Why Your Airport Choice Matters More Than You Think This Summer ✈️
We compare hotel reviews, spend hours hunting for the best deals and carefully plan the details that will shape our holiday. Yet one part of the journey often gets overlooked until the day we fly: the airport itself.
Whether you're travelling solo, with friends, as a couple or as a family, the airport is where every holiday begins. It's where the excitement starts to feel real, but it's also where long queues, overcrowded terminals and confusing layouts can quickly replace anticipation with frustration before you've even reached your departure gate.
Research from holiday rental platform Holidu, published in its Airport Index 2026, suggests those first few hours of a journey matter more than we might realise. The study analysed publicly available Google ratings and passenger reviews from Europe's busiest airports, offering a snapshot of the experiences travellers remember most. Rather than measuring operational performance, the rankings reflect what passengers are saying about their journeys through the terminal.
Looking across the findings, it's clear that travellers aren't simply rewarding airports with the biggest terminals or the longest list of destinations. Reviews consistently praise airports that feel organised, easy to navigate and comfortable to spend time in, while lower-rated airports attract repeated criticism for overcrowding, lengthy queues and facilities that struggle to cope during busy periods. In many ways, the research says as much about how people want to travel as it does about the airports themselves.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport topped the UK rankings this year, climbing eight places compared with the previous index to achieve an average Google rating of 4.1. It was the only UK airport included in the research to score above four stars. Heathrow followed closely behind with a rating of 4.0, while Glasgow Airport completed the UK's top three. Together, the results challenge the assumption that Britain's busiest airports are automatically the most stressful, suggesting travellers place greater value on airports that feel efficient, organised and straightforward to navigate.
The lower end of the rankings tells a different story. Manchester Airport was once again named the UK's lowest-rated airport, despite improving slightly on last year's score. Reviews analysed by Holidu frequently referenced dated terminals and lengthy security queues, while Stansted also appeared among the country's lowest-rated airports. Gatwick and Luton were placed in the lower half of the UK rankings, highlighting how experiences can vary considerably even between airports serving the same city.
The research also highlights how similar many travellers' priorities are. Most people aren't looking for luxury before a flight. They're hoping for clear signage, enough seating, efficient security, clean facilities and a journey that feels calm rather than chaotic. When those expectations aren't met, it's often those seemingly ordinary frustrations that stay with people long after they've reached their destination.
The wider European rankings reinforce the same pattern. Istanbul Airport retained its position as Europe's highest-rated airport, earning a 4.4 rating from more than 110,000 passenger reviews. Travellers regularly praised its spacious terminals, clear signage and efficient organisation. At the other end of the table, Heraklion International Airport in Crete remained Europe's lowest-rated airport after attracting repeated criticism around overcrowding, long queues and facilities that reviewers felt struggled to cope with peak summer demand.
Of course, no airport experience is ever guaranteed. Delays, staffing shortages, engineering works, school holiday demand and even the time of your flight can all influence how smoothly a journey unfolds. Equally, one frustrating experience doesn't define an airport forever, just as one seamless journey doesn't guarantee the next will be identical.
What research like this does offer is perspective. When thousands of travellers independently identify the same strengths and frustrations, those patterns are worth paying attention to. We spend plenty of time choosing the right hotel because we know it can shape our holiday, but the latest passenger reviews suggest it's worth giving the airport a little thought too. While no ranking can predict exactly how your journey will unfold, understanding the experiences of other travellers can help set realistic expectations before you even arrive at the terminal.
The findings are based on Holidu's Airport Index 2026, which analysed publicly available Google ratings and passenger reviews collected in June 2026. They reflect travellers' experiences rather than official measures such as punctuality, security, waiting times or operational performance.