Heathrow Airport Reviews 

Extremely Disappointing Experience with KLM and Heathrow Airport

Our connecting flight from London to Amsterdam was cancelled while we were still in the air on our way from San Francisco to London. We only found out upon landing at Heathrow. KLM automatically rebooked us on a complicated route for the next morning — London → Brussels → Antwerp → Amsterdam — which made no sense, considering we had already been traveling for nearly 10 hours.

We decided to cancel that rebooking ourselves, book a hotel at our own expense, and arrange train tickets to get home instead. To make matters worse, our luggage was missing at Heathrow, and there was no KLM staff anywhere to help. We were sent from terminal to terminal (1 to 4, then 3, then 2), told to call a phone number, then to go to a Brussels Airlines service desk, until I finally asked for a supervisor.

After five hours, we still had no luggage, only repeated responses like “we’re working on it” — yet apparently our case had no priority. With that mindset, nothing ever gets resolved.

Meanwhile, KLM was unreachable by phone, email, or chat. After a nine-hour flight from San Francisco, this entire experience has been exhausting, frustrating, and completely unacceptable. And Heathrow Airport itself doesn’t help — chaotic, disorganized, and filled with staff who pass you from one counter to another without any real assistance.

This has truly been one of the worst travel experiences I’ve ever had.

So slow we are waiting 30 mins just to check in so we can go to terminal 4 ,this Asian women is taking tooooo long

Sitting in Heathrow coach station waiting for a bay. Sent round once outside before allowing into overflow queue. Now have to not only wait for 5 buses in front, but also buses arriving!! Stuck here for 40 mins already. Will miss flight. NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!!!!
Missed flight. In first instance bus delayed 1 hour leaving Exeter. Due to having to wait for broken bus.
Time made up arr with 1 hr 15 min to process through airport. Then disaster struck - no bays. Sat for half-hour leaving marginal 40 mins. No chance. Passenger removed from manifest IF NOT CLEARED SECURITY at least 35 mins before dep time. Not sure whether Heathrow or bus companyies are responsible for coach station faciliti but with long distance coach es, local coaches & limited space/bays. Its cataphrose waiting to happen. Happened today missed flight 🤷🏼

We left last night from Heathrow Terminal 4 to Bahrain and connecting flight today to Karachi. Understandably there were delays due to the cyber attack but the staff should be more careful. While we were in the queue a staff member was getting our passports and issuing receipts for our luggage and boarding passes. She asked us where we were flying to we told her Karachi. On arrival at Bahrain airport we went to information to get our new boarding passes to Karachi. The lady at the information desk checked and said but you’re flying to Islamabad we said no Karachi. She then told us that our luggage was directed to Islamabad from Heathrow. We rechecked the receipt . Luckily she was able to call a few places and got our luggage to be on the Karachi flight. This is a big mistake from the staff member at Heathrow and I can understand the chaos due to the cyber attack but they should be more careful. We specifically told her Karachi. This would have caused a lot of inconvenience and distress for us and its 4 suitcases . I am just hoping we get our bags in Karachi as the staff member at information desk at Bahrain airport advised us. The lady at Bahrain information desk was fantastic and very helpful and knowledgeable

What a diabolical, uncaring, pathetic system for Special Assistance at Terminal 2 for disabled passengers.
Last year the assistance check in desk was just inside the entrance, after registration we had a wheelchair and assistant take us right through to the lounge where we could relax before our flight.

This year the desk has been moved and you have to request assistance at a help point phone. We did, got cut off and nobody came. Asked a member of staff about getting a wheelchair and got told to go to the other side of the terminal where the desk was up in a corner. Not easy with suitcases and a disabled partner.
After registration and the allocation of wheelchair and assistant, taken to check in for our flight and drop luggage. Then back to the corner for a wait before going through security. We had booked a lounge to relax in before the flight but instead of going to the lounge got taken to another holding area because it was “the system.”
After nearly an hour’s wait watching others get wheeled out we finally got our turn for assistance to go to our lounge, arriving just 5 minutes before our flight boarded. Too late to go into the lounge! We are thoroughly disgusted at this treatment of paying passengers just because they have a disability, denying them access to a paid for relaxing lounge. Bring back the old system - it worked!

To AURORA in the Special Assistance Team - you need to find another job that doesn’t require patience and compassion - the way you treated that lady who had broken her back on Thursday 18/09/2025 was appalling - after such a long flight (10 hours) the lady was confused and your rudeness and lack of help was disgusting. The whole Special Assistance experience is chaos from start to finish at Heathrow - the current version needs to be scrapped and started again as what is currently in place is not fit for purpose! The way these people who need assistance are treated is appalling - DO BETTER!!!!!!!

We had problems getting an ETA for our flight, when we spoke to the staff at Terminal 2 they were so helpful, they gave us the information we needed to help resolve our problem. Can6thank them enough.

Passing through customs, I was handed into Heathrow “care”, or rather, the lack of it. I had been emergency-evacuated from Copenhagen to London with fractures to my hip and pelvis, and was left in Heathrow Airport’s disability care system.

