Travellers flying from UK airports may want to plan their journey carefully, as new data has revealed the airports where you’re most likely to lose your luggage or have your flight cancelled.
Travel company Bounce examined passenger complaints, cancellation rates, and customer satisfaction from 2022 to 2024, finding that several major UK airports have consistently struggled with luggage handling.
And when it comes keeping hold of your bags Southampton Airport topped the list as the UK airport most likely to lose your luggage.
According to the research, Southampton had the highest number of baggage complaints, with 0.18 per 100,000 passengers.
It also had the highest overall complaint rate at 4.42%, ranked the second worst for flight cancellations at 3.63% and received a low overall rating of three out of ten.
London airports Heathrow and Gatwick also ranked poorly for baggage handling, with 0.16 and 0.15 complaints per 100,000 passengers, respectively.
However, travellers looking for pristine luggage handling might want to consider flying from Liverpool, Bournemouth or Cardiff; the three airports each received 0 complaints per 100,000 passengers for lost luggage, according to the study.
In terms of cancelled journeys, Aberdeen ranked the worst across the UK, with 4.25% of all departures scrapped in 2024 alone.
‘This equates to more than one in 25 flights being cancelled and is more than three times the UK average across all airports in our study, which stands at 1.34%,’ read the Bounce report.
While your bags may be in better hands, as Aberdeen only received 0.08% lost luggage complaints per 100,000 passengers for lost bags between 2022 and 2024, it still only received a low overall score of 4.7 out of 10.
The 10 UK airports with the most lost luggage
According to Bounce, the following UK airports received the most lost luggage complaints between 2022 and 2024.
- Southampton – 0.18 (complaints per 100,000 passengers)
- London Heathrow – 0.16
- London Gatwick – 0.15
- Manchester – 0.15
- Birmingham – 0.11
- London City – 0.10
- Belfast City – 0.10
- Aberdeen – 0.08
- Exeter – 0.08
- Newcastle – 0.04
The Bounce study considered multiple factors for its rankings, including Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) complaints, cancellation rates, flight delay times, and passenger ratings for queuing, cleanliness and navigation.
It found Manchester Airport to be the most problematic all round, with an overall score of 2.39 out of 10.
The airport scored two out of five for cleanliness, ease of navigation and queuing times – the lowest across each category.
It also received a high number of complaints to the Civil Aviation Authority, with 2.59 per 100,000 passengers and an average delay time of 20.01 minutes, alongside 0.15 lost luggage complaints per 100,000 passengers.
London Gatwick earned the second lowest overall rating of the study, receiving just 2.6 out of ten. It also recorded a high cancellation rate of 1.43% and had the highest average flight delay of 23 minutes.
Southampton Airport followed closely, ranking as the third most problematic airport overall, with a rating of just 3.01 out of 10.
Cody Candee, CEO and Founder at Bounce said: ‘This research shows that UK airports have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to providing an efficient and streamlined service to travelers.
‘This poor performance puts a lot of pressure on flyers who have to navigate the often confusing airport signage and long security queuing times.
‘With this in mind, travelers should prepare appropriately for their airport experience to be as straightforward as possible.’
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