Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Ray Finkle]

Hi Scottie.

I believe WHSmith sell sim cards but I imagine they may well be towards the higher priced end of the market. There is a Smiths in arrivals on the left as she comes out, opposite Costa. I've also seen vending machines dotted about that sell various electronics, chargers etc but I've never looked to see if there are sim cards available.

If she has access to transport and is looking for something a little cheaper she could head along the A45 towards Birmingham where there is a large Tesco Extra in Yardley which has a Mobile store upstairs. It's about a 15 min drive from BHX.

I'm not sure if it's possible to order one online and have it delivered to her hotel?

 

[pianokeys]

Interesting article in todays Daily Telegraph reporting on 16 UK airports and assessing their appeal to passengers on certain criteria. Birmingham comes out at 7th above Bristol and East Midlands. So just over half way. LCY, LHR and LGW were top. So not bad, but room for improvement. It’s behind a paywall for none subscribers.

 

[Matt995]

Flying high: How Britain's 16 busiest airports fared​

Rank	Airport	Rating
1	London City	302
2	Gatwick	286
3	Heathrow	277
4	Newcastle	277
5	East Midlands	260
6	Luton	252
7	Birmingham	250
8	Liverpool	242
9	Edinburgh	234
10	Aberdeen	230
11	Manchester	228
12	Stansted	220
13	Glasgow	216
14	Belfast International	210
15	Bristol	192
16	Leeds Bradford	192

Ranked and rated: Britain's best (and worst) airports

From delays and destinations to Wi-Fi charges and transport links, our comprehensive study takes in all the important factors

ByEmma Beaumont, TRAVEL WRITER4 May 2022 • 3:58pm

Which of the nation's airports came out on top in our in-depth study?

It’s fair to say that the airport experience has taken a turn for the worse over the past couple of years. From confusing Covid admin at check-in to nightmarish queues and an upswing in last-minute flight cancellations, it seems there’s little glamour in flying these days.

Still, some airports manage to make the experience a bit more bearable with decent restaurants, free Wi-Fi and water refill points. Of paramount importance to most passengers is whether they’ll be saddled with delays, or – even worse – holiday-threatening cancellations.

So which are Britain’s best and worst airports, when all the factors are taken into account?

We selected 16 categories with which to rank the UK’s 16 busiest airports. From quizzing our readers on Twitter to assessing how aesthetically pleasing each terminal is, to gathering data on delays and destinations served, we have drawn up your guide on where best to fly from this summer.

The winner: London City Airport

Often thought of as the preserve of business travellers, little London City has quietly been building a reputation among frequent flyers as the chicest choice for holiday travel. While it can’t compete with London’s ‘big four’ in terms of number of routes served, its 40 destinations go far beyond the classic financial capitals and include the likes of Florence, the Balearics and various Greek islands. In our survey it gained points for its proximity to the centre of London (and the cost of the journey to get there) plus perks like free unlimited Wi-Fi and mobile phone charging points – an impressive 1,771 seats have power outlets. Crucially, 89.1 per cent of its flights arrived on time last year while the average delay was only five minutes. The airport also likes to boast that arrivals can be onboard the DLR in as little as 20 minutes after touchdown, though of course experiences may vary.

Runner-up: Gatwick

On a straw poll of the Telegraph Travel desk, London’s second airport divided opinion like no other, having both its committed fans and determined detractors. In the rankings, it scored highly for the number of destinations served (192), the number of four-star hotels within a two-mile distance and a lack of flight cancellations, but was punished for the high price of the Gatwick Express and low number of restaurants per million passengers. However, it should be noted that it has more diverse food outlets than most, offering everything from sushi to Shake Shack and a perfectly serviceable brasserie in addition to the obligatory Wetherspoons. One factor to remember for those who like to linger in duty free – Telegraph Travel’s Chief Consumer and Culture Editor Nick Trend highlights that Gatwick has “some of the longest walks to the departure gate known to man.”

