Travelling By Air? What Is Your Opinion?

Yesterday, whilst watching the BBC News, they reported on a Which? survey about travelling from different UK airports.

What do you think when you are travelling by air these days? Is it any wonder that cruising from the UK is so popular?

The airport experience used to be an enjoyable start to your holiday. The anticipation of the journey, treating yourself in Duty Free, enjoying a relaxing drink in one of the bars – the reality though these days is long queues to get through security, rip off prices in Duty Free, food prices that you would expect to pay at The Ritz! Certainly not one of the most enjoyable beginnings to your much anticipated holiday.

The survey suggests that we should try to use smaller, regional airports to get a better experience. There was an 85% satisfaction rating with the smaller airports compared to only 50% at the larger ones. Southend and Doncaster topped the table, followed by Blackpool, London City and Southampton.

Reclaiming your baggage was one of the biggest areas of complaint – I am sure fueled by those poor people who experienced many hours wait for their luggage at Gatwick a few weeks ago – remember the excuse – staff shortage was it ? Well it’s not rocket science – they know how many aircraft are due in – get your rota sorted!!

I used Liverpool John Lennon airport a few months ago and was very pleased with the experience.

I appreciate that it isn’t always possible to use a regional airport – they don’t always have the routes we need. But come on the big boys out there – Manchester, Heathrow, Gatwick etc – get your acts together and when the next survey is published let’s see you moving up to the top for the customer experience.