Best airports 2025

The UK’s lowest-rated airport in our most recent survey has grim security queues, inadequate seating, ‘surly staff’ and overpriced shops and restaurants.

It’s also only around 35 minutes drive from the UK’s best-rated airport.

We received almost 7,000 responses to our Which? members survey into the nation’s airports and the verdict was hugely disappointing for Manchester – and hugely cheering for Liverpool John Lennon.

Manchester’s terminals 1 and 3 are at the bottom of our table, while even the newly refurbished T2 was still poorly rated for seating availability – and the prices in its shops and food outlets.

In contrast, Liverpool John Lennon airport received five-star ratings for many of the things that matter most to travellers – and was rated the UK’s best airport.

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UK airport reviews

The best airports in the UK have one thing in common – they’re all pretty small.

While Liverpool and London City do serve millions of passengers each year, they’re minnows in comparison with Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Luton and Stansted.

Our other recommended providers, Norwich, Exeter and Southampton are much, much smaller.

They might not have the same range of flight destinations as the biggest airports but our survey suggests you're likely to have a much better experience if you're able to use one of them.

So if you can, switch. Fly from Liverpool instead of Manchester, or East Midlands instead of Birmingham – which struggled hugely with queues in spring and early summer this year – (after most people had completed our survey.)

Best rated airports in the UK – Which? Recommended Providers

Liverpool John Lennon 81%

People flying from Liverpool said they park right outside, stroll through the terminal, get through security in minutes and then relax in the uncrowded passenger lounge. It gets at least four stars for all those crucial queue metrics – and five for security and bag-drop.

It also earned five stars for staff – a big contrast with the one or two stars that they get down the road at Manchester. According to the comments in our survey, people here really do live up to the stereotype of Scousers as ‘friendly’, ‘good humoured’ and ‘cheerful’.

This is all despite a big increase in flights this year, with a host of new routes from another Which? Recommended Provider – Jet2. 

Verdict: If you have a choice, fly from Liverpool instead of Manchester.

London City 80%

By far the best airport in London, City doesn’t bother with expensive, private lounges or with trying to sell fast-track security passes. Instead, it concentrates on getting people in and out as efficiently as possible.

Its security checks were always quick but, since it became the first major UK airport to introduce new scanners, you no longer have to remove electrical items from your luggage – you can also leave liquids, as long as they’re under 100ml.

This makes things even faster and more relaxed. Most travellers who used the new scanners pronounced themselves ‘very satisfied’. London City's only drawback is that cancellations ran at 4% for the period we checked, which is higher than most other airports.

Verdict: With flights to Ibiza, Malaga, Rome and other holiday destinations, it’s more than just a great choice for your business meeting in Frankfurt.

Norwich 78%

People lucky enough to live in Norfolk don’t need us to say how important Norwich Airport is – despite it being relatively tiny. One common approving comment about it in our survey was along the lines of: ‘It’s only about 20 minutes from my house.’

If it didn’t exist, the closest option would be a two-hour drive to overcrowded Stansted.

That’s probably why the fact that it charges every adult a £10 ‘Airport Development Fee’ (payable at the airport), doesn’t seem to have affected its customer score much.

Verdict: The £10 fee probably seems worth it to avoid a long drive – and for quick connections to Amsterdam or holiday destinations in Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

Exeter 77%

One person in our survey had a choice between flying on holiday from Manchester Airport – or driving for more than four hours from Salford to join family flying from Exeter.

It was clearly a no-brainer. ‘We felt that the excellent experience at the airport more than made up for the time taken to drive down from Salford,’ they told us.

Exeter has the advantages of any small airport – that you can park close by and walk through it in minutes. It also has short queues (five stars for bag drop) and friendly, relaxed staff. But, like London City, its flights do have higher than average cancellations. 

Verdict: If you’re lucky enough to have the choice, it’s a much nicer experience than nearby Bristol.

Southampton 75%

It may be a small airport but Southampton serves some big airlines – and does so very well.

BA, EasyJet and Tui all operate from here, jetting off to Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and the Channel Islands. 

Southampton may not have a great range of shops, but it won’t matter: you won’t be stuck there very long. The only issue has been higher than average cancellations, particularly with Channel Islands flights.

Verdict: Small and friendly, with minimal queues. 

