Leeds Bradford rated ‘worst’ airport for queues at security

Consumer group Which? has ranked Leeds Bradford as the worst UK airport for queues to pass through security checks.

A quarter (27%) of those who passed through the West Yorkshire airport reported queues of more than an hour, compared with just 5% of respondents overall.

Leeds Bradford had the longest wait times, with respondents spending an average of 35 minutes in security queues, according to a survey of almost 1,300 people who flew from a UK airport between February and August. 

Leeds Bradford acknowledged the issues passengers were facing in August as a result of long queues and installed LCD screens to provide travellers live updates on estimated wait times.

The airport said that alongside others, the rapid resumption of foreign travel after pandemic barriers were lifted led to periods of long wait times.

A total of nine airports in the Which? survey were found to have security queues of more than an hour, including Bristol (17% of respondents), Birmingham (11%), and Manchester (8%). 

Seven per cent of respondents said they had missed a flight because they were stuck in excessively long queues.

London City airport was the best performer airport, with an average estimated security queue time of just 12 minutes, and as many as half of travellers reporting wait times of between just five and 10 minutes. It was also the only London airport not to record any wait times of over an hour.

Belfast City and Glasgow were also among the airports to have performed well on security queue times, each having an average wait of 13 minutes, according to respondents. 

As many as 30% of those who used Belfast City reported waiting less than five minutes to pass through security, with a similar figure of 31% reported at Glasgow International.

Which? Travel editor Guy Hobbs said: “Travellers this year have borne the brunt of unprecedented chaos at UK airports, with huge numbers enduring long queues and some even missing a flight due to excessive wait times to clear security.

“Your choice of airport shouldn’t make or break your holiday – but for too many travellers this year, that has been the case. 

“We’d recommend choosing an airport with a better record on queues and treatment of passengers, even if that involves travelling slightly further from home.”

A Leeds Bradford airport spokesperson told the Telegraph:  “Earlier this year, like many airports across the UK, we had periods of long queueing due to the rapid resumption of international travel after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

“We were transparent about these difficulties at the time and worked hard to address these short-term issues. We have since significantly reduced queueing in our terminal.”

Bristol Airport told Which? that average security queues took 27 minutes. It added that 82.2% of customers passed through security in less than 20 minutes.