UK’s airports ranked on efficiency forward of summer season holidays

The most recent analysis by tax specialists, RIFT, reveals that whereas Heathrow could be the UK’s busiest main airport, Brits heading overseas this summer season are greatest to keep away from Glasgow Airport, because it ranks because the worst in terms of the proportion of flights being cancelled.

RIFT analysed the variety of annual flights and cancellations at every of the UK’s 10 busiest airports to see which supplies essentially the most environment friendly service to passengers.

Final 12 months (2022), a mixed whole of 221.8 million passengers handed by means of the UK’s 10 busiest airports.

28%, or 61.6 million, of those folks travelled by means of Heathrow, making it the busiest airport within the nation.

Gatwick dealt with 32.8 million passengers (15%), whereas Manchester and Stansted (10.5%) every served an estimated 23.3 million passengers (11%).

Nonetheless, in terms of the opportunity of flight cancellations throwing a spanner within the works for UK holidaymakers, it’s Glasgow Airport that’s most certainly to kick off your vacation on a bitter observe.

In 2022 2.5% of all flights from Glasgow had been cancelled and whereas this may not look like many, it equates to nearly 1,500 cancellations.

Heathrow does rank second in terms of the frequency of cancelled flights. Of the 367,000 flights that had been on account of take off final 12 months, Heathrow noticed a cancellation charge of 1.7% or 6,391 flights.

Gatwick (3,472) and Edinburgh (1,363) additionally rank excessive with 1.6% of flights taken off the board

In the meantime, Birmingham airport dealt with nearly 69,000 flights in 2022 and managed a cancellation charge of simply 0.6%, equal to lower than 400 flights.

Stansted (0.7%) and Belfast Worldwide (0.8%) had been additionally impressively dependable.

What to do in case your flight is cancelled

In case your flight is cancelled, you might have a authorized proper to both a full refund or a alternative flight to your meant vacation spot.

In case you are midway by means of a journey and the cancelled flight is, for instance, a connecting flight, you even have the precise to a free flight again to the airport you initially departed from.

If a cancellation delays your journey for greater than two hours, and happens lower than 14 days earlier than the scheduled flight time, you might be additionally entitled to compensation to cowl your prices, similar to meals or lodging when required.

Compensation ranges between £100-£500 relying on what number of miles the cancelled flight was going to take you and what number of hours late your eventual arrival was.

Be passport ready

Whereas cancelled flights are a typical reason for vacation frustration and disappointment, it’s extra widespread for holidays to be disrupted by passport points.

In case your passport is outdated, it wants renewing earlier than you may journey. The timeline for receiving a brand new passport is round 12-29 days after submitting your utility. However His Majesty’s Passport Workplace recommends you enable for a ready time of 10 weeks.

What’s actually necessary to know is that even when your passport is inside its expiry date, it nonetheless may not be legitimate relying in your vacation spot of alternative.

Some nations, such because the US, merely require your passport to be in-date at some point of your journey, however many common locations require you to have a minimum of three months left in your passport, together with Spain, Greece, Italy, and France.

Anybody who isn’t conscious of this may be in for a nasty shock after they get to the airport and cancelled flights would be the least of your worries.

Be ready and be sure to test the foundations particular to your vacation spot properly forward of travelling.

Bradley Put up, MD of RIFT, mentioned, “Given what number of flights go away UK airports each day, it’s truthful to say that the business is extremely environment friendly and dependable with cancellations saved at a minimal.

In reality, in case your vacation goes to get scuppered on the airport, it’s way more prone to be a passenger error than an airline error. Forgotten passports and outdated passports are at all times going to be main contributors to ruined holidays.

You’ve obtained to double test your passport properly earlier than you journey. And don’t overlook, when a flight is cancelled by the airline, there’s likelihood of getting your a reimbursement. But when it’s your personal fault which you can’t journey as deliberate, you’re not going to get any compensation in any way.”