The worst UK airports for queues

At Birmingham and Manchester airports passengers reported queueing for almost half an hour at security last year. Passport control at the border was only slightly better.

Which? asked thousands of passengers to estimate the time they spent in queues at airports around the country. At the worst airport, Birmingham, the figure was 29 minutes at security.

At Manchester’s three terminals, passengers said they queued for between 25 and 28 minutes at security. This is a recurring problem for the airport, which has been criticised for its queues for many years.

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The worst airports for passport control queues

The longest reported waits at passport control were at Manchester Terminal 3 and London Stansted. At both airports passengers said they waited 21 minutes.

At Heathrow it was around 15 minutes, depending on terminal. At Gatwick it was around 13 minutes.

Passport control at airports is operated by the UK government’s Border Force.

The best airports for queues

Passengers at smaller airports had a much better experience, whether leaving or arriving, telling us they queued for less than 10 minutes both ways at Southampton, Aberdeen and London City. At Liverpool, queues were 11 minutes for security and passport control.

The times correspond closely with the results of our best and worst airports survey – where Liverpool was rated best by passengers and Manchester worst.

Airport security and passport control queues - from worst to best

Airports’ measurements of security queue times

Many airports dispute whether estimates provided by passengers are accurate. We asked the largest airports for their own figures but these are measured in confusingly different ways.

Heathrow, for example, tracks random passengers’ mobile phone data to see how quickly they pass from the entry point to the exit.

The figure is then calculated using a complicated algorithm agreed with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This is based on the length of time it takes to get through security, minus ‘unimpeded walking time’.

That means it isn’t tracking how long it took you to get through passport control or security, but simply how long you queued. In some airports, winding queue systems can take time to walk through even if you don’t need to wait in a queue.

Heathrow told us that this adjustment only reduces the figure by a matter of ‘seconds, rather than minutes’. Other airports told us they do include walking time in their figures.

Airports’ own figures for security queues

Birmingham says that its queues were nine minutes, on average, for the period covered by our survey. Manchester gave us figures for April until end of July this year and said '95.6% of passengers got through security in under 15 minutes. Almost three quarters got through security in under five minutes and 99.8% in under 30 minutes.'

All the airports we asked said that the vast majority of passengers got through in under 15 minutes, with most through in under 10 minutes. Heathrow said that over the summer period 'almost all passengers got through security in less than five minutes.'

Is it worth paying for fast-track to avoid long queues?

If you’re planning to arrive at your airport the recommended time of around two hours before your flight, you probably don’t need to pay for fast-track security.

The exception might be if you’re flying at peak times – such as first thing in the morning during the holidays – at one of the worst airports.

See our full guide to find out whether it's worth paying for fast-track security.

What can you do if you miss a flight because of long security queues?

At most airports, queues, particularly outside of peak times, aren’t horrendously long. But unexpected circumstances, such as strikes, can change that.

If you miss your flight because of a queue, the bad news is that neither the airline or the airport is likely to compensate you. However, there may be some steps you can take to avoid losing out.

See our full guide to what you can do if you miss a flight because of queues.

Will airport security queues get better?

By June 2024 all UK airports are obliged to have installed new scanners that mean you won’t need to remove liquids or electrical items from your luggage. They’re optimistic that these will reduce queue time.

London City, where the new scanners are already in place, told us that it had seen a ‘50% reduction in average security journey times and improved passenger feedback.’