EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT review : 4 June 2009 : by James Burke

Customer Rating : 1/5

EMA is a terrible airport. For a small airport, you walk as much as you do at a big one. The terminal is cramped, and when a flight is boarding the area around the gate is impassable. The Duty Free shopping area is bigger than the waiting areas and smells like 1000 perfumes mixed together. East Midlands Parkway train station is 10 minutes away by bus, and Nottingham is 30 minutes by the 'Skylink Bus'. This airport is inadequate for the number of passengers it serves, but only has LCCs and investing in infrastructure is throwing money away. Its like a small town airport serving 3 medium sized cities.

EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT review : 7 April 2009 : by Kevin Tunnicliffe

Customer Rating : 1/5

I commented on East Midlands recently and would reiterate that the immigration experience was excellent. So it was again on 28 March. However the lines for security and the inefficiency of the staff on 26 March was appalling. Talk about jobsworths! The attitude of the security staff ensured that the lines went on forever and that the experience of accessing airside was a nightmare. Nowhere else in the world have I seen such uncaring jobsworths. I was told off for trying to pass on the "wrong" side of three chatting security staff after going through the screening and I was trying to reunite with my hand luggage which had long since passed through the screening. My partner was delayed so they could "routinely" swab her mobile phone and the pocket it was in inside her handbag! If routine screening and obstructive is the best East Midlands can do they can do it without me in future. Not that much further to Birmingham!

EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT review : 14 November 2008 : by D Moar

Customer Rating : 2/5

I use EMA quite often and also frequently deliver and meet friends there, reading these comments I find nothing has changed, the airport is very badly designed and the only reason for using it is the choice of flights. To arrive on a wet and windy day is purgatory having to walk for ages from the arrivals ramp to the arrivals hall. I suppose the long walk there and in immigration means the wait for luggage seems less. Why doesn't somebody open the end ropes in immigration to short circuit the chicane? It only requires some imagination and positive management.

EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT review : 19 August 2008 : by Kevin Tunnicliffe

Customer Rating : 2/5

Long time since I last used East Midlands and a lot has changed. The airport is still very small time however and passengers should not expect a lot. That said the immigration queues were quick but quite a long wait for baggage coming onto the belt. Given that there was only one other flight unloading baggage I thought this was pretty poor. Baggage hall and customs hall are being upgraded, at least I assume so based on the amount of chip board walls on display. The airport needs a real rethink to get into the 21st century.

East Midlands Airport review by G Haywood

9 April 2008   Customer Rating :

EMA's Arrivals Hall/Meeters & Greeters area is very poorly designed. I have written to EMA management twice to ask when something is to be done to improve passenger flow ie from exiting Customs, one has to negotiate trollies through 2 narrow doors, which then lead into a Spar shop - before then trying to exit through more narrow doors, before hitting fresh air! Whist waiting to collect recently from a Bergerac flight, the rain brought Greeters etc into the Spar shop, milling around immediately next to the exit doors, passengers trying to exit Customs, became annoyed because it was simply impossible to move freely & quickly, out onto the concourse. Whoever designed this needs to get this improved & quickly. It is not rocket science, to be able to provide passengers with a quick exit from the baggage Hall/Customs, out into open.

East Midlands Airport review by S Campbell

17 January 2008   Customer Rating :

Went to pick up my daughter at 11pm coming in from Prague. Arrivals lounge (is that a joke?) was a shed. Freezing, no refreshments except in a Spar built on to the shed - is it really 2008?

East Midlands Airport review by G Burrows

15 January 2008   Customer Rating :

The good thing about this airport is the upstairs part of the airside lounge. A cup of coffee provides a good view of ramp and airfield activity. The new pier is a long trek from the airside lounge and is somewhat of a tin shed.

East Midlands Airport review by Paul Turner

30 November 2007   Customer Rating :

Arrived at medium stay car park 2 at 7.00am in darkness. No row markers so it was impossible to make a note of the car`s location. In addition the advertised shuttle bus was not running. Getting through to the departure lounge was quick and easy. There was a good range of facilities open. My only adverse comment is that the background noise level was high with garbled PA announcements competing with rap music in the cafe where we had breakfast. I escaped upstairs to avoid the din. On our return, immigration took 10 minutes and our luggage was waiting for us. Again, no shuttle bus and quite a few people were wandering around looking for it.

East Midlands Airport review by C Davies

23 October 2007   Customer Rating :

The check in staff were friendly and efficient and we got through security quickly. The selection of shops was good. Like MAN which is owned by same company there are no vegetarian breakfasts on offer so had to fill up on fast food. On arrival we were bussed to what looked like a shed and made to walk up and down a room several times to get to passport control. There were no other flights when we got there and it still took over 15 minutes to get through here as only half the desks were open. It then took another 15 minutes for the bags to start coming off. After parking in one of the medium stay car parks was, we were annoyed to find no transport to the terminal and back, instead your left to walk 10 minutes each way with cases. We found our departure experience very positive, an opinion which was completely reversed when we arrived back. Any decision to use this airport again will be purely based on airline routes and price.

