If you’re anything like us, you might find it hard to actually get excited about your holiday until you’re sat on the plane, glass of wine in hand and a magazine in your lap. 

The rigmarole of the airport is a thing universally detested, with long security queues (although thanks to the liquids ban being lifted this is set to get better), the worry of potential delays and those fiddly passport machines all getting in the way of your holiday buzz. Oh, and don’t get us started on those airports with a less than tempting duty free selection and naff cafes, which make the experience all the more dreary. 

So, because we like our breaks away to go as smoothly as possible we’re always keen to plan our trip from start to finish using all the track hacks and insider info we can get our mitts on. From booking a seat on the plane in accordance with where gets the best service, taking measures that will make us more likely to get a free upgrade, we like to know how to make our holiday journeys easier. 

But instead of using recommendations or guesswork on which airports have the best experience, wouldn’t it be great if there was check list you could look at, telling you which airports have the best food options, least amount of flight delays, easiest transport from the neighboring city and the cheapest parking?

Well voila, your wish has been granted as global luggage storage network Stasher has done a new study of 106 international airports, choosing the 30 largest airports for each continent, to determine which have the best customer experience. And the UK has done pretty well.

The study ranks the airports on eight different aspects: Google reviews, the quality of the restaurants and food (looking at the average user rating of up to 70 restaurants and food outlets that are within the airport), the ratio of shops to the number of annual passengers, number of lounges, likelihood of an on-time flight, airport hotel quality, shortest distance to the city centre, cheapest cost parking.

After combining the results to create an average score, Stasher has named Sheremetyevo A.S. Pushkin international airport in Russia as number one, with Heathrow in London coming in second place and Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and Tobago taking the bronze. 

Heathrow scored 10 out of 10 for its number of lounges, beating every other airport on the list and also got an impressive 9.18 for cost effective parking. It seems that Heathrow’s restaurant selection isn’t too bad either, receiving a decent 8.64 in that category. 

This is another feather in Heathrow’s cap after recently being praised as the first UK airport to trial a new security system using CT scanners, meaning staff will be able to zoom in on luggage in enough detail to eradicate the need for those fiddly plastic bags for liquids. Now the government has said that all UK airports are to do the same, setting a deadline of December 2020.

To help you decide where to go on your next trip away, check out the list of best airports for customer experience here:

1. Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin Intl in Russia

2. Heathrow in England

3.  Piarco Int in Trinidad and Tobago

4. Suvarnabhumi in Thailand

5. Copenhagen in Denmark

6. José María Córdova Int in Colombia 

7.  Adelaide Intl in Australia 

8. Calgary Int in Canada 

9. El Dorado Int in Columbia 

10. Hamad Intl in Qatar 

Now all you need to do is pack your perfect capsule holiday wardrobe. 

Images: Getty