Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Some good and bad features of this airport. Firstly it has very little traffic and is not crowded with reasonable facilities in terms of bars food service newsagents etc. The services landside are more or less replicated airside with an oversized duty free. Given that most flights from here are intra-EU this is of limited interest to most passengers. Rail access is close by it could do with more prominent signs about train departure times and better sign to say you pay on the train there are no ticket sales at the station. Downsides are the very dreary waiting area airside which has no exterior windows at all. You cannot tell if an aircraft has arrived what the weather is like or just kill time looking out the window. There are no windows. There is a very long line of check in desks but as Ryanair is with the rarer Wizzair the only scheduled operator and as FR require you to check in on line these serve no purpose. Very strange procedure used for checking boarding passes - up at the top of a set of stairs - trips and falls possible as the Ryanair surge is suddenly halted to have papers checked. Not the worst of places provided your flight is not delayed - you really are in the hands of the screens here you will see nothing airside.

For the first couple of years of using this low cost airport it was a great experience. Very cheap and convenient train link nice friendly staff and quick security due to small nature of people passing through. However this has al changed. The cutbacks are in place and showing. My last visit had very tedious queues at security. Bags are put aside with gay abandon but limited staff mean they are not checked for some while. They point blank refuse to open both security points regardless of the fact that almost all passengers for each flight arrive around an hour before. If you finally get past security its all getting a bit shabby. No windows mean it is claustrophobic and a bar full of beer louts is the most prominent feature. Staff insist in letting passengers though into boarding but leave them waiting in a grotty corridor for ages every single time! Arrival is quick easy and efficient. 50 percent off railtravel with your ticket too. Prestwick needs to pull its finger out it is a fast deteriorating airport.

Over the last couple of years the standards at Prestwick seem to have fallen to match those of the major no frills airline which supplies it with most of its business. From its shabby toilet facilities with cracked wash hand basins broken taps and peeling wall paint to the surly and rude security staff we encountered it provided a totally disappointing travel experience. On arrival at the airport we had to negotiate a ridiculously awkward pair of wooden swing doors at the entrance as none of the automatic doors appeared to be in working order. On to security who seemed genuinely annoyed that people were getting around the one small carry on bag rule by cramming hand bags etc into other bags or more ludicrously as the guy in front of me did by wearing three jackets. It is the only airport I have been through in the last 6 months which applies such a policy. The departure lounge was crammed with people and appears unable to cope with boarding more than one flight at a time. Their attempt to board three flights simultaneously when we were there descended into farce with people struggling to even reach the queue for their departure gate due to the crowds and confusion. My advice would be to stay landside as long as possible the dining and drinking area there is much more spacious and comfortable. In the years immediately following its revival Prestwick was a good airport and did what it did well. Whilst it may be content now to cater only to budget and seasonal charter airline business it should at least make an attempt to present itself as a reasonably comfortable place to spend a couple of hours rather than just a soul-less transit station

Prestwick Airport is a vital part not only of the holiday/business travel in Scotland but also of employment in the area. Why are we complaining about the flight times /train bus links etc. They are no better from/to Glasgow Airport - in fact Glasgow does not have a train link that you can WALK to in less than 5 mins - it's a bus to Paisley. The restrictions to parking commented on by one reviewer are due to security - nothing to do with wanting more cash for parking - its the same at Glasgow now. Prestwick has all you could want from an airport - somewhere to eat - the food in the restaurant before you go to departures is fine and not too expensive for an airport. You then walk all of 30 steps to the departures which have never at any time I have been there been queued. Small duty free but there isn't many places in Europe you can actually benefit from duty free now. Plenty to eat and drink in departures and even an outside smoking area for those who indulge. It doesn't have the buzz of Glasgow but then again who needs buzz.

The best parts of PIK is the train station and the fact its half price train fare from anywhere in scotland and its a covered walkway straight to check in. Check in was speedy but only one security lane open? Causes panic when they start announcing boarding of your flight. Departure lounge small.

Prestwick Airport is a gem. I am biased as I live 15 mins away and use this airport for the majority of my european business travel. Please stay small as it is so easy to get in and out of the terminal and the car park!

I find the comments about Prestwick being to the detriment to the west of Scotland absurd. Without the low cost links to France Spain Italy etc I and many other businesses just would not be able operate on the continent. Glasgow (GLW) is hardly losing long haul business when companies such as Continental American Air Canada and Emirates to name a few have international operations there (no British Airways?). Prestwick was ignored for decades by the major UK carriers so well done Ryanair for rejuvenating it! The airport is now well serviced by road rail and bus links and provides reasonable facilities for budget travel. However The current owners need to start showing some improvement in the infrastructure for their extra income. My pet hate about Prestwick: What idiot thought of closing two of three lanes to traffic in front of the terminal and banning drop-offs / pick ups? Presumably this was done to increase car park revenue but has only served to create needless traffic jams at peak times. Second irritation is how ground staff do not enforce the sequenced numbered boarding procedure. Just plain laziness and Ryanair ought to have a word with them.

Could not disagree with J Taylor's Comments more. Prestwick has been around a lot longer than the 50's. It first opened in 1935. The renovated terminal opened in 1964 1959 / 1960 the apron was renovated for the jet age. The airport has a much larger apron than glasgow and the airport diverts cargo usage away from the BAA airports freeing up slots for us to use for commercial transports. The landing charges are much cheaper than those at Glasgow and Edinburgh which is why Ryanair chose to operate from there.

A major plus at Prestwick is the fast half-price train link to Glasgow (45min) where you can also change for Edinburgh (+1h45m or +1h15 if you're quick). For the early morning/late night bus to/from the airport see the airport's website.

Most of the comments are correct in that Prestwick only survives to the detriment of the west of Scotland because Ryanair use it. Ryanair insisted on calling it "Glasgow" although in typical Ryanair speak that city is 30 miles away. And being a 50's airport is sadly lacking in most modern passenger handling arrangements but thats Ryanair too. Their bucket seat operation deprives the true Glasgow Airport of the short haul international services which also offered through links to and from more distant areas not served direct from GLA. Examples Lufthansa Air France Sabena once operated giving links worlwide. They or another carrier still operate to other Scottish Airports. Edinburgh Airport illustrates the damage Prestwick and Ryanair operation is causing to the true expansion of international routes at Glasgow with a steady influx of short haul flights to Switzerland Germany Russia etc. As a consequence Edinburgh is now starting to attract some long haul international airlines Delta Continental plus long haul charter previously the role of Glasgow. With a population base of 2.3 million in the west and 0.8 in the east the west cannot operate successfully with two such mismatched airports.