What followed was deeply distressing. I was placed on a hard seat, completely unsuitable for my injuries, away from my carer,. A kind staff member did his best to find me a softer chair, but even that was not appropriate for someone with my condition. For over an hour, frail, elderly, and disabled passengers were left sitting on hard chairs without access to bathrooms or even water.

My partner had to leave me to collect our bags, otherwise they would have been lost. This left me separated from my carer for around 1.5 hours, despite having two pieces of hand luggage and no safe way to transfer me. Only when I insisted on using the toilet was an inappropriate, unsafe wheelchair finally produced, and my luggage was piled on top of my broken pelvis during the transfer.

When I finally reached the disabled toilet near Costa Coffee, I found the door so heavy that I could not open it without help, a basic failure in accessibility for those who most need it.

Wheelchairs were in such short supply that the single staff member at the desk was frantically trying to cope, juggling complaints, phone calls, and desperate passengers. Adding insult to injury, the performance board on display boasted statistics about how well Heathrow claims to perform. These figures do not reflect the true situation. Disability care is not represented on these boards, and it should be. The way to judge a society is by how it treats its frail and vulnerable members. By that measure, Heathrow fails.

And the failure was not limited to my arrival. Despite calling ahead and organising a wheelchair for my departure to Australia a few days later, none was available as arranged. Yet another failure in providing the most basic level of care for disabled passengers.

The individual staff I encountered were doing their best under extremely difficult circumstances. One man in particular showed great patience and kindness despite being overwhelmed with complaints, phone calls, and a lack of equipment. His professionalism stood out. The real problem lies with Heathrow’s systems and resourcing. Staff are left without enough wheelchairs, support, or backup to meet the needs of frail and disabled passengers. This not only fails vulnerable travellers but also places impossible pressure on employees. If nothing changes, I imagine staff will eventually burn out, and that would be a loss, because the few people on duty were the only positive aspect of an otherwise distressing experience.

The real failure lies not with the hardworking employees, but with Heathrow Airport itself. Vulnerable passengers were neglected, denied dignity, and left without proper support. Staff, too, were failed, left to manage overwhelming pressure without adequate equipment or backup.

Heathrow must urgently address these shortcomings. Disabled passengers deserve safe, respectful care, and staff deserve the tools and resources to provide it.
Arriving T5, BA815, Business Class.

Fly 2 hours. Wait 1 hour 50mins for bag.
And they think this sort of incompetence warrants another runway. Words fail. if you have one job. And you fail miserably. Why would you be rewarded with more

T5 luggage handling system is completely poor and shambles to BA handling system its always over an hour of flight arriving at the airport BA need to look at the operations urgently to solve the issue. Other terminals are working fine but our national air lines is not. Disappointed.

Heatrow Terminal 2 the worst airport in UK. The parking is so full and Impossible to find parking. To come out take almost 20min. Nobody is following rules,cars go's opposite direction blocking other cars. Drivers are biping non stop This is crazy!

Travelling home from Tokyo with young children, we waited over an hour for our bags to be delivered - this was after 30 minutes to get from the gate via passport control - no information, nowhere to sit - a horrible experience. A colleague from Pakistan described Heathrow as like a third-world airport - I couldn't disagree, except when it comes to how expensive it is.

Heathrow Terminal 5 Avoid!
Male security staff ignored my medical letter explaining why I needed a hand search and blocked me from talking to any female security. Harassed me to shout out my reason in public which is not required my law and a total invasion of privacy and furthermore I had a medical.letter.that could be read without a public announcement. Male manager went on to do the same and demanded I shout out my medical.reason despite a doctors letter and no requirement by law to declare my reasons publicly. Appalling treatment. Unprofessional and abusive

The wheel chair company service was dismal when my family had arrived in Heathrow airport on the 27th of August after our flight from Kuala Lumpur ( MH0002 ). First we suprised to realise that we had to walk all the way out of the long skybridge from the aircraft to the arrival terminal all by foot. My parents both have trouble walking and needed the wheelchair to be there in order to help out. After a painful walk we had arrived at the arrival terminal and was greeted with a buggy that my parents had to go on. However they could not speak English to a fluent degree. We were then told that we were not allowed to follow them. Not even one of the family members, meaning that we were separated and since we did not want that to happen we decided to slowly walk over to immigration and continued from there.

I rate Heathrow airport a 1, becouse they conned us out of 60 GREAT BRITISH POUNDS!! The worst experience, the Staff were horrible. When we asked for directions they starting talking about a ton of BULLSHIT and made us pay 60 punds, for what you may ask. I DONT EVEN KNOW. Would not recommend, pls for the love of god do not trust Heathrow. I already emailed them about this 4 times and they still haven't replied. Disgusting behavior, such rude people.

Security staff was clueless. One staff member let us switch terminals for the lounge. When we arrived at the other terminal, the security staff did not want to clear us. They said we should be at the gate an hour before the flight and we would not have time. But we had 3 hours before the flight and the security line was 2 people. We waster 45 mins back and forth. When we got back to the original terminal, the security person said they would talk to their manager to get the staff trained better. But this cost us $95 for food. Don’t think LHR will reimburse me. Sucks.

