Birmingham Airport

I returned from Ibiza and had to wait 45mins for my luggage from belt 4. The only downside to this is always a long wait for luggage. I queried the wait at the Servisair desk and they didn't seem too concerned. As for all the other facilities I have no complaints.

Ryanair to Malaga return. Security check outbound was slow and took 45 mins to get through at 16.30 on a Sunday afternoon. On return immigration queues were awful and took exactly an hour to process through however at least baggage was on the belt. Food/drink prices are average airport prices now and terminal looks clean whenever I have passed through.

This airport is awful. When I arrived back from a holiday it was around 7.45pm and it took an hour of waiting before all my baggage could be collected. My biggest problem is that they charge you £1 for a trolley to carry heavy suitcases. Every other airport I've been to around the world do not charge to use trolleys even the tiniest airports in Malaysia don't. At evening times the airport is poorly staffed and service is horrendous. It's quite clear when you walk around that a lot of money has gone to waste on stupid gimmicks.

Drop and Go charges as far as I am concerned as a fairly frequent visitor have been increased without much publicity resulting in a doubling of the minimum stay having been reduced from 15 to 10 mins. Even 15 mins is insufficient time to help people with disabilities elderly folk or unaccompanied young people resulting in making even a shortish stay an unwelcome expense. This adds no capital to the appreciation of an otherwise very good airport experience as a 'dropper-off' or as an air passenger.

Scheduled Monarch flight to Almeria. I've been using BHX for about 30 yrs mainly for holiday flights. Pre Booked car park meant a short walk to check in hall check in was relatively painless I was worried about the security queues but we went through in about 10 mins (Thursday midday) even the security operator mentioned about how quiet it was. It's like Manchester now as you have to fight your way through duty free but on the other side there's plenty of seats and shops/restaurants. There's no announcements of flight departures but plenty of screens telling you of progress so no problem. Overall it did what it promised yes prices in restaurants are higher but show me an airport that doesn't.

This airport lacks basic amenities and the big one is the lack of water fountains. The authorities force you to buy expensive water plastic bottles. They also keep you in the shopping lounge for long time. Your gate is announced only 10 mins before the departure. The shopping lounge is crowded very loud with retailers playing loud music and the shops are extremely expensive.

I think the "one terminal" revamp has fairly improved the overall departure experience from BIA especially for those once using terminal 2. The look now after security is that of a big modern airport more similar to Manchester Airport after the last refurbishment. Only disappointment is when realizing that the gates area of terminal 2 has been just "connected" not improved in any way. It is still the small dark depressing round area filled with extremely dusty carpets that it used to be. Only now the contrast with the rest of the airport is more evident. Can't say much about the queues because I usually depart on Sunday afternoons when the outbound traffic doesn't look predominant. Finally I will always support this airport at least for the excellent connection with a main railway line.

Usually I am travelling Business Class with Emirates so after security it is straight to the lounge. This time we were travelling on a charter airline so had chance to look round and savour all the airport has to offer. Check in accomplished in less than 10 mins and security only 5 mins or so more. A breeze. We had no problem finding a choice of seating and settled into Wetherspoons for a beer and a coffee. Of course because it is an airport and they can the prices were way over the top. Choice of shops was good but prices were not a lot better if at all than on the High Street. Duty free in the UK seems to have gone downhill rapidly over recent years. Boarding was good and efficient with plenty of screens around to tell you about the flight so no worries about missing the boarding call. Very good. On return the immigration desks were well manned and we were through and into baggage reclaim in under ten minutes of getting off the plane. Luggage was starting to arrive onto the belt as we came through so that was excellent.

Thought the improvements would make things better. Departing on Ryanair and everyone now passes through the same security area. The queues are as bad as before and this was at 05.30! When will the authorities at this airport take a good look at this area? Passengers should not have to queue for such a long time. Landed on Monarch and went though a ridiculous procedure of walking to a building going up stairs walking along a corridor and back down some stairs then back outside to the waiting bus - adjacent to the aircraft what was that all about!

Flew from with Monarch to TFS. checked in within 10 minutes and dropped bags off. Processing to security took 15 minutes to get through. Past security I was surprised at the range of shops for a provincial airport - very good. Used the train to get to the airport from Cardiff and very quick and easy to do.