Bristol Airport

I was traveling with my disable husband who needs to be transfered from his wheelchair onto the seat. Assistance on our way out was acceptable but not nice - I heard behind my back unpleasant comments that disabled people shouldn't fly if they cannot transfer on their own. On our way back we experienced very rude unpleasant and unwilling assistance ever. We left airplane 1 hour after landing because we had to wait for assistance. When eventually two people came they were very unpleasant angry and didn't pay any care attention or compassion during transferring my husband.

Bristol airport cannot cope with the number of flights. Immigration is a long queue and the machines for the new passports have never been in use since my other half got one. In December they failed to load our suitcases onto an early morning AF flight (can't use the excuse the airport was busy) leaving us without luggage for 96 hours at our destination. The departure lounge is usually very crowded encouraging you into one of the many bars if you want to sit down. There is now a new gate for smaller aircraft. Instead of being bussed out to the plane you can now walk the whole distance up and then down various flights of stairs and along very long corridors. It's not what I would term an improvement.

Bristol is small but comfortable and easy to get around. The departures lounge offers excellent views of the runway particularly from restaurants on the Mezzanine level. The automatic boarding card readers at security are an interesting technological development certainly a step up from the traditional manual inspections and you even get an estimated clearance time. It's small size also means that the boarding gates are in close proximity to the departures facilities. Overall a very good airport and with regular bus connections to Temple Meads Station it's definitely your best bet if you're going anywhere in the southwest of England.

No improvements since my last report. They have added a sign as you embark on the walk to the western departure area proudly announcing that it is '450m' (is this supposed to make it feel better?). As noted once there you will be standing until boarding begins. Arriving is a complete mess even two flights causes the queue to stretch out of the immigration area and again the automatic passport readers were not working - those who tried them were treated as if it was their fault. I find it sad I can remember when this airport was a pleasure to use but not now.

Astonishingly they've just built a new departure area (gate 9) with no disabled access. To get to it you have to descend a flight of steep steps.

Used the airport early on a Saturday morning. The £2 charge for a trolley is excessive but we had no choice as we were travelling with our 10 month old son. Check in for Easyjet flights was efficient and the queue at security could have been a lot worse. Departure lounge very cramped with the number of shops / restaurants they have crammed in which means there was limited seating. On the return we were parked at the far end of the new concourse and saw a sign that it was "just" 390m to the Baggage Carousel. What they fail to tell you is that you go up one flight of steps and down two before you reach Immigration which was a nightmare with our hand luggage and having to carry our son. By the time we reached Immigration I felt as though my arms were going to fall off. I thought it was going to be so much nicer but was slightly disappointed.

As with all other reviews this is an airport to avoid if you can. They certainly do not want any passengers money and fees yes. Staff rude security hopeless passport control (how do they meet the fire regs with that set up?) and the so called new terminal well 400 yards plus three sets of stairs just to get to passport control its awful. Coming back yesterday the staff member in charge of arrivals on the tarmac had a look on her face that said it all - why are you passengers coming here and messing up my nice day! Looking at both recent flights its clear business passengers are going elsewhere and those left are infrequent users on holiday flights.

Most of the previous reviewers have said it all already. The architect of the recent expansion only seems to know about Shopping Malls and very little about handling passengers. The departure hall now has some seating but the whole area is inadequate for handling the scrums associated with budget airline seating arrangements. Arrivals are a nightmare; a sign at the point disembarking passengers enter the maze say that it is 390m to the luggage hall. As a previous reviewer has pointed out there are no safety notices or indications of emergency exits. The 390m does not include the additional 100m or so provided by the UK Border agency as a queuing maze. Some of the UK Border agency officials are sufficiently sadistic to take pleasure watching elderly passengers some with walking difficulties struggling through the maze in an almost empty queuing hall. One slight improvement because of the long walk and the poor behaviour of the UK Border agency there was almost no wait for one's luggage in the luggage hall.

It's getting worse! Now we have to pay £2 for a luggage trolley wait nearly an hour for luggage and have no where to sit when the planes are delayed. It used to be much nicer but has expanded from good through mediocre to poor. The electronic passport machines actually take LONGER than the other queue - my wife was quicker by about 3 mins! - and require staff to help everyone who uses the machines. Not the end to a nice holiday you expect. Don't get me started about the buses back home.

Two recent flights from Bristol and we are not impressed the 10 minute drop off area is a nightmare I dropped my wife and then was stuck in a traffic jam for 25 minutes. I booked Premier Parking but dropped my wife off first because I have a back problem the path from Premier Parking is all uphill not only that I couldn't find a place to park when I got in there ( And yes I did prepay) I drove around until a space was vacated. We have booked a Christmas trip through Bristol but it will be the last. We would rather use Gatwick even though its a 2.5 hour trip as opposed to 1 hour. The actual airport is poorly laid out with a lack of seating.