Leeds Bradford Airport

Been a year or so since using LBA, this time slightly better, no queues at security but staff seemed more content on chatting than seeing to passengers. Had to go through duty free to get to gates, nowhere to sit unless you used a food outlet, fortunately only had 30 minutes to my flight, otherwise it would have been annoying. Two things annoy me about this airport: The ridiculous charge for dropping off passengers at the airport and the distinct lack of seating without trying to get every penny from travellers.

After negotiating the cattle grid at the check in, you are left to find your own way to the departure hall, you have to go past or through the "shopping hall" which is a couple of grotty little shops. The security is a farce, you have to queue for a long time only to be treated with utter contempt from the surly, unhelpful staff. After that you go into the "departure lounge" - nowhere near enough seats for the amount of passengers that are processed at any one time. There is very little if anything to keep the kids occupied and god help you if your a smoker, you have to pay £1 to go into a small filthy room at the back of the building with no windows and double security doors. After surviving that ordeal you now get called to your gate. After another queue and check you are ushered outside to a corridor which leads to a large-what can only be described as a portacabin where you wait to be checked again where you walk out onto the concrete apron and across to your plane (no busses here). Freedom at last. All in all a dirty, expensive, grotty little place that I would not recommend. My rating is 1/10 only because of the free wifi.

Arrived back from Italy at LBA. This is one of the worst airports I have used. Its only advantage to me is that it is nearer than Manchester. On arrival we waited 50 minutes to get through security and there were many people way behind us. It has had money spent on it but basically to create more shops. Few facilities and airport gets full very quickly. Have never been to another airport where the routes to the gates are so convoluted and the walks to the planes so long. Wherever possible will use other airports rather than this one.

This is the worst airport I have ever experienced, and would advise anyone to avoid at any cost. It is utter chaos. We had hand luggage only, expecting this to allow us a faster exit as we had a taxi waiting. We were stuck behind those waiting at baggage carousel. The corridors were so narrow and packed, we couldnt get through, then, we had to carry luggage up 2 flights of stairs as there was no lift. I am disabled and there were no facilities at all to help me move my luggage. We then had a queue in a boiling corridor we still dont know the reason for. Once through this, we then had to queue again for border control which was farcical and understaffed, at the end of which a metal detector was closed, so the full plane load had to go through one at a time. It took almost as long to get out of the airport as it did to fly there from Alicante, when asked why this was happening, the airport staff were rude and dismissive, as they were when I asked if there was a different exit for disabled who cant stand up for any length of time, again I was insulted and dismissed. The contrast between entering Alicante and entering Leeds to your own country was like a different century. The buliding and staff are not adequate for the amount of planes they allow to land.

Avoid this airport if you possibly can. We flew back from Italy on Friday 10 July 2015. We were disembarked onto the tarmac and kept standing in the blazing sun for twenty minutes. No explanation or apology for this was forthcoming from the useless Swissport staff who act on behalf of our carrier Monarch Airlines. After this we were ushered into another queue along with hundreds of other unhappy passengers from different flights. At one point a member of the "Border Control" staff appeared and I asked the reason for this pathetic state of affairs. I was told that the management at Leeds Airport allow or may even encourage several planes to arrive at the same time and that this queuing was a repeated problem. Do not travel via Leeds Bradford airport if you can avoid it.

This airport is far from fit for purpose. Too many movements for the size of terminal. Long walks alongside the apron parking spots. There are no rest seats for the old and infirm between the parked aircraft and the arrival hall. There are always queues through the UK Border Control. Non of the escalators appear to work and on one occasion was told it was switched off because of health and safety. After leaving security you are forced into the Duty Free shop and the winding road that gets you nowhere. The infrastructure is such that at peak times any travel from the City side can take forever - at times the queue for a taxi can be at least half an hour. No departure gate is the same, they are tucked into any available space. There are times when busy that it is not easy to spot the end of the queue for your particular gate. You could even find yourself in the queue for W H Smith and not realise it. My biggest criticism is the lack of any facilities for the old and infirm. A lot of travel nowadays is with the elderly and they should be better catered for.

If you do your research on the airports in the North of England (Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Doncaster) you will find at all of these airports there is a charge for dropping off (Manchester is free to drop off but you can't leave your vehicle but a £3 charge to pick up) so I can't see why people are complaining, it's a business at the end of the day. At Doncaster it's £1 for 10 minutes the if you go over its £5 for every 15 minutes there after. Nearly all airports charge for picking up and dropping off, so I feel Leeds is no different from this and should not be slated because of this. At least you can going into the terminal and see your family off the old fashioned way!

I can appreciate the charge for drop off and pick up close to the terminal, but having been to the airport on countless occasions, I have yet to see improvements. A few personal suggestions - covered walkway from the terminal building to the drop off and pick up a area. Not nice walking in pouring rain with luggage, even if you're only going to the taxi office. Live on-screen information boards in the free 60 minute car park. Especially helpful if you are a driver with a disability, and have to walk to and from the terminal from this car park. More on-screen information, such as 'bags arriving'. For people meeting others it would at least give you an idea of where passengers are in the arrivals process. In the event of delays in the arrivals process, and these are frequent and blamed on the high number of flights arriving, an exception to having to pay above and beyond the £3 for thirty minutes. Its not the fault of either the passenger or those meeting them, but we are the ones who end up paying beyond the 30 minutes. Maybe more customs or other staff are needed in arrivals to speed the process. Or perhaps as above, on screen information in the 1 hour free zone before moving the car to the pick up zone.

We returned to LBA on Sunday morning at around 1:40am from Gran Canaria. The UK border check caused long delays followed by the baggage collection, we were advised of the wrong carousel and as 4 flights had arrived around the same time we were all watching other flights luggage going round for some 20 minutes, till someone spotted the problem. The Taxi booking office informed that there was long delays due to the drivers observing Ramadan so the only had a few taxis available. Black Cabs should have been allowed to cover during this period, so in all a good holiday spoilt by the service back at the LBA.

Just flew out and back into this airport with Jet2 for a short break away. I can honestly say this is a fantastic airport there is no chaos like at Manchester with the awful long walks to get to the gate. We had to pay £3 to get dropped off but that is understandable for the airport to charge and it is only £3. I find it fantastic that Jet2 have their own check in hall with great staff and speedy service. In addition Leeds offers free unlimited super fast wifi.