Exeter Airport

Not Verified | Lovely experience through check in and security at around 6:45/7am this morning (6th July 2023). The chap at Tui desk was friendly, professional and helpful. All four members of staff at security were great. Helpful, friendly and professional. Lovely atmosphere. At the café a lovely women served me. Smile on her face. Finally, going through to boarding gate; yet again a friendly, cheerful and helpful lady checked me in (7.50am by this stage). It’s a small airport. The shop and café are small. I’m not here to shop or sit drinking. I’m here to have an ideally stress free start to my holiday. The staff make this place. Thank you.

✅ Trip Verified | This review is regarding the security checks and instant irreversible decisions taken by the security staff on items packed in carry on luggage. I arrived at security at Exeter airport and it was not busy at all, I removed my belt and electronics and placed them in the tray for scanning. I had checked the airport website on permissible and banned items from hand luggage and was confident that I complied with all the current regulations. My bag however was pulled for inspection and two rolls of duct tape was removed as banned items. I had checked the website especially looking for the reference to duct tape and saw that it was listed as allowed in hand luggage. Not though at security point, I protested and informed the officer that the web site said duct tape was allowed, no impression at all, they would not even check the website. I did ask why it was banned and was told that you could tie someone up with it. I replied by asking if women's tights were also banned as you can tie someone up with them, ridiculous reply I know but removing an item which was clearly allowed was also ridiculous. I had to get friend who dropped me off at the airport to return to pick up my duct tape which cost time and fuel money. Come on get yourself together either things are banned or not but let the public know.

✅ Trip Verified | A very tired and faded airport. Seats in the upstairs lounge were ripped and worn, no bar available upstairs or downstairs, carpet was worn and hadn’t been cleaned. Check in was ok, security efficient, but the comfort and facilities after security were very sadly lacking. Not a patch on what this airport used to be.

✅ Trip Verified | Keep an eye on your valuables as you pass through security! My sister and I were late to board the plane departing 1st July at 11.05 am (Blue Islands Airline) to Jersey by about 5 minutes with boarding time of 10.35 am. The check in desk staff were very good. No problem there. The security staff? Woeful! Plainly annoyed, one middle aged woman handling the belongings trays decidedly slappable with her sarcasm while looking down her nose at us. The machine you walk through twice beeped at me, necessitating my watch and bracelets to be placed in a tray. That was the last I saw of my watch. A Rado make so not cheap and a rather attractive black and gold enamel type strap. During the rush of bundling us out of the security hall and across the tarmac to the plane I forgot to pick up my jewellery from the tray. I noticed as soon as I sat down on the plane. I immediately advised the excellent lady steward who instantly asked the captain to radio the security staff to bring my belongings to me. My two bracelets duly arrived to the plane for which I am grateful but no watch. Immediately upon my return to Exeter airport I attended Customer Service desk to be directed to the security hall where I spoke to a tall man clearly in authority. He seemingly went to look at the footage of cctv and returned very quickly saying he could not see anything. I was fobbed off and treated very dismissively by him. Did he really look at the footage of 3 days previously in detail so quickly? My watch must have vanished into thin air. I don't remember any other passengers being present. We were the last to board the plane. Something happened to my watch between being placed in the tray and us boarding the plane. Watch your stuff!

✅ Trip Verified | I was booked to travel Club Europe from this airport on 21st August 2021. No dedicated check-in, no priority security, no business lounge. I managed to find a quiet place to sit upstairs in the bar area (the outside seating area was closed). After about 30 minutes an airport employee entered the bar area to inform all of us who were seated there, that the area should have been cordoned off and that we had to move downstairs. Apparently, this was because the floor was unstable. We were told there were plenty of seats at the bottom of the stairs so we went downstairs to sit - which was directly underneath the unstable floor! Very odd - and very dangerous I would have thought. I got the distinct impression that the jobsworth employee just did not want to patrol the upstairs area, so he moved us all downstairs. Because of the danger of the upstairs floor caving in on us we all moved to the main seating area in a windowless room which was extremely busy and required some considerable searching to find empty seats. The area soon became very busy without a seat to be had. All those people sitting so close to each other in a room without a window and all I could think about was Social Distancing. Before long my flight was called and I moved to the boarding gate, Here we all waited whilst the ground staff went into overdrive because they spotted an elderly woman who was reliant on oxygen - and who had a tank strapped to her back. I overheard the member of staff ask of another about how the lady got through check in and security without being challenged about her oxygen. I too questioned this and wondered how easy it would be for a terrorist to get through the airport. This thought soon dissipated when a door suddenly opened and an airport employee shouted 'They're ready for you now' - at which point there was a mad rush for the door. We are all so used to polite announcements made over the tannoy, that to have someone open a door and shout an instruction was quite refreshing - not! In all, a shambles from start to finish. I don't think I have ever been through such an unprofessional airport in my life. And I've been through many airports in some of the most back of beyond places in the world.

✅ Trip Verified | One small coffee machine and a tray of muffins at the closed café airside is the only f&b offered at Exeter. The WiFi service appears to have been switched off, and the remote location of this airport also means there is no mobile signal. The management have used Covid to cut costs beyond an acceptable level. Security is quaint, with staff trying their best but appearing to be very amateur. The truly worst part as always is the miserable Border Force staff on return immigration. They are very rude, dismissive and seem to be in a mood that they are stuck at such a tiny little airport rather than an international hub such as Heathrow. Exeter is convenient for my west country house, but I will be adding the extra 2.5 hour drive to Heathrow to avoid this terrible service and fading airport.

Not Verified | I Had the misfortune to have our flight to Manchester delayed by an hour and a half yesterday and was stuck in the departure lounge at this out of date airport. On arrival we purchased 2 decaf coffees and they were drinkable. I then had a look around WH Smith’s (This was the only place available to purchase food) and just couldn’t believe my eyes as there was just cheese sandwiches available. I asked the assistant if they could replenish the sandwiches and she informed me that’s all that’s available, So Crisps it was for my lunch. There was no charging points anywhere to be seen. I did manage to send an email to the airport about my dissatisfaction but as of yet have had no response. I know that things are not going to be back to normal straight away but for goodness sake surely the basic needs of all of your customers is a must.

✅ Trip Verified | Departure experience was relatively smooth, an early morning flight on Ryanair so airport was very quiet. Security was well managed, clear markings on the floor to encourage social distancing. However there was no coffee shop open so nowhere to buy a drink or a bite to eat. Arriving back was very quick, there were a number of staff members on hand to organise passengers, no queue at passport control and bags were out within minutes, however this was to be expected due to a very quiet flight and an empty airport. Overall, whilst the airport appeared clean we did not see any staff members cleaning while we were there with no hand sanitising stations available to passengers.

Not Verified | Supervisor at check-in had zero customer service skills. She was apathetic and had no empathy. We had an error with website on Ryanair and she clearly could not be bothered to explain the situation, just wanted the £55 Ryanair check in fee. Just really poor skills at handling customers or complaints. Shameful.

✅ Trip Verified | Jobsworth security staff ruined our departure experience. They checked absolutely everything. Ran through all our toiletries even though they were in less than 100 ml bottles. Checked the bottles with their dipper sticks whilst behaving like control freaks, very unpleasant experience and wholly unacceptable and unnecessary. They didn’t need to nitpick over absolutely everything and refused one item that was clearly in an allowed bottle on the grounds it did not state the size. How do these people sleep at night adopting such a bullying mentality?