Birmingham Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 428 reviews
3/10
No Skytrax Rating
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2/10

“Inefficient and badly managed”

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | I also travelled in October 2023. Both times check in slow & departure lounge bad. In September no seating at all whilst waiting 40 minutes or more for Air France plane. This trip on 15th March 2024 passport control chaos. E Gates not working. One person manually checking at the only desk. Queue very long to the escalators. Straight into a further queue and more chaos at security. Not enough open (lunchtime breaks I suspect). Again chaotic. Inefficient and badly managed. Whoever is in charge should be fired. They did finally put on more staff probably as the number of people crammed into security area was becoming dangerous. No apologies whatsoever. BHX used to be a great airport. It is our nearest airport but I would rather travel to London than face passport control & security again at Birmingham. Indeed next 2 trips we are flying out of LGW or LHR. I have been told Birmingham have to fit new X-ray machines by June but they should at least show how they are improving their customer experience. Frankly it couldn’t be much worse.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitMarch 2024
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
no
1/10

“airport is a shambolic disgrace”

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | This airport is a shambolic disgrace! The queue for departures snakes around the terminal buiding. You are held at the front of that queue waiting. And waiting. Watching the empty lifts in front of you open and close. No explanation from the staff. No idea what is going on. Eventually you get the nod to cram into one of the lifts to ascend into more chaos. Security is painfully slow and obviously incapable of coping with the number of passengers, which should hardly be a surprise to them. Eventually you get ushered into the fast lane so you don’t miss your flight. Your flight which you arrived in plenty of time for in the expectation that you could relax, get a bite to eat before boarding your flight. Leave plenty of time to find your gate as the signage is appalling. Evidently there is building work ongoing and this is adding the the chaos and sense of despair. But this is NO EXCUSE only bad, incompetent project management. But I understand why the staff don’t care. I couldn’t work here. I certainly won’t ever travel from Birmingham again.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitMarch 2024
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

“airport staff were very disrespectful”

(Romania)

Trip Verified | Boarded our flight 5 minutes before departure although arriving at the airport 3 hours early, the airport staff were very disrespectful while holding our queue to board 3 other flights which had the same departure time, while threatening people with a flight ban for complaining about their lack of organisation. Could not buy fast track service online for the same day. Worst airport and staff I ever saw.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitMarch 2024
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

“absolute shambles”

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Our whole flight almost missed our plane due to the absolute shambles of Birmingham Airport. The queues through security are the worst I have ever seen, no exaggeration, there were thousands of people stood huddled together, waiting to go through the security. The gate was due to close at 7.35am and we still hadn't even been through security despite the people on our flight being brought forward. It is honestly the most stressful experience I have encountered when flying, and in the future I am 100% going to avoid using this airport again.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitFebruary 2024
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Staff 12345
no
4/10

“Truly awful experience”

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Truly awful experience. Building work isn’t helping, but the overall feeling is of shambolic security checks with outdated equipment in a claustrophobic area that isn’t fit for purpose. Check in area is awful too. I’ve been using Heathrow more recently because of the poor conditions at BHX and I regret using it this time - all the more frustrating as I only live 20 minutes away.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJanuary 2024
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"Chaotic and disorganized"

(South Africa)

Trip Verified | Chaotic and disorganized. I'm an elderly person who had to wait in the customs queue for over 2 hours. Absolutely no consideration for families with babies and no priority lane for business class passengers. The trolley pay points didn't work. Very unhelpful and rude staff. Will the passenger complaints ever be addressed, as there's been absolutely no indication of attempts to improve efficiency
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitJuly 2023
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
4/10

"airport is a terrible mess"

(United Arab Emirates)

Trip Verified | For the second largest city in the UK, this airport is a terrible mess. I recently visited Birmingham (Jun '23) through this airport. I like to rate the atmosphere/ambiance/atmosphere and effectiveness/efficiency separately. My first impression of the airport was as if I had arrived at a small city in a developing country. Nothing fancy about the airport but immigration was okay. There was one big hall with UK/EU lines at one end and immigration at the other. Given the low number of non-EU/UK travelers, the experience went smoothly. I was able to clear immigration but had to wait for my colleague who is a UK national. Going past the immigration reveals a more gloomy room where it took ages for the luggage to arrive. Overall, it was fine in terms of efficiency (given the low number of passengers). The departure was another story altogether. As soon as you enter the airport, it is just chaotic. The Emirates counter was at the farthest end and after checking in my luggage, it was hard to find where the departure is from. Two of the escalators weren't working leaving a long line at the 3rd which was blocked by a staff member for no apparent reason. The signage at the escalator mentions that it is for the train but doesn't say departure. If you climb upstairs, there is a person directing you to departure and to trains. The security line was just a complete mess and took a long time to clear. The passageway to security is narrow and the way they were handling security was quite inefficient. Security itself wasn't very tight to put it lightly. Once you clear security, it is more bearable and signage also improves. Overall, the airport looked congested and disorganized. All lounges were full. The boarding gates have access-controlled seating but remain closed until close to boarding time meaning passengers who arrive more than 30-40 prior to departure have no place to sit. Also, there are no shops close to the gates, so even if you need a cup of tea you will have to walk all the way to the duty-free area with restaurants. I think the ground floor needs a makeover and upgradation and access to security gates can be better organized. Other than that, it is just a basic airport and certainly not one to be excited about.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJune 2023
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"£4 for drop off"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | This must be the worst airport in the entire world. £4 for drop off, no seating in departures, overcrowded. Absolutely disgusting. I have travelled extensively and this airport is the worst ever. Monorail not available at night.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJune 2023
Type Of TravellerCouple 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
no
4/10

"Come on Birmingham, sort it out"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Now-a-days a UK airport should be better but certainly as the UK second city one would expect a much better airport. Simply put, there is just not enough space. The staff are brilliant at what they are trying to do. But really? Up and down steps to get to and from an aircraft in this day and age? And don't even get me started on the state of Car Park 5 which is just shocking for the price one pays. Broken barriers and cameras facing the wrong way that do not recognise the car reg. The instructions to "call for assistance" apparently means you won't be spoken to, just a ticket dished out and it is up to you to pray that your pre-paid dates will be recognised on return. On return people struggling to get out with barriers again not recognising cars, inability to put in the ticket dished out on arrival and barriers not going all the way up! At least the shuttle bus service worked from Car parks 4 and 5 and 50% of the drivers we had were pleasant and polite. Come on Birmingham, sort it out!
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitMay 2023
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"This is the filthiest airport"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | This is the filthiest airport with the most incredibly hostile, unhelpful, miserable security staff ever. The toilets stink, the floors are filthy and I hate travelling using this airport. Thought I’d try again and it’s worse than ever. Extra half an hour to East Midlands
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitNovember 2022
Type Of TravellerCouple 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
no