Best and worst UK Airports

Doncaster top( if it was open)
Newcastle ( bottom) a 24 hr pub with a runway attached.
Liverpool is OK but seems more like an up market bus terminal.
Manchester is just too big. We use it 5 or 6 times a year but there's just too many people!( ourselves included I guess).
In relation to Bent Houchen. How many scheduled flights has he been on from Teesside?
 
From my own personal experiences, Teesside is up there with best - although I accept it has an advantages of fewer passengers which makes things run a lot smoother/faster.

Leeds has been by far the worst, although I've only flown from there once.
 
A lot of the big airports have suffered massively since COVID.

I was flying regularly through Frankfurt and Amsterdam in 2022 and 2023 and both had issues frequently. Flights delayed or cancelled, hugh queues at passport control, baggage being lost and strikes shutting things down entirely.

During this time I really liked Newcastle Airport, but only before the summer months. Between January and April it was perfect. Once the summer flights started it was chaos.
 
Leeds & Luton should be bottom, too many flights going into both Airports for the size of the terminals. Houchen should be pushing Teesside's excellent connectivity by road in comparison to both NCL & LBA.
LBA involves a 19 mile trek down a single carriageway road once you exit the A1 at the A59 heading towards Harrogate, with the potential to get stuck behind either Lorries or Farming Vehicles possibly impacting on anyone that hasn't allowed sufficient time in their schedule.
With NCL you still have the problem with potential traffic jams around the Metro Centre as well as the frequent roadworks which seem to appear on that stretch between the Angel of the North & the Metro Centre
 
Osboro said:
Doncaster top( if it was open)
Newcastle ( bottom) a 24 hr pub with a runway attached.
Liverpool is OK but seems more like an up market bus terminal.
Manchester is just too big. We use it 5 or 6 times a year but there's just too many people!( ourselves included I guess).
In relation to Bent Houchen. How many scheduled flights has he been on from Teesside?
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I want a mid size with a range of flights that does the basics right and isn’t too far away. I’d disagree totally with that ordering though. Since being open is pretty much top of my list of what an airport needs to offer that puts Doncaster bottom for me. And Newcastle scores well on its almost always slick security and its good public transport links which are my next two of my priorities so it’d be pretty much top of the ones I might use practically in the greater region. Although its airside offering is poor I agree. And totally agree about Manchester. I’ve had some poor experiences at Leeds and EM, Teesside and Humberside don’t have the flights, Brum is a bit far and London’s offerings are a nightmare.
 
Bangersandmash said:
Leeds & Luton should be bottom, too many flights going into both Airports for the size of the terminals. Houchen should be pushing Teesside's excellent connectivity by road in comparison to both NCL & LBA.
LBA involves a 19 mile trek down a single carriageway road once you exit the A1 at the A59 heading towards Harrogate, with the potential to get stuck behind either Lorries or Farming Vehicles possibly impacting on anyone that hasn't allowed sufficient time in their schedule.
With NCL you still have the problem with potential traffic jams around the Metro Centre as well as the frequent roadworks which seem to appear on that stretch between the Angel of the North & the Metro Centre
Click to expand...
Newcastle is very well connected if you don’t use a car.

I use to get a train to Central Station, then Metro to the airport and stroll into the terminal.
 
NCL must be making a fortune on the airside F&B outlets. Checked in & was through into bar areas 5:15-5:30 & couldn't see a spare seat in any of the bars. I like a drink but that's to early for me to go on the lash. NCL does have the Metro, but you can never usually pre book your train on the return journey to Teesside from Newcastle Central due to the different routes & operators
 
East Midlands is alright, I’m going there now.
Manchester the worst by a mile.
 
It seems to include terminals, Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester rather than every airport (if this is the which survey).

Through covid I was flying from Heathrow and Gatwick, probably the best times ever when Gatwick had something like 6 departures a day.

As the world opened up again I was flying via ncl to Amsterdam, then on to Kazakhstan. Newcastle was fine.

Teesside knocks socks off all of the experiences, but i’ve yet to do a holiday flight and experience it with 300 holiday makers in the airport. It does still miss the walkway to the plane if the weather is bad, which would mark it down. But all in Teesside is a very good little airport.
 
You cannot beat the experience at Teesside, I landed and was cutting the grass 45 minutes later when we went to Majorca last year. It was stress free with 2 young children as well.

Newcastle is a decent airport, Manchester is chaotic.
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
The survey. Liverpool top Manchester bottom. I guess the reason is that there arent enough flights per day to allow a proper comparison with the rest.

www.which.co.uk

Best airports 2025 - Which?

Thousands of passengers told us about their recent airport experiences – and why there are some airports you should try to avoid
www.which.co.uk www.which.co.uk
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I would go with this. Liverpool has always been a breeze to get through but Manchester has always been a total nightmare, every time!
 
Newcastle is decent, if busy during holidays. Liverpool is also decent, but not very convenient. Leeds is a pain, border control queues can be a joke. Manchester is rubbish especially T2, made much worse by the security stasi, although the new-ish meet and greet parking makes the experience better. It’s that long since I flew from Teesside I couldn’t comment.
 
Bangersandmash said:
Leeds & Luton should be bottom, too many flights going into both Airports for the size of the terminals. Houchen should be
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Luton is second bottom in that survey and rightly so. I hate flying from there made worse recently by the fire which means a walk through the tunnel which is closed to traffic. The new DART from Luton Airport Parkway is an improvement though
 
I flew T2 from MAN about 10 days ago on the KLM back to AMS & found it to be very quick & easy when being dropped off by taxi. If however you're coming by train then it's a fair old walk from the station added to which they've currently got the moving walkways closed for maintenance. Really looking forward to passing through Teesside Airport when back for the Bristol City game mid October. I could have got a return flight to NCL from AMS for around 50 Euros less, but given the cost of transport to/from NCL nothing in it in reality & also would rather put my money into Teesside than Saudi Central.
 
Leeds is just awful. Way too small for the number of flights/people going through. Then the long walk and wait in that tin shed tunnel before boarding.

Newcastle is okay but getting there by road for an early morning flight is has been a nightmare for a long time and even worse now with overnight road closures until 6am. They've even closed the A696 now, the connecting road to the airport from the A1, in Both direction WTF.
We fly 7am on Tuesday so we've booked a hotel at the airport for Monday night. Can't be doing with following diversion signs at 4 am (which usually disappear). We had to do that earlier this year due to overnight closure of the western by-pass (Tyne Tunnel and Tyne Bridge).
Then of course you have to negotiate the western by-pass on your return which is always a nightmare.
 
Zoophonic said:
Luton is second bottom in that survey and rightly so. I hate flying from there made worse recently by the fire which means a walk through the tunnel which is closed to traffic. The new DART from Luton Airport Parkway is an improvement though
Click to expand...

I normally fly from Heathrow, but flew from Luton a couple of weeks ago and was impressed. The shops and places to eat have improved immeasurably over the last few years, and the security was a breeze.

Maybe I got lucky, we'll find out in a few weeks as I'm flying out of there again.
 
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