Birmingham Int'l Airport Passenger Reviews and Traveller Reports

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I have travelled through many airports around the world. While I accept that the management is focused on profit maximisation at the expense of customer satisfaction, I do wonder why they are unable to get even the basics right - ie the toilets. The gents toilets are without doubt some of the dirtiest and smelliest airport facilities that I have encountered. (Only one airport in Africa (in Angola) and another in a certain Middle Eastern country compare with the BHX experience). Let us hope that the disillusioned management one day come to their senses, as BHX does have the potential to be a proper international airport. For the moment though, its management are very successful in portraying it as a regional second rate hub through which many people have no choice but to pass.

Over an hour to get through security on 8th April - that's enough to put me off ever using this airport again. Having only two security lanes open at peak time is completely ridiculous. There were plenty of staff around to manage the queue, but if half of them had been put to running the scanners there wouldn't have been a queue that needed managing. If you ever do make it to the departure lounge there is a good range of shops and places to eat. They were almost completely empty when I got there (presumably everyone was spending so long waiting for security they then had to go straight to their planes).

Returning to BHX on 19th January having been diverted to Glasgow the previous evening we were whisked through immigration, having undergone this process at Glasgow the night before. Baggage was extremely slow coming off the belt, the first pieces almost 50 minutes after disembarking the plane. Going through customs we were surprised and more than a little annoyed to see passengers stopped and made to produce passports and undergo scrutiny even though we had all cleared customs in Glasgow. Pretty disgusted at this abuse of power.

Quick passage through security today, which makes a nice change. Duty free boasting 40% sale but frankly the prices seemed no different.

I live in Birmingham and have used the airport on dozens of occasions and I have come to loathe it intensely to the point now where I happily travel 45 mins to East Midlands rather than 20 mins to Birmingham. I travel a lot around Europe and the occasional long haul and I can honestly say that Birmingham is one, if not the, worst airport I have ever had to suffer. The baggage handling is appalling, the security staff are borderline rude and utterly obstructive and the worst of all is the endless queues through immigration on returning from any non-EU country. I am not exaggerating when I say I have never managed less than a 20 minute wait to get through immigration and it's particularly galling when each time only 5 desks out of the ten available are ever manned, with a queue going way beyond even the endless snake.

Used BHX during past 2 weeks and wish there was some continuity at security. Despite having used the same plastic bag for a number of recent flights, it was suddenly too big. When I was given the smaller regulation one, all I did was fold over top of mine and put it into smaller one. Thankful I wasn't sent back to machine to purchase the "proper" bags as queue through security was horrendous. Majority of security staff are very helpful. Baggage handling still poor, waited over 40 minutes before first bag appeared and flight arrival info not cleared from baggage hall screens when it's obvious all the bags have been collected. If you've got 5-6 flights all arriving between 2300-2330 then it's sensible to have enough baggage handlers to cope.

The experiences of departing and arriving at Birmingham were quite different. Departing was a bit of a nightmare. Even with fast track the queues were slow and security staff picky and pedantic. Belt, shoes and so forth removed, they seemed to be checking almost all hand luggage which slowed the security process down considerably. We were told this was so that this was so the process looked fair and they could not be accused of picking on certain profile groups and subjects. Snaking through the expensive "Duty Free" area is a pain as it prolongs the journey through to departures. On the other hand, we landed about 40 minutes behind schedule but the e-gates were empty and we were through in seconds, (lines for the traditional passport control were pretty full). Baggage on the carousel within a couple of minutes and we were on the road about 35 minutes after landing, which is pretty good by any standards. My scoring is an average of the low score for departures and an excellent score for arrivals.

Overall good experience. However having to pay for luggage trolleys and bags for holding liquids is just over the top. The route from security check funnels passengers through the middle of a duty free shop. In my opinion the airport owners are just trying their hardest to squeeze every last penny out of the users of the facility.

I wish other travellers would just think about what they bring in to security! I travel thorough Birmingham every three weeks and I have to wait in Security because others have over sized liquids in their bags. Or the I follow the passenger through the metal detector who forgets to take their phone out of their pocket and says sorry! It is too late, the queue has built up by then. I like the airport, the service and the shops. It is passengers who cause most of the queues.

Another easy departure and arrival at BHX. Got dropped at the railway station and there was no queue at check in. Only slight gripe is that even though BHX operates as one terminal, the Flybe / Air France check in desks are still located in the Eurohub building, which is separate from the rest of the check in facilities and involved a fair walk past the Arrivals area. On the plus side, you can access the new security area from either side of the check in area, and the queue from the old Eurohub building is definitely shorter. Departure lounge has a reasonable selection of High Street outlets and some decent restaurants. On arrival I was through immigration and at the railway station within 10 minutes of landing.

