Newcastle Airport

❎ Unverified | Newcastle Airport is a rip-off. From arriving to departure it's a scam. We used a 6 seater taxi to take us to the airport. Drop off charge is £2.50 for the experience. Alternatively you can use the medium stay car park free but at a far greater distance to walk to the terminals. Once inside the terminals you can enjoy "run of the mill" food and beverage at severely inflated ripoff prices. By the way, do not under any circumstances believe the signs outside in car park. I recently took a customer to the car hire compound. I followed the signs directing all vehicles to compound where upon at the end of the road you are greeted with a sign stating authorised vehicles only and hire vehicles only past this point. As I had to drop my customer off I stopped outside the compound. 2 weeks later I received a letter with a fine for £100. Scam is not a good enough word. I used Glasgow airport 2 years ago and was very impressed with the savings we made on our holiday and shopping experience. Newcastle airport bosses should hang their heads in shame.

✅ Verified Review | Wish all airports were like this. Quick baggage drop, no problems at security, straight through passport control. Above all, everyone has a friendly attitude and actually smiles! This is the first time we have experienced the new lounge layout, a bit like Manchester where you have to follow the wibbly-wobbly way through the shops to get to the waiting area, but then the number of seats seems to have been reduced, unless you count those in the various bars and food outlets. Still the same stupid requirement to show your boarding pass just to buy a newspaper, though! Gate was called on time, and just a short walk to the aircraft. Easy, trouble-free start to the holiday.

Travelled on holiday from Newcastle airport to Malaga. I required assistance this time and cannot praise Newcastle enough, they were very kind and helpful, did not make me feel a nuisance being in a wheelchair etc. Both arrival and departure treated with respect etc. All staff faultless unlike Malaga where I had terrible treatment as did others who required assistance. Newcastle airport has enough seating, cafes and toilets necessary for travelling. It's not too large to require lots walking, distance to planes. I would definitely recommend Newcastle for travellers. However avoid Malaga.

✅ Verified Review | This was an experience, check in was fine, done very efficiently. As I had large baggage this had to be dropped at the special counter, again efficient. Security screening a bit OTT - belts off and everything in individual trays, but again, fairly efficient. The worst bit was the departure lounge, few seats, the majority of which were in the bar, which was extremely loud to the point of being raucous. I appreciate this airport deals with many leisure travellers heading to stag and hen do's, but at 7 am the number of drunken passengers and the noise is pretty poor. Despite there being an air bridge we had to descend stairs, cross the apron and board via stairs - how old fashioned!

My wife and I recently had to travel to Melbourne for medical appointments and flew two return trips from Newcastle Airport. Having not flown from Newcastle for a while we were both surprised at the upgrades to the Terminal. Both arrival and departure lounges are much bigger and user friendly. However on closer inspection I found some of the same old problems. The parking is still a rip off and is slowly running out of room. Why in 2016 they cannot build a multistorey car park is a mystery, to have to walk such long distances (from the Cheapest Park?) on an uncovered walkway is second best for Newcastle. Upon entering the Arrival Lounge my wife proceeded to the toilets, a number of minutes later she appeared shaking her head and saying there are only 6 toilets in the ladies and it was so busy with two flights just landed that women were using the disabled toilet. This is both a joke in the airport planning and very unhygienic. Another big question that no one can answer is when are Newcastle travellers going to be able to fly overseas. The airport keeps spruiking that record passengers have flown in and out of Newcastle Airport, but we can only fly with the larger carriers to Melbourne, Brisbane and limited flights to the Gold Coast. Come on 2016 is nearly ended and we are getting left behind.

First time to Newcastle for 30 years and what a difference. It is now a smart modern airport with good access facilities, good range of shops at reasonable (by airport standards) prices and range of food (and noticeably beer) outlets. Everywhere looked clean and there were sufficient check-in desks to avoid long queues. I used the special assistance service and the staff were unfailingly helpful and cheerful. Perhaps a minor criticism would be that there are not enough airbridges for the amount of business the airport is now generating. One word of warning though is the airport taxi service where I was quoted £86 return to the city centre whereas a local company charged £32 - a saving worth having to cross the road.

As others have pointed out, public seating in the departure lounge has been compromised to accommodate retail outlets to ensure every penny is squeezed out of the passenger before departure. The cynical design of the area ensures that you have to meander through one of the most expensive duty free outlets where very few 'bargains' can be found. Even family and friends who drop off passengers are fleeced for a pound which is scandalous. One of the saving graces of the airport is the efficient security - a jewel in a very retail oriented crown. Perhaps some investment in the dated bag reclaim carousels (that literally throw your bags off) would be welcoming, but that would cost the airport money, not make it. I totally accept that an airport has to generate revenue, but the operators are doing this at the expense of customer comfort. Thankfully I can escape this shopping centre by using my access to the BA lounge while those not so fortunate have to endure paying for food and beverages just to get a seat.

After previously telephoning about pre-booked special assistance for my two elderly relatives asking whether it was still possible to use our pre paid Aspire lounge passes while using this service, we were told this wouldn't be a problem and we would be taken and picked up in time to board. The lounge visit was essential as it was for the elderly ladies to take medication with a snack. After checking in we were directed to the Special Assistance desk where we were met with an off hand manner of an assistant who had a couldn't care less attitude, he then asked if we could we push the wheelchairs ourselves. We were left there until it was time to go to the boarding gate which meant we couldn't use our passes. On questioning the Airport Manager he said that it wasn't his problem, there was not enough staff to cover.

I usually dread going through the queues at airports because in the past they have been long, tedious and stressful but queuing is what Newcastle Airport does really well. The departure lounge is a bit sparse of seating except in Caffè Ritazza but the security queue was stress-free, peaceful and had pleasant staff operating the machines. The terminal is a bit boring and you could walk from one end to the other in 5 minutes but apart from that the experience was pretty good and I would consider it over Edinburgh airport in future.

Waited 30 minutes for baggage, 1 person unloading cases then when they finally came through had to wait another 20 minutes for pushchair for child. People had to wait with baby's in arms for all this time. Ridiculous - when a flight is due in they should be prepared and at least make sure pushchairs off first so at least little ones can be settled.