East Midlands Airport

Needed assistance at East Midlands Airport - told to join a long queue which took over one hour. At security assistant disappeared for 15 minutes and asked my partner to push me the rest of way. On return landed at 0040 - lift to unload wheeelchairs not available and arrived 40 minutes later. One assistant to move 4 groups via unfamiliar route through non-public areas - bought out to an unrecognised public area not expected taxi pick up point. Fortunately our taxi driver waited for an extra payment. I will not be using EMA in future.

What a disgrace and embarassment this airport has become. When flying in from Spain the queue through passport control was worse than terrible. As I have recently had a new hip, I use a stick. I do not need wheelchair assistance, but I never expected to have to stand in discomfort for so long. I asked two members of staff for help but both told me that there was nothing they could do. On flying back to Spain, I checked in 2 hours before, as requested. Only to find that the queues were so long, that there was no way I would make my flight. I went to get an express pass, otherwise I would have missed my flight. What a rip off. If they staffed up appropriately this would not have been needed. The duty free shops were empty, I'm not surprised, nobody had time to shop after being delayed for so long queuing. I have been using this airport for the last 30 years, never again. My advice to everyone is to use another airport if possible.

Totally shambolic from start to finish. Arrived in plenty of time for our flight but ended up only just catching it due to too few check in staff and security check personnel. The queues were horrendous and on our return it took an hour from landing to reaching passport control. We were left sitting on board the plane for 20 minutes before a coach turned up to transport us about 200 yards. Then we had to join an extremely long queue outside before entering the cattle shed that is passport control. Staff in there were dour, disinterested and chatting amongst themselves instead of helping. It's no good improving the duty free and food areas if the check in and security are not also improved. On the way out we didn't have time to browse around or buy any food. Come on East Midlands, get your act together, Birmingham and Manchester airports are far superior in every way. Any future holidays we take will not be booked to fly from this joke of an airport.

Me and my partner flew out for a four day trip last week and arrived at 3pm. Our flight was not until 5pm so gave ourselves 2 hours to get through security. We only had hand luggage so thought it would be no problem. It took us 50 minutes to get through. There were only 3 staff checking people at security. While we appreciate the tight security measures now the staff were ridiculously slow and looked like they couldn't be bothered to be doing their jobs. They are unfriendly and there is no leadership. We are going back next week with our children and I am dreading it. Never had a problem before at East Midlands. My advise is give yourself an extra half an hour or so at least.

You pay for everything at EMA. Drop off/pick up parking, £2 for the first 10 mins and then £1 for every minute after. Is is just me that thinks that is crazy? Unless you have 2 hours to queue at security for your flight you'll pay another £3 for the express lane. When I arrived on Monday the queue for security was well into the check in area (people were reporting 75 minutes when they got through to the other side). Not having enough staff or enough lanes open in the holiday season is just another way for them to take advantage of people and make money through the express lane. Worried, I decide to go for the Express lane. I went to buy a ticket. Both machines credit card function were out of order and I only had £2.45. EMA just gets more and more disappointing.

Check-in is quite easy at EMA, as the check-in hall is quite big, meaning there's quite a lot of space (expect for peak times). Security can be a bit of a wait, but is okay. There aren't heaps of facilities airside, but there are several places to eat and drink. The duty free is average, and is decently sized. The departure area looks onto the apron, with a great view of the aircraft. However, as most of the facilities are close to the gates, it can get congested at times. There are screens with departure details around the area, which also tell you how long is left until your flight boards. I recommend getting there at least 5-10 minutes before it opens if you want to be the first to get on, otherwise just go whenever. Arriving at the airport, you'll walk or be taken by bus to the passport control hall, which gets very busy, meaning you sometimes have to queue outside, which isnt good if the weather is bad. Baggage claim can also take a lot of time. There are a few facilities after arrivals too. Generally, the airport is nice, the staff are friendly and the facilities are good. Departing is definitely better than arriving!

I wasn't an actual passenger, I was dropping a relation off at 6 am in the morning. I was just wanting to write about the rapid drop off lanes at the airport. The fees for dropping off a passenger was £2 for 10 mins and then a pound for every minute after. This is controlled by vehicle number plate registration. The rapid drop off lanes were very busy and even though I had dropped my relation off I still had to queue to get out. When I eventually arrived at the gate to get out I had the lovely surprise of the total to pay for using the rapid lanes. This was £18 for 26 mins in the rapid lanes. This is absolute daylight robbery. Do not use the rapid lanes at busy times and you have no option to pay the astronomical rates to leave.

I have travelled through East Midlands airport on a number of occasions and the facilitie are looking very tatty and tired. The toilets are like a portaloo with little Room. The outside areas are dirty and full of cigarette butts and litter. 40 minutes to get through security as only 2 lanes are open (this is the same each time). The security staff did apologise on one occasion and said that they were short staffed. The airport is far too small for the amount of passengers and feels very claustrophobic - not a nice experience at all. This is the major airport for the East Midlands and the First and last place seen by visitors and leaves a poor lasting memory.

The airport itself, though small, is pleasant. As an outbound airport, the process of getting through was quick, though it was a Sunday morning. Inbound though, the whole passport screening process was slow and inadequate. My low scoring is mainly a result of the airports poor access to public transport. Skylink is inadequate. The airport should provide a shuttle service to East Midlands parkway.

Departures - the only available seating was at one of the concession restaurants or in the flight departure area. If you haven't got a departure gate you can only sit in a concession (even if you don't want food) and be forced to spend money or if you can find one in an unoccupied departure area, which are utilitarian and uncomfortable. There is no common area for sitting quietly and comfortably. There was a lot of litter and the loos were poorly signed and dirty. Arrivals was even worse - forced to queue in the cold and rain on the tarmac to get into a kind of bus shelter to queue for the queue, for passport control which is in a cold shed. The express queue for electronic passport machines was even slower than the main queue, partly because the machines are so poorly set out most people couldn't operate them until a staff member (who were not concentrating) noticed and helped them (tutting rudely).