Going through an airport is pretty much always stressful. Even in the unlikely event that everything goes completely to plan – you arrive two hours early, the Burger King queue is short, and the plane’s on time – it’s rarely a pleasant experience. But some airports are worse than others.
Some are so small that security takes five minutes max, others, well, not so much. Preply, an online language tutor website, analysed data from Europe's 25 biggest airports to determine which were the most stressful, and, unfortunately, four UK terminals were named. Not just that, but they were all in the top five. Not a great omen for British travellers.
To create its list, Preply looked at Google reviews, average flight punctuality, amount of lost luggage, and day to day foot traffic. As it turns out, none of these are the strong suits of a few of Britain’s biggest airports.
Coming in first place, officially being named the most stressful airport, was London Heathrow, which is coincidentally also Europe’s biggest. The west London station had 34,700 inquiries about lost luggage in a single year, and was awarded an overall ‘stress score’ of 6.4/10.
In second was the country’s northern air hub, Manchester, which received a rating of 5.44/10, which is somewhat better. It was particularly bad for customer reviews, over 100 of which specifically mentioned being stressed out during their time there.
If Heathrow’s score puts you off and you’re thinking of switching up your London airport of choice, be careful, as London Gatwick came in third with a score of 5.4/10, only 0.4 of a point behind Manchester. Here, you’re most likely to be frustrated by overcrowding and the forty percent chance of delay, both of which can really put a dampener on the start of a holiday.
Similarly, don’t think you can escape to London Stansted, which came fifth. Its stress metre is at a healthy 5.14/10, and its customer reviews are broadly positive, but it was let down by its inconvenient location. Heathrow and Gatwick may be bad once you’re through the doors, but getting to them is relatively straightforward, which cannot be said for Stansted. Pick your poison: stressful travel to the airport, or stressful travel inside it.
Paris Charles de Gualles was in fourth, so at least it isn’t all us – turns out the Parisians have some improvements to make too.
Eyes on the skies
There’s always more to learn about the airways in Britain. Did you see that Tui is returning to one of the UK’s ‘best’ airports for the first time in 15 years? Or that Ryanair is axing 10 percent of flights from major UK airports, affecting millions of British passengers. Plus, consider yourselves warned: this UK airport is the most likely to cancel your flight this Christmas.
ICYMI: Center Parcs has announced plans for its first ever holiday village in Scotland.
Plus: The UK’s 12 best Christmas markets have been crowned for 2024 by the Independent
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