The UK has four of the five worst airports in Europe

These are the most stressful airports in Europe and four are in the UK (Picture: Getty Images)

The summer holidays are fast approaching and if you’ve booked a holiday around this time, you’re likely already dreading the journey.

An airport is not a peaceful place and, to make matters worse, it turns out the UK is home to four of the five most stressful airports in Europe.

While Heathrow airport was named the third most stressful European airport back in April, this month it’s climbed the rankings and taken the number one spot.

The airport played host to a staggering 79,151,723 travellers in 2023 and sees an average of 216,854 passengers per day pass through.

In April 2024 alone, there were 4,253,739 passengers booked to fly through this West London hub.

Preply’s study analysed 25 of Europe’s biggest airports to determine which caused the most stress to its passengers. It took into account Google review scores, the volume of lost luggage queries, punctuality and foot traffic per day.

Heathrow was named at Europe’s most stressful airport (Picture: Getty Images)

These factors resulted in a final overall stress score. For Heathrow, it was 6.40 out of 10.

While it had a decent Google review score of four out of five, there were 34,700 searches for lost luggage involving the airport in one year alone.

About 65.74% of its flights leave on time too, and all of this compiled leaves the London airport with the ‘most stressful’ crown.

In another hit for the UK, the second most stressful airport is Manchester airport. If you’re worried about your luggage, there were only 9,180 searches for lost luggage here, and 66.11% of its flights left on time.

Its average Google review score was three out of five, but there were 138 reviews that specifically mentioned it was a stressful experience.

This gave it an average stress score of 5.44 out of 10. Manchester’s T3 terminal also ranked as the worst airport terminal in the UK. It received a painful customer satisfaction score of just 38%.

The most stressful airports in Europe ranked from the most stressful (1) to the least (15) (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

It scored ones across the board when it came to queuing time, apart from passport control queues which scored a slightly better two out of five.

The lack of seating and expensive shops were also sticking points, earning the terminal an overall score of zero out of 10.

Despite this, its Escape Lounge T3 has earned a solid score of 4.5/5 across 3,000 reviews on Google. Here, you can enjoy up to three hours of peace and quiet and avoid the airport madness.

The hits keep on coming for the UK, as Europe’s third most stressful airport was Gatwick.

Despite a 3.8 average for Google reviews reportedly just 62.17% of the flights leave on time.

This, coupled with the 112,048 people who pass through the terminals on the daily, has landed Gatwick with an over all score of 5.40 out of 10.

In a nice break from the apparent theme, in fourth place was a French airport. Finally!

Charles de Gaulle Airport had previously been named the most stressful European airport last month, but has since dropped four places, and has an overall stress score of 5.16 out of 10.

With 184,716 passengers passing through, trying to wade through the crowds to get to your gate could be a stressful experience.

Manchester was named as the second most stressful airport in Europe (Picture: Getty Images)

Rounding out the top five back in the UK is London Stanstead. The airport was actually ranked one of the best for punctuality with 67.49% of the flights leaving on time.

It also got an average Google review score of 4.4 out of five. What seems to have let it down is the distance to the city centre, which is 65.7km – not ideal if you’re thinking you’re flying into a London airport.

This left London Stanstead with an over all score of 5.14 out of 10 when it came to stress levels.

In brighter news, if you’re flying from Liverpool John Lennon this summer, you’re in luck, as it was ranked the best airport terminal in the UK.

Luggage storage company, Bounce, analysed data from Which? on queues in each airport terminal, when it comes to the check-in desk, bag drop, security and passport control.

It also analysed the efficiency of baggage reclaim, available seating, number of staff, the range of shops and their prices, and how many toilets there were.

All of these factors were given a score out of five, which were then totted up to an overall score out of 10. Lastly, a customer satisfaction score was given for each terminal.

With an overall score of 7.71 out of 10, the Scouse airport took the crown, along with an 82% customer satisfaction score.

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