Bristol Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Bristol airport depresses me in that I have to travel through it every other week. The cleanliness is poor and, in line with other reviewers, the standard of customer care is appalling - they simply don’t seem to recognise their customers as anything other than an impediment to what would otherwise be a perfectly easy and uneventful day job. We disembarked from our delayed flight from Amsterdam recently to have to wait a further 10 minutes for a member of the ground crew to amble up and then watch us cross the zebra crossing into the building. He couldn’t care less. The drop off charges which have just tripled are a disgrace and a clear licence to print money. The passport control scanners are only just fit for purpose, subject to frequent error and supported by a bunch of staff who seem utterly disinterested in the service provided to people entering the country. If I could fly from anywhere else I would but that would be even more impractical than using Bristol. Bristol airport for some reason don’t recognise easyJet Plus customer use of their Fast Track service which again reeks of profiteering by comparison to most other airports who support this useful and paid for benefit. I’ll stop here as this is becoming really depressing but at lest gives me a chance to get a few things off my chest.

✅ Trip Verified | Since we last used this airport in October the charge for drop off/pick up has increased three times. How can there be any justification for a three hundred per cent increase overnight? Upon our departure, on 5th December we had to walk from the departure lounge to Gate 12, a ridiculously long walk by anybody's standards. Upon our return we had, with cabin baggage, to climb a long flight of stairs followed by a walk of 430 metres (there was a notice saying so) followed by another walk downstairs. The design, which forces people to walk upstairs and later downstairs, seems to be a deliberate attempt to give passengers a hard time. The long walk is made even worse by the introduction of uphill ramps on the way I am aware that all airports in the UK have to be licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority and question whether some of the practices at Bristol come within the scrutiny of the CAA. It seems clear that the owners and managers of this place see it as an instrument for oppression and extortion. I am curious that, despite there being an opportunity to do so, Bristol Airport never, ever replies to any of the severe criticisms of it made by passengers on this site. A case of keeping its head down and raking in the cash until someone finally takes action.

Not Verified | I travel through Bristol airport regularly for business and pleasure. Generally I think Bristol is lagging behind others, even though the terminal building is fairly new it is no where near the best airports i travel through. The choice of shopping is limited and food/drink not great as well as being very pricey (as are most airports). My biggest gripe is security, as I said I regularly fly for business and often with just hand luggage. I pay for Fast Track so as to avoid the holiday queues (particularly in the summer). You pay £3.95 (online) or £5.00 (from ticket machine) and it is usually really good. However on occasions it all goes wrong and I recently missed a flight as it took over 20 minutes to get through Fast Track and they closed the flight 30 mins before take-off. So not really the VIP service they market it as.

Not Verified | Following immigration the departure hall was overcrowded, the price of bottles of spirits was more expensive than local supermarkets and no litre bottles were on sale. Shops were promoting premier brands of spirits with little sight of the standard brands. Food in the restaurants was as expensive if not more than Heathrow and Gatwick prices, we suggest you eat prior to arriving at the airport or bring your own to consume in the departure hall if you can find a seat. The best part of Bristol Airport is the Silver Zone Parking which is an efficient service at reasonable rates.

Not Verified | The business model for this airport is to reduce customer service to the lowest levels possible in order to make you pay to receive the levels of service you experience elsewhere. Minimum security checking lanes are open to drive you to pay £5 avoid the massive queues, you have to purchase clear bags and the fee for drop off parking is extortionate. Flights are consistently delayed or cancelled. Bristol airport is an hours drive for me, but I will drive for twice the journey time to use Heathrow or Birmingham. I risked it again today as the flights were convenient, and I have now vowed that I will never go there again.

✅ Trip Verified | Greedy managers, £36 milion made from the drop-off and pick-up 2018, now they have increased the price, three-fold. Greedy, pathetic and they need to be brought down a peg. New camera car - environmentally unfriendly, driving round and round and round, spewing out emissions. Just to give you a £100 fine if they spot you not using their drop off area. Outrageous, greedy, they need sorting out.

Not Verified | Delivering two friends to the Airport by car, we headed to the Drop and Go area. On previous occasions we have paid £1 for the privilege for a 10 minute slot. Today 9th November the charge has escalated to £3 for 10 minutes and £5 for 20 minutes. What a total rip off and unapologetic profiteering by the Airport. How can this be justified? I am totally disgusted by this blatant use of its monopoly position in parking, dropping off / Collection facilities. This must be a licence to print money and a clear attempt to “milk the passenger” pre and post flight.

✅ Trip Verified | airport is pretty much abysmal in every aspect. Let's begin after check-in. Fast track, the airport that has a separate person to check your ticket, before the machine, because their software doesn’t work. The only airport where the toilets ask you after your use to press a button rating their cleanliness and thus encouraging the spread of bacteria. The only airport where you are “taxed” by am inept airport management, for dropping off or collecting a passenger. Now raised to £3. This is not a charge. Be under no illusion, this is a tax. For weekly travellers, £6 per week, equates to over £200 per year. To change the topic slightly, Swissport has a ludicrous track record of total, colossal, monumental, mishandling of passengers luggage. Utterly beyond belief. On a plus note, the police, have no jurisdiction regarding parking, or dropping off passengers, as this is private land, hence the double red lines, so, I fully intend to pester, harass and flout their drop off regulations at every turn. The management needs serious work and moral ethics review.

Not Verified | At the security checkpoint I did as requested and placed my bags in the tray and then contents of my pockets which included my passport and boarding card. The young lady who was dealing with trays after x-ray looked very bored and took both of my trays and put them back through the scanner again without any explanation. When I finally got my tray my passport was there but my boarding pass was missing, she did not apologise but got her supervisor over who could not find it either! Once again no apology. I then went to the information desk to seek advice and was told I did not need a boarding pass for a TUI flight. However when boarding the plane I did need a boarding pass! Fortunately I found a copy on my phone. On arrival in Marrakech I once again needed my boarding pass at immigration. Clearly Bristol airport staff need some training in security procedures and customer service. There are some serious quality assurance issues here!

✅ Trip Verified | Upon departure to Olbia on 3rd October the security system at Bristol was, to my amazement, quiet and courteous. In view of previous experiences we had responded to the blackmail of buying fast boarding which turned out not to be necessary. We boarded at one of the nearer gates and so were spared one of the horrible long walks. Our flight was delayed due to crew sickness and it was impossible to find out what was going on as th pa system was unintelligible. Word must have got back to the Easyjet captain as he got off the waiting aircraft and told the passengers, in his own voice, what was happening. Impressive. Upon our return on 8th October, we were faced with the usual long walk to Immigration with the upstairs and downstairs marches. I would take a lot of convincing that this arduous exercise is necessary. I would also take a lot of convincing that escalators/travelators could not be installed. The excuse that the airport couldn't get planning permission for them is one I do not believe. It is, more likely, an expression of the airport's owners policy of "sweating the asset". Immigration was a bit of a mess but I imagine the airport would say this is not within its control. We did not have baggage to collect and so cannot comment on this frequently criticised aspect. Because of the walking distance I am giving this airport, once again, a low score but security does seem to be improving - unless we were just lucky.