Exeter Airport

Executive Lounge. Don't waste your money booking this. It is a small dingy room at the back of the departure lounge. No windows hot nothing to eat apart from flapjack and crisps and a bowl with six shrivelled oranges in!

I would like to give Exeter Airport a good revue as we use it at least once a year to go to The Canaries. It is a small provincial Airport with a relaxed atmosphere and very friendly staff! The small cafe offers good quality food and has a couple of bars. After collecting ones case there is a free drop off/pick up point and the main car park is only a 3 minute walk away or there is a free shuttle bus.

What are the people in charge of Exeter airport thinking. The drop off and pick up facilities are non existent unless you count 10 minute free parking a bus ride away in car park 4 which is absolutely ridiculous. I had to pick up an elderly relative today. I could not go through to the old 20/10 minute parking area being confronted by a barrier. It was very poorly signed that I now needed to turn right into the adjacent car park and pay a £1 min for the pleasure so did a three point turn stopped and ran the forty yards to where I could see them waiting and hurried straight back to the car less than half a minute to be confronted by a parking assistant handing me what looked like a parking ticket. Whilst I fully understand the parking implications if they want to implement the parking restrictions and bylaws which apparently cover the area "perhaps they could provide decent drop off and pick up facilities as used to exist in what used to be a convenient friendly little airport". Unfortunately I will think twice about using this airport myself in the future until things change. Whilst I am on the subject of parking my visitors where shocked to see that their four days parking at Dublin airport at a cost of 19 Euros would have cost £56.20 in Exeter. I have used this airport many times in the past but will be loath to in the future with surcharges for local departure combined with high parking charges and limited destinations the trip to Bristol or Gatwick and its cheaper overall prices look more alluring.

The airport is well situated for access however the recent changes which mean you must pay to even drop off or collect are outrageous. Although the charge is small it is the principal of the matter that you are actually not using any facilities. The building has certainly outgrown the demand and requires carefully considered development.

Best plan I find at Exeter is not to go through to departures after checking in until the flight is called for boarding. It's so claustrophobic in departures with a feeble 'duty-free' shop; no windows at all. The cafe's been tarted up recently and is better than it was. There is a coffee outlet and a news shop out there near the check in desks. And you can go outside. The airport operator plans to demolish the blue hangar to the left of the terminal building and to re-develop the whole terminal area. When? I think within the next couple of years. Much longer than that and they'll need to fit roof racks to the existing building for people waiting for flights after checking in.

It's a great small airport but now outgrowing its terminal building. Given that more than one million people a year are using the airport there is an urgent need to build a larger building with superior and more varied shopping facilities to accommodate that extra trade. The terminal building at Guernsey airport is perhaps what Exeter should be aiming for.

Great regional airport small but perfectly packaged we left early on one of the first flights on a Saturday morning only problem check in started at 4:30am but security didn't open until 5am but concourse coffee bar was open. Once through security everything was open and adequate.

Having used the airport a few times this year I am impressed by the number of destinations that can be flown to from Exeter but the terminal is desperately small now for the number of passengers it handles. I was there on a saturday recently for a flight to Edinburgh and people were having to sit on the floor everywhere because of the sheer volume of passengers. I also find the shopping airside woefully inadequate and the fact the departure lounge has no windows whatsoever I find somewhat claustrophobic after a while. However if you fly on a quieter day it's a great place and so easy to get to and leave from and luggage is out in no time. Hopefully when the new terminal is built all these issues will be addressed.

Use this airport quite often. The building work in the check in area has been completed and it is now so much better lighter and more spacious. Some days have very busy periods ie Tuesday mornings when there are queues at the check in desks. The staff are pleasant helpful and usually very professional especially security who have a very difficult job to do both inside and outside the terminal. The airport is very well run and kept clean. Departure and arrivals areas both work well. New hangers for Flybe are advancing well (not funded by airport).

The airport is still having work carried out on it and it is a little difficult to comment. but it did what I wanted it to. although my main reservation was in the departure lounge is a room with no windows so once through customs you have no natural sunlight or viewing area until your flight is called.