Bristol Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Bristol is my local airport and I travel through it about 10 times a year, a mixture of business and leisure travel always flying EasyJet or Aer Lingus. The traffic getting to the airport is bad, (it's on the wrong side of Bristol, really), but the traffic chaos is dwarfed by the level of chaos, queueing and over-zealous security arrangements at the airport. Things at BRS have been getting steadily worse for a long time, but this weekend's trip to Prague and back with Easyjet was by far the worst experience yet. On the outbound leg I didn't need to drop a bag so I went straight to security to join one of four or five enormous queues to access 2 or 3 scanners. There were several scanners not being unused. As others on this forum have said, the airport is seriously under-manned resulting in a poor experience for the traveller and probably, for the over-worked staff. My security "professional" was rude and brusque to everyone. The upstairs bar area had not enough seating for the number of passengers and there were long queues for drinks and food. Tables were not cleared, or cleaned. There were also groups of hen and stag parties, drinking heavily and causing mayhem. There is a long walk to the departure gate and once there, there's not enough room for a plane-load of passengers. On the return leg there was again a very long walk, the e-passport booths were slow and prone to failure, all monitored by an immigration official bellowing orders to no-one in particular, about where to stand. I have used immigration booths in many other countries and in the UK and all are better (or at least more reliable) than those at use in Bristol. Bristol airport need to hire more staff, train then to act more professionally and to better anticipate passenger numbers so that services can be scaled accordingly. I think the airport itself is poorly designed and not fit for the numbers of passengers using it. It provides for a very poor welcome to our overseas visitors and is probably not a great introduction to the UK in general and the West Country in particular. In future I will fly from Exeter, Southampton or Heathrow, all three of which offer a better level of service and, if travelling to the airport by car, better access.

✅ Trip Verified | Went from Bristol to Edinburgh on 22nd and returned evening of 24th. Security on departure was quiet. Whilst waiting at Gate 27 witnessed an unpleasant scene between an EasyJet employee and a middle aged passenger. Although it would be wrong of me to judge the merits it seemed both ladies lost their tempers and the passenger was then told she "will not be travelling". She didn't. I suspect that the overcrowded conditions and chaos at Gate 27 were partly responsible for this confrontation. EasyJet needs to train their staff not to shout! Upon our return on Thursday evening we had a very, very long walk from the aircraft to the terminal building. If it had been a rainy evening everybody would have been soaked. I have little doubt that Bristol Airport deliberately routes its passengers through long distances as a form of crowd management. Very unfair for older people and those with walking limitations.

✅ Trip Verified | In Corfu the TUI rep and airport check-in desk arranged wheelchair boarding for my husband due to an infected bee sting causing his foot & toes to swell up and make walking/ hobbling very difficult and very painful. The arrangements at Corfu were brilliant but a completely different experience at Bristol Airport. After being off loaded no wheelchairs were ready for passengers - we were told that we didn't need them as it was only 150 yards to the airport entrance. (Would they have been happy with this attitude if it had been their relative!) They were not taking into account passport control, the baggage hall, airport arrival hall, coach transfer and car park. I said I would push my husband if we could have a wheelchair but were just pointed to them with no assistance to my husband or allowing him to wait whilst I went to get one - everyone just hurried us to the airport door and told to get the lift. The people doing a survey in the baggage reclaim area were very helpful as I didn't know whether or not I could take the wheelchair out to the multi-storey car park and advised that their was a customer assistance desk outside the customs area. This was unmanned but with a phone number, yes I could take the wheelchair to the multi-storey and they would come to find it. Trying to push/pull two suitcases, 2 rucsacks, a wheelchair & husband was no mean feat, especially on the long stay bus, then up the slope to the car park which I had to do in relays. The most stressful experience ever at a so called International Airport.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid when possible. Arrived at the airport at 5.15 for a 6.40 Easyjet flight for which I already checked in. Bag drop off queue was beyond comprehension. I questioned staff at 5.20, 5.40 and 5.59 whether I should proceed forward as I was worried to meet the 40 min deadline of bag drop-off before flight and miss flight. On each occasion they advised me to stay in the queue until my flight was called forward. Which they finally did at 6.05 while the boarding gate closed at 6.10 and it took more than 20 min to get through security. It all together costs me more than £500, to arrange another flight with BA and 36 hours of delay. Easyjet doesn't take responsibility neither the airport handling staff or their agents DHL. Altogether this airport is hard to reach and especially on the weekends it can only be described as understaffed and full chaos.

