Leeds Bradford Airport

Leeds Bradford Airport is not fit for purpose. The airport can't even cope with 2 planes landing at once, spoke with airport manager she stated there were several planes that had landed and this was causing the delay, that was a lie. This is the reason the airlines use it as it's cheap for them. Manchester / Robin Hood anywhere except Leeds Bradford. Don't even get me started on trying to get dropped off or getting a taxi.

My visit to this airport got off to a good start with the Jet2 check in which was quick and efficient with friendly check in staff. It went rapidly downhill after that. We went straight through to departures having had to endure the security check which judging by the waiting time was under-staffed. Once in the departure lounge the facilities were what could at best be descibed as adequate and expensive. We were served at the restaurant by a girl who could have done with a few lessons in customer services. There were no please's or thank you's and you would have thought that a smile would have killed her. The return trip was even worse. Our Jet2 flight managed to arrive 15 minutes early which we thought was a good thing but this threw the airport into disarray. We had to wait ages for a couple of buses to turn up to take us to the teminal. When we got on the buses we were jammed in like sardines. Despite our wait for the buses and having seen the bags being unloaded while we waited we still had a 15 minute wait for them to appear on the carousel. The staff on passport control must have gone to the same charm school as the girl in the restaurant. It is clear that this airport is unable to keep pace with the increase in passenger numbers and need major investment. There seems to have been plenty of talk but little action. The owners seem intent of maximising profit for as little investment as they can get away with. The people that work there, excluding the Jet2 check in staff who were the only positive, could also do with going on customer relation courses.

I've been using LBA for years and am perfectly happy with it. Check-in for KLM was quick and efficient, with my bag checked through to my final destination. The queues were longer than I expected at four o'clock in the morning, but moved quickly enough. Apart from the bar, which was fit to burst, the other food outlets were open and relatively quiet, so service was quick. Was able to walk to the aircraft via an air bridge, although the walk outside to the stands is never too far, for me at least. On returning, was virtually first off the plane and through passport control in a flash. Just one other arriving flight in the baggage hall, and luggage was delivered quickly as usual. Very convenient after a long journey home, in that sense it's always preferable to arriving at Manchester or Liverpool.

I must agree with the mostly negative reviews of this airport. The actual building is very shabby and dated, facilities are minimal and poor, lack of seating is very evident both on departure and arrival. The 757 bus into Leeds was the only highlight, arrived on time and got into the city centre in less than thirty minutes. Clearly in need of investment and upgrading.

Thinking of travelling via Leeds Bradford International Airport? Just don't. The Jet2 check in desks are fast and efficient, and BA isn't too bad either, but those are the highlights. We travelled on one of the busiest weekends of the year. The security had thoughtfully decided to channel everyone through a single metal detector. Which would be be bad enough, but when a small, autistic child sets the scanner off, and is told he has to go into the (single) bodyscanner thing, and no it's not possible to pat him down, or do anything else to accommodate his disability, so he stands there crying with his desperate mother trying to comfort him, then this does cause something of a disruption. And frankly I'm not sure that the over-officious security person really helped that situation. Luckily we were able to go to one of the many, many WHSmiths and comfort ourselves by buying some overpriced Haribos. To be fair, it's not the worst airport in the world. I travelled into Eastern Europe in the 1990s and the experience is broadly comparable. Although the Bulgarian Border Services were marginally more friendly than security at LBA. In fact, perhaps the LBA management would do better to give up pretending to be a modern airport and go for an educational historical travel experience.

This is my local airport and comes in for a lot of criticism, but it is actually fairly easy to use with short walks to gates, fast baggage handling and pleasant staff. The airport would not win any design awards as it feels cramped in some areas and is in need of a major redevelopment to handle increased passenger numbers. However, once through security, the recently upgraded departure area is an improvement and offers a reasonably pleasant area to wait and spend your money! Arrivals, by contrast, is very shabby. However, our bags were back within 5 mins of landing and we were in our car just 10 mins later, so no big complaints from me.

Beware when entering the airport in a car. You are swiftly channelled into a one-way system (with no warning given) which gives you no choice but to go through a barrier with a minimum 3 pound exit fee (more after 30 minutes). This is very steep just to pick someone up. I had looked on the website and discovered that there was free parking for an hour - this was not as easy to find as it might have been, and I was horrified to find that if I overstayed the hour (which is eminently possible given that arrivals are often late) I would incur a charge of 60 pounds. Inside the seating for arrivals was 4 metal seats. Luckily there were only 3 of us waiting. The vending machine offered soft drinks at highly inflated prices - a bottle of water was over 2 pounds. As I was only picking up I cannot rate the check-in facilities. To summarise - truly horrible experience trying to pick up.

We only use this airport as it is convenient as we live only 5 miles away. Arriving at the airport late morning we were efficiently and cheerfully dealt with by the jet2 check in team. Then the trek to security which wasn't too busy. Then after climbing the stairs that lead to the departure area the poor selection and number of shops becomes glaringly obvious as are the lack of seats in the seating areas - people sat on steps / cases/ floor. You expect airports to be light, airy and spacious. Leeds Bradford airport is small and cramped, poor signage and departure gates all over tucked into various recesses. We paid extra for the use of the executive lounge so we could sit in comfort whilst waiting for our flight. Then the trek down stairs and along a dreadful tin tunnel to a portacabin building before finally boarding our flight from which point onwards the experience vastly improved. On return to Leeds Bradford Airport, again the dreadful walk along the tin tunnel which had running water across the floor due to the rain. On reaching the terminal building you are greeted by the flights of stairs up to a corridor which eventually leads to passport control at the end of the corridor (big queues at the time of our arrival), but at least staff on passport control were cheerful. Then down the stairs for baggage reclaim which is in a small low ceilinged hall with 3 small baggage belts and was very cramped with the number of people who had arrived on various flights. The display above our belt showed three flight numbers allocated but no clue as to which one was actually on the belt at any one time. Our bags arrived reasonably quickly (we had clearly marked them so we could easily identify them) but the difficulty was in getting to the luggage belt through the throng of people off other flights awaiting their bags. To sum up, not adequate for the number of passengers it is dealing with, cramped, poor selection of shops, inadequate seating areas, poor signage, can be a long walk from the aircraft stand. The terminal just isnt big enough.

Appalling now. It used to be a good, customer friendly, local airport but is now aimed at revenue maximization and this makes it a very unpleasant experience. Pick up and drop off are very difficult involving a long trek across an open exposed area to the short stay car park and paying £3 now for the experience. We refuse to use the overpriced franchise service which has really damaged the local cab firms. Our experience yesterday was terrible. We arrived in heavy rain and our cab was unable to enter the short stay area because there was a problem at the exit barriers and it was full of vehicles. It took about 30 minutes to get through and I think the problem was only resolved because the barriers were opened. Awful!

How they can have the bare faced cheek to charge £6 for drop off and pick up periods is beyond belief. As for the rest of it cattle truck conditions, expensive duty free section - no newspapers until after 6.30am - dirty tables in the food area's never mind the expense of the items and top of the list, having to pay to go and smoke. On return the taxi office were charging £17 for a fare that costs £12 incoming and then charging money for a luggage trolley - its never ending. Jewels in the crown, Jet 2 check in desks - aways pretty effiecient and thats about it.