Luton Airport

Avoid - worst travel experience, arrived 3 hours prior to departure to long queues. Nowhere to sit, long queues for food and drink, the area is too small for the amount of travellers. £2.00 for a trolley, £3.00 for a maximum 20 minutes drop off. On returning at 12 midnight, longest queues for passport control. Our pick up driver parked in short term carpark and got told to move, as was told by the Patrol that they wouldn't be there long enough, (although it was short stay, can't work that out) they parked on a gravelly bit, then paid £14.00 for hour and half parking to park on gravel, a long walk from the airport, the carparking and airport are absolute chaos. To top it all we then got a puncture, so avoid the gravelly bit. Hopefully we will never have to use this airport again.

easyJet can fly from Iceland to Luton in just over 2 hours, about the same amount of time as it takes a Luton airport baggage handler to take your case from the plane to arrivals. This isn't me complaining about my bag, the whole flight were left waiting.

Arrived by car to Luton airport to be greeted with a very long queue for the carpark (this is normal for Luton). There was signage that offered 2 hours free parking in long term with a recommendation to do so as 'long delays were expected' to park! So following the advice we headed to long stay. When we finally found a parking space we then had a 25 minute wait for the free coach ride (comes every 15 mins apparently). Finally we then rejoined the queue for the carpark, but in the coach this time, so we still had to sit in the traffic. We entered the dimly lit airport that resembles a shopping centre in the early 1970s. It's the worst airport I've ever visited, seems like there is zero budget for the place. We collected the package we had visited for and then made our way back to the coach stop - one coach arrived after 20 mins but the driver informed the disgruntled queue that he wasn't taken any passengers back. So we waited patiently for the next coach. When the coach finally showed up there were so many people waiting that they had to cram into the coach. So how long did this pick up take us? 1.5 hours! If the long stay car park was short staffed why purposefully tell people to park there? I was interested to see who owned and ran this shambles of an airport as I knew it was not BAA as they know how to run an efficient airport that runs seamlessly. Have the owners of Luton actually realised what a shambles of an airport it is? Yes, the flights to Luton might be cheap but you'll end up paying for it - in lost time and extra charges. If I had any family or friends flying to the UK I would be so embarrassed at them arriving at Luton. If you read these reviews and still use Luton - well remember you have been warned!

There is poor signage and guidance to get through line ups efficiently, I hold a Canadian passport and was told to join the line up for 'All other Passports'. I did this and later somehow got corralled into the EU Passports line up and was ordered back to the end of the 'All other Passports' line. It took the best part of 30 mins to clear passport control. It was a mad zoo getting to the correct line and getting through. Something that should have taken 10 mins was unnecessarily prolonged. Luton was not the end of my journey. Needless to say I observed no efficiency to help weary travellers. Generally there seems be a lot of chaos with limited space/seating; it will be a sad day if I have to return to Luton Airport in the future.

This airport is genuinely the worst airport I have ever used. It is not so much the facilities - it is the venal approach employed throughout. From having to pay £3.00 to drop people off (and at the moment - August 2016 - due to major works going on - you are paying for a very unpleasant experience), to paying for clear plastic bags in security (generally free at most airports). Staff are generally okay - though we have had a bad experience just prior to security with someone who seemed to have the customer service skills of a chimp. Anyway - if I could never visit Luton Airport again it would be a positive thing in my life.

Plane arrived home after our trip to Lanzarote. The plane was kept waiting on the tarmac for 15 minutes before the steps arrived to disembark the plane. Even the pilot was unhappy with this. Then, we had to wait almost 60 minutes at baggage reclaim. It seems that the staff at Luton are on a go-slow on Sunday's. Not impressed.

Appalling delays at passport control almost every single time. Long queues stretching down the hallways with only half of the passport desks actually staffed. As a minimum How's about a family priority Lane? It really is an unpleasant way to arrive back in the country.

Like a lot of my fellow commuters who have to suffer this abomination for an airport week in week out it is beyond acceptance. Passport control is consistently full with queues often stretching back out beyond the hall. The entrance to both manual and automated control is chaotic at best and is not limited to just a specific day either. Priority lane security is shared with the adjoining lane so it is only through politeness that everyone manages to go through but given you pay for the priority lane it is not acceptable. Some of the staff I have come to know over the years I have been travelling through Luton are very pleasant and helpful, but a recent encounter at the oversize baggage area proves them to be an exception and from other reviews I have read is not limited to them either. My wife said that the toilets outside passport control were disgusting on one trip back and when she brought this to the attention of what looked to be a responsible person she was totally uninterested. Outside by the bus lanes are marking on the ground and from a photo I seen look to be the points where the roof is secured to the ground. If this correct then they are only feet from where passengers embark and disembark buses and given the pain already being felt by passengers it will only get worse. If Luton Airport was my first experience with the UK I would look to an alternative airport or country even.

I used to think that Stansted was the worst of all airports in London. I have travelled through Luton before but had early flights so never had to experience what I did today. The queue at security was ridiculous, first because there was no staff to manage it so it was just one big chaos, at one point a person checking the scanning screen disappeared for a good 10 min so we were all just standing and waiting for a miracle. It is just basic customer service. Also the departure area was packed, food places full of people, customer service awful. Didn't even want to shop as you cant move around. I will not travel through Luton again.

Appalling, truly appalling. Arrived at 4.45 for an easyjet 7.15 departure, had pre-paid booking in long stay car park, took fifteen minutes to find a space. Wife tripped over stones littering the car park walking lanes. We had hand luggage only so went to security. We then encountered queues around three hundred long just to get into the security area - rather conveniently there were priority booking machines placed right outside the main hall at £8 a pop just to get a service that would be normal at any other airport - and where are they getting off on charging a quid for two plastic bags for your liquids? The staff are under extreme pressure and it shows with their demeanour - short tempered and intolerant. It took us so long to get through we came out of it at 6.20, raced to our gate to find they had closed it, we very luckily allowed on as there were disabled passengers caught up in the mayhem. Coming back my wife needed the toilets and came out without using them, they were disgusting and the attendants could not care less. Never again will I travel from this airport.