Birmingham Airport

✅ Trip Verified | As a regular user of Birmingham Airport due to its good proximity, each experience gets worse and worse. On departure, there are always long queues going through security due to low staffing levels so allow plenty of time before your departure time. The worst experience is on arrivals. Birmingham Airport always seem surprised when a plane arrives and you quite often have to wait a long time for the ground staff to provide the facilities for you to disembark from the aircraft. The next delay is the understaffed Border Control with long queues being very common. However the worst experience is trying to reclaim your luggage which takes a ridiculously long time compared to other airports both domestic and foreign. Last nights experience took 1hr 45mins from disembarking the aircraft to actually leaving the airport. The baggage area was full of hundreds of people trying to reclaim their luggage from 3 different flights all from a single carousel (no.4). Going forward, I’ll probably start using Bristol airport and hope for a better experience. It can’t be any worse?

Not Verified | The running of this airport can only be referred to as an absolute sham. Just arrived today and had to wait with a disabled passenger for just over an hour on the plane while waiting for assisted help. But saying that, it made no difference as the luggage did not get unloaded until the same time. Waited a further hour after this for the luggage to be loaded on the belts. No other planes on the tarmac at all, but still took over 2 hours to get away. There are no staff, the baggage office staff ended up loading the bags themselves as no one else available. TUI, mitie and Swissport staff will get the blame, but it is quite clearly the airport management that are not capable of running the airport successfully. Absolutely shocking, would sooner travel to other airports in the future.

✅ Trip Verified | Usual hopeless service at this airport. I've lived in Birmingham all my life and, unfortunately, been in a position where it is difficult or costly to use a different airport, although when I can use an alternative, I do not hesitate. I travel abroad (Pre-covid) at least 3 times a year, every year, and BHX is consistently the worst airport I have ever experienced in any country. It is so badly run it's unreal, it is not staffed to a level that provides a good service and never has been. I'm sure right now, they would use Covid as an excuse, but to be honest this experience was not really much worse than the usual garbage experience there. No bag drop .. so online check in is totally pointless, even though the website very proudly shows how successful their self service bagdrop is. Usual lies. Security ... 14 lovely modern bays available, another advertising fallacy, only 4 in use on a really busy Saturday with flights heading everywhere. One and a half hour long queue and the unfortunate, overworked staff who were there were absolutely buried and couldn't cope. I'm dreading the return flight, as BHX is usually even worse when you arrive there. It's the only airport I've ever landed at that always seems completely and utterly surprised that a plane full of people has turned up!!! Never any stairs available, or no coaches or nobody to open the doors and the baggage handling is appalling. I happily pay more and travel further to avoid this regular fiasco, but especially now with Covid, it is not always possible due to lack of options and I have had to suffer yet another awful departure from this dreadful airport

✅ Trip Verified | Only one baggage carousel open dealing with 4 planes. From plane doors opening to first bags off for our plane was 1.5 hours, appalling service. BHX get your act together if you want to be one of the big players.

Not Verified | Usual poor service at this airport. Checked on internet before leaving home which informed me that Boots and WH Smith would be closed and Wetherspoons would be open. So we made a special journey to get some magazines before we got to airport . And we looked forward to a relaxing drink and food in Wetherspoons Guess what? Boots open, WH Smith open, Wetherspoon closed. Total shambles all round. I know we’ve got COVID but I head a business that’s doing quite well in all of this simply because we care about our customers and get it right. In an age of technology as we are in I think the airport management should insist that websites of airport facilities should be correct. Check it someone and get it right!

Not Verified | Birmingham was simple and easy to navigate. My mum prebooked in advance for the Sunflower Autism Assistance that Birmingham now offers Check in was simple (done yourself) but there were uniformed staff on hand to help if you need anything like when the machine refuses your bag, they come over to help you. Security was easy as if you have someone using the sunflower system the whole party can go through fast track security free of charge. The security people were helpful to get me through. The departures lounge is a bit spread out but there were screens everywhere so you can check when the gate opens. As I got assistance we all got pre boarded onto the plane (went on first) Upon my return it was the early hours of the morning. The queue for Passport Control was quick however there is no choice than the new and awful egates which apart from one occasion never accept my passport, the UK Border Force staff treated me with respect and when they knew it wasn't working the assistant escorted me to the desk where the officer checked my passport and allowed me through (after getting stressed I was surprised how they treated me). Baggage claim takes too long at Birmingham and is my big drawback the average time is 43 minutes but on this occasion took nearer 1 hour 15 minutes but once this was over it was easy to exit the airport to the taxi rank to go home.

✅ Trip Verified | Staff training needed in fire procedures. Yesterday we arrived from Dubai and awaited the return of our cases. Whereas I accept that an Emirates flight has a lot of baggage to take off the plane we considered the wait far too long - around 30 minutes. I have never waited so long in an airport to collect our baggage. Whilst still waiting the fire alarm went off and nobody seemed to know what to do. There was no loud speaker announcement just someone shouting to leave the building, which could easily have been missed if you were one end of the terminal. But as we tried to leave, the security doors were shut through to the outside area and people were kept locked in. As a public sector worker I have been trained to leave the building immediately and yet we were locked in the baggage collection area, which I consider a breach of fire regulations as shouldn't you leave immediately and report to an allocated point in the airport? Nobody seemed to know what to do and people were told not to collect any more bags but to leave - we couldn't. This could have turned into a very serious fire with casualties as people were not trained to react quickly. If the safety and security of passengers is of paramount importance why did this not continue when a fire bell rang - shame on you Birmingham Airport.

Not Verified | I’ve never experienced such a chaotic security process. It is purely an organisational issue as there are copious members of staff. Travelling weekly through this airport I consider I am sufficiently experienced to see the inefficiencies compared against other airports globally. In addition it’s the first airport I have come across where it’s impossible to have a mobile phone signal. The available free WiFi is intermittent and next to useless. Good luck fellow travellers!

Not Verified | I am a wheelchair user, when I was coming back from a work trip to New York the airport had me waiting 30 minutes before helping me get off the plane leaving me to feel sore and a further 13 minutes for baggage to be delivered to the collection hall. Also, when I asked the staff that help disabled airport users to help with my baggage they refused to help and I quote "it's my own issue" and I find that really offensive because I didn't ask to be in a wheelchair. I will never use that disgraceful airport again.

✅ Trip Verified | I travelled from Cyprus to Birmingham for a few days only. I did not have hold luggage but only one cabin bag. From Cyprus I was allowed to take my 100ml toiletries including perfume, a travel size lotion, toothpaste, travel size make-up remover, face cream, medical cream, lipstick tube and a joint pain relief oil (100ml). I had them in a transparent zipper bag from Cyprus. However I was not allowed to bring them all back because I had to fit all this in a 20x20cm sealed bag from the airport. The security person did not even try to make sense! He said only take what fits in the bag and must be completely closed! I only had the basics! So you want to tell me all the tourists coming to Cyprus carry only a lipstick, a perfume and a tiny body lotion? Most of them come with cabin bags only! Ridiculous!