Southampton Airport

❎ Not Verified | This must be one of the most car hostile airports in the world, threatening signage everywhere. Pay to drop, pay to collect, fines if collection more than 10 minutes, conflicting signage, access through a trading estate. This is a tin pot airport not Heathrow but still they charge.

✅ Trip Verified | Myself and the 7 or so other non EU passport holders were forced to wait while they proccessed the entire flight of EU citizens before they processed us. Like we are unwelcome and 2nd class people. I have travelled the world and have never received such rude treatment such as this, ususally are processed as we present in the queue.

✅ Verified Review | "Breeze through Southampton Airport" says the slogan on the side of the bus as we wait in a queue outside the terminal after disembarking our flight into Southampton on 24th September. The Flybe flight was 15 minutes early landing - great job! We were off the plane within minutes only to be held in an exterior pen for 10 minutes by ground staff who offered no explanation and who clearly had not been to any sort of charm school. No breezing through here. We figured out the reason for the delay - passengers were departing through a gate that we had to cross to get to the passport check and the arrivals hall, so we were held. It's not the first time this has happened to us, so isn't it about time that the airport took a look at the way it moves travellers around the terminal to improve it's coordination of departing/arriving traffic? Plus some extra staff training for the ground staff handing these situations would go a long way to easing travellers' frustrations.

✅ Verified Review | We expected a fairly large airport with modern facilities. Instead we would a very small, provincial departure area with a tiny immigration area, poorly organised, two X-Ray machines and surly, stressed staff who lacked the pr skills to deal with the public with queues building up quickly. There seemed to me no logic to the checks - the elderly lady in front of us had to wait to get her walking stick back. Staff were insensitive and disrespectful whilst searching hand luggage - my own case just had everything pulled out and thrown around - oh dear a small bottle of gaviscon was found - less than 100 mls - decanted as obviously you can't take the 500 mls prescribed bottle with you. This was confiscated? Why? I was told it was because they don't know what was in the bottle. Logic here - how can you know what is in the other thousands of bottles of potions and lotions - many are decanted as mine was. The shampoos, conditions, creams are ok but as they are not examined or tested the reasoning of knowing what is contained is nonsense. In any case French girls two ahead had their bottles tested and then returned to them even though one at least contained much more than 100 mls. So here we are, our flight is delayed and waiting for us, I am in tears, my medication is confiscated, not a great start to the trip (which was only an internal flight). We have to say, Flybe staff couldn't have been nicer, kind, caring and very helpful. The parking in short stay was also excellent, very easy and convenient. We don't want to fly from Southampton again after this experience. We give it 2, purely for the parking.

Day trip to Dublin from Southampton. Arrived early and was able to check in straight away via the Flybe machines. Security clearance was efficient and straightforward and the seating whilst waiting for my flight was sufficient although it was starting to get a little crowded as flights to other destinations depart at similar times (06.30 to 07.00). First time flying from my hometown of Eastleigh and overall it was a pleasant experience. Flight back in was even better, I was on the train within 20 minutes of arriving.

Airport very clean and tidy. Staff very helpful. The queuing time to go through border control was long but 2 other flights landed at the same sort of time like ours. The Airport had a range of food and drink available for all customer types. Would fly regularly from Southampton if there was more flights available.

Southampton airport is a small, basic airport. It is a primary hub for Flybe and flights to the Channel Islands. Like all airports, it has a small duty free section, a WHSmiths, a couple of coffee shops and plenty of space to sit. There is plenty of car parking outside and is a genuinely nice little airport.

✅ Verified Review | Let me reiterate first I have no objection to paying for services, everything costs money as we say there is no such thing as a free lunch. The basis of my complaint covers a wide range of services and the plethora of other restrictions applied to customers who are in effect a captive audience. When ordering a taxi it's a £25 flat charge irrespective of distance and the choice is just one taxi company checker cars. You could quite quite easily order a taxi externally for £7 but they are prevented from picking people up at the airport, so no competition for checker cars unless you drag your luggage to the airport perimeter or train station Just how does this arrangement benefit airport users? Surely choice would make taxis more competitive? The parking arrangements allow just 10 mins free, this is effectively zero because it is quite impossible even walking quickly to park, reach the airport building and return in the free period I had to leave my luggage only 36 hours before departure yet expeditiously applied daily rates meant I had to pay for 72 hours storage and a period of 18 hours in which I could not remove the luggage because the office is closed! Add to that a cash only payment method despite a card machine clearly visible on the desk. Finally after paying £36 to leave two pieces of luggage for just 36 hours and for no other reason than expediency being cleared out of cash by this archaic approach then returning to find just 40 minutes parking cost £5.80, you will forgive me for deducing that value for money at this airport is not exactly top of this airports mission statement.

I was travelling to Majorca with my autistic son who doesn't like crowds/noise or queuing. We also had the added problem of getting him on the plane first, because if there is a queue in front of him he panics. We arrived and were directed to the Special Assistance desk. It was a pleasure not to be cross questioned about my son's disability but accepted for who we were. (he looks and sounds perfectly normal so sometimes people think we just want preferential treatment). We were then approached by an "ambassador" lady who was brilliant with my son, not condescending at all, but took us both straight through security and explained what was happening and why to my son. When we reached the other side, she pointed out that there was a special lounge area we could wait in (there was a charge of £20) with free wifi, snacks and beverages. Once our flight was ready to board there was a phone call asking us to go down to the boarding gate. My son was already quite stressed, but this made boarding an aircraft so much easier for us and we got on without any issues. I have to say on this occasion Southampton got it right for someone with a "hidden" disability and made the whole process much easier on both of us.

With airports it is often the case that small is good. Southampton airport lives up to this. Obviously the range of destinations is reduced but the airport is friendly, clean and fit for purpose. A short walk from public transport (bus or train) or the car park. Check-in is quick with queues to a minimum. Even at the busiest times waits at security are minimal. The lounge area is small but with a reasonable range of cafes and shops. For short flights Southampton airport is a pleasant change from the mass transit of larger airports. Now that KLM have introduced flights to Schipol it is now possible to use the airport for more distant destinations.