Luton Airport

And it's got worse. Now all traffic including visitors and deliveries have to go through the car park to get out! Not just that, oh no, all buses, coaches police cars, taxis etc.. All have to go through the car park exit. No car is able to escape - once you're on the new dual carriageway you have to pay £3 to get out. Possibly the most stupid piece of planning I've ever seen. Is it stupidity or greed? Can't wait for the busy period when it's gridlocked theyve not thought of any other possible exit so one bump, crash or breakdown and nothing will move, including staff / crew. Brilliant!

✅ Verified Review | Having read the reviews here I was expecting the worst for our trip through Luton airport. We arrived at 5 am for a 7.10 flight and followed the signs straight up to the multi-storey car park without any queues. The car park was over half empty and we parked next to the lifts. A short walk along the covered bridge and down in the lift brought us to the terminal building. The paths are a bit uneven but did not cause a problem. As we only had cabin bags we headed straight for security where the wait time was 2 minutes - yes two minutes. After security we pitched up at Pret, got coffee and a pastry and waited for our flight. There were quite a lot of people standing and queuing for tables at the restaurants but there were also a lot of couples taking up tables for 4 and people occupying more than one seat by putting their bags on the other chairs. A bit of consideration would make a big difference. Our flight was called at 6.25am and by 7.00 we were pushing back. All in all a much better experience than we were expecting.

In 40 years of travelling around the world the only airports I have ever used that are worse than this have been some of those in Africa. It is a truly dreadful experience that starts with the car park. The short term is little better than a bombsite with mud, rubble, potholes and deep puddles everywhere. For this experience you are expected to pay £7 for 40 mins or £10 per hour. Upmarket is the short stay multi story which boasts a covered walkway to the terminal. That is a lie. The walkway stops 100 metres from the terminal so if its raining you will get soaked, for this pleasure you will pay £8 for 40 mins or £11 per hour. At Heathrow you can park for 30 mins for £3.50 and get to the terminal under cover. Things get much worse in the terminal. Overcrowded, scruffy and dirty sums up the check in area with staff that are rude and unhelpful. After queuing to check in you then head for departures where it takes at least 15 minutes of queuing (due to the large number of passengers being processed) and too few scanners to get through security checks. You have to feel sorry for the staff who work under extreme pressure, and do a good and thorough job, despite having to deal with the constant moans and frustrations of passengers already fed up with queuing to check in. Finally you get through to the 'Departures Lounge'. Thats a misnomer as there is nowhere to lounge. Totally inadequate seating for this appalling small area that is crammed with passengers standing, sitting on the floor, or for the lucky few, sitting on a seat. Signage is dreadfully inadequate with a few video screens giving gate numbers but you need to search for the too small signs indicating the way to gates. Once you know the way to go its a long walk to departure gates then a dash out in the open air, getting wet again in our case, and queuing on the aircraft steps to get in. In future I will drive the extra distance and use the more passenger orientated airports at Stansted, Birmingham or Heatrow

To compare Luton to any other place would be unfair, it is unique in it's near total ineptitude. The road system is total chaos and changes daily, confused motorists loop endlessly around it trying to work out where to go. The carpark is unpaved in the most part and is too small. The terminal is a building site, cramped and totally focussed on relieving one of cash at every turn. There is no seating yet many more shops and food stalls being installed in yet further efforts to raise cash. Staff are unhelpful at best and as a final insult, passengers are shouted at and herded inside chained areas outside the gates. Overall, abysmal.

✅ Verified Review | Having been to many airports in the world this has to be one of the worst. When it costs you more to park your car in Mid term for 27 hours than a return ticket to Ireland it really is priceless. The Airport is just one big building site, don't know of it being any different over many years, every way you turn they are wanting to get more money out of you even the free wifi is not if you want enough speed to do anything which is another 3 or 4 quid. I get the feeling they make the security slow down with too few staff to encourage people to pay extra for the speedy security. I try to avoid at all costs but at times have no viable alternative. Just a complete building site rip off.

✅ Verified Review | Luton is an awful airport. The security staff are rude and inefficient, so the system is slow causing queues. On the day we traveled there was major building works going on in the departure lounge, the noise was intolerable so you couldn't hear the announcements. The place was packed but there were no seats so people were sitting on the floor or clogging up tables in the cafes. This was just before Christmas, a very busy time surely they could have put in temporary seating. We fly regularly from Gatwick and Heathrow and they are an absolute dream compared to Luton.

The worst airport in the UK. Arriving back, no skybridge to terminal, got soaked going from plane to terminal in mid winter. Arrival hall no better than 2nd world airports I've been too. Baggage hall delapitated and filthy. Soaked again going from terminal to taxi park, charged extra for waiting as there as baggage delays that are airports fault. My advice, avoid Luton pay extra and use Stansted.

This was the first time I have ever used Luton airport and it was horrendous. The staff were rude and abrupt. The signage is non existent and there appears to be no one there to help. Departure security was inconsistent. My lane were told to put bag, boots, scarf and boots into one tray. My 12 year old was in another lane with my friend and a male staff member very curtly told her that the tray was too full without giving any explanation as to what he wanted her to do - she's a child. On clearing security there was no gate number got our easyjet flight to Belfast and we made our way through the shopping area. When I looked at the board again it stated gate 24, final call. This was 17 minutes before take off. There were no announcements whatsoever. As we approached the gate one of the easyjet staff shouts "Belfast" and when we responded "yes" she was joined by 3 other staff members. She aggressively roared "hurry up". The staff were about meters away and I noted another 2 sitting on a bench opposite the departure gate increasing the audience to 6. I quickened my pace to the best of my ability. I am 53, a blue badge holder, registered disabled and in extreme pain. Obviously, despite us being 25 metres from her, the easyjet staff member felt I was not making sufficient effort so she bellowed "faster, go faster" Short of bursting into a trot, I could go no faster. I was humiliated and enraged in equal measure. The ground staff need some training in customer service and basic human compassion.

Luton has to be the worse airport I have ever seen. No signage, the whole place is filthy. The parking costs are an actual insult and if I could avoid ever coming here again in the future, I would. This is a place visitors to England first see. I'm ashamed that this is actually in England and not in a developing country. With all the money that goes into this place you would have thought it would look average, but this is actually shameful.

✅ Verified Review | I was travelling through Luton Airport with my 8 months baby attached to my chest - no pushchair. When I arrived back I had to queue all the way. At no time was I offered any help but it was obviously not convenient to be stuck in that long queue with my baby. The immigration staff unjustifiably harassed me for not having a birth certificate for my daughter. My husband who works for an airline prepared the trip for me and in the immigration requirements there is no mention of the birth certificate for minors entering the UK. I was very stressed and frustrated because my English isn't that great to explain this point. At LTN everything is chargeable, my husband couldn't park and wait at the drop off area without paying - even a simple trolley is chargeable. I was struggling to put my bags on the trolley and nobody (not even the member of staff who made me pay for the trolley) gave me a hand. This is absolutely disgusting, especially from the working staff on duty. I wasn't expecting a porter service, but just a hand for a mother with an infant to place bags on a trolley. Thanks to this, my husband would rather us use Heathrow than LTN even if though we are Luton residents. It is way more convenient to use Transavia because it is local but the airport package just disgusted me.