The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has released results from a Civil Aviation Authority survey that asked over 15,000 respondents at seven airports (Birmingham, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester and Stansted) about their experiences of security screening.
It is worth noting that during 2024, UK airports started to roll out and implement new security screening technology under the Next Generation Security Checkpoint (NGSC) initiative. The timing of the deployment of new technology and associated screening measures varied across the airports, which may have had a bearing on the survey results.
Satisfaction remains high
In 2024, most passengers surveyed (85%) said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience of security screening. The aspects of security screening with which passengers were least satisfied were queuing (cited by 5%), slow speed of the screening process (cited by 3%) and the restriction of liquids (cited by 3%). Seventy-eight percent of passengers surveyed said that there was no aspect of the security screening process with which they were not satisfied at all.
The aspects of security screening with which passengers were most satisfied were the fast speed of the screening process (cited by 25%), general organization (cited by 7%) and staff attitude and politeness (cited by 6%). Around half (52%) of passengers reported that there was no aspect of the security screening process with which they were completely satisfied.
Fifty-six percent of passengers reported spending no more than five minutes queuing for security screening. Just over a third (34%) of passengers reported queuing for between six and 15 minutes; 10% reported spending over 15 minutes queuing.
In total, 89% of passengers either agreed or strongly agreed that any inconvenience caused by the security screening process was acceptable.
Airports in focus
Birmingham and London City airports were included in the survey for the first time since 2019. Across the five airports that were surveyed in both 2023 and 2024, levels of passenger satisfaction fell slightly but remained high (87% in 2023 and 85% in 2024).
Passengers at London City had the highest levels of satisfaction, with 97% satisfied or very satisfied with their security screening experience. Meanwhile, passengers at Luton had the lowest levels of satisfaction (69% satisfied or very satisfied) and the highest levels of dissatisfaction (6% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied). The proportion of passengers describing their experience as ‘OK’ at Luton was much higher than at any other airport (26%).
The highest proportion of passengers who reported queuing as the least satisfactory aspect of security screening was at Birmingham (19%). This is consistent with passengers’ reported queue times, with 16% of passengers at Birmingham reporting queuing for more than 20 minutes. This was more than double the proportion at any other airport.
Demographics
DfT found there was little difference in passenger satisfaction between those traveling for leisure and business, between male and female passengers, or between UK and foreign residents. However, passengers traveling on long-haul flights were slightly more likely to be satisfied or very satisfied with their experience (87%) than passengers traveling on short-haul (84%) or domestic (84%) flights. In addition, passengers aged 65 and over were more likely to strongly agree that any inconvenience caused was acceptable (41%) than passengers aged 16 to 24 (34%).
In October 2024, London Luton released the results of its own security screening experience survey