Flying from Brum? Tell us where you're going

[Ray Finkle]

Whereabouts in the US?

There are a couple of options but it will more than likely be NYC.

When the time comes I'll weigh up the time, hassle and cost between a connection (most likely AMS now) and driving to LHR to go direct.

 

[big vern]

For those that have travelled to the USA with Aer Lingus just how beneficial was the US pre-clearance in Dublin?

We're potentially heading that way next year and I can't decide between EI from BHX or biting the bullet and going to LHR for a Virgin A350

When we went to miami we had no queue and no problems at Dub pre-clearance and thought it was great, the only thing I will say is it's a fairly small area after the pre clearance and the couple of small food outlets were very busy with not much range or seating so its best eat in the main departure area then go through pre clearance. As I said in an earlier post if you have short transfer times the chances of your bags being left behind is very high especially the return sector from dublin to brum, our transfer was just over an hour and by the time we got to the gate it boarded mins later, when we got to BHX no bags for several of us transfer passengers, when registering the lost bags I was told its a frequent occurrence from dublin with transfer bags. They did arrive by 1030am the next day but it was still an inconveinence.
I would go the virgin A350 as it's a beast.
Another thing with Aer lingus to the USA is, if your flight is cancelled and the next one is 2/3 days later ( I enquired because the same miami flight the week before ours was cancelled) all they told us was we will try and get you on the next available flight, which is not good when you have car hire/hotel bookings and you arrive 2 days later.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I would go the virgin A350 as it's a beast.

Thanks for the detailed reply, very interesting.

Still plenty of time but a Virgin 789/A350 combo is sounding good.

 

[nancledre]

Holiday in Phuket with SAGA.
Not flying from Brum, but thought may be of interest.
First leg required a trip up the M6 mid afternoon in pouring rain, fortunately in a people carrier taxi. Arrived at Manchester with 4 hours to departure - at least flying from BHX, I do not have motorway delays to worry about.
No problems with Etihad EY22 check-in, apart from the nonsense where my rucksack was weighed, but friends we were travelling with had a similar rucksack not weighed.
Security was security - different rules to BHX!
Found the airport generally a bit depressing, For all its shortcomings at least BHX lounge is bright!
Loaded and departed on time, with plenty of spaces on the 787. Could not get the Bluetooth link to work to my headphones. 6+ hours later arrived at Abu Dhabi.
All incoming passengers have to pass through a body scan, so the chaos has to be seen to be believed. A tip here, our friend occasionally has need of a telescopic walking stick, like now! Almost instantly a member of staff directed us out of the chaos and within minutes we were through. Speaking in resort with someone else who was on the previous weeks flight, it took them 30-40 minutes to negotiate.
The flight to Phuket (777) was full, but departed on time & another 6 hours saw our arrival and more chaos. Why are immigration forms not given at check in, rather than being delivered on the aircraft when most of us are asleep?
3 weeks later and the return trip.
Smoothly through Phuket and everyone was having their body temperature taken (presumably coronovirus concerns). Away on time with a number of empty seats. Arrived Abu Dhabi and once again chaos because of the scanning process. Our friend who has had a hip replacement had the usual problems, but the best was when he had to remove his handkerchief and put it though the scanner separately! Next was a route march to the departure gate, with no apparent guide as to how long this would take.
Departure was about 1 hour late, but no reasons given. Again plenty of empty seats on the EY15. After trying and retrying to get Bluetooth to work I finally cracked it - one line of text on the pairing screen would have saved much frustration. Arrived Manchester and after another route march the electronic passport scanner again failed to let me through (the next time it recognises me will be the first! ) Taxi driver was waiting for us and soon we were heading south on the M6.

Conclusions:
Manchester airport. Seemed dim and not inviting.
Abu Dhabi scans all incoming passengers and hand luggage - why?
As expected the 787 was a better flight experience than the 777
Both 777’s seemed tired. In both directions myself or wife had to have the video equipment re-booted to get it to work. In fact the one would only work using a combination of onscreen and handset controls.
To get 787 Bluetooth to work, I had to open e-box first but no indication that this is necessary why not tell the user?
Comparing Etihad with Emirates, then in my opinion Etihad comes a poor second to Emirates.

 

[Karl C]

......maybe put this in the Manchester forum as this has nothing to do with Birmingham.

 

[nbdm]

Thanks for the detailed reply, very interesting.

Still plenty of time but a Virgin 789/A350 combo is sounding good.

I haven't done US pre clearance in Dublin, but after a recent experience with JFK T4 I'd say it's probably worth it.
We took the Virgin A350 from LHR and landed ahead of schedule at about 11:30am, comfortable seat, great IFE and on-board service, however we waited in the immigration queue for over 3 hours as there was just 4/5 desks open for a hall constantly filling with more arriving flights, in the end we got into Manhattan as it was getting dark so didn't benefit from getting the earlier flight from LHR. The immigration officer was actually very friendly when we were eventually seen and did make us feel somewhat welcome to the US, the time of year and day of the week could have an effect on how long you wait too, swings and roundabouts I'd say.