Tied for third: Heathrow and Newcastle

In joint third place are Europe’s busiest airport and a regional hub a fraction of its size. Heathrow won the aesthetics competition, drawing praise for the superb Richard Rogers extravaganza that is Terminal 5. However, it was almost bottom of the pile for flight delays with only 80 per cent arriving on time in 2021. Still, with the Heathrow Express delivering passengers to Paddington in as little as 15 minutes, 19,000 parking spaces and a dizzying 223 destinations to choose from, there’s no doubt this behemoth remains the top choice for many.

Newcastle, meanwhile, offers the cheapest journey to the city it serves and has a more reasonable ‘kiss-and-drop’ charge than most at £4 for 10 minutes. Other plus points include a good ratio of food outlets to passengers and plenty of power outlets. Still, it was one of the few airports on our list which fails to offer water refill stations.

Bottom of the pile: Bristol and Leeds Bradford

Jointly clutching the wooden spoon in our competition are Bristol and Leeds Bradford airports. The former had few fans on our Twitter poll and levies a hefty terminal drop-off charge at £7. Recent reports of queue chaos at check-in and security suggest it might deserve its lowly ranking, though passengers at least have two hours of free Wi-Fi to entertain themselves with.

Up in Yorkshire, Leeds Bradford airport was branded “a random hotchpotch of ageing buildings” in the visual category and has no four-star hotels within two miles of the terminal. More importantly, it came bottom for cancellations, with 2.28 per cent of all flights axed last year, according to data from the CAA. However, it did perform fairly well in the delay rankings and has a generous 1,440 seats available in the terminal if you need somewhere to wait it out.

---

​

Best for flights on time

With an impressive 92.2 per cent of flights leaving on time in 2021 and an average delay of only five minutes, most passengers at Belfast International were treated to a rather seamless experience last year. At the other end of the scale, only 79.9 per cent of flights were on time at Luton in 2021.

1. Belfast International: 92.2 per cent
2. London City: 89.1
3. Gatwick: 88.2
4. East Midlands: 87.5
5. Liverpool: 86.8

Easiest to access

Anyone who has ostensibly flown to a European city on a budget airline only to find they have arrived at a small airfield two hours outside of the centre may put value on an airport's proximity to the city it serves. Birmingham tops this category with a speedy 12-minute journey to the city centre, while Glasgow and Manchester also performed well at 15 minutes. Stansted had the longest journey time – a hefty 47 minutes to Liverpool Street Station.

1. Birmingham: 12 mins to city centre
2. Manchester: 15 mins
3. Glasgow: 15 mins
4. London City: 21 mins
5. Heathrow: 21 mins

The people’s choice (according to Twitter)

Liverpool Airport ended up in mid-table obscurity in the overall rankings but it was the people’s winner in our Twitter poll, with one social media user declaring it “the best by miles”. The praise may be informed by its classy, glassy exterior or the striking Yellow Submarine sculpture – a tribute to the airport’s namesake John Lennon, who also has a statue inside.

Ryanair and EasyJet are the big players here, but Wizz Air has an increasingly large presence and new low-cost Icelandic carrier Play will be launching flights to Reykjavik later this year.

1. Liverpool
2. Luton
3. Heathrow

Best (and worst) of the rest

The best and worst airports in other categories​

Category	Best	Worst
Total destinations served	Heathrow (223)	Aberdeen (32)
Cost of fastest route to city centre	Newcastle (£2.40)	Gatwick (£18.50)
Cancellation % (according to CAA)	East Midlands (0.35%)	Leeds Bradford (2.78%)
Average delay in minutes	Belfast / London City (5 mins)	Heathrow / Birmingham (11 mins)
Quality of hotels (% within a two-mile radius that have four or more stars)	Edinburgh (50%)	Liverpool / Leeds Bradford / Belfast (0%)
Number of hotels (within a two-mile radius)	Heathrow (59)	Leeds Bradford (2)
Restaurants per million annual passengers	Newcastle (6.2)	Stansted (0.37)
Kiss and drop' charge?	Belfast (£1)	Liverpool (£10)

Our methodology

We wanted the winning airport to reflect the passenger experience, not simply how big it is. As such we ranked each airport according to:

