Liverpool Airport

My wife and I travelled to Lanzarote with Ryanair 13/11/12. My wife has mobility problems and so we booked assistance directly with the airport prior to travelling. The PRM (Passengers with Reduced Mobility) staff were friendly and helpful at all stages and helped us and 3 other passengers on the flight throughout the transit through the terminal. Security staff were polite and efficient (despite me forgetting I had an MP3 player in my shirt pocket). In order to check-in at the gate we had to squeeze past a long queue of other passengers with our wheelchairs down a corridor and then reverse the process to get back to the accessible ramp down to the aircraft. The outside queuing areas for normal passengers looked cold and drafty and we were held at the foot of the aircraft steps for around 5 mins waiting for the crew to allow us to board. It was dark and windy but luckily dry. On return we were again met by PRM staff and fast tracked through Border Control and into baggage collection without any problems. Would agree with comments about the general dingy feel of the apron areas and the outside queuing areas but for us the process was generally okay. The PRM staff need a mention for their help support and humour. LPL is generally a low cost airport so even if there were jetways I doubt if Ryanair and Easyjet would pay the additional fees associated with more convenient aircraft stands.

Have used this airport several times over the last few years. My most recent was 16th November for a short hop over to the Isle of Man. Since my last trip their have been a few changes and for the better I would say. Departure lounge seems bigger with more retail outlets and a bigger duty free shop. Staff I found to be very helpful and not rude at all as in some other reviews. The only down side was walking down to Gate 4. I found this to a bit on the scruffy side with carpets that were in need of a good clean and bringing up to the standards of the rest of the airport. Appreciate the footfall with the LCC's is high but a lick of paint and a carpet clean certainly wouldn't go amiss.

I am forced to use LPL quite regularly (8 times this year). Despite some attempts to bring LPL up-to-date it continues to be a very poorly managed airport characterised by rude and incompetent staff frequent huge delays to get relatively small numbers of passengers through security and embarrassing passport control where huge delays are also frequent. Recent observations: 1. Passengers missing or nearly missing flights (I only just made it before the gate closed) on 21/10 because only two security lanes were open - wait time 30 minutes. 2. Staff texting on their mobile phones while waiting to escort staff from the plane. 3. Having a sealable bag containing liquids being rejected at security in a rude manner because the bag was supposedly "too large" and being forced to go back to the machines to by smaller ones. In fact it was only 5 cm longer and 5cm wider than the ones sold in the machines. I have checked this and there is no definition of an upper size on a bag only loose guidelines.

Arrived at 2:20pm to catch a 4pm flight. Only 1 attendant was initially on the easyjet check in which meant that it was 3pm before I got a boarding card. Security was a nightmare. They have 6 lanes and were only using 3. I was called for my flight at 3.30 and I was still not through. At 3.45 I arrived at the gate and was met by a very annoyed member of the ground crew. They held the flight but it was an extremely stressful experience. Manchester next time I think.

As a regular user of LPL I haven't suffered any of the extreme experiences reported by some contributors. For me an airport's principal purpose is to facilitate my departure / arrival as painlessly as possible and LPL has largely done so each time I have used it this year. I have no problems with walking from the car park (instead of having to wait for a transfer bus as at some airports) and travelling hand luggage only have rarely spent more than half an hour getting from car park through to departure lounge. Passage through security has always been swift - but my wife and I are usually flying out first thing in the morning - and we have never encountered any lack of politeness perhaps because a smile and a "Good morning" from us creates a favourable ambience. Even when we had an item confiscated last week (a jar of jam - don't ask!) it was done in a perfectly pleasant way and demonstrated that the security staff were vigilant. I would agree that the carpeting throughout the terminal looks dowdy but I think that is due to an unfortunate choice of pattern / colour rather than actual dirtiness. Returning through LPL isn't the most exciting experience in the world especially if two flights arrive almost simultaneously but I have queued far longer at passport control in Spanish airports and had longer walks from plane to exit. As long as LPL continues to meet my requirements as a relatively efficient departure or arrival point I shall be content to use it.

I am forced to use LPL quite regularly (8 times this year). Despite some attempts to bring LPL up-to-date it continues to be a very poorly managed airport characterised by rude and incompetent staff frequent huge delays to get relatively small numbers of passengers through security and embarrassing passport control where delays are also frequent. Recent observations: Passengers missing or nearly missing flights (I only just made it before the gate closed) on 21/10 because only two security lanes were open - wait time 30 minutes. Having a sealable bag containing liquids being rejected at security in a rude manner because the bag was supposedly "too large" and being forced tio go back tio the machines to by smaller ones. In fact it was only 5 cm longer and 5cm wider than the ones sold in the machines. I have checked this and there is no definition of an upper size on a bag only loose guidelines.

Just had really bad and potentially serious experience with the long queues at security. Joined the queue for security checks after 10 minutes little movement with the security waiting area totally full. No problem I thought I had arrived over 2 hours before my departure time clearly others hadn't and tempers became frayed. Some 'final call' passengers panicked and started to shortcut to the front collapsing barriers and generating a furious reaction from other passengers whilst even more raced in the opposite direction to purchase four pound 'official queue jumper' fast track tickets. An elderly passenger clearly in distress white as a sheet collapsed and was helped through to the front by myself and fellow passengers. Incredibly security staff did nothing - the best I could get out of any staff was basically "It's not my problem". The situation was very ugly - total absence of management or supervisory staff - passengers on the verge of making 999 calls. My total 'security' queuing time was a mere 90 minutes.

I have flown in and out of John Lennon Airport about 6 times in the last few weeks and only had good experiences this morning being typical. I was checked in and had dropped my bag within 5 minutes of walking into the airport and that included the time it took me transfer some items from my checked baggage which was overweight to my hand baggage suggested by the check in agent (EZY). Security took me maybe 10 minutes and the people were pleasant. I also noticed them helping a man who was partly crippled with great kindness and courtesy. I had a very good breakfast at £12.50 but worth the extra for freshly prepared food proper waitress service and much better than awful self service ones where you get bacon that was cooked hours before and eggs swimming in grease. Boarding was a bit slow and the queue obstructed peoples' passage to other areas bad design but overall as on previous occasions a good experience.

One of the most terrible experiences. Long queues at Easyjet Check-in. Rude staff. Security area: Maybe more than 100 people waiting and only 3 out of 6 channels were open. I didn't know that you can wait 50 minutes just for security. People who didn't want to miss their flights had to pay extra for Fast Track. For me it looked like that's their business: Have long queues to make extra money with Fast Track. I never had such a long time from arriving at the airport to the arrival at the gate. Even at the biggest airports like Heathrow Atlanta Incheon or Frankfurt I have never lost so much time for the whole Check-in and Security Check procedure.

Flew out of Liverpool airport on the 22nd Aug only carrying hand luggage. Went through security very fast no queues at all staff pleasant and smiling facilities in departures were fine - ideal for waiting for your flight. Our return on 5th Sep was off the plane and through customs within 10 mins so no problems at all.