Travelled in and out through terminals 2 and 3.
Not too bad an experience, at least no undue delays or large queues. Toilets not that clean.
Better than Birmingham airport but then that bar is set very low.

Ahh! Now I have seen the reviews on Trust pilot, everything makes sense!! I have been trying to contact Heathrow for 2 hours to speak to a human, as I have a certain complicated inquiry to ask. Can you get through???? Absolutely not, nothing works. They give you 8 choices on the 0344 number, press a number and you get silence. Then Google to find a number to speak with someone and it's all lies. You call the number you were told to, you hold for approx 15 minutes and then you are told that the number you rang, is only for people in wheelchairs. I think that it is clear that this airport is an absolute nightmare. When I arrived there it was a wrecked filthy old fashioned mess with the worst kind of staff. I thought I'd landed in the wrong country to be honest. I'm absolutely gutted that I will have to use it yet again with no information at all, on my very long journey with 3 changes, so thanks a lot, you awful dreadful airport

I travel through Heathrow Airport regularly. It is difficult to go to the bathroom or as they say "Toilet." The cleaner closes the Men's Toilet between Boots and Café Nero regularly but leaves the Women's Toilet open. So all the construction workers dirty the Women's Toilet at night. It is not safe to go in there. In general, the airport stays ice cold all year. I spend thousands traveling through here to freeze, not use the bathroom unless I want to haul my bags to Arrivals. Then battle through Security, while most staff are unfriendly and half just stand around...such a waste of assets.

Booked 4 tickets with BA from Term 3 Heathrow to Toulouse. France. Also booked wheelchair assistance for 3 of the 4 travelers. Special assistance is a long way from bag check, in terminal 5 they are together. When we got to special assistance it was out of the way with no cafes or anything. Made to feel an inconvenience by the woman on the desk. Eventually 3 helpers arrived and loaded my 3 relatives into wheelchairs but didnt tell us what was going on. We ended up in a long queue with everyone else for customs. No seperate line for people with special needs. It was very slow, chaotic and noisy. For anyone with autism etc it would have been a nightmare. The lady in front of us, also with special needs was crying! The wheelchair helpers were saying that they had been asking for a special lane for wheelchair users because they get tied up waiting in the queues and then other passengers cant get the help that they have booked! My relatives with special assistance were checked first and one had to have her bags inspected, she had a tube of something that she had forgotten but they let her keep it. I had the bags for my daughter and I and in all the chaos of getting 4 people ready I had forgotten a tube of hand cream which was nearly empty and a brand new pot of hair cream which had never been opened. Every item of mine and my daughters was inspected and it took ages. They were checked by 3 different people and my stuff was in 2 different places. When I tried to go and get my stuff from one place when it was finished I was told off by the other person. It was terrible and all the time my 3 relatives and 2 helpers were waiting. I was made to feel like a criminal. The tube of hand cream was binned by the checker but the hair cream was not put in the bin but she kept it! Eventually we got through and were parked in a drab room with no toilet, food, drinks etc and no explanation of what was going on. Two of my relatives needed food to take medication and so I went to ask for the nearest cafe. 2 wheelchair assistants kindly took my relatives and brought them back. An elderly lady, in her 90s and travelling alone, sitting near us wanted food and I directed her to where we had gone. Eventually she came back having got lost! There was no signage and no welfare checks etc. People were afraid to move in case they missed their flights. You couldnt hear the flights being called and there was no flight board. Eventually some helpers said that our flight was ready for us and "could we all walk?" There were about 7 or 8 wheelchair users who were all made to feel like they had to walk as "the gate is only a 2 minute walk away". Yes it was but then they had to wait on the other side and there were no seats then they had to walk to the plane. It was disgraceful, most had to stand for over 15 minutes! When we landed in Toulouse it was a whole other story, much better and well organised. On the return flight my 2 relatives who were travelling alone were passed from pillar to post and even split up, her husband has dementia, they had extra assistance booked for this too. There was only 1 person to escort them and my cousin was asked if she could push the trolley, she said no so then she was asked if she could push her husbands wheelchair! She has bad mobility issues! I am disgusted by the treatment that my family have received and have complained but the replies were, to say the least, pointless. I wouldnt recommend special assistance at terminal 3 to my worst enemy. "Special", I dont think so! To be honest it felt like we were an inconvenience from the moment that we arrived with special assistance to the moment that we got on the plane and then off again on the return flight. Heathrow you need to scrub your current arrangements and start again, this time try treating special assistance travellers as if they are special and not an inconvenience. You need a dedicated special assistance line at customs, preferably away from all the noise and chaos, welfare checks, to explain what is going on every step of the way, to offer all passengers toilet, food and drink facilities, to have wheelchairs and helpers for those who have booked them, to not stick people out of the way as if they are an inconvenience and you need to consider and make provisions for passengers with things like autism, dementia etc. Next time I fly I will certainly have Heathrow at the bottom of my list.