Manchester, Stansted and Heathrow are being slammed as airports of shame with some
of the longest security check-in queues in the country, according to a new website
which is calling for travellers to blow the whistle on badly managed UK airports.www.ukairportdelays.co.uk has just been set up
by independent travel agents Travel Counsellors and has already attracted more than
100 complaints and 2,000 unique visitors. 

Its league table of airports of shame
show that passengers at Manchester airport have waited three-quarters of an hour to
get through security checks. Stansted and Heathrow security queues are at least
twenty minutes. The worst security delay recorded was at Liverpool’s airport with a
wait of more than an hour.

David Speakman, Travel Counsellors’ founder and chairman said he set up the website
to help travellers check out the reality of delays at airports and to use the weight
of public experience to lobby airports and government of the urgent need for change.

 

“I’m really angry that British travellers are being made to suffer unnecessarily,”
he said. “I’m angry at the appalling way in which British airports have put
additional security arrangements in place. Security is absolutely essential in this
day and age, but it’s a complete myth that extra security has to come with extra
delays. Many of the queues we’re now facing at airports are entirely avoidable and
are just caused by poor processes and lack of staff. I’m calling on any traveller
who has a bad experience to complain about these UK airports of shame so that we can
pressure airport and political authorities to make changes and to make changes
fast.”

 

The new website also highlights other problem points for travellers.  Stansted has
inbound immigration waits of around 25 minutes while travellers flying into
Newcastle recently had to wait in immigration queues for more than an hour to get
back into the country. .

 

But it’s not just airport security which is causing problems. Airline check-in
queues at Gatwick and Heathrow have lasted three-quarters of an hour and Manchester
and Stansted check-in has taken around twenty minutes for holidaymakers. The worst
recorded check-in waiting times were more than an hour at East Midlands and
Southampton airports.

 

David Speakman; “to make a difference we need to know from travellers the reality of
what they are facing. I’ll take this information to politicians and airport
authorities and will campaign hard to make a difference.”

 

The current airports of shame league table shows the following eight UK airports
with delays of 15 minutes or more:

Ranking

(out of 21 UK airports)

Airport

Check-in (waiting time)

Security (waiting time)

Immigration

(waiting time)

14

Gatwick

46 mins

8 mins

6 mins

15

Heathrow

41 mins

20 mins

3 mins

16

Manchester

19 mins

46 mins

3 mins

17

Stansted

21 mins

25 mins

25 mins

18

East Midlands

1 hour 14 mins

8 mins

0 mins

19

Liverpool

20 mins

1 hour 10 mins

5 mins

20

Newcastle

20 mins

50 mins

1 hour

21

Southampton

2 hours 25 mins

8 mins

10 mins

Source: www.ukairportdelays.co.uk   as at Tuesday
28 July 2007
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