As part of research by Airport Parking and Hotels, they set out to identify the friendliest airports in the UK by taking a look at traveller reviews at some of the busiest airports.
To identify the friendliest airports, they analysed Google reviews from 23 of the busiest airports in the UK and then searched for 52 positive staff-related keywords, such as friendly, patient, polite, and professional while filtering out false positives and negatives.
The reviews were dated from May 20, 2025 onwards and only compared reviews written in the English language. They also removed the duplicated and off-topic reviews and excluded airports with fewer than 50 relevant mentions of staff.
Natural language processing (NLP) was also used to analyse the meaning and tone of each review, giving a more accurate measure of sentiment than just counting positive or negative keywords.
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Southampton Airport was ranked the best for friendliness from staff in the UK. There, you can fly domestically to UK destinations or further afield to stunning holiday spots such as Alicante or Palma Majorca.
Edinburgh Airport didn’t make it in the top 15 airports, though it managed to rank 16th, while Manchester Airport, the UK’s second busiest airport, ranked as the 17th friendliest.
Here are the top 15 airports, ranked from the best, for customer experience:
9. Glasgow Airport - 62.9%
Glasgow Airport - the highest ranking Scottish airport on the list - received a percentage of 62.9 per cent. It is the second busiest airport in the country, with the first being Edinburgh Airport. | Bloomberg via Getty Images
10. Newcastle International Airport - 62.8%
Newcastle International Airport received 62.8 per cent of positive reviews. Located approximately 7.7 miles from Newcastle city centre, it is the primary and busiest airport in North East of England. | PA
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11. Aberdeen International Airport - 61.1%
Aberdeen International Airport received a 61.1 per cent for the number of positive reviews regarding the politeness of their staff. It is one of two Scottish airports on the list. | PA
12. Liverpool John Lennon Airport - 60.8%
60.8 per cent of reviews for Liverpool John Lennon Airport were positive when it came to the politeness of their staff. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated from the airport. | Getty Images