Birmingham Airport

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.

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.

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.

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.

A good experience at Birmingham. Security took around 15 minutes to complete. Baggage reclaim was fast. The terminal was clean. All staff were polite. Still a great range of facilities.

I travel from Birmingham airport and back at least five times a month to New York JFK and on occasion Copenhagen. I have only ever found this airport to be easy to check-in and transit. The staff I have found to be friendly and helpful and yes security on occasion can be busy but its something we all have to tolerate in the world today. The arrivals process has tended to be easy but then my return is very early in the morning with only maybe a returning holiday flight arriving at the same time. Birmingham airport has secured many new routes for 2016 and will develop much more connectivity for Midlands business and leisure passengers. I fly from Birmingham as often as I can.

Once again I had to endure this terrible airport, shabby, confusing and old fashioned. The tiny plastic bags you now have to use hardly hold anything and so I had things taken from me, the security is pure jobsworths and utterly pedantic and slow. The shops are awful, the food just as bad, avoid if you can.

First time here and hopefully last, it is truly awful. The queue to get through passport control was ridiculous, over 40 minutes to get through and even then when we got through luggage had still not arrived. The corridors are generally dismal and dank. Then to top it all nine pounds car park fee for one hour and two minutes. People who complain about Gatwick should try here.

My husband and I arrived from Düsseldorf on 29 September at 15.40. I could not walk up the stairs as I was experiencing problems with my knees. We decided to take lift, several attempts later the lift would not work. After struggling up the stairs we were greeted by a locked door. We could not get past this door into arrivals or back out again to the Tarmac. There was no workable means for us to make contact with anyone. We were effectively trapped. We banged on the door door several times and eventually someone came and let us out, saying that the door is on a time lock therefore if you were not through it by the time allocated you would not get through. There should be a means to contact somebody when this happens. I complained and was told to contact Germanwings our carrier. I fail to see how this was their problem. We travel through the Birmingham Airport at least 6-8 times a year and have experienced problems before, mainly at the baggage claim. Come on Birmingham Airport get your act together, you are supposed to be an international airport, any other airport I have travelled through was an easy experience,.

Arrived at airport 4.05am, 5 mins after check-in opened to be greeted with utter chaos. 10 Thomson desks open for 3 flights. People where snaked so deep that when we walked in you could hardly move and joined the queue way down passed the escalator. All we had to do was check in bags as everything else was done online so why did it take a further 1hr and 15 mins to do this? We then had to get through security with some of the staff telling passengers to remove shoes, some not - more chaos. As we walked from security our flight was being called final call. No time for food, a drink, use the loo or walk round duty free - absolute farce. By far the worst experience at Birmingham Airport.