• Percentage of flights on time in 2021 (according to data from the CAA)
• Average delay in minutes in 2021 (according to data from the CAA)
• Percentage of flights that were cancelled in 2021 (according to data from the CAA)
• Total destinations served
• Distance to the centre of the city it serves (in terms of minutes, via the quickest available public transport route)
• Cost of fastest route to city centre (public transport options only)
• Whether it has free Wi-Fi access, and how long for
• Number and quality of nearby hotels (within a two-mile radius, according to ratings on Booking.com)
• Restaurants per million passengers
• An aesthetics score (according to our consumer editor in-house airport aficionado Nick Trend)
• How much its ‘kiss and drop charge’ is

Bonus points were issued to airports with:

• Mobile charging facilities
• Drinking water fountains/water bottle refill stations
• A five-star hotel nearby (within a two-mile radius)

 

[pianokeys]

The new Signature FBO opened yesterday. signatureflight.com/bhx

 

[pianokeys]

signatureflight.com/bhx

 

[RichL]

Lancaster Bomber currently over Cannock way if anyone here is in that area.

 

[Seasider]

It was overhead Central London at 13.00hrs. Not bad going for a 80 year old.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Birmingham Airport is preparing for 89% of pre-pandemic customer volumes over the upcoming Platinum Jubilee weekend as Britain’s aviation bounce back continues.

Over the four-day weekend (Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June), more than 147,000 people are booked to fly in and out of Birmingham Airport. That’s:

• 144 times more than over the 2020 late May bank holiday (Friday May 22nd to Mon 25th May) when Britain was in Covid-19 lockdown
• over 10 times more than the 2021 late May bank holiday (Friday May 28th to Monday 31st) when Covid-19 restrictions were still in force
• 89% of the numbers who passed through the airport over the 2019 late May bank holiday (Friday May 24th to Monday 27th) - before Covid-19 took hold

Two years ago, Britain was in the grip of Covid-19 lockdown and stringent travel restrictions had all but switched off aviation. Over the Friday leading up to it and three days of the late May bank holiday itself, just over 1,000 people arrived and departed from the airport. During the four equivalent days in 2021, 14,300 passed through the Midlands travel hub.

On March 18th this year, all Covid-19 travel restrictions were suddenly scrapped prompting a strong bounce back in demand, including from people who’d been forced to postpone trips due to Covid-19.

“We are so pleased to see customers back at BHX again,” said Birmingham Airport’s chief executive Nick Barton.

“In the darkest days of lockdown, there were eerie moments when birdsong was the loudest sound on our airfield. Much as I love the sound of birds singing, I’m relieved to hear the buzz of airport activity once again as customers take to the skies in large numbers.”

Nick added: “I’d like to thank customers who present compliant baggage at our pre-flight security screening - with liquids, gels, pastes and larger electrical items removed. This helps us help you keep moving. It also helps our security officers in their vital task of keeping everyone safe.”

As a result of travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, 43% of Birmingham Airport’s employees were made redundant. In anticipation of restrictions being lifted, Birmingham Airport began a recruitment campaign back in November 2021.

Since the start of 2022, the airport has increased its pool of deployable security officers by 19% and its front-of-house customer service teams by 20%. Recruitment continues at the airport to rebuild its resources to a level that enables it to give the great customer service its customers expect.

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT SEES STRONG POST-COVID BOUNCE-BACK

Flying from Birmingham Airport over the Jubilee weekend

www.birminghamairport.co.uk

 

[Karl C]

Morning all,

Difficult summer so far, lots of unexpected aircraft swaps and movements. Do like to keep up with movements etc, but......are there any new routes that might be in the offing? Something different rather than 'movements', which most, if not all of us can see on flightradar ourselves.
Even a new Ryanair route would be interesting lol.
Some of my family in the UK want to go to a Xmas market for the day...like Nürnberg or Copenhagen or Dresden. They always ask me for help. I most always have to point them to a different airport which I find sad and slightly annoying. They can do Düsseldorf and Frankfurt et al, but just not the ones they want. I keep telling myself one day, one day, BHX will surprise me. Won't stop us using BHX, but definitely irritating to see what other airports have achieved.
I'm sure BHX has some irons in the fire so fingers crossed.

Have a great day all

Karl

 

[Nethercote2019]

Berlin & Stuttgart would be good for a start

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Whilst I'm always happy to see new services announced, I think after the last couple of years most airports will be looking to get their 'bread & butter' routes back. Along with the European services, I would like to see Qatar Airways back (although unlikely with their current fleet problems) as well as Turkmenistan and Air India back to a daily operation.

