Luton Airport

How difficult can it be? The road to the on-airport car park is full of pot holes and the car park the fullest we've seen in years, probably because of the free short-stay parking now allowed there. Once at the terminal it gets worse. Passengers check-in before arriving at the airport, yet Luton manages to take longer to process baggage than ever before. We had returned to using Luton in the last few years, as it was marginally preferable to Stansted for journey times and speed of parking. We're now reviewing this. What a shambles. On check-in, 3 out of 6 desks shown for Thomson were not working, luggage labels ran out on ours, causing further delays. The staff couldn't work any slower without ceasing to move. Once processed, priority security doesn't work now, as one control gate is shared with non-security. Recent return trips have forewarned us not to bother with the e-passport gates now and in the early hours of the morning, we got through passport control unusually quickly. Why are arrivals now at the opposite side of the bus stops? Tired passengers now have to cross the busy forecourt. Don't imagine one of those buses will be for the long-stay car park. An absurdly long wait at 1.30 am in the cold, having left our resort in 33c. The airport is a total mess, getting worse on each occasion. No expansion should be allowed until it can be improved which, at the current rate, seems unlikely.

No better than a cattle market. Through security check area was like queueing in a shed, our bags were on the belt when the line broke down, there were hundreds of people queueing. Not enough seats in the departure lounge and then we were called through to the departure gate and were kept waiting for a long time in yet another "shed" with no seats. Passenger needs are certainly not met at this airport, could take a few lessons from Palma airport.

This was the second time I had travelled on the Monday morning EasyJet 7am flight to Belfast. This time I checked in online. However, a week before the flight, I became ill and was not able to read through the instructions again as to what, precisely, to do on arrival at the airport. Disorientated, I queued at check-in. This cost me precious time, for which I take full responsibility. However, my subsequent experience was, I feel, unnecessarily negative due to a mixture of factors: 1) Security logistics were very poor, this exacerbated the log-jam caused by a deluge of people. Why can there not be huge notices up informing people in advance what they will have to part with e.g. anything metal? One official had to come and speak to me 3 times. 2) There was nothing on hand to use to clean up spilled liquid. After passing through the 'machines', I discovered that the top of a bottle in my transparent plastic bag, tight before going through the sensor, had loosened and the liquid had gone everywhere. There was nothing visible to clean up with and I spent 5 minutes trying to make do with a few tissues. 3) At no time did I hear a tannoy announcement for my flight's departure. 4) When I learned I'd missed my flight, there was nobody official in view and nowhere obvious to go. No helpful signs. After running up and down in several directions for about 10 mins (waiting staff didn't know what to suggest) I bumped into an official who took me to an automated phone. This meant we 'left-behind' passengers couldn't actually speak to anybody. We were left to hope that by pressing a button, somebody helpful would arrive. So, besides the horrible feeling of missing our flights for whatever reason, there was nobody on hand, resulting in people becoming quite anxious and bewildered. 5) The Easy-jet customer service official was unsympathetic. She told us check-in had been open since 3am, kept speaking at the same pace to people who clearly needed her to slow down because English was their second language, and appeared not to respond to those who said the bus (due to arrive in the car park every 10 mins, had kept them waiting over 30 mins). And that was before we had to pay for another flight. 6) When I finally got to the departure lounge, the seating was inadequate, and the ladies in need of a clean - particularly the basins - and some fresh air. Frankly, I never want to use Luton airport again.

Travelled through Luton 30 Sept return 9 Oct and it is by far and away the worst London Airport now. I last used it 6 years ago and what used to be a good airport has now turned into one big shambolic mess which starts at the train station, which despite being called Luton Airport Parkway is nowhere near the terminal. You have to get a bus which at times can get very crowded, only London Airport I can think of that hasn't got a train station attached to the terminal, even Southampton has one but deserves to be called Southampton Airport Parkway. The check-in is a big disaster, when I showed up there the longest queues were for Wizz Air with whom I was flying with. Security has now been moved downstairs and should you not have to queue behind anyone can get through very fast unlike Stansted. Departure Lounge is far too small with not much to eat and little seating anywhere and I was very disappointed to learn that a Frankie and Bennys has replaced what used to be a nice Italian restaurant. Boarding is made about 20 minutes before flights and it is a scrum to the gates which some are 2 gates in one room so be very careful to stand in the correct queue. Arrival was very poor parked at the furthest stand possible from arrivals hence a mad sprint to passport control where even at 11.30 the queues were far too big and must be expanded to take bigger crowds but in the end I got through where my bag was on the carrousel and then arrived into a very small arrivals hall that is on the opposite side of the bus to the train station. Very poor airport for which I wont be back so if I want to use Wizz Air again I would rather try Glasgow and take a 6 hour train ride than go to the hell hole that is Luton.

