Birmingham Airport

✅ Verified Review | Baggage conveyor belts broke down at check in on outward journey to Larnaca causing stress that we might hold up or delay the flight. Lucky we anticipated usual poor Birmingham service and went early. If you can call it luck, flight was delayed by 1 hr for unspecified reasons. Check in staff excellent. On return from Larnaca, stuck on plane for 20 minutes because airbridge not working and the hopeless airport services outfit found it an arduous task to push some steps up. The aircraft staff had to sort it out and were superb otherwise it would have been even longer. 1 hour 10 minutes to get the baggage onto the conveyors. BHX are responsible for the cost cutting imposed on their contractors and the others that they pennypinch to provide airport services so it it is no wonder that their staff and passengers are treated abominably by these people. No other airport is this bad. Appalling really for 2nd city

❎ Unverified | Grim! A national embarrassment. Dirty, grubby and outdated, not fit for purpose. Scruffy airport, scruffy staff. It reminded me of a recession hit small town shopping centre from the 1990s. Evidently run on a shoestring budget. A truly awful airport.

✅ Verified Review | Birmingham airport used to be fairly OK years ago when it mainly catered for domestic and short-haul flights, but this year and last year I found it small, congested and scruffy. I arrived on flight AI113 from Delhi (origin BKK) at 17.30 on 16 July 17, 30 minutes early. That was negated by the aircraft standing on the runway for an hour after landing, because, said the captain, there was no stand available for the aircraft to park. Another aircraft was still there and this was pretty annoying, especially as we had landed early. Eventually, we were able to de-plane at 18.30. If that wasn't enough, we then waited a further hour for baggage reclaim, There were many very annoyed passengers around the carousel that night. Immigration was quick, probably because I have a UK passport, but I noticed long queues for people with other passports. On 30 July, returning to Thailand by way of Delhi on flight AI114, departing 21.30, the queues for security were haphazard and long. The staff seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever to clear passengers. I never eat at airport facilities, but those there seemed pretty crowded and scruffy. Signage to the railway station was pretty hit and miss, and they still only seem to have one ATM in the entire place. A bit daft when people have just arrived and need to get some UK money out of the bank. There needs to be a row of them in a dedicated area near the currency exchange booths. Those too are poor, with rip-off rates of 36 baht to the pound, whereas in Thailand, where I live, I get over 43. I appreciate that this aspect is not under the airport's control, but it's all part of the picture. I found it hard to find a seat in the departure areas too. Further, the staff seem to disappear if approached for help. I asked the way to the station (I'd forgotten) and someone (the only one in the whole place that seemed to work there) just gestured in a vague direction and shot off quickly. It's by no means a nice airport, and I only use it because it is the most convenient for me to get to Wolverhampton where I have family.

✅ Verified Review | Have always tried to use Birmingham Airport for family holidays because it is so convenient as its only 30 mins away from home. However, after an awful experience last night I shall look at using other airports in future! Our Monarch flight from Paphos to BHX was delayed by 1 hour 30 mins. Absolutely no complaints at all about Monarch who managed to catch up some of the time and we landed at Birmingham at 1.20am instead of 12.35am. However, we were then left waiting on the plane for 30 minutes initially because the pilot could not get Swissport to even acknowledge him and then when they did they took forever to sort out the steps for us all to get off the plane. We were eventually bused to passport control which wasnt too bad but we then had to wait almost one hour for our luggage. So thanks to the hopeless service of Swissport we did not leave the airport until 3am some 1 hour 40 mins after touching down! There was only one other flight arriving in the baggage hall at the same time as us from Tenerife and those poor passengers had to wait even longer than us for their luggage. Shocking and appalling service which we were told is apparently is now the norm at this airport! If it does not improve we shall take our custom elsewhere in future even if it means travelling more miles because we will still be home before Swissport have got their act together and moved our luggage a few hundred metres!

✅ Verified Review | Appalling, appalling experience. Rude, unpleasant, unhelpful check in resulted in a delay which affected what subsequently happened. This was verified by other passengers in the queue. Security took deliberate pleasure in slowing down the checking of suitcases and were sneering and inflamed an already fraught experience. I have never encountered such a level of awkwardness. In comparison our return from Dublin Airport was all the things you'd expect from an international airport providing a service for paying customers. Flying from Birmingham Airport is never a pleasant experience but this time it reached an all time low. We met another couple from another country who had used Birmingham Airport the week before and couldn't believe how poorly trained staff were. Based on my own experience I couldn't agree more.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived at airport after flying in from Dubai. I had just used 4 different airports in the last two weeks in Asia, all with no problems and smooth arr & dep. Unfortunatley had to wait well over an hour to collect my luggage and experience the 'UK Border Farce' shambles. The self scanning passport machines for UK passengers only seemed to work for about 1 in 10 people using them. the very few staff who were present I actually felt sorry for. My passport check did not work so was directed to a manual check point. The technology clearly is not working, it would be far more quicker to manually scan all passports, but then again you would only get to the belts earlier to experience a longer wait for your luggage! The senior airport managment must take full credit for this shambles. Go back to basics, employ more staff and make sure your business partners meet service level agreements.

❎ Unverified | Birmingham airport is a very popular airport meaning more people would want to fly from there. Parking is ok, with a price to it. When you enter the airport the terminal is a little confusing, they have all the amenities first when you get in. Check-in is good, with fast paced lines. Then you need to walk to the security area, and it is a hassle, you have a walk through unnecessarily complicated lines which are sometimes useless and stressing and the security area is a little small too. When you reach the end of the security, you go through the duty-free as usual of an airport. They then have seats and the terminal is already crowded but cleanliness is still good, and the shops are available too. I would recommend the staff but sometimes they can be unhelpful.

✅ Verified Review | Despite being a quiet time of day, it took 1 hour to receive bags of a flight from Munich. Baggage hall filthy, staff absent as soon as issue raised. Many including me missed trains, no reason given, no one to take responsibility - if Birmingham wants more customers, it better start looking after its clients, the paying public. If I ran my business like them, I would go bust! 0 out of 5 for service (again).

✅ Verified Review | The worst I've ever experienced - stood in queue from the top of escalator right through to the end of security. And then all restaurants were absolutely packed. Understand we need to be secure but this airport seems to have increased amount of flights without expansion of facilities - it cannot cope. Airports used to be pleasant places to visit but now this one I dread. The same can be said on return - too many flights landing at the same time massive queues when you are tired and just want to get home - then they have these silly machines that dont seem to work correctly and watching them they actually take longer than the people being checked by humans! They also have a sign which tells you waiting time for EU & Non EU citizens waiting time - EU 25 minutes - Non EU 8 minutes (being checked by humans).

✅ Verified Review | The only good thing I can find to say about Birmingham airport is that it is local. The departure lounge has some facade of effort having been made by the various concessions, but the majority of seating is at these concessions, so if you want to sit, you have to pay. Public areas are tired, and unclean, I travelled from B'ham over 45 years, and don't remember any improvements in this time. Toilets are dirty and unserviced even at 6 am and inadequate. Arrivals is a third world experience, dirty, untidy, and worn out. Thinking about it a third world airport hoping to attract tourists probably makes more effort. An embarrassing disgrace to the West Midlands.