Bristol Airport

Bristol is my local airport and at last I feel I can say something positive about it. On departing this week it took 5 minutes from locking my car to sitting in the departure lounge I had pre-printed my boarding card but there were no queues and staff were cheerful. I also think they have increased the seating since my last visit there was plenty free. On arriving we were bussed to immigration but again no queue and I was driving out of the car park 20 minutes after landing. It was my best experience here for many years however there was still an absurdly early call to the gate - a 300 metre walk followed by 20 minutes standing staring at four grey walls. My flight left late morning when about 5 departures are scheduled in two hours and we arrived just ahead of the evening rush. It is clear that there are far fewer flights using Bristol this winter than in the summer or previous winters and at these traffic levels it copes well and is pleasant. I wonder what it is like leaving at 07.00 or arriving at 22.00 though I suspect some of the problems persist.

I simply do not understand many of the previous negative comments. BRS is a small airport and it functions well. It's clean staff are helpful and friendly we don't have to walk miles and there's a smoking area airside. I have used this airport several times now and have no complaints.

A generally poor experience. How mean to charge for a 1 minute drop off and also for the use of a luggage trolley - what are foreign arrivals with no coins supposed to do? What kind of initial impression of Bristol does this give? The airport ethos seems to be to extract the maximum amount of cash from their customers with the least facilities eg seating made available.

I only fly out of Bristol out of necessity. It used to be ok and fairly spacious but a revamp in the last few years has seen much of the seating airside cut and freezing cold rabbit warren gates to serve the low-cost airlines. At the same time they built a stupidly oversized shop that you must walk through to get to your gate which has also cut the amount of space for passengers. I wouldn't want to be stuck with a delay airside here as it could get quite claustrophobic. To cap it all off unless you drive out there you have no choice but to get the Bristol Flyer bus link - £10 return or £6 single. There is no other option and no competition for bus routes to the airport. On my recent visit passing through security was painless even if staff were a bit rude but I have faced long queues there at the weekends. I would fly from Cardiff if there were any airlines using it.

Bristol is an awful airport. The airport is in a dreadful location being miles south-west of Bristol with no major roads nearby no train lines for miles and busses/coaches limited and expensive. The entire airport both the interior and exterior of the terminal building is a little dirty with the toilets being by far the worst. There is also a lack of shops food outlets restaurants and many other facilities both before and after security and nothing what so ever for arrivals. Queues are also on the slow side but not the worst I've experienced with check-in taking around 20 mins security is the worst at 30 mins and passport control normally takes between 10 and 15 mins. Baggage reclaim is ok taking not much more than 5 mins to arrive. Overall Bristol is a dreadful airport which guarantees to give you the most stressful and unpleasant journey.

Long queues at check in / bag drop even longer queues for security and just as bad on return at passport control - do the biometric passport machines ever work? Long hike to the new gates and seating in the main terminal is woefully lacking. Staff in all areas surly and rude. All in all an airport to avoid if possible.

Arrived for flight at 5.50am to find an enormous queue at the Ryanair check-in and almost as big a queue for security. Our flight was due to depart at 07.40 and we only just made it to the gate at 07.20. Fortunately we made our flight but it was an incredibly stressful experience. No time for a drink or breakfast as we had planned no idea what the facilities are like as we had to literally run though the terminal as we had been queuing for so long. On our return we had to catch the bus to the short stay car park and we yet again joined a queue which took almost 30 mins to get onto the bus. When we disembarked we had to join another queue to collect our car keys. In total it took an hour to get from the exit to our car. Not enough staff and too many flights departing at or around the same time and the car parking is a joke.

The queue just to get into the security area often stretches 50 yards and moves slowly. You can buy a fast track voucher for £5 but queues for this are getting longer and you need to allow 20 mins minimum even for fast track. Once into security the long queue moves slowly with unexplained hold ups. Security staff appear under considerable pressure and show this in the way they deal with passengers. There are very few seats in the main waiting area so much is given over to retail and often boarding queues stretch back into the waiting area. Some boarding gates are as much as 10 mins away even at a speedy pace. This airport which was once a pleasant departure point has now turned into a complete disaster.

It is terrible. High car parking charges inevitable queues at security. Insufficient seating in departure lounge. Incredibly long and arduous walk to the gates with no escalators or travelators but very short time to get to the gate after the announcement. All in all a very poor experience.

In spite of Bristol Airport being quite a new airport it is about the dirtiest airport I have had the displeasure of travelling through. The small amount of seating available in the departures terminal and departures “lounge” is all absolutely filthy. Far too filthy to sit on. The management seems only to be concerned with charging passengers at every opportunity - we are forced to pay for dropping off passengers in the short term drop off area then a £2 non-refundable charge to use a trolley then a small plastic bag in which to deposit our medication etc before passing through security. Please and thank you seem to be words missing in the vocabularies of most security operatives.