Last time I arrived the queue for passport control filled the hall and passengers were sent down in batches from the upper level. The escalator was turned off leaving only the stairs in use. It took almost one hour to get to the desk. BHX was a good airport but I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

Worst airport in the world for seating before going through to departure. Not everyone can arrive just before check in and I don't see why I should have to constantly buy coffee just to sit. I didn't find any other seats before going through to departures.

I always find BHX a breeze. Large check-in area and the new security area is much improved on the old one. Maybe I have been lucky with queues but I've never had to wait more than about 15 minutes to get through security. Once through there is a good choice of bars and shops and the new International Pier offers a great view of the apron with loads of seating. On return the new immigration booths assist with the queues, particularly for UK passport holders and on my last two occasions I have been out of the airport within 20 minutes of landing. I agree with the comments on the charges for the drop off area, so now I always get dropped off at Birmingham Int'l railway station, which is free for 20 minutes, and take the Maglev train to the terminal.

BHX used to be a superb airport to fly to and from. Not any more. On the way out to Dalaman, we were caught in a quite ridiculous queue for security which looped from the escalator, right the way round the first floor shopping area and then along the passage way, eventually, and after a few more loops into the security area. So despite arriving 2 hours before departure, we had limited time in the departure lounge before our flight was called. On return at about 23.25 a week later, I was kept waiting about 45 minutes for our luggage. I then had an unpleasant walk in the rain to the far side of the long stay car park, as the shuttle bus service becomes almost non-existent by late evening and is totally inadequate when several flights arrive at the same time. I then had to return to the drop off car park to pick up some luggage and passengers; I was there for a little over 10 minutes - enough to for the parking charge to click up from £1 to £2. BHX - if you are going to accept several flights together late in the evening - please retain enough staff to cope. A couple of years ago I would have been pleased to give a total satisfaction score of 9 or 10 for this airport.

The airport is clearly focusing on short term financial performance at the expense of passenger experience. As has been mentioned elsewhere the cost of changing currency through Amex and the drop off charges are ridiculous and they even seem to have stopped picking up litter to save money.

Queuing times for security would be considerably decreased if passengers fully complied with the security procedure. Instead many passengers totally disregard the procedure and this results in their bag being pulled over for search. This not only delays them, but also other passengers in the queue behind them.

My boss travelled BHX-GLA-BHX 15/16 May. On his return to BHX it was 20 minutes before he left the aircraft and a further 35 minutes waiting for baggage. There was no-one to operate the airbridge, then Menzies Handling employee had to get a code to open door into baggage hall. After 15 minutes standing at non-moving conveyor belt, request was made for information on whereabouts of baggage. Eventually it started to appear after 35 minutes of waiting. Reason for delay was - we've had a lot of planes arriving. It's barely a month into the holiday season and already we have the familiar problem at Birmingham which seems to be their ability to cope with baggage delivery. My boss was not impressed!

2 points to raise, firstly BHX now uses American Express for bureau de change and I find them prohibitively expensive. Secondly, on flights arriving late at night the airport authorities insist on using remote stands and bussing people to the main terminal which adds and extra half hour to getting out of the airport. This is the 4th time I have landed there late at night using different airlines and every time its a remote stand and a bus!

Unfortunately I have to use Birmingham Airport to fly to the Channel Islands to visit my family. I nearly always find the security staff are the worst in the world. If possible I travel from Heathrow. On 12th April, I had intended to be at the airport an hour before departure but due to late arrival of a train I only just made it 30 minutes before my flight was due to leave. I was told I should have been there 2 hours before departure - I have never had to for the Channel Islands and I have in my procession a print out saying 30 mins before departure. They emptied my bag all over the place then stuffed everything back in. An extremely nice lady helped me to calm down and I was offered a voucher for a drink onboard. Very bad security staff here and I am 70yrs old - horrible experience.

Travelling out from airport was ok although object to drop off parking charges made for such a short period of time (£1 for 10 mins) which isn't long enough. Makes it a very rushed start to any holiday. Return experience was even worse. Don't the staff check when flights are due in? We returned on a daily flight from Dubai but there were no trolleys at the pay station. There seems to be an air of indifference to the needs of the traveller and an unfortunate end to an otherwise wonderful holiday. Come on Birmingham stop being so money grabbing and start to think about your customer service. The two don't match!

Went to Lanzarote on the 1st April from Birmingham, everything fine except for the security part which was a nightmare. Queues were huge. Two girls in front had a bottle of pop which obviously couldn't go through, the first bloke told them it couldn't, the woman on the x-ray machine said it could and then surprise surprise their belongings were rejected. The bloke at the end then proceeded to spend 10 minutes explaining that they couldn't take it through and then walked the entire length of the hall to tip it out and give them back the empty bottle! It took us 35 minutes to get through. The joke being that there is a sign as you queue telling everyone how much better the new security arrangements are.