Luton Airport

Not Verified | Travelling out on 20 April to Jersey - chaotic check with huge queues. Security was chaplin-esque, they have a scanner but said I had something in my pocket (2 tissues!) and had to be frisked and then scanned manually. On returning home today long wait for luggage - go outside the airport to find the bus for the mid term car park but no signs, just loads of bus/coaches - when I asked I was told that the bus can pull in any bay available and this was after a 20 minute wait for the bus when it did actually arrive. There is huge building works going on at the airport but they cannot get the simplest thing right - the traffic around the airport is haphazard and cars seem delayed in transiting the exit. I would do anything to avoid coming to Luton airport in the future.

Not Verified | We have had the worst experience. Easter weekend, the check in counters were understaffed, there is no coordination and the experience feels extremely chaotic! The same applies to the security checks. When you enter the waiting area, there doesn‘t seem to be enough space for walkways. We were queuing literally all the time and despite our early arrival of 90 mins prior to our departure, we have only just made it to our flight. We felt stressed and tense and decided not to fly from Luton again. PS: You may want to think about automation, I.e. check in machines etc.

Not Verified | Avoid! I've been waiting for my luggage for longer than my flight took from Basel. Also the dirt, lack of bins, and it's quite far from London - don't believe the adverts, you won't get to London in less than 2h.

✅ Trip Verified | Absolutely appalling airport. New ‘automatic bag drop off’! Completely unorganised unprofessional service. Spend three hours queuing to drop off hand luggage which was pre booked and paid for. Not one check in desk open, no one on customer services desk, directed by airport staff to queue at check in desks then told to queue in another line, only to be told when they eventually opened two desks that we had missed our flight. No more flights due out today unless we pay £1400 for four passengers! Utter disgrace. We were travelling to Spain for our wedding which will not happen now. Complete and utter shambles.

✅ Trip Verified | For years now the airport has been a construction site but despite the capacity of the terminal being increased from 12 million passengers to 18 million passengers per year the terminal offers very little in the way of convenience or comfort and is London's worst airport. The drop off zone must involve the longest walk to a terminal of any major airport and is a good 5 or 6 minute walk away. No weather protection is offered so if it is raining be prepared to get wet. Once inside the terminal despite the building being allegedly finished it looks only semi completed with ceilings missing, broken floor tiles everywhere and hoardings closing off small sections of the terminal. The terminal has the look of a building built on an extremely tight budget. For my 12 noon departure I arrived at around 10am and with the airport quiet the walk through security only took a couple of minutes. Once upstairs in departures the new shops and food outlets are a big improvement. Seating in the main lounge is still inadequate but lots of seats are provided in corridors leading to many of the gates. Boarding experience depends which gate you get. Many involve waiting on staircases or worse still a metal fire escape. No gates at Luton offer air bridges so again if it is raining you will get soaked boarding the aircraft. Arriving back at Luton was painless this time due again to arriving at an off peak time of day in March. All in all Luton is a budget airport that offers very little to passengers and always leaves me feeling depressed at the surroundings.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is cold, the staff are unfriendly and not helpful, and it is incredibly disorganized. Getting from our taxi into the airport was a mission itself. Once we got in, it was so cold and there was little chance of warming up. Getting through customs was a mess and people were so frustrated because of how disorganized it was. Upon our return, the wait was way too long to get through customs and the signage isn't great or helpful when it comes to using the public transport. I would not travel through this airport unless there was absolutely no other option.

