The tiny, underrated London airport that has been named best in the UK

Travelling in or out of an airport is rarely a stress-free experience. London’s air hubs in particular are often fairly chaotic; whether that’s due to their gargantuan size, sheer busyness or, of course, annoying stuff like delays, cancellations and lost luggage. Just last week a London airport was named the worst in the entire UK for delays.

But flying out of a London aviation hub doesn’t have to be horrifically stressful – and that’s shown by a new ranking of Britain’s best airports by consumer advice site Which?. Airline and airport specialist Trevor Baker put together a list of the nation’s airports based on a huge range of factors ranging from seating options, customer service and prices at duty free to cancellation rates and queue times.

After all that was taken into account, a London airport ranked impressively well in Which?’s study. None other than London City Airport placed third overall, named the best airport in London with a customer score of 76 percent. City also received prestigious ‘recommended provider’ status, which was only awarded to five other hubs.

So, what makes London City so great? Primarily it did well thanks to its lack of queues: at check-in, bag-drop, security and passport control, LCY received a full five-star score for its queue lengths.

City also scored well for time waiting at baggage reclaim, seating and food and shopping prices – all received a four-star rating. According to Which?, LCY’s high score ‘shows once again that passengers much prefer smaller, more manageable airports’. The study also notes that the Docklands airport is no longer mostly for business travellers, and has boosted routes to European holiday destinations.

London City didn’t score so well for the range and quality of its shops and food outlets, and for toilet availability. It also had a late cancellation rate of 2.67 percent, which was among the highest in Which?’s top 10.

The next-highest placed London airport in the study was Heathrow Terminal 5, with a 59 percent customer satisfaction rate, followed by Gatwick’s North Terminal and Heathrow Terminal 2, both with 57 percent.  

The best airports in London in 2025, according to Which?

Here’s Which’s ranking of all London’s airports, plus where they placed in the nationwide list.

1. London City (3)
2. London Heathrow Terminal 5 (13)
3. London Gatwick North Terminal (19)
4. London Heathrow Terminal 2 (20)
5. London Gatwick South Terminal (22)
6. London Heathrow Terminal 4 (23)
7. London Heathrow Terminal 3 (24)
8. London Stansted (25)
9. London Luton (27)

Find Which?’s ranking in full here and read more about the airport that took top spot here.

Did you see that London City was named one of the most beautiful airport landings in the world?

Plus: every London airport ranked from worst to best.

What time should you get to London airports before your flight?

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