East Midlands Airport review by Val Becque

27 September 2007   Customer Rating :

The improvements are beginning to show - security is very efficient with many machines and a great improvement from 2006. Decent selection of shops and outlets airside , some of them with decent views of the tarmac. As many of the flights are lowcost such as Easyjet, Ryanair and BMI Baby there is good competition for take on drinks and snacks - best buy is Boots with Sandwich/Salad , drink and a Snack for £2.99 , less then the cost of a sandwich elsewhere. Bit of a walk to the aircraft (no air bridges) which could be a real pain in the rain.

East Midlands Airport review by Simon Harrison

19 July 2007   Customer Rating :

Flew into EMA for the first time in about 10 years last week. Have to say I thought it was an awful experience. The place does not seem like an airport but more like a patchwork of outdated buildings claiming to be an airport, the whole place having a tired feel. The worse part of our experience had to be the so-called 'customs hall', which, although only a few hundred yards from the stand where our plane parked, we were made to wait for a bus to (why couldn't we have just walked). We then had to walk up and down the length of the room several times along the barriers to reach the immigration officers in the corner, but I must say in their favour that, as others have pointed out here, we did get through quite rapidly. However, we then had to proceed into the baggage reclaim hall which was in darkness as our flight was the first of the day to arrive and noone had bothered to turn on the lights! However, again the baggage was quick to arrive. A mixed experience as the shabbiness of the place was compensated by speedy customs clearance, the same of which cannot always be said of other airports in the region (ie. Manchester).

East Midlands Airport review by Stuart Henry

13 May 2007   Customer Rating :

East Midlands is getting better. The new pier has almost been finished and looks like a low cost tin can. A network from the airport is needed. All in all a great airport with plenty of room for expansion in the route network

East Midlands Airport review by E Green

26 January 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Despite targeting winter sport enthusiasts as potential customers, EMA is becoming very unfriendly for skiers and snowboarders. The no-frills airlines (which unfortunately seem to be the only thing on offer at EMA) all charge more money to transport equipment back and forth than it would cost to rent it. And on my most recent trip I was forced to leave my ski boots behind at security because they were in my hand luggage (and the length of the security line prohibited going back to check them). I was never able to get a straight answer as to whose policy it was that ski boots could not be carried as cabin baggage, but was told both that it was the airline's and the airport's. I have since checked the information published by both (EMA and Ryanair) but have found nothing to support the claim. Skiers beware!

East Midlands Airport review by Mark Johnson

4 January 2007

They realise that, due to all the variable factors at EMA (the immigration can take 5 - 30 minutes, as can the baggage) the probability of you timing your arrival within a 10-minute window of someone escaping the arrivals is actually quite small, so you will end up paying. Public transport isn't as bad as previously indicated, with 2 buses an hour to either Nottingham, Loughborough, Leicester or Derby. EMA is fit to burst, and needs to develop a much larger terminal and some multi- storey parking to meet their projected growth. They also need to return to a 30-minute free parking policy. After all, what would anybody else be doing in an airport car park for less than an hour, apart from picking somebody up?

East Midlands Airport review by Kev Robinson

22 August 2006

Agreed re immigration - you are herded into a cattle shed to show your passport after what can be a wait - at least enough time for them to get your bags onto the carousel (or you would think so). Parking is becoming an issue also - they've cut the free time to just 10 minutes so the best idea is to drive around in circles around the airport to avoid paying. Its impossible to meet a flight at EMA waiting just 10 mins these days.

East Midlands Airport review by Amanda Treefield

30 July 2006

I use East Midlands Airport regularly for a weekly trip to Amsterdam, where I work. Long stay car park is well-served by coaches but finding a space is tricky - it seems to be permanently full. Once, in a desperate hurry, I put my car in the medium stay car park and was charged the same as the long-stay. Work that out. The departure lounge is long and narrow. Queues to board block the entire departure lounge, impeding passengers making their way from the bar and waiting area to the other departure gates. The public address system in the departure lounge is so load that it induces pain. I'm a smoker, and use the smoking area at the far end of the departure lounge. It is cramped, poorly-equipped and filthy. On returning to Nottingham, one finds the immigration control area is arranged so that one has to walk the length of the room about six times to get to the desks themseleves. However, despite the queue the service is quick. The link to the public transport network is poor, with a shuttle bus to rail connections at Derby and Loughborough which runs on an hourly timetable. I wouldn't like to have to wait outside in the wind and rain for the bus to appear and so far I haven't had to.

East Midlands Airport review by A Davies

21 November 2005

A fantastic little airport to fly from, with plenty of new routes opened up over the last three years, now that BMI no longer have a monopoly on the place! There has been a huge improvement to Nottingham East Midlands Airport, with major refurbishment of the departure lounge creating a more airy waiting area, as well as the opening of some new shops & cafes. The information desk is always open, and there are plenty of people patrolling the check-in & departure lounge areas if you need assistance. The only downside to EMA is that the airport does need to have better transport links to Derby & Leicester.

