Best and Worst UK Airports: Is the survey accurate?

Manchester Airport has contested Which?’s findings.

Transcript

00:00Hiya Lauren, now could you start by telling me a little bit about the responses which the

00:05supposed worst UK airport has issued as a result of which's findings?

00:11Now both Manchester and Liverpool airports have issued responses to the survey conducted by which.

00:17Manchester airport in particular has already hotly contested the results saying that the

00:21airport's own passenger surveys actually suggest that people are much more positive about the

00:27They added that terminal 1 is set to close while terminal 2 is set to expand,

00:31with improvement work on the port totalling £1.3 billion.

00:34In Manchester airport's official response they wrote that they have been in dialogue

00:38with which over the way it conducts its annual airport survey for some time.

00:42They have reportedly raised specific concerns about the metrics used, sampling and more.

00:47Manchester airport said it's extremely disappointing that they've chosen not only

00:50to publish a piece in their magazine that is uninformative, based on poor information

00:54and includes factual inaccuracies, but also to seek to advertise their magazine in the media

00:59via a deliberately sensationalist and misleading press release.

01:04What about John Lennon airport? Have they added anything to this conversation?

01:09They have, so the CEO of Liverpool's John Lennon airport, John Irving,

01:13said he was delighted to receive the recognition,

01:15adding that the airport worked hard to make journeys as stress-free as possible for travellers.

01:20He said we've got a constant customer focus here at Liverpool,

01:23we do everything we can to make sure the experience is great,

01:26we do really try hard to make sure the building works and the people naturally are friendly here.

01:32What about the Consumer Researcher's response? Has Which added anything?

01:37Rory Boland, editor of Which Travel,

01:39said that their survey found many of the biggest airports to fail at the basics,

01:43with passengers often being unhappy about the availability of toilets and seats

01:47and reporting long queues at times.

01:49He added that flogging fast passes and filling terminals with retail spaces and airport lounges

01:54is a money spinner, but judging by our survey results, it's not what passengers need.