"allow a massive amount of time"
A MacDonald (United Kingdom)
I have had two recent experiences of travelling from Birmingham. The first was a business trip. When I travel business I am usually hand luggage only and allow less time on arrival before my flight. I arrived 1 hour before departure and was horrified to see an enormous queue snaking out from security. I asked one of the staff how long it would take and was reassured 20 minutes. No it was much longer. People were being sent back to take their shoes off and petty things like that. When my own bag went through it was stopped for a safety razor - a safety razor for goodness' sake. As offensive weapons go it is pretty useless and had passed through without a problem at the other airports I have used. This full bag search ensured I missed my flight. I returned with my daughter to go on holiday. This time I allowed 2 hours on account of my last experience and justified it to my daughter that we would be able to have a nice breakfast before take off. Yet again I was wrong. By the time we had checked in our bags and gone through security the flight was on last call. Just to prove it was no coincidence, when we returned we waited about a quarter of an hour before the carousel started to turn. A few bags came round and then it stopped. Meantime I went over to the outsize bags at carousel 1 but no skis. Eventually, some more bags came round and the carousel stopped again. A man came out and hit the emergency stop saying that might allow him to restart it but no. Still no skis at carousel 1. Then a fellow passenger, not a member of staff, shouted that the bags were coming on carousel 2. The display still said carousel 6 but with no staff to ask we followed our fellow passenger and sure enough the bags were coming off there. As I was leaving carousel 6 I saw my skis on the florr there. How they had got there I had no idea. We picked up our last bag 70 minutes after landing. If you are flying from Birmingham allow a massive amount of time to check in but also to collect any hold luggage when you return.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | March 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"waited 1.5 hours"
J Nangreave (United Kingdom)
Special assistance booked to assist with embarkation and disembarkation. Waited 1.5 hours on arrival but despite 3 separate contacts, no-one arrived. The contact person said "we're very busy on the other side of the airport", but that meant I did not have much time to visit duty free or to get coffee and something to eat before the flight. Eventually struggled up the escalator and grabbed a cup of tea before boarding the plane. Very disappointed. Return journey nearly as bad. Provided 2 helpers to disembark 7 disabled passengers.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | February 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"atrocious experience"
Gavin Beasley (Ireland)
Atrocious experience with my 7 month pregnant wife. We arrived at Birmingham airport 1 hour and 40 minutes before our flight time to be met by scenes of pandemonium. The queue for security was almost 100 yards long as it snaked completely around the departures terminal. I have traveled around the world in both developed and developing countries and I have never before experienced such appalling mismanagement. Multiple security lanes closed, staff completely ignorant to the hundreds of passengers in threat of missing flights. The express lane was a complete waste of money and time. The security guard checking boarding passes in the express lane was also checking passes for families with buggies so both queues backed up significantly. According to Ryanair staff almost 20 people missed our flight. We only just made it after running as fast as we could (including my pregnant wife) from security to the gate. Avoid at all costs. If you have to use Birmingham for a departure allow at least 2.5 to 3 hours before your scheduled departure time.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | March 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"room for improvement"
Keith Mace (United Kingdom)
As I am disabled a wheelchair was arranged for me at each airport I passed through. All went well until arriving back in Birmingham. On landing all passengers prepared to exit at the front of the aircraft but were then told to exit at the rear. Then after some had exited we were then told to exit at the front. No wheelchair was waiting for me. When we arrived at the baggage carousel we saw people struggling to access a cart but unable do do so because they were expected to insert money into the machine before it could be released. Who has the coins available after flying in from abroad? What a shambles, plenty of room for improvement I think.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | January 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"shambolically managed"
Ed Sweeney (United Kingdom)
Last night it took my wife and I over an hour to get through security at Birmingham Airport. The whole process was shambolically managed. The airport generated hundreds of pounds in revenue during our time in the queue from passengers who were prepared to pay £5 to enter the express lane to jump the queue. Passengers who didn't bother to turn up on time were also rewarded by being allowed to jump ahead of their more conscientious peers in the queue. The real story became apparent when we finally arrived at the checkpoints. I counted five (of 12) stations closed. Did the airport not realise that the UK half term break was on (not to mention Valentine's weekend and a busy weekend in sport)? They really do needy to up their game at BHX as passenger numbers grow.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | February 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"delayed so long"