Kevin

 

[Karl C]

Agreed Kevin,

Although when I see Ryanair have just announced Cork to Rome FCO......I have to wonder how/what/why BHX is being passed over for routes which I would call 'sitters'. I know the route would be half full of nuns and priests etc, but the same could be said of pax from BBC. Just an example and floating s#@t about.

 

[HPsauce]

New routes are always welcome, but we also need to see a return to pre Covid levels of service by several operators. For example Brussels Airlines, just one departure per day. It would be great to see Valencia and Gibraltar back too, which were well used in Monarch's services from BHX. Are you listening Easyjet??.

 

[Ray Finkle]

are there any new routes that might be in the offing?

According to Sean M on Twitter easyjet may be looking at increasing flights from Orly to the UK, I think this may be from slot requests. He also suggests there may be the prospect of Vueling opening a base in Lisbon.

Neither are confirmed but I'd take them for BHX

 

[mullion]

Ray one is showing in slots for winter ex Manchester

 

[thunderchild]

Arrived back at BHX yesterday after a week in a very sunny Kos. All things considered the experience wasn’t too bad although I’d say the TUI bag drop/check in can only be described as organised chaos - despite checking in online you save no time whatsoever. The TUI check in zone really isn’t big enough for their operations, especially when compared to Jet2s check in area. It took well over an hour to get through, the staff were doing their best and trying to get those on earlier flights through first - I didn’t really envy them their jobs given the circumstances but for the most part everyone stayed patient. Interestingly those who hadn’t checked in online joined a relatively small queue, went up to one of three open check in desks and were done in minutes. That queue quickly evaporated and sadly I don’t think the girls on the desks did themselves any favours at this point because they were just sitting round laughing and joking amongst themselves when surely they could have started taking people out the bag drop queue?

Security on the other hand was much smoother, although again the queue was quite long it was moving and most of the lanes were all open and I think the whole process took half an hour which for that time of the morning I would have said matched pre-pandemic times. What slowed it down was some people messing around with liquids, belts and laptops…I’m still amazed people still don’t know what they are allowed to take through security!

Boarding was on time and we were all sat ready to go but the bags hadn’t been loaded….not enough staff so we took off about 40 minutes late but made up in time so landed only 15 minutes late in the end.

Arriving back was pretty standard….off the plane (a MAX!!), through passport control and collected bags within half an hour so no complaints there. In fairness if I hadn’t have been reading or watching the news over the past couple of months I probably would’ve been non the wiser to what was happening. So really not as bad as I was expecting, in fact I’ve had plenty of worse airport experiences in ‘normal’ times.

Oh, and Condors new livery is just as hideous when you park up next to one!

 

[thunderchild]

The other thing I forget to mention was that there was a large party from Bristol on the inbound flight - they had all been to a family wedding. Interesting to overhear them say they flew from BHX because it was considerably cheaper than flying from BRS!

 

[Matt995]

The other thing I forget to mention was that there was a large party from Bristol on the inbound flight - they had all been to a family wedding. Interesting to overhear them say they flew from BHX because it was considerably cheaper than flying from BRS!

and if your interested Thunderchild here is one your pilots who flew you back from Kos, including a picture or two from the cockpit! https://www.instagram.com/theflying_brummie/

 

[thunderchild]

and if your interested Thunderchild here is one your pilots who flew you back from Kos, including a picture or two from the cockpit! https://www.instagram.com/theflying_brummie/

Excellent! On the flight back I was debating asking if it would be possible to take a look in the cockpit once we’d landed but the little fella had fallen asleep by that point so figured it probably wouldn’t have been worth it. I am right in thinking asking for a look inside the cockpit after landing is acceptable?

 

[Ray Finkle]

I am right in thinking asking for a look inside the cockpit after landing is acceptable?

Both TUi and Jet2 have kindly allowed my son onto the cockpit after landing. The crew of TUi even let him in after quite a significant delay which was extremely kind of them (I made sure that we didn't linger). It's certainly worth asking the cabin crew whilst en route