UK airports named and shamed over Christmas delays
Luton Airport has been branded the worst airport for Christmas flight delays by a law firm specialising in flight delay claims.
According to flightcompensation.com, 56.61% of all Luton flights were delayed by 15 minutes or more last December.
Stansted came a close second with 54.9%, followed by Gatwick with 54.27%.
Manchester (42. 28%), Southampton (39.29%) and Bournemouth (38.64%) were also included in the top 10 ‘naughty list’, along with Northolt (50%), Prestwick (35.44%) and Nottingham East Midlands (31.84%).
Heathrow Airport came in at number 9, with 31.84% of flights delayed.
In comparison, the best airports for on-time departures were Southend, Cambridge, City of Derry and Isles of Scilly – where no delays longer than 15 minutes took place during December at all.
The study also shamed airports which had the highest number of Christmas flight delays over three hours long – the point at which passengers are potentially eligible for flight delay compensation under EU regulations.
Glasgow Airport was found to be the airport with the highest percentage of delays over three hours, with 1.33% of all flights delayed by over 180 minutes.
London Gatwick came in at number two with 118 delays lasting over three hours (1.32% of all departures that month).
It was also the airport that was affected by the longest delay in December – 25 hours and 9 minutes on a British Airways flight to Larnaca, Cyprus.
London Heathrow was third with 198 delays (1.02%) and Luton, Stansted and London City also reached the top 10 worst airports in the study.
Also included in the top 10 worst airports for delays of three hours or more were Nottingham East Midlands with 9 delays (0.94%), Manchester with 40 delays (0.73%) and Southampton with 10 delays (0.71%).
In contrast, no flight delays of three hours or more were recorded at Bristol, Liverpool or Bournemouth last December
"Christmas delays of three hours or more are particularly stressful because they often mean that passengers are missing out on precious time with their loved ones," said flight delay lawyer at Bott & Co Solicitors Kevin Clarke.
"Many of the passengers involved in the study don’t realise that they could be entitled to compensation for delays. We sometimes hear that airlines have told them that they are not owed any money, despite having their festive plans disrupted or even ruined.
"But as we find time and time again, passengers are not excluded from compensation just because airlines tell them that they are."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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