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A study conducted by Skyscanner revealed that Edinburgh Airport is the UK’s number one family friendly airport.
With the half term this weekend, Skyscanner asked more than 1,000 families to score the UK’s top 10 busiest airports on several family friendly factors including children’s play areas and facilities, food options for children and the security process.
Scotland’s biggest airports took the top two spots in the study with Glasgow International Airport coming second, just behind Edinburgh Airport.
Edinburgh Airport, which carries more than 9m passengers each year, was hailed for its range of restaurants with more than 70% of those polled stating they were happy with the number of family friendly dining options. The airport was also recommended for its runway viewing areas and its accessibility while Glasgow International was commended for its variety of children’s play areas.
At the other end of the scale, Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport carrying more than 69m passengers each year, came bottom of the list of the UK’s top 10 airports. The airport was criticised for its lack of children’s play areas, its overcrowding and small seating areas.
Other London airports didn’t fare much better. Stansted came in 8th, Luton in 6th and despite rolling out a number of family friendly initiatives last year, Gatwick, the UK’s second busiest airport, only managed to take fifth place in the study.
A previous Skyscanner survey cited long queues as the worst thing about the airport experience for families so it was very positive that this study revealed that the security process was found to be “easy” by the majority of respondents for every one of the airports included in this survey. However, a worrying 45% of families travelling through Birmingham Airport said the process was “too long” which may go some way to explain the airports poor scoring overall.
Mary Porter, Skyscanner’s family expert comments; “We conducted this study following a consumer survey last year which saw 59% of people state that UK airports failed to cater for families. It is encouraging that several airports across the UK are now well prepared for family travellers and no airport scored less than 6 marks out of a possible 10.
“However, it appears that some airports need to go further. It is no wonder that young children who have already experienced long queues and little entertainment at the airport are then prone to having meltdowns by the time they board the aircraft. By catering better for them at the airport, the on board experience could be far less stressful for families and in turn more enjoyable for all passengers”.
Top10 Family Friendly Airports
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
