Editor's Blog3 mins ago
What An Honour
Yet again the UK can be proud of (nearly) being world leaders. Gatwick airport is rated the second worst airport in the world, pipped to THE worst spot by Kuwait (so nearly the outstandingly most awful - try harder Gatwick), according to a survey published here:
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It may come as a surprise to some that Gatwick achieves this rating, but I am not among them - Gatwick is an airport I always dread going through. I find Stansted drearily dreadful and Edinburgh is hardly rated any better in the survey. In my experience Edinburgh is particularly bad as an arrivals point and all large UK airports share the same unpleasant immigration atmosphere (queues out the door) and staff attitudes similar to the USA (some are a delightful surprise though, not all are bad).
http://
It may come as a surprise to some that Gatwick achieves this rating, but I am not among them - Gatwick is an airport I always dread going through. I find Stansted drearily dreadful and Edinburgh is hardly rated any better in the survey. In my experience Edinburgh is particularly bad as an arrivals point and all large UK airports share the same unpleasant immigration atmosphere (queues out the door) and staff attitudes similar to the USA (some are a delightful surprise though, not all are bad).
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Understandably, those who are told somewhere is superior will be slower to take issue with its faults ("we are the best"), not least if so doing would hurt national pride. Also, anyone only experiencing going through a very limited number of airports annually will have a very narrow comparison and is not in a position to rubbish the report based on their own limited experience. The survey actually lists only 76 airports in total so Sky were misleading - bottom of the list does not mean the world's worst so Gatwick is presumably only rated as grim. I have not been to all of the top ten but those which I have visited, with exception of Madrid many years ago, I can believe compare well worldwide. Singapore has been praised by those I know and have been there, and the judgement on Delhi agrees with mine many years ago and a friend's also, he passed through there en route to and from Australia only a little more than two months ago. I was never impressed by Dubai. Construction works, etc. can influence tall of the criteria so any airport undergoing expansion can be set back in the ratings. The criteria for the survey as well as the full published list is here
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Pleased to see Dubai in the bottom ten, particularly T2, I haven't used T3 though.
Brunei was an interesting experience, just not in a good way.
In a 3rd World country I received the full VIP treatment, met at the foot of the aircraft steps, and was driven into the tea garden whilst my luggage and papers were dealt with on my behalf, on the return I was taken to the VVIP lounge. It was a surreal experience!
If been to some quirky airports in the Caribbean and so called international airports that had their own charm.
Brunei was an interesting experience, just not in a good way.
In a 3rd World country I received the full VIP treatment, met at the foot of the aircraft steps, and was driven into the tea garden whilst my luggage and papers were dealt with on my behalf, on the return I was taken to the VVIP lounge. It was a surreal experience!
If been to some quirky airports in the Caribbean and so called international airports that had their own charm.
Eccles Cake and others, note that the list is compiled using information from various sources within the well respected skytrax database/umbrella. The air travel world (and international media) take this survey seriously and dismissing it as the product of some inconsequential individual suggests pique over the outcome - which is any individual's prerogative, but in itself carries no weight.
Mediaspeak - is "The world of air travel/aviation better" ?
What will be interesting is whether the rubbish airports will study how they came to score so badly and do something about it or whether they will employ the usual arrogance of trashing the messenger (or simply ignoring the message) and proceed as normal with the arrogant insistence that, on the contrary, they are the best.
What will be interesting is whether the rubbish airports will study how they came to score so badly and do something about it or whether they will employ the usual arrogance of trashing the messenger (or simply ignoring the message) and proceed as normal with the arrogant insistence that, on the contrary, they are the best.
Of course there are more than 76 international airports in the world – to my mind, London Luton would be unlikely to make it in the top 500.
Despite being a building site for longer than I can remember, it has no aircraft stands where passengers embark/disembark on a covered walkway directly connected to the terminal building. Passengers are either bussed to aircraft or walk across the tarmac.
On my last arrival at Luton there was plenty of opportunity to wonder off anywhere I wanted on the airfield, rather than head to the terminal building – with limited staff overseeing passenger movements on a dark night.
Despite being a building site for longer than I can remember, it has no aircraft stands where passengers embark/disembark on a covered walkway directly connected to the terminal building. Passengers are either bussed to aircraft or walk across the tarmac.
On my last arrival at Luton there was plenty of opportunity to wonder off anywhere I wanted on the airfield, rather than head to the terminal building – with limited staff overseeing passenger movements on a dark night.
I can remember when I used to go into airports in places like India and it was complete Bedlam. Nowadays, airports are so sophisticated. I do have a couple of issues with modern airports though. More people than ever are travelling these days so why do you have to walk 3/4 of a mile to your gate? And why do you get routed through the Duty Free shop on your way to the gate? That can be very confusing for people. It's all about spending money these days
237sj, I wholeheartedly agree with you on the awful "shopping experience". Prior to departure you are regularly forced to meander through the shopping areas. Edinburgh is one example of a particularly crass arrangement: First you walk in one direction through shops, then you literally do a 180 degree turn and walk right back through more shops. At Lisbon most arriving flights discharge into buses which take them to the arrivals area, at the furthest point away from baggage collection and exit into landside - through shops and restaurants of course. I can't for the life of me understand why lots of people (most ?) do any shopping at all when flying within Europe - it seems to me that there is no saving to be made, in fact things are often dearer at the airport than outside it. Even IKEA has short-cuts through the building, why not airports ?
I was meaning that the airports might choose to trash the messenger (Skytrax et al) rather than up their game toward the standards of the best, we'll see what happens
I was meaning that the airports might choose to trash the messenger (Skytrax et al) rather than up their game toward the standards of the best, we'll see what happens
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