East Midlands Airport

A very convenient airport for me. Generally good but always crowded in security. Body scanners are now in use - in a seemingly random way. However these are not used on the priority express line. Question? Do people in a jury pose a lesser security threat?

This airport is not fit for purpose. The queues at check-in and particularly for security are horrendous. As a frequent user of the airport this year I have been prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt but no longer. Four times this year the departure from Murcia has been delayed due to "air traffic restrictions" when in reality it's about consolidating arrivals at EMA to maximise staff resources, the result is terrible queues at passport control and chaos in baggage reclaim. Third world aircraft boarding and exiting methods make it a bad experience. Being made to wait on aircraft while steps and busses are found is common and totally unacceptable. Avoid this airport and use BHX instead, at least they know how to provide a decent service. I came back from Spain through EMA yesterday but have just booked to return next week through BHX.

We are regular flyers to Faro and used to love travelling from East Midland Airport. On 5th July we queued for 1 hour 40 mins to get through security, this was due to lack of security checking lanes being open. We always leave plenty of time to get through but in this instance the flight was late taking off due to passengers still in the queue who had the same problems as us. We appreciate there has to be increased security but equally the management should ensure there are enough facilities open to accommodate the passenger numbers at peak times. This week on 15th August my friend was travelling to Knock and she experienced the same delay having to queue outside. This delay is not acceptable and East Midlands Airport management have to get a grip on the situation before the public go to Birmingham where there is no such delay. Why - because the airport is better managed.

I felt disappointed with East Midlands Airport - it reminds me of the mid 1960's when my Mom and Dad took me to the Costa's from Elmdon (Birmingham International now!). The only problem is the prices are 2016 and the 2 don't go together. You only have to look at the airlines parking on the apron to know you are on "Shoestring Airlines". The service is very poor with multiple flights reaching the terminal at the same time to save staff hours and increase profits, poor show.

✅ Verified Review | Avoid this airport at all costs until they dramatically improve the capacity of the border control hall. It took me an hour to get from the plane to the baggage hall. MAG, who own this airport, have spent a fortune on the departure lounge which is great and of course brings in plenty of revenue for them. However, the arrival hall where passports are checked is woefully inadequate. My family and I were held on the plane for 15 minutes and then made to wait for an hour in a "disney land" style queue from out on the run way. It was so chaotic the ground staff had to extend the queue out on to the the runway and along the perimeter fence with the tape they normally use to stop you walking under the wing when getting off the plane. As you can imagine my fellow passengers were very unhappy. To add insult to injury the the Swissport ground staff behaved like concentration camp guards. Even once off the run way and in the arrival hall the ground staff were barking at passengers using their phones to let waiting relatives know that they were late. I wrote the the CEO and MD of MAG who in fairness responded and offered a free trip to their Escape Lounge which if course I declined as I will not be using this airport until I'm sure they have extended the capacity of the arrival/border control hall. I have since found out that this is not an isolated incident because friends and relatives have had identical experiences all summer long. You have been warned.

Over the past year or so East Midlands airport has slowly improved, but the Long Stay 1 car park adjacent to the terminal building is in desperate need of resurfacing, marking out bays and new overall re planning. In other words, if you are searching for a space, and are unable to find one, the chances of you being able to drive around again is virtually nil as you will have reached a dead end at the end of every row. The external areas of the terminal (and those adjacent to the terminal) require a vast improvement and be smartened up. According to the airports website, a Boots Chemist is present in the airport. Thinking that this is airside and in departures will prove to be incorrect as it does not exist there - its is in arrivals instead. More restructure, better information and better facilities are required I feel.

I must say I was actually looking forward to travelling from East Midlands for our holiday as have only done Flybe flights up to Glasgow before and they were fine. What a nightmare, we arrived an hour early to find check in already open but queue was for all Thomas Cook flights, it took us over an hour to get through check in. Security upstairs was horrendous this took 35 minutes and when our bags were actually in the scanner the staff decided to do a staff changeover. On our return in the early hours of Monday 1st August, we were one of four planes that arrived together, utter chaos ensued, had to be bused off plane as we were as far away as possible. In passport control roped off to go through electronic ID which is usually quick - well it is in other airports - was a absolute farce, the machines could not cope and kept crashing, all five of them. Then passengers were sent down to see passport officers. There were mother's with young babies and toddlers at backs of queues, they were not helped at all. In short this airport cannot cope with huge numbers and staff do not seem to be aware of how to take charge. In essence we landed at 11.40 and by time we got through baggage reclaim it was 12.50am. Never again for annual holiday.

I arrived at East Midlands Airport at 3.25 pm on 1 August for a 4.50 pm flybe flight to Glasgow. As I had no bag to check in I proceeded to security. After waiting over 1 hour in an extremely long queue I eventually reached the security check. I did alert a member of staff at 4.25 that I may miss my flight and was told that there was nothing that they could do - just wait in the queue. As I was waiting for my bag to come through screening I asked to speak to a supervisor who told me that they were short of staff. It was an extremely stressful experience especially when my bag was put aside in a row of 6 for further examination. At this point I did approach staff at the desk at back of security who just said nothing could be done to speed up the process. It was a totally harrowing experience and because of staff shortages passengers may miss their flight and quite frankly no one I approached at the airport was in the least bit interested. Disgraceful. A passenger experience that could have been avoided by proper planning / organisation / training.

This airport has got worse since the alterations. The vip lounge is always full and not relaxing. The departure lounge is awful. They seem more interested in overpriced food and drink outlets. The seating area seems to have been halved. It is not a pleasant experience flying from this airport. There are more announcements in foreign languages than in English. On arrival back in the UK they seem to have a competition to see how many passengers they can cram on a bus. Passport control is ridiculous with the roped corral they force you through. Totally unnecessary.

What a shambles of an airport. Pavements from car parks are terrible - have any managers tried wheeling a suitcase from one of them? Queues for passport control are horrendous - if it's raining you'ĺl get soaked. Avoid at all costs, don't pay for fast track security as queues longer than normal.