Edinburgh Airport: The UK's worst airports for queues named and shamed - and where Edinburgh Airport ranks

The data, gathered by compensation experts www.claims.co.uk, combines local authority traffic data from airport regions, yearly terminal passenger data, and security queue times, to create a ranking of Britain’s airports and their efficiency.

It comes after passengers travelling through Edinburgh Airport were met with huge queues over the weekend. Pictures shared on social media showed hundreds of people lining up to check in their bags before passing through security after reports of a failure at check-in.

Edinburgh Airport, however, is far from being the worst of the UK major airports when it comes to delays, be it due to long security queues, changes in luggage liquid limits, power cuts, new technology or summer holiday rushes.

London Heathrow topped the ranking as the UK that passengers should arrive to the earliest, primarily due to the delays caused by the 79.15 million yearly terminal passengers that travel through the site.

A ranking, which scores the airports out of 100 for the longest traffic jam and queue times - with a higher score reflecting a longer wait – scored Heathrow 78.3. The airport also has problems with traffic, with approximately 3.17 million vehicles passing through the surrounding area each year. #

Security times for Heathrow are less intense than other airports, however, reporting an average wait of 20 minutes.

Birmingham Airport ranks second, with a score of 54.9 out of 100. With 11.48 million passengers using the site per year, and 2.64 million cars passing through the area, passengers must combat longer queues inside and outside of the airport. Passengers had to wait for an average of 24 minutes to get through Birmingham Airport’s security last year, and may face further delays this summer, as a result of the new liquid and technology scanning equipment and renovations.

Bristol is third with a score of 54.7. Passengers here wait an average of 30 minutes to get through security – the second-longest wait in Britain. Plus, with 9.91 million yearly visitors and 2.26 million vehicles nearby, Bristol is a busy airport for its size.

Leeds Bradford Airport is fourth with a score of 51.4 out of 100. With an average wait time of 35 minutes to get through security, the airport has the longest wait time, despite low passenger numbers with 3.99 million reported annually.

Rounding out the top five, Manchester Airport’s 28.08 million passengers per year make it the third-busiest airport in the UK. With a score of 50.5, out of 100 Manchester and Birmingham share a security queue time of 24 minutes.

In ninth spot is Edinburgh Airport. Scotland's busiest airport scored 31.88 out of 100, with an average security waiting time of 16 minutes. Completing the top 10 is Glasgow Airport, with a score of 14.61 and an average waiting time of 13 minutes.

Methodology: The study used data from the Department for Transport’s Road Traffic Statistics Report (2023) to determine the traffic surrounding each airport (vehicles per mile within the local authority checkpoints). It took yearly terminal passenger statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s Annual Airport Data (2023), and security queue times from the Which? 2022 Security Queue Report. Each airport was given an index score out of 100, upon which the final ranking is based.