankings, indicating that all of Manchester’s terminals placed in the bottom five.
Liverpool John Lennon was the top-performing airport terminal, earning a weighted score of 7.71. The terminal boasts an 82 percent customer satisfaction score, with perfect scores for its check-in and security queues and a four out of five score for its staff and other queues. However, its range of stores and dining options, which includes bookstores, clothing shops, and popular UK chains like Wetherspoons, received a three out of five rating.
The city of Southampton and Bournemouth take the second and third spots, achieving customer scores of 77% and 75% respectively. London City airport is the sole capital airport within the top four, while East Midlands completes the top five.
Newcastle came in sixth with a customer score of 72 per cent, and Glasgow International in seventh with a score of 62 per cent. T4 and T5 at Heathrow are the only other terminals in the capital that rank in the top 10, with high scores for the range of shops, but average scores for their queues and weighted scores of 4 and 4.33 out of 10 respectively.
According to Cody Candee, the CEO and Founder of Bounce, the top airports in the UK are generally on the smaller side. In 2022, Liverpool John Lennon airport served 3.5 million passengers while Southampton airport only served 600,000.
“The two lowest-rated terminals on this list are both located in Manchester Airport, which served more than 28 million passengers last year.”
“As a general guideline, it may be advantageous to choose smaller airports when feasible. It may not be practical to drive extra hours to avoid longer lines and overcrowding. Furthermore, smaller airports may have a more limited selection of destinations compared to larger ones.”
Source: independent.co.uk