Southampton Airport

As before a pleasure to use. Departure to Galway couldn't have been easier and returning we were waiting on the railway station within 20 minutes of landing.

Great small airport; I especially like to adjacent railway station. On our return flight we were on the train within an hour of leaving Guernsey.

Have flown from Southampton numerous times over the last few years. At the moment it can get very busy which is a bit of a pain. But I can be at home 30 minutes after landing so I think it is great. Will agree service in cafe upstairs is very slow - but they have recently got rid of the benches & put loads of tables & chairs. Seems to me that there was plenty of room to sit down - although you might have to go back downstairs. They have also added a WH Smiths airside - which is about time. All in all I think it is a great airport if you live fairly local.

Arrived at Southampton Airport at 1700 for my 1915 flight to Leeds/Bradford. The airport was busy very busy. Used fast-track or otherwise I could experienced a delay of 20mins. I must say this is a very busy time for Southampton around 20 flights taking off within the two hour period. The airport is like a converted aircraft hanger once through security very little on offer. A medium sized duty-free shop and little else. Upstairs is a cafe/bar which took me over 25mins to get served the service was very slow indeed. Once I had my drink in hand I could not find a seat I joined around 50 other people by sitting on the floor. I stayed like that for 1h30mins. Not a good experience at all. The airport seriously and urgently needs to look at the needs of the passengers the airport clearly can't cope with the hundreds of passengers in the area at the same time and I was really pleased to board my flight up North. Won't be coming back in a hurry.

The least expensive way of parking for a day at Southampton airport is to use the short term parking at £15.50 per day. This is more than the fare to Edinburgh! It will make me think twice before using Southampton again. There is a minimum charge of £24.90 in the long term area.

Our arrival at SOU was made remarkable by the fact that the baggage made it to the belt before we did and it was not as if we had to walk a long way from the aircraft to the terminal. We did have to wait for a taxi though (about five minutes) but I expect that was due to our arrival at 10pm the penultimate arrival of the day. Our departure was at 6:30pm on a Sunday. This is a busy time for the airport and Flybe in particular and we ended up at the check-in queue for about half an hour. Flying with hand baggage only would have been an advantage as there was a fast moving dedicated queue for those lucky souls. The delay did not leave us much time to explore the airport but it didn't matter as there isn't much to explore. A reasonable duty free shop confronts you after passing through the efficient security and that is about it. There is a cafe on an upper floor with views over the runway but no other retail outlets. My advice is to obtain your chocolate bar and newspaper in W H Smith before passing through security. The terminal itself seems to be in need of expansion as it was rather crowded but was no worse than most other airport terminals in the world.

I found the airport all it needed to be. No delays at check-in or security. Food provided expensively as you expect at a BAA airport - BAA are not the passengers friend. Reasonable terminal provides pretty straightforward access to the aircraft although the walk back in from the return flight was a bit pointlessly long and led to a locked door which was released by our shepherdess.

Flew to Southampton from Leeds. With the flight having been delayed by 4 hours the last thing needed was inept ground crew but that's what we got. All passengers off the plane and into the airport bus for the 40 second drive to the Terminal but first someone had to move the truck which was blocking the road. The 8 ground crew were far too busy playing dodgems with the wheelchairs around the plane and the bus couldn't possible go airside of a parked and closed down aircraft. Fifteen minutes later the bus went round and we got to the Terminal. Not a good advert BAA.

Just flew there on a same day return from Edinburgh. There seemed to be a lot of renovations going on which should add some space eventually . The departure area was tiny with 8 gates crammed into a space which in most airports would be for 1 or 2! Almost half of the area was taken up by a duty free shop - profits over passengers?. The food options airside were almost non-existent; a small cafe with sandwiches. Landside there was a bar that did extortionately priced pizzas but that was about it. I would recommend you eat before you get there check in a late as you can and hope you are not delayed. Having said that the staff were friendly and helpful the airport was extremely convenient and from disembarking to getting in the hire car took 15 minutes.

No doubt a handy little regional airport easily reached by public transport and vastly benefiting the south coast of England but for God's sake pray you never get delayed here. Food and drink vastly overpriced and nothing to do landside whilst you wait for your plane. Nowhere to stroll outside either. Staff decided to close up the security area and lock the door to departures for the night whilst I was still landside forcing me to knock on the door to get in. Plus the baggage conveyor belt was broken and passengers had to take their own bags to the handlers' trucks whilst FlyBE's check in girls smiled helplessly. Great that I can fly here from Edinburgh instead of having to settle for Gatwick every time but a poor reflection on BAA.