✅ Trip Verified | Absolute shambles of an airport. 0 rating! 0 should be an option. Whoever is in charge needs firing! Arrived late Friday evening, waited on the plane 20 plus minutes before stairs arrived. Rear stairs didn't work so passengers had to disembark via front plane doors. Once off the plane there was no one guiding anyone the right way into the terminal, just tape which appeared to serve as a barrier around building works. No lifts or escalators just staircases which caused further delays as elderly and those with young children could not get up the stairs easily and absolutely no airport staff to assist anyone. Once into the border security the real circus began! There were hundreds and hundreds of people crammed in shoulder to shoulder being herded like cattle. Most directed to the automatic passport barriers, most of which didn't work. Once I was at the front of the queue I proceeded to the barrier, barriers 1 to 6 out of about ten, were not working, all appeared to be either shut down or offline. Leaving 3 or 4 working intermittently and no real assistance for those not knowing what to do. I got the green entry sign and proceeded forward, inserted my passport only for the barrier to shut down. I was then directed to the "Assistance" desk (use that term loosely, the woman was surly and aggressive). She asked which Country I had travelled from, I replied Spain, she then growled where in Spain, I replied that she had asked which Country not which airport, but duly gave her my departure airport. She then proceeded to examine my passport and went through a series of "security" questions, no one prior to me had been asked any security questions, there passport was merely scanned and pboto checked. She then proceeded to try and tell me that my passport chip could not be read easily (either it can be read or it can't!) To which I pointed out that it worked perfectly on my departure from Spain and also worked perfectly on the 6 other flights I have taken in the last 6 months and told her the issue was most definitely with Luton Airport. The staff I encountered were rude and aggressive and it's fair to say I will never use Luton Airport again nor would I recommend it except for demolition and a complete overhaul of staff and passenger facilities. Disgraceful and an embarassmemt to the UK.

✅ Trip Verified | Since the rebuilding work within the terminal, it seems to on the inside be more customer friendly. OK, I admit that I am not a fan of the large duty free shopping malls which are appearing in airports but the one at Luton is not in your face and you are not plagued by the staff with a hard sell motive. Security was quiet but painless with 4 lanes open including the fast track/family lane. OK we hit security just after the morning rush was departing or departed. So from start to finish it took 15 minutes. There is a good selection of cafes and food outlets, the only slight negative was most of the tables in some outlets were taken up by airport staff on their breaks. Hence the poor mark for airport staff. I did see one of the managers ask them to move as they were hogging tables which are there for the passengers. This had meant that the seated waiting area was dirty with the rubbish from people which had been left. However the cleaning team were on the case and it was soon cleaned up. Since the island bar has disappeared and been replaced with seating, a few more monitors would not go a miss. The gate staff were pleasant and polite when enforcing the cabin baggage rules of the airline. Given the changes to the rail service from our local station we are now able to get a direct train to Luton airport parkway it may become our airport of choice.

Not Verified | Been about a year since I last flew from Luton. The check-in area, security area has improved but still not enough space/facilities to re-dress after taking off belts and shoes going through security. Departures has improved with lots of shopping and some new restaurants. Seating seems to have improved too. Gate areas are still lacking, and once you gate is announced you are faced with a long wait at the gate area with no seating and if the sun is shining through the windows it gets hot too. On arrival be prepared for a very long walk to passport control depending on what stand your flight arrives at! Biggest issue is the remoteness and charge for the drop off/pick up area. It is a long walk from the terminal, mostly outside. There is a £3 charge for 15 mins to drop off/pick up so most taxi drivers will park up outside the airport and get you to call them when you land so they don't go over the 15 mins and have to pay even more.

Not Verified | A depressing experience owing to the state of the airport and the ridiculous charge (£3, rising by £1 a minute if it takes more than 10 minutes to get in and out) for the privilege of arriving by car. The drop off point is not even by the entrance to the terminal building, it is about a 10 minute walk away, in the open air. Inside, "- not quite a building site, but not far from one. Security was a nightmare, ill mannered and seemingly incompetent security staff adding to the the gloom. Tavelling by Ryanair didn't help. We hurried to the gate in response to a gate open sign being posted, but when we got there the gate was closed, and didn't open for about 40 minutes, with take off and arrival late. Ironically, when we returned our cases were already on the carousel when we arrived at the baggage hall, making baggage collection that day the fastest I can ever remember. This relieved some of the tension, but not by much. Luton is the closest airport to our home, about 20 minutes by car, but starting and/or ending a holiday there should be avoided if at all possible.