This is by far the worst airport out of the London airports. If it wasn't for Ryanair and EasyJet hardly anyone would use this airport. The terminal is far too small, everyone is cramped together and there are not enough seats. The shops are decent, nothing fancy and there is not enough food shops. There is no free wifi (what a suprise from a London airport). The queues for security are long, however all of the security lines were open and the staff were doing their best to get us all through as quickly as possible and safety is important. The worst part by far is that you have no idea what gate your flight as at until 20 minutes before your flight, this is downright crazy and stupid. Everyone is pushed together at the one screen that shows you the flight details, there is not enough seats around the screen and if you do end up sitting there make sure you consider giving up your seat for any disabled/old people as allot of them are forced to stand waiting for their flight. There is no way to guess even which area your gate is at, as there are 2 pathways behind the screen and both have gates and are very long, from my experience Ryanair have used both so don't bother guessing, same with EasyJet. The second worst part is that some gates feed into 2 gates, the signs above the gate makes no sense and there aren't even two rows for queing, I nearly ended up on a queue for a flight to Lisbon instead of DUblin. You have to make the queue to your flight by yourself and it's un-organised. The whole system is a mess.

An awful, awful place. Everything about the airport is diabolical. Enjot your winter walk in the rain, snow wind and cold from the drop off point to the terminal. Taxis should drop at the door. Then the queues inside and the constant zig-zags. Great when you are 70 years old and the legs are not what they used to be. Any airport but here for me in the future. Get your act sorted out - think customer.

Arrival May 2015 - immigration queue for EU UK nationals over an hour, non nationals straight through Departure. September 2015: Filthy toilets Long queues, insufficient seating. Arrival September 2015: 11 New biometric scanners, 4 open, 2 working waited 30 mins Baggage reclaim, none of anyones bags for 35 minutes but 4 staff stood behind a desk doing nothing to explain or help. Toilets as per Luton standard, filthy. Staff, non communicative, can't decide if ineffectual or worn down by poor management.

While the departure lounge was quite nice, the arrivals hall was disgusting and an absolute disgrace. The baggage hall was filthy with the centre of the cararousel filled with discarded rubbish, the baggage carousel broke down three times while we all stood patiently waiting for our cases, the lone man trying to repair it got crosser and crosser each time he came out to press switches and each time it started again the cases were flung on even more haphazardly, some hanging half off the cararousel other cases stacked three high on the belt resulting in them flying off onto waiting passagengers. Not one airport worker in sight, no explanations. Disgraceful. I was ashamed of it, whatever visiting tourists must think I can't imagine. After Alicante airport with its shiny clean and modern arrivals and departures lounges full of smiling helpful staff it was a shock to the system.

At 05.05am arrived at roundabout to access the airport, traffic backed up and nearly 15 minutes to negotiate, surely by now the airport and highways could have resolved this problem. Drop off area was chaos - cars everywhere and they charge £2.50 for this pleasure. Uncovered walk across the road and up a narrow slope to the terminal. Check-in not very clean. Security not too bad, reasonable waiting time - a bit chaotic but acceptable but nothing prepared me for the departure lounge. It was chaos on a scale that is hard to describe, it was crammed with coffee bars, cafeterias, shops, as an afterthought a couple of areas had seating but every seat was taken. Even those that bought a coffee or sandwich to get a seat were out of luck as there were none left. Gate allocated and another 10 minute walk. Arriving at the gate there was a perfectly adequate cafe with seats and nobody using it. Joined the queue for boarding, crammed on to a bus. A week later back at Luton Airport, long queues for immigration and not all electronic passport booths were open. Only plus side was that our baggage was available as we had been that long. The toilets in the arrival area smelt. We vowed in 2013 never to go back as this was happening back then - this was a late holiday and flight times were convenient but this time I do not care what the flight times are we will never ever go back to the most chaotic airport.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - when will it stop. Having collected luggage on arrival we headed for a taxi, passengers are now directed out of luggage reclaim into a totally unnecessary perfume retailer-then into an arrival's hall - with more retail outlets, then guess what? Out onto a pavement with an obligatory 50 yard zebra crossing across the concourse that nobody is allowed to drive up. Once this has been negotiated with stacks of luggage - there are no signs at all for the public taxi rank and only memory launches you off onto a 500 yard hike around fenced off building works (with nothing happening) towards passenger drop off. Only by luck did we see a low level taxi rank sign-with passengers queuing. There were no taxis for 15 minutes (at an airport? Absurd). This is an uncovered waiting area seriously exposed the elements. A foul experience.