East Midlands Airport review by John Matthew

21 October 2005

East Midlands Airport has recently carried out improvements however, the departure areas are still too small and a wait of more than 30 minutes is to be avoided. There is no information desk past security and if your flight is delayed you are expected to wait around in limbo. Coming back is worse, they have barriers that resemble a cattle pen and it has been like that for years. A humiliating experience - what must foreigners think?

East Midlands Airport review by Tim Jones

9 October 2005

Fly out of Nottingham on a regular basis, can be busy early morning but recent upgrades to the departures lounge have helped with seating - still queues for security though, but no worse than anywhere else. Shops and eating facilities adequate. Choice of flights now very good especially with the low cost carriers Ryanair/EasyJet/Baby. br>

East Midlands Airport review by Peter Nicol

28 July 2005

I fly nearly every week from EMA as its only 20mins from where I live (I fly only with hand baggage and on schedule flights). If you get there at the wrong time (especially 7:00 am flights) the security queue is huge. The airport can not cope with the number of flights going out at this time and the departure area will fill up and you will probably have to stand. Now I normally fly later in the morning. There is nobody going through security so it just takes a few minutes and I have no problem finding a seat in departures. Also at peak times there are some large queues just to drive into the airport grounds. I don’t do any shopping at the Airport except buy a paper and occasionally a coffee. They do have a few shops though and about as much as you would expect for the size of the airport. Parking is very close to the airport and you can easily walk from the short/medium term parking and the terminal. Because the airport is small, it is generally very quick from getting off the plane to driving away. The long term car park is too far to walk and you will have to get a bus. I have not had to wait more than 10mins for a bus to arrive. Parking is overpriced but I believe this is the same at all UK airports. There are no air bridges you walk to and from the airplane. The trouble occurs when there are two planes trying to offload at the same time. To stop the passengers from each plane getting mixed up they some times hold you on the plane until the first plane have finished offloading. Time wise this has not added more than 10mins onto the journey however it is a little bit frustrating. It is always clean. About 5 years ago you were stuck with just using British Midland for nearly all scheduled flights. However the airport has now opened up to the likes of Ryanair and EasyJet and I have found this a very big improvement, especially in punctuality. I use it because it’s close to where I live, I can get cheap flights at the right time (not 7:00 am), and I can get in and out of the terminal very quickly. br>

East Midlands Airport review by B Wainwright

14 July 2005

Flew from EMA to Kos with Thomson last week, the airport was clean & staff very pleasant but there's nowhere to sit !!. There was 7 departures in 2 hrs which resulted in no available seating so the floor was the only option - good job it was clean! br>

East Midlands Airport review by Thomas Wareham

22 March 2005

Nottingham East Midlands Airport is very clean and efficient. It is quite a small airport with only a few shops but then again you don't really need that many shops in an airport do you? We flew on an early morning Mytravel flight and the airport was almost empty until all the low-cost airlines started to depart. It suddenly seemed like there was thousands of people in one space, no where to sit but within about 15 minutes they'd all gone!  Very efficient airport and only a couple of hundred meters between check-in desks and departure gates.

East Midlands Airport review by Martin Callaghan

28 February 2005

We flew from EMA to Murcia last week with Ryanair. Check- in was fast and efficient and security screening into the departures lounge was fine. The departures lounge was far too small though, although some of this may be due to the refurbishment works. Shopping and catering of acceptable quality, but not enough staff clearing tables in the cafeteria. In all, an acceptable experience but management need to direct staff to keep the departures lounge cleaner. br>

East Midlands Airport review by Tom Savage

15 June 2004

Regularly flying out of Nottingham East Midlands, a stuffy scruffy, overcrowded, smoke filled cattle-market of a

The comments / critique originally for EMA submitted by Mr T Truscott have been removed - at the specific request of Mr T Truscott (Removed : 12th June 2006).

East Midlands Airport review by Callum Johnstone

26 August 2003

I passed through EMA recently on route to Edinburgh, and found it to be a reasonably efficient airport with some good landside facilities. Airside facilities could certainly do with some major upgrading. The security search area is a bit on the small side, and the domestic departure lounge definitely needs a little bit more than a solitary coffee shop (which was closed on one Sunday afternoon when I passed through the airport!). Having said that, it has the makings of a fine facility, but needs some serious expansion in the near future if it is to adequately cater for the continuing growth of the UK budget airline sector in years to come.

East Midlands Airport review by R Lester

4 May 2003

I always try and fly to Europe from EMA as it is only a few miles down the road from me. The airport is quite modern and there is a good selection of shopping landside however the departure lounge is quite poor. I feel they need a big expansion to cope with the high number of passengers now using this airport. The shopping Airside is not very good with a small duty free shop and a book/news shop being the two main areas together with one main food facility and a bar which is quite smokey. I have heard they are building a VIP lounge which you will be able to pay to access, I will certainly be trying it out. Other than that this is a good airport with friendly staff and no hassle with parking or walking miles to your gate.

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