East Midlands Airport

A charmless box devoid of any redeeming features. It could have been reasonably spacious, but the maximum area possible has been devoted to shops. Comfortable seating areas have come very low in the list of priorities. Parking is a joke. Painfully difficult to find a place, and we have twice been refused exit without paying for a second time. Avoid if possible.

We were first directed to the family aisle as my daughter is 3 and then the man who checked our tickets made the decision to send us down the other path (maybe because she wasn't in a buggy but she was still 3 nonetheless). The queue for the screening area was an absolute joke. It took us 35 mins to reach the screening area. By the time we got through it was the final boarding call for Ryanair, and we had to race for the plane. It is the most disorganised airport I have been at, and they seem more keen on getting you to pay for fast track then properly accommodating children.

Drop off area: Can't believe they charge £1 to enter the drop off zone. That's worse than charging £1 for a small plastic bag to go thru customs or £2 for a bottle of water when in the departure lounge. How desperate are these airports to extract cash from hard working people.

Completely rammed and manic at 6.30am on a Monday morning - took about 3/4 hour to get through security. Grubby little duty free zone which everyone is then forced through before reaching inadequate seating areas. At least the café section upstairs is now finished. When returning on Monday afternoon forced onto two busses even though we were 20 yards from the Terminal, and took nearly 1 hour to get through passport control, and baggage claim. It is a good job that this formerly lovely little local airport is just 8 minutes from our home or I would not use it.

We arrived on 22 June at 23.40. We had to wait on the plane for 35 minutes as there were no steps available to let us off the plane and no buses to take us to the terminal. They are getting too big and cannot cope with the passenger numbers. It had been a long day, we just wanted home, not stuck on a runway. Will try Doncaster airport next time.

Never had any problems with this airport. Even first thing in the morning at its busiest, check-in was quick and was straight through security. We went from the car park to the departure lounge in barely more than 10 minutes! Although the duty free, shopping and restaurant/bar areas have improved, there's not a huge choice yet still adequate for an airport of this size. The departure lounge itself is fairly basic but serves its purpose. Passport Control as usual only took a few minutes and prompt baggage reclaim on arrival. In terms of getting to/from the airport, excellent links by road but the nearest rail station is a bit of a distance. The key thing for any regional airport is to be quick and convenient and East Midlands does that to perfection.

On returning from France on Easter Monday there was only one Long stay car park bus operating. It was overcrowded to the point of being illegal according to the allowed numbers printed inside the bus itself. It had to leave many people behind at the terminal and then drop off at all the long stay car parks making for a lengthy wait. On arrival at long stay 4 already delayed no cars were being allowed out of the exit without a telephone call to control and having to state your registration number a complete shambles. The bus and car park delay saw me exit the airport over an hour and 30 mins after the plane had landed and only with cabin baggage. Not a great experience.

Our outbound experience was quite good. Check in took 5 minutes and security was cleared in a similar time. Our return experience was very different. It was pouring with rain when we landed. We had to leave the plane on steps and get on a waiting bus. We were then dropped some distance from the terminal building and left to walk in the rain. The queue for the electronic passport clearance stretched across the entry door making it difficult for people to get in. By the time we did we were soaked along with a couple of hundred other people. I considered asking my wife to wait with the luggage while I ran to the car in long stay 2 but I could not see any obvious place for her to wait so already being very wet we just walked. There is no transport to this car park. When we were ready to leave the car park it took a while to find my way out. There are no "exit" arrows and the only "exit" sign is actually right next to the exit. It is not high enough to be seen by someone sitting in a car. This happened in daylight. In the dark a person would be left completely at a loss. I will avoid East Midlands from now on.

I have used EMA once before arriving by car when the airport was satisfactory. However this time I travelled to/from the airport using public transport - train to Long Eaton and bus a route that is suggested by the airport itself as follows "The Skylink bus connects this station with the airport up to every 20 minutes seven days a week with a journey time of 20 minutes". This is incorrect and if your flights depart or arrive in the rush hour or out of normal hours I strongly suggest not using this routing. The timing is very erratic and the bus from Long Eaton A) does not stop at Long Eaton station itself instead at bus stops several hundred yards up or down the high street and B) seems to also stop at all normal bus stops between the station and the airport. This means that the "20 minute" journey time is unreliable - also the busses do not go "up to every 20 minutes". I travelled with just hand luggage and on the way home landed at EMA 85 minutes before my train was due to depart from Long Eaton - plenty of time. Immigration was quick enough but then I waited much more than 20 minutes for a bus and the "20 minute" journey to Long Eaton took about 40 mins. Result: missed train. Long Eaton was also unmanned (despite it being peak hours) and with a dead mobile phone it was tricky to work out alternative travel arrangements. I therefore strongly suggest using Derby or Nottingham instead of Long Eaton and also leaving much more time than you expect for the journey on the Skylink bus - especially if near peak rush hour times.

Overall EMA is an OK provincial airport with good parking and average shops and F&B facilities. It is spoilt by the horrendous experience of queuing to get through outbound security and inbound immigration. You are treated like cattle in both areas being made to wait and wait and wait by staff who don' t care less.