✅ Trip Verified | The staff at security were unnecessarily rude. I was physically pulled aside to go in the body scanner, which I don’t object to in principle, but as I’m pregnant, I wanted to check it was safe for me to do so first. Instead of listening to me and addressing my concerns, the security attendant raised her voice over mine and said, “Just get in the scanner!”, pushing me (albeit not forcefully) towards the machine. I tried to ask the staff member operating the scanner the same question and he, too, talked over me and barked, “Raise your arms. Stop moving!” I now know that airport scanners are safe for use by pregnant people, but I don’t think it was unreasonable of me to want to ask and to expect to be treated respectfully/listened to when doing so. I also think being manhandled in the way I was by staff was entirely unnecessary. I was already doing what they wanted and didn’t need pushing/pulling to comply with their requests.

✅ Trip Verified | We arrived at Bristol Airport at 04.45 for a flight leaving at 06.15, half an hour under the recommended time. We used the easyJet app, excellent in my opinion and had boarding passes, and a bag drop booked, so thought 90 minutes would be plenty of time at that time of the morning. The automated bag drop queue was way beyond expectations and took far longer than it has ever done using human beings. It took at least half an hour to drop a booked in bag. But worst was to come. Security! Our cabin bag tray was held up in a backlog of trays having been selected for another check after passing through the scanner. A second tray with personal belongings was diverted to another aisle unbeknown to us. The wait for our bag was still going on at least half an hour and passed the point at which the gate began to close. A member of staff told me I had not been waiting half an hour at security as I claimed and suggested I arrived earlier. 4 hours earlier should have done it comfortably I think, our bag was finally delivered to us and we ran in desperation more than hope to a remote departure gate fully expecting to have missed the flight. 10 minutes before departure. To our amazement there was a queue here and the person in front of us said she had arrived 2 hours earlier as recommended and had had exactly the same problems. It transpired that the security wait for a second bag check was a joke because we realised later that my wife and I both passed through the body scanner wearing watches with metal straps which failed to trigger an alarm and was not brought to our attention at the time. In our experience Bristol Airport is chaotic, understaffed and appears to be giving the impression of over zealous attention to security without actually doing so in practical terms. Highly stressful all round and I hope I do not have to use Bristol Airport again in the near future, if at all.

✅ Trip Verified | Another horrendous experience, yet again. Low lights include a 442 metre walk to passport control with no assistance from walkways or escalators. Numerous steps. There are a couple of lifts. Luggage collection is always painful, but this time they managed to have 3 flights using the same belt number 5. 300 plus people crowding round with no indication of which flights luggage was appearing and hence no one wanted to make room for others. No announcements, no staff to help and no indication on screen as to which luggage was on the belt. A couple of visitors baffled by the charge for a trolley just to add to their arrival in UK experience. Eventually 55 mins after landing my luggage appeared, but my relief was way too optimistic as we then had a shambolic queue for the car park lack of courtesy bus! Add another 30 minutes. I am running short on patience as these experiences are not one offs, so Exeter Airport here I come whenever possible.

✅ Trip Verified | On the landside there does not appear to be any free seating provided. The only seating is in places such as cafes where you need to buy something to sit down in their premises. This is ridiculous.

Not Verified | Very poor service. Have travelled from many airports including Bristol. It is clear that they were good early in the morning when there are less customers but when they are busy they struggle. Flew with Thomas Cook having already printed boarding passes. Took 40 mins, no fast bag drop when airport staff asked why they answered sometimes we do have fast drop, no idea why this was not available and although they agreed the service was poor were completely uninterested in resolving it. When we got to security all queues were longer than the cordoned off lines and there were scanning machines not in use due to lack of staff. When items were scanned and one item needed inspection we had to wait quite sometime before someone was available. Would not use this airport at the busy times of day.

✅ Trip Verified | Waited for baggage for 40 minutes, when it did come it was soaking wet. Eventually, DHL put out a tannoy message apologising for the delay but no explanation. Staff in the baggage hall had no idea for the delay and kept ringing people, passengers waiting were very angry. Car Park for pick up / set down was horrendous. Waiting for parking pickups but the car park had contractors digging it up and they had coned off areas to park on and so all cars were just gridlocked both in and out. Why did contractors not start the work until all flights had finished and so the car park would be empty? Car park attendants had no idea how to control the flow of traffic. Cars were delayed leaving car park because they had to pay more than they had bargained for because they were 'trapped' in the car park for over 10 mins and so had to pay £3 instead of £1 if the pickup had been flowing. A nice little 'earner' for Bristol Airport. A poor experience. Bristol Airport needs to investigate and rectify these issues if it wants to keep expanding.