BELFAST International Airport has been ranked among the worst airports in a survey of passengers undertaken earlier this year.
In April 2024, Which? surveyed almost 5,000 people about their experiences at airports in Britain and Northern Ireland in the previous 12 months.
Respondents, who rated the airports across 11 categories, including seating, staff, toilets and queues at check in, bag drop, passport control and security, placed Belfast International in the bottom five airports.
It received a customer satisfaction score of just 44 per cent, citing range of shops, the price of goods in shops and baggage reclaim among the main bugbears for passengers.
The latter was of particular issue for many, with one respondent telling Which? The airport offered “miserable surroundings and luggage recovery is a joke”.
In contrast, its neighbouring Belfast City (George Best) Airport was in the top half of the table, with a customer score of 63 per cent in the survey.
Belfast International AirportResponding to the findings, a spokesperson for Belfast International said: “At Belfast International Airport we take all customer feedback seriously and regularly undertake industry recognised benchmarking surveys with our passengers which shows we compare favourably with our peer airports.
“This passenger feedback is invaluable and we use this to feed directly into our investment plans. In our latest survey, carried out over the summer peak, 97% of passenger stated their experience was rated as excellent, very good or good.”
They added: “While we welcome the feedback from the Which? Survey it is not a representative sample and should not be portrayed as such.
“61 passengers were surveyed out of the six million that used the airport in 2023 and clearly does not show the broad range views of the passengers that flew from Belfast International Airport in 2023 but we have noted the comments made and shared them with our service partners.
“We continue to work directly with our service partners to continuously improve services and in particular we are addressing baggage reclaim concerns directly with those parties involved."
The airport is currently undergoing a £100m redevelopment.
The only airport to come in below Belfast International was Manchester Airport, with Terminals 3 and 1 placing at the bottom of the table with a customer score of 37 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
Terminal 3 finished bottom of the annual Which? airport survey for the third consecutive year, while Terminal 1 placed second from last.
“Manchester T3 sums up everything that is bad about UK airports,” one survey respondent said.
“Too many flights mean too many people crowded into a space not designed to take that many.”
Another added: “It’s just awful - the worst advert for anyone flying to the UK.
“It’s the worst airport I have ever used (and by quite a long way) compared to other UK and especially overseas airports.”
Responding to the findings, a Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "We understand not every experience is perfect and want all passengers to feel able to raise their concerns directly with us.
“That is why we speak to them on a daily basis, surveying hundreds of people a month to get in-the-moment feedback from a full range of perspectives.
"That is in stark contrast to Which?, which conducted a tiny and unrepresentative survey of its members six months ago, asking them to recollect airport experiences that could have been as far back in time as April 2023.”
Meanwhile the neighbouring Liverpool John Lennon Airport took first place in the Which? best and worst airports list, with a 81 per cent customer score.
London Luton was the worst-rated London airport, with a customer score of 47 per cent, closely followed by Stansted on a customer score of 50 per cent.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: “Our survey found many of the biggest airports fall at the basics - with passengers often unhappy about the availability of toilets and seats, and reporting long queues at times. Flogging fast passes and filling terminals with retail spaces and airport lounges is a money spinner - but judging by our survey results, it's not what passengers need.
“Smaller airports in contrast may have few shops to speak of and the likes of City have no private lounges - but our survey shows what they can do is get passengers off on their holiday quickly and smoothly. Next time you’re booking a flight, it’s well worth considering not just your choice of airline but also your airport - it could make all the difference to the start of your getaway.”