Iain Yexley (United Kingdom)
Security checks here nearly caused a missed flight 3 years ago and yesterday it happened and we were delayed so long-all bags dismantled and put through scanner twice. We missed our flight, a £750 holiday, then £200 extra for the next day flight (Ryanair) - in 40 yrs of holiday flying this is first time it's happened &. Won't fly from Birmingham Airport again if I can possibly help it.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | February 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"80 minutes to exit the airport"
Christos Konstantinou (United Kingdom)
On the return trip to Birmingham Airport, after waiting for some considerable time for our luggage to a carousel, passengers were then sent to a different carousel where we waited for another half hour before our luggage started arriving. It took us more than 80 minutes to exit the airport after disembarking. As a consequence of this, we lost our trains as it was a late flight. Very distressed. On the outward trip, it was quite confusing to find my way around the duty free shops and restaurants, especially the smoking area. Could not find a member of staff either to ask around for information.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | January 2016 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"security process was quite smooth"
6 reviews Dennis Vogt (Netherlands)
I departed Birmingham airport on December 18, 2015 on a late morning KLM departure to Amsterdam (KL 1422). Arriving in the middle of the morning peak at Birmingham airport gave me some challenges at the Sky Priority check-in. The Swissport handling agent was not properly enforcing the access to the SKy Priority check-in queue and having seen the 50 meters queue for Economy pax, many non priority pax tried to shortcut the waiting by jumping into the Priority lane to queue up. Once the ground agent was approached on this, they actually started to heavily enforce the queue and were sending 10-15 pax back to the 'normal' queue, allowing me to advance fairly quickly to finally drop-off my bag. After receiving my fast track invitation, the security process was quite smooth, I am only missing the body scanners from other UK airports, requiring me to take off the full programme of belt and shoes which is a bit embarassing in 2015 and times of body scanners which usually do no longer require to fully strip down for security. Once security was cleared, the shopping mall became apparent. One huge plus in Birmigham: there is an airside smoking balcony with centrally located access in the departure lounge. After having my smoke, I headed to the Aspire lounge which is contracted by KLM/AF in BHX for their ElitePlus members to kill the remaining 45 minutes waiting time till the boarding of my flight started at Gate 48. The pier in Birmingham is nice and light, one thing to mention is that once you are at the Gate, the Gate waiting areas are seperated from the rest of the pier and at least Gate 48 has no additional toilet facilities, so go to the toilet before you actually get to the gate.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | December 2015 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"only 2 immigration desks were staffed"
P Alderson (United Kingdom)
I arrived at the Birmingham Airport by train and got the shuttle from the station in a few minutes. I only had hand luggage so went straight to security. Queued for about 10 minutes and put my things in the trays. I was told that my liquids bag had to be sealed. As I had used it a few times it would not do so. I was told I would have to get another bag for which I would have to pay. Another passenger let me have one of theirs. I asked if I needed to take my shoes off and was told it was not necessary. As I set off the alarm walking through the scanner I was told to remove my shoes. I then had to go into the all body scanner and was told off because I had some paper money in my pockets although nobody warned me they had to be completely empty. After a pat down body search I found my bag had been sent for a hand search. I had to wait 10 minutes while other bags were checked. Nothing was found in my bag that should not have been there. The lounge was very busy and seats were in short supply. On my return half of the automatic passport scanners were not working and only 2 of the immigration desks were staffed.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | November 2015 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"the best connected airport"
Dave John (United Kingdom)
I use BHX regularly, for business and leisure travel, to everywhere from the USA, Middle East, across, Europe and elsewhere too. With Birmingham International Station right beside it, Birmingham Airport is by far the best connected airport for getting to the rest of the UK. No need to drive to this airport! Inside, the airport is really easy to transit. It takes no time to get to get to the gates, baggage reclaim is generally fairly quick and efficient. There's a nice mix of shops bars and restaurants without making you feel like you've walked into a shopping centre (like T5 at Heathrow). There's a choice of premium departure lounges if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the main areas too.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | November 2015 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |