The finding comes from a Which? survey of 7,500 consumers, which saw small airports – such as Doncaster Sheffield, Exeter and Liverpool John Lennon – beat their big-name rivals to be crowned best in the UK this year, with the larger hubs crippled by excessive delays and cancellations.
Despite Doncaster Sheffield coming out on top, the airport is due to shutdown imminently with the last flight departing in the next few weeks.
With a customer score of 85%, travellers praised the "fantastic, helpful staff" and "faultless service", awarding the airport’s employees five stars.
The airport also received five star ratings for queues through security and at baggage reclaim, as well as for seating and toilet facilities. Exeter and Liverpool John Lennon tied in second place with a customer score of 83%.
The lowest performing airport according to the survey was Manchester, which took the three lowest spots in the rankings. At the bottom of the charts with a customer satisfaction score of 38% was the airport’s Terminal 3.
It managed no higher than two stars in any of the remaining categories and travellers expressed their disappointment at long queue times – not just through security – but even for refreshments.
Manchester Terminals 1 and 2 fared marginally better, with customer satisfaction scores of 41% and 47% respectively.
Among London airports, City came out on top, achieving joint third place in the tables overall (tied with Southampton).
It achieved five stars across all queue types, from check-in, bag-drop, security, passport control and baggage reclaim. It also rated four stars for quality of seating available and helpfulness of staff.
Heathrow’s Terminal 5 performed the best for the airport, achieving four stars across all types of queues, and an overall customer satisfaction score of 60%.
However, its counterparts, terminals 2, 3 and 4, all fell to the bottom half of the table, with Terminal 4 achieving a customer satisfaction score of 48%.
Guy Hobbs, editor of Which? Travel, said: "This year we’ve witnessed unprecedented chaos at many of the UK’s largest airports. Travellers reported extensive queues and unhelpful staff, with resources pushed to breaking point."
