Two years ago the redevelopment work was well under way. Now two years later the first contract with Whitemountain is complete including the upgrade of the road network, new dual carriageway and drop off zone. The airport might as well have saved the £14 million it cost for the contract as it has achieved absolutely nothing due to a botched drop off zone design which limits the CTA to handle as little as 8 cars a minute during peak periods as cars battle to move over from the right hand lane to enter the drop off zone. If you think this is not true just stand by the tunnel and start counting!
The screen print below was a live traffic report taken at 6am.
Reading the airport reviews on Facebook makes for a depressing read.
Awful airport. I'd be very interested to know what the seat/passenger ratio is. I was there on a Thursday between 4.30 & 6.30pm. Departures is the worst departure area I've ever been to. Hardly any 'airport' seating and all the eateries were packed. Barely standing room as the place is so poorly laid surely the only place in the country (world?) that has a queue for Frankie & Bennys, people would actually rather be in that dive than in the lounge.
What is really depressing about the review above, which was written since Smithfields opened last week, is that apart from a small Starbucks all the drinking and eating areas are now open which are concentrated in the existing departure lounge. The new departure lounge extension, which is under construction, is meant to be just shops. Also as far as I can tell due to the airport maximizing all available space for retail outlets there will be no additional seating areas provided.
It is worth noting that this is the airport that is still 2.5 million passengers short from what it thinks its existing redevelopment can handle yet completed projects are leaving passengers feeling angry.
No doubt when fully finished some existing area's for concern like the queues at security will be helped by additional expansion but it is already clear this development is all about trying to increase capacity without increasing customers comfort and perceptions.
A few here should take a look at all of the reviews at
https://www.facebook.com/pg/LDNLutonAirport/reviews/ and then justify more routes.
What a shambles. Outbound experience was horrific-no seats and dangerous levels of overcrowding. Inbound we queued from the door to the tarmac all the way up various corridors to passport control. Over 90 minutes with no access to water or toilets as the queue was so far back. Elderly and those with small children were struggling with standing for so long. It's not even peak season yet !!! Once through passport control the toilets and terminal were filthy and strewn with litter. An absolute disgrace - Luton has always been poor in terms of cleanliness but it has gone even further down hill and I would advise people to avoid this horrific experience if they can and find alternatives - dreadful impression for people visiting the UK for the first time too