Worst rated airport in the UK

Manchester T3 37% / T1 40% / T2 51%

The UK’s third-biggest airport is hugely important to the North West, with the range of flights it offers.

It’s disappointing, then, that our survey showed flying from there can be such a grim experience – particularly from terminals 1 and 3. 

Older people, who wouldn’t normally think of themselves as needing Special Assistance, told us they struggled with long walks past travelators that have been broken since 2021. 

Other passengers complained about the difficulties of finding a seat.

The only good news is that the dreadful Terminal 1 is scheduled to close next year. It gets one or two stars for everything except toilets. Terminal 2 is better but still only gets two stars for seating and staff.

Terminal 3, unfortunately, is even worse than T1 and there are no plans to close it. Queues there were described as ‘horrendous’ by one passenger who complained of being ‘corralled like cattle’, although Manchester says that the vast majority of passengers (over 97%) get through security queues in less than 15 minutes.

Verdict: Avoid if you can.

Manchester airport’s response

Manchester Airport told Which? that its own passenger surveys suggest people are much more positive about the airport. It also said that it was in the process of spending £1.3bn on improvements, including closing T1 and expanding T2. 

It added that it was ‘proud to give people in all parts of the North easy and affordable access to nearly 200 different destinations across the world’.

Which is better – Heathrow or Gatwick?

London Heathrow  (T5 58% / T2 56% / T3 54% / T4 51%)

There’s very little to choose between the experience of flying from London’s enormous hubs. 

The best of them is T5 at Heathrow, where you can expect most things to be more or less OK – although you might struggle to get a seat and have to hang around at baggage reclaim.

T4 is worse – with two stars for all the crucial queue metrics except bag drop. This is despite the fact that the airport itself says that hardly anyone has to queue for any significant length of time at security. Terminal 3 gets a better star rating for its queues.

Verdict: You may have to fly from here on long-haul, but for short-haul our results suggest you’ll have a better start to your holiday at London City Airport.

London Gatwick (North Terminal 56%, South Terminal 55%)

The two Gatwick terminals are below Heathrow T5 and above T3 and T4 in our table, however the difference is minimal. If you want to fly from the two biggest London airports, which offer flights all over the world, you can expect them to be busy, crowded and with a queuing system that’s OK but not great. That’s the case at Gatwick, just as it is at Heathrow.

The most notable difference is something that’s the responsibility of UK Border Force, rather the airport owners. Both of Gatwick’s terminals get four stars for passport control, which is better than any Heathrow terminal.

Verdict: Gatwick could be a better airport to fly into, but there are minimal differences at departures.

Which is better – Stansted or Luton airport?

Stansted Airport 50%

The UK’s fourth busiest airport was considered pretty innovative when celebrated architect Norman Foster unveiled his design in 1991. In recent years, after huge passenger growth, it’s been much less celebrated. One year it shared the bottom slot in our table with Luton Airport.. 

These days it’s a bit better – at least in comparison with Manchester – but still has a string of two-star scores for queues at check-in, security and passport control. This is despite the fact that, like all UK airports, Stansted says its security queues really aren’t that long.

It also gets just one star for seating, as passengers say they struggled to find somewhere to sit amid all the shops that pack its crowded spaces. 

Luton Airport 47%

In 2017, Luton got the worst customer score we’d ever seen for an airport – 29%. 

A whopping £160m upgrade later and it can declare itself to be not quite as bad as Belfast International or Manchester, and almost as good as the equally crowded Stansted.

Like Stansted, it got two stars for security and passport queues. Luton says security takes eight minutes on average but many people complained it either was – or felt – much longer. Passengers also complained they struggled to find a seat at either airport – unless you buy food or drink.

Luton denied that it provides a poor experience, and said investment in its new security hall will make it even better. It also says its own surveys suggest that most users think it’s ‘good’ or even ‘excellent’. Luton also told Which? that, ‘It meets all international standards regarding the ratio of seating and toilets per passenger.’

Verdict: Neither Luton or Stansted is a pleasant experience – but flights from both are often cheaper than Gatwick or Heathrow.

How we rate UK airports

The results are based on an online survey of 4,962 members of the Which? Connect panel who told us about 6,695 experiences flying from UK airports. The survey was conducted in April 2024.