Poll reveals ‘best’ and ‘worst’ UK airports

July 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Latest research by one of the UK’s leading airport transfer comparison websites of 2,372 holidaymakers has found that Luton is the ‘worst’ UK airport, whilst Birmingham is the favourite place to fly from.

The study by www.airporttransfers.co.uk aimed to find out what travellers’ attitudes were towards various British airports, so respondents were subsequently asked to reveal what they believed to be the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ in the UK.

This was determined by the respondents’ scores of various aspects of the airport experience, after airporttransfers.co.uk asked them to rate different phases out of 10 of the airports they had been to.

The top five ‘best’ UK airports, according to the poll by http://www.airporttransfers.co.uk are;
1.    Birmingham
Cleanliness                  9/10
Staff friendliness         10/10
Check-in efficiency    10/10
Shopping experience 10/10
Lounge areas              8/10
Security check time    7/10
TOTAL                       54/60

2.    Cardiff
Cleanliness                  9/10
Staff friendliness         9/10
Check-in efficiency    8/10
Shopping experience 7/10
Lounge areas              7/10
Security check time    8/10
TOTAL                       48/60

3.    Liverpool
Cleanliness                  8/10
Staff friendliness         10/10
Check-in efficiency    8/10
Shopping experience 6/10
Lounge areas              9/10
Security check time    6/10
TOTAL                       47/60

4.    Manchester
Cleanliness                  7/10
Staff friendliness         8/10
Check-in efficiency    7/10
Shopping experience 10/10
Lounge areas              6/10
Security check time    5/10
TOTAL                       43/60

5.    Glasgow
Cleanliness                  6/10
Staff friendliness         7/10
Check-in efficiency    6/10
Shopping experience 5/10
Lounge areas              6/10
Security check time    5/10
TOTAL                       35/60

The five ‘worst’ UK airports, as voted by respondents, are;
1.    Luton
Cleanliness                  3/10
Staff friendliness         1/10
Check-in efficiency    2/10
Shopping experience 6/10
Lounge areas              3/10
Security check time    1/10
TOTAL                       16/60

2.    Stansted
Cleanliness                  4/10
Staff friendliness         2/10
Check-in efficiency    2/10
Shopping experience 6/10
Lounge areas              4/10
Security check time    2/10
TOTAL                       20/60

3.    East Midlands
Cleanliness                  5/10
Staff friendliness         3/10
Check-in efficiency    3/10
Shopping experience 4/10
Lounge areas              3/10
Security check time    3/10
TOTAL                       21/60

4.    Gatwick
Cleanliness                  6/10
Staff friendliness         2/10
Check-in efficiency    3/10
Shopping experience 8/10
Lounge areas              5/10
Security check time    2/10
TOTAL                       26/60

5.    Heathrow
Cleanliness                  6/10
Staff friendliness         3/10
Check-in efficiency    3/10
Shopping experience 10/10
Lounge areas              6/10
Security check time    2/10
TOTAL                       30/60

Almost two thirds, 63%, of respondents admitted that they preferred flying from smaller regional airports outside of London and 12% claimed that the airport experience was one of the things they ‘most looked forward to’ about a holiday.

48% said they were prepared to travel ‘more than 100 miles’ if it meant the airport they were flying from was ‘decent’ and a quarter, 26%, felt that having a bad experience at the airport could ‘ruin a holiday’.  

Chris Brown, co-founder of airporttransfers.co.uk, said;
“For some people, the airport experience can be a stressful one, especially when faced with delays, queues and unfriendly staff. With our customers heading to various airports across the UK every day, we were really keen to find out which ones were loved and which passengers would rather avoid.

“I was really surprised to see London’s four main airports voted in the top five ‘worst’, but I think many people are put off by larger, busier airports. Whilst all of the London airports scored relatively high for shopping experience, it seems a lot of passengers feel let down in the more important customer service areas such as friendliness of staff and check-in efficiency.”

LINK http://www.airporttransfers.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews with Chris Brown, please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email shannon@10yetis.co.uk  

Editors Notes

http://www.airporttransfers.co.uk provides airport to hotel transfers across the world, aiming to help tourists get their holiday started that little bit quicker.
The site helps to compare prices from all the leading suppliers to bring customer the best prices and it currently offers airport transfers across 67 countries, from 101 airports to 2514 destinations.

airporttransfers.co.uk was founded by the same people behind sunshine.co.uk (the UK's leading online independent travel agent) Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, who also formed Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money. Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.
TravelMole recently voted sunshine.co.uk as the best Travel Agency in the 2010 web awards.