Belfast City Airport

❎ Unverified | Rip off car park. Daughter booked and prepaid long stay. Return flight was delayed so she was over her exit time by 90 minutes. Had to pay £26 to get out of the car park. Understand an extra charge but not this for less than two hours. Will travel in future by bus or drop off. Completely unacceptable.

✅ Verified Review | This airport isn't as bad as Belfast International, but then that's not hard to do. On the departure side I had no real issues, I was able to relax in the BA lounge and so didn't have to sit in the terminal, where there is still an abject lack of seats. The majority of seats are located in the eateries, so if you don't want to buy some overpriced food, you stand! On my return, the toilets were broken and out of use so they had propped open an emergency exit and placed some temporary facilities outside, brilliant, welcome to Belfast! I don't know who runs the airport car park, it used to be Q Park, which was expensive but at least you could get in and, more importantly, out. When I tried to leave, having pre booked and paid, the machine told me I owed £25. In the lane beside me two other people had the same problem. So I press the intercom, not working, ok, so by now the person in the other lane has had more luck and the barrier has been lifted remotely. Another vehicle came along and same problem. Again they were able to get through to someone on the intercom, so I reversed out of my lane to join the one with the working intercom. About ten minutes later someone arrives from the main building and, seeing me sitting behind someone, tells me to go into the other lane. Genius, why didn't I think of that? I'm sitting here because I'm both blind and stupid. Anyway, the lady in front of me is let out and I spend five minutes trying to explain to the car park chap that I've pre paid and, still being within my time slot, can't possibly owe £25. Two phone calls later and I'm told I can go. Fantastic. When I arrived at the airport a few days before I was puzzled to see someone having to manually lift the barrier to let people out, so it must be a fairly frequent problem. Welcome to Belfast.

✅ Verified Review | I make about 20 airport trips per year from countries all over the world and Belfast City stands alone as the worst I have ever been through. You pay a kings ransom to park in the farthest corner and then drag all your luggage in the rain to the terminal - a bus would show they cared a little but what the hell. After getting your tickets you now proceed to what they laughingly call security. There were 14 people in front of us when we joined the queue, 45 minutes later we were through. It has to be seen to be believed, about 20 security staff stand around while 1 opens up your sandwich to see what is inside and tries to convince you what a favor he is doing you. If you have still retained the will to live after this ordeal you proceed to what is loosely called a waiting area. I have been to cleaner and better organised cattle marts. A seat is out of the question as you while away the hour until you get the chance to brave the elements sprinting outdoors for the plane. In brief - go from any other airport.

Due to my flight scheduling I had a 3 hour wait here. No problem at all. The options for food and drink were more than adequate. What made it pleasant though was the people working at the airport. Without exception they were all extremely pleasant and helpful, whether airport staff or working in the various outlets. A very pleasant surprise compared to a lot of other airports.

An easy bus ride from the city centre, but rather a slog by train. It was very quiet when I checked on a weekday mid-afternoon. Check-in and security were swift and smooth. Airside was surprisingly busy, and had a small number of shops and cafes. There good views of the apron and runway, I found that the departures announcements too quiet, maybe I was at the wrong end. Boarding was trouble free and of course there is no waiting in a queue for take-off. A pleasant experience.

Extremely disappointed at the cleanliness of our local facility. In the departure lounge the seats were unclean with rubbish clearly on view with some in need of repair. The back of the seats had obviously not been cleaned or wiped for some considerable time. As for the toilets well all I can say is that they were simply dirty. The standards generally were embarrassing and in order to build on all the advertisements attracting tourists to N Ireland then surely we should have clean facilities for people to use in arrival and departure lounges.

Early morning flight with Aer Lingus from BHD to LGW. The bag drop and check in were fairly uneventful, the real fun came when trying to get through security. Yes, I know it was a Monday morning, but the queue went right the way across the check in area to the point where people were most queued out of the front entrance. There were plenty of staff and there were four machines being used, but the problem is the layout. Other airports have sufficient space that they can have lines of people snaking around multiple lines. However the city airport is so small that they can't do this. So it's a single line, a very long single line until you're almost at the machines and then you go into another shorter line. I must have spent a good half hour in the queue. Indeed, a few people had to 'bunk' the queue or they would have missed their flights. Once through security you have a fairly small departure lounge with typically overpriced food and drink. By the time I got through security, most of the early flights has departed and so it wasn't too busy. But there isn't anywhere near enough seating the the numbers of people you would get early in the day. Overall, an ok experience. More seating and a better layout for the security lines are definitely in order. As for whether I'd recommend it, you've no choice. It's either this or the international where they gouge you for every penny, so I guess I have to recommend it as its either this or swimming to your destination.

Upon arrival I did find it strange that we walked straight off the plane (of course down stairs) and onto the pavement before going inside. It was a windy road back to the baggage collection area and it was a pretty long wait for luggage to arrive. Only real set back was there were children trying to climb on the baggage trolley thing and their parents didn't stop them, and neither did staff because there were hardly any staff in attendance. The seating in this area was good for the wait though, but the area wasn't very clean. There were plenty of taxis available on the outside though.

Very handy little airport and quite quick and convenient to the town centre. Needs more resources on the security and bagging screening department though. They have some sort of new body screener which must be set to a level where it is too sensitive. Everyone who passes through it needs a subsequent body search, which defeats the purpose of having an automatic scanner. That single machine slows the whole departure process for everyone and leads to long queues, frustrations and many false positives for passengers who are just trying to board a plane.

A mixed experience at Belfast City Airport. Much more convenient than Belfast International: it takes only 15min to reach the city centre. Bus tickets available at the airport information desk - but limited frequency during the weekend (every 40min). Disappointing experience upon departure: cramped security area with long queue and unfriendly staff. Limited seating facilities in the departure area - most space occupied by shops and restaurants. Useful to know: all boarding gates are downstairs! Airport cleanliness is rather good.