Luton Airport

Luton Airport is the worst ever. Don't use it. Access via the M25 and M1 is a disaster. Collected relatives at arrivals on 30 March and returned them for departure on 4 April by Ryanair to Lithuania. Unlike civilised airports like Gatwick and Heathrow, Luton charges a fee to drop off passengers to an unmade, and unmarked gravel patch outside the poorly marked terminal building. Luton airport shows complete contempt for its passengers which it treats like cattle.

✅ Verified Review | After reading first couple of reviews I absolutely agree with them. This airport is a complete embarrassment to visitors. I use it 5 times a year only because it's near to where I live. Every time I arrive here it's always work in progress and like a dump! I find it dirty and horrible. Its cramped with hardly any seating and some (not all) staff are miserable! Well I'm not surprised, I would be if I had to work there. The only big improvement is the check-in area. As for outside, its like an obstacle course. Parking is a mess and could not be much further than the terminal - horrible when it rains.

We chose to fly to Budapest from Luton airport because of the more convenient flight times. We had booked into a nearby hotel for the Sunday night and parked our car on Sunday in the medium term car park. We had been sent several emails about the delays because of the building, but were unprepared for the reality. We dread to think what it is like at peak times and holidays. Pedestrian access is almost non-existent and we were forced to take a very difficult route back to the Hampton by Holiday Inn. On Monday morning we booked a taxi and arrived to check-in. That was smooth enough. Our flight was delayed two hours because of fog and we waited that length of time on the plane. I have to say that was probably more comfortable than being in the airport. As many people have commented, there seems to be absolutely nowhere proper to sit once you are through passport control. The return through security was also very tedious, and even with e-passports it took some time. The whole experience was very uncomfortable. We will never choose to fly from this airport again. We would sooner have awkward flying times than put up with such conditions.

The whole experience at Luton Airport was awful. Whoever runs it should be embarrassed to deliver such a terrible experience and ashamed to be associated with this shambles. I know it is a building site but no attempt is made to make life better for passengers. Signage bad, over crowded, not enough seating in departures and none at all at the gate, air con not adequate. Staff have a couldn't care less attitude - probably worn down by having to work in such a badly planned and managed place. We traveled as a couple but felt so sorry for families struggling when 2 or 3 planes come in together and 100's of people are funneled into narrow corridors causing endless queues and the shambles of Passport Control. There is a sign saying "extra security is in place - sorry for the delay" ie "it's not my fault" and this is just an excuse for bad planning and bad management. The whole management team should be forced to experience this every day. Most people chose a destination and this determines the departure airport but if you have any choice - do not go via Luton Airport. Incoming visitors must wonder what they have let themselves in for in the UK.

✅ Verified Review | It is hard to determine what the senior management at Luton Airport see as their next career move – to run a shopping mall or perhaps they have bought shares in some “Staycation” company. They certainly appear to have no aptitude or interest in running an airport or providing a service to travellers. Admittedly they trot out the excuse that the airport is being redeveloped but that is no reason to treat today's passengers so badly. Their priority was obviously to get the shopping areas completed first then anything to do with passenger convenience or comfort was ignored. Parking at the airport, check-in/bag-drops, passport control and security are all a complete shambles at peak times. When you have undergone all those queues you will find nowhere to sit while you wait for your flight – but cheer up plenty of opportunity to shop. Luton is far and away the worse of the “London” airports. Although we only live 30 mins from the airport we shall fly from Heathrow or Gatwick in the future.

✅ Verified Review | I appreciate that the current works at the airport will inconvenience people to some extent but the situation at the short term car park just gets worse every visit. I parked yesterday and struggled to find any signs or directions to the terminal. Eventually I found small gaps in the temporary fencing to cross the road. On my return I could find no way to the car park. All previous entrances were fenced off. I wasn't alone, there were 4 of us in just the time I was there. I had to climb the railing from the drop off zone with a suitcase, cross the busy car park entrance and climb a further railing to get to my car. This is not the first time - its nearly every time I travel and it gets worse. There appears to be no consideration whatsoever in terms of health and safety for car park users

If anything disabuses you of the notion that there is still romance left in air travel, it is Luton airport. Crowded, little or no seating, bottlenecks throughout the buildings, poor transfer to car parks, approach roads in poor state of repair. Whoever is running this place should be sacked.

I was only dropping my son off and hadn't realised that I had to pay anything. Luckily I found some change in the car. This has put me off using this airport. I certainly would not recommend anyone anyone using this airport. At least Heathrow you can drop off with no charge.

I didn't spend much time there on my way out and managed to go reasonably quickly so that was ok. The way back was a real pain, the customs line was disgraceful. The uniformed employees of course take the usual prison camp approach to people coming in with little to no attempt to reduce the line by introducing more officers to let non eu passengers in. I was forced to wait 25 mins in the queue which made me miss my bus, while the eu passengers were going through quickly (probably 5mins for them), they had ample people working for eu passports and 1 person doing non eu passports, so I had to change my bus ticket and got home 2 hours late as a result. So to all officers, in future please think to allocate staff evenly to make a similar waiting time for everybody.

✅ Verified Review | We have missed our flight to Geneva due to weather condition delays on the 23rd February. There is nowhere to ask for help. We ended up going back to the security gates to ask for help and they told us to reach for people wearing "Menzies" jackets. I can tell you that they are very rare breed. I even asked one of them because I recognised the "Menzies" label that he was trying to hide under his hoody he said that the area where we were was not under his responsibilities? The Menzies people we had to deal with were trying everything to avoid giving any kind of help. Helping people in the airport isn't the job they are supposed to do for the salary they are getting anyway? What a bunch of incompetents! Better off without them since they are useless.