Birmingham Airport

✅ Verified Review | My mother and I flew from this airport on Flight F1495 to Keflavik (Reykjavik) on Monday 24 October 2016 and we were checked in by an extremely friendly lady – easily the best check in experience I've had at any airport in 30 years of flying! Passport control and security checks were all stress free and quick, and as we waited to board our flight our check in lady was still there, still smiling and being helpful. This certainly got our holiday off to a great start. Things were going just as well after our return Flight F1494 on Friday 28 October 2016 with no stress or problems until we reached passport control. As instructed by the signs I placed my passport in the machine, but nothing happened and several further attempts failed so a male member of staff barked, “Turn your passport round!” at me. I’m sure there are plenty of people who, like myself, aren’t technically savvy so could the signs make it clear which way to insert the passport in the hope it’ll prevent any future confusion? I was still unable to proceed much further so the same member of staff barked at me again, telling me to take off my glasses and look at the camera. Again, this may have been blindingly obvious to some people, but for first time passengers and those who are tired or not up to date with airport security etc. a bit of polite assistance wouldn’t go amiss! Had it not been for this member of staff I would’ve been able to give the airport a faultless review, but sadly this individual meant they fell at the final hurdle.

✅ Verified Review | Minimum security line of over 45 minutes at Birmingham Airport each week, for over four months now. They won't do anything to fix it or prevent from missing your flight. Budget is all that counts. You better drive to Heathrow or Stansted, if not saving time, it saves a lot of frustration.

This was the first time I have used Birmingham Airport and it will be the last. Security was slow and the staff were like zombies. The airport wasn't even busy. The staff need to go to Stansted to see what busy is. On our return flight we got off the plane only to queue to go up some stairs which were outside. We were lucky the weather wasn't horrific as we were stood around for 15 minutes not moving. It looked like the door was locked stopping us from going inside. Clearly no communication. Our luggage took ages to come through. The toilets were absolutely disgusting. Birmingham for an international airport should be ashamed.

Birmingham is my local airport but I'd rather drive 2hrs to Heathrow it's so bad. No free pickup / drop off - rip-off Britain strikes again and you are required to pay. One night the security queue took 2hrs to get through - many missed budget airline flights. Another night, on return bags took 1.5hrs to arrive in the hall. Another day Fast Track security was slower than normal taking 1 hr to pass through. Foreign visitors arriving here must have a poor impression on the UK. Avoid.

Finding a smoking area and toilets at Birmingham Airport was a nightmare as the signs boards were nowhere to be found. One of the very worst UK airports in my experience and far worse than their EU counterparts. Slow and inefficient security with surly staff, regular luggage problems and a car parking set-up that is borderline entrapment and designed purely to maximise revenue rather than help customers. Felt lost the whole time being in the airport.

Another totally inept performance by ground staff at Birmingham Airport. Kept waiting on the plane for the airbridge to connect to the door and when the Captain radioed to ask why, he was told "Sorry we didn't realise you had arrived". This is on the back of my arrival in December and had to queue for 50 minutes in arrival hall waiting to get through passport control although we were the only flight in the hall (approx 200 people).

One of the very worst UK airports in my experience and far worse than their EU counterparts. Slow and inefficient security with surly staff, regular luggage problems and a car parking set-up that is borderline entrapment and designed purely to maximise revenue rather than help customers.

Flight arrived from Brussels on time and then ground staff left all passengers standing on the plane waiting to get off for over 45 minutes. As the flight was only an hour duration, this was absolutely absurd and caused many passengers a great deal of stress. Birmingham Airport ground staff couldn't care less

Departure was pretty average. Checked in and headed straight to EK lounge. Baggage trolley has to be paid for! Security slow and priority lane seems to make no difference. Over the following 3 weeks took 9 separate flights across Asia - all painless. Returned to BHX - abysmal. Large queues for immigration, escalator switched off for safety? - I think not. Arrive in baggage hall to find trolleys have to be paid for. Baggage trolley machines - Machine 1 - Out of order. Machine 2 - takes a pound coin - which I don't have, won't accept credit cards - and if it does it imposes a 40 pence surcharge. Machine 3 takes notes but not the new fiver. One gent doing his best but obviously not a happy chap getting stick of frustrated passengers. I asked to speak to the duty manager only to be told there's nobody on site to talk to. Eventually the handler in the baggage area relents and changes a fiver into coins. Will I use BHX again - not if I can help it.

✅ Verified Review | The glitzy commercial spaces of this airport have obviously received a lot of attention so the shopping and eating is pretty good. The functional aspects of this airport are, however, quite dreadful. Security is slow and badly organised, the toilets are unclean and flight notification screens exist in an alternate stream of time. The worst part however is getting to and from the aeroplane. Dingy air bridges, steep flights of steps and a final 100 metre trek across the tarmac to the steps of the plane. This airport needs an infrastructure overhaul. I will actively be avoiding this place until it improves and would recommend that you also give it a wide birth.