Granted the queue in Dublin could be just as bad as in the US but at least you don't have to think about it when you land, you can just leave the airport. Flying from BHX would have been about £120 more per person (on hand luggage fares) via AMS which didn't outweigh the cost saving of driving down the M40 unfortunately. I'm sure many would agree a direct flight beats a connection in most cases, especially if it was possible from your local airport (hint hint BHX )

Off topic: it baffles me how the US have not improved their immigration wait times, every time I have visited it has been the same slow process, especially in JFK their busiest for International arrivals.

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

In December flying
Lufthansa BHX - FRA Morning Flight 06:15 or 06:10
Lufthansa FRA - SOF
Lufthansa SOF - MUC
Lufthansa MUC - BHX Landing December 30th or 31st at about 10pm
Anyone know what aircraft likely to fly on to Frankfurt and from Munich I know it is Airbus A320 family for all flights but will it be a NEO, A321, A320 or A319

 

[richard winterbourn]

Well, i'm heading back to the centre of Brasil on March 16 - and it all starts at BHX!

2200 overnight stay in Ibis Birmingham Airport

March 16: 0635 Flybe to Paris Charles de Gaulle
1040 Air France Paris to Rio de Janeiro Galego International Airport
1815 Onibus (approx £4) to Rio Santos Dumont Airport
1900 Tram from Santos Dumont to my hotel in the lively Lapa district

2 days in Rio then,
March 18: 1550 Latam flight to Sao Paulo
1815 Sao Paulo to Goiania

12 days with friends in Goiania then
March 30: 1225 Latam flight to Sao Paulo
1720 Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro International Airport
2155 KLM flight Rio de Janeiro to Amsterdam
1635 KLM flight Amerstam to Birmingham Airport

* The reason i take the bus from the international airport to the domestic airport is to avoid high taxi fares which could be about £50. In my case it will be £ bus fare and then about £3 tram fare to a tram stop 100 yards from my hotel.

And all that by a 75-year-old with two knee replacements. Phew....

 

[Ray Finkle]

Well, i'm heading back to the centre of Brasil on March 16 - and it all starts at BHX!

2200 overnight stay in Ibis Birmingham Airport

March 16: 0635 Flybe to Paris Charles de Gaulle
1040 Air France Paris to Rio de Janeiro Galego International Airport
1815 Onibus (approx £4) to Rio Santos Dumont Airport
1900 Tram from Santos Dumont to my hotel in the lively Lapa district

2 days in Rio then,
March 18: 1550 Latam flight to Sao Paulo
1815 Sao Paulo to Goiania

12 days with friends in Goiania then
March 30: 1225 Latam flight to Sao Paulo
1720 Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro International Airport
2155 KLM flight Rio de Janeiro to Amsterdam
1635 KLM flight Amerstam to Birmingham Airport

* The reason i take the bus from the international airport to the domestic airport is to avoid high taxi fares which could be about £50. In my case it will be £ bus fare and then about £3 tram fare to a tram stop 100 yards from my hotel.

And all that by a 75-year-old with two knee replacements. Phew....

Now I feel bad for moaning about the flight to the Canaries

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

My friend asked me to ask which is the better stop off airport if his family wants to fly from Birmingham to Singapore he knows that he could via Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Istanbul, Doha or Dubai but he doesn't know which one is better to fly in and out of

 

[SRDey]

Off on an all expenses paid trip to Amsterdam in 3 weeks only for 3 days though and will be flying KLM from BHX. Can’t wait super excited and will be touring round AMS whilst there.

 

[SRDey]

My friend asked me to ask which is the better stop off airport if his family wants to fly from Birmingham to Singapore he knows that he could via Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Istanbul, Doha or Dubai but he doesn't know which one is better to fly in and out of

Personally for me it’s between for me it’s between 2 Emirates & Lufthansa both have there benefits. Lufthansa & Singapore Airlines being part of the Star Alliance as well as having multiple flights between Frankfurt and Singapore as well if lucky they may end up on a Singapore Airlines A380 out of Frankfurt if they book direct with Lufthansa and see if it’s a codeshare flight also Lufthansa service is amazing can’t fault them at all. Emirates is also a great option but if you don’t mind 2 long Flights flights but then again similar to Lufthansa there service is amazing so you can’t fault them.

 

[Otisblue]

My friend asked me to ask which is the better stop off airport if his family wants to fly from Birmingham to Singapore he knows that he could via Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Istanbul, Doha or Dubai but he doesn't know which one is better to fly in and out of

The best experience i have had from Birmingham to Singapore is via Zurich. I am going to Singapore next week via Doha so will be
able to let you know how that goes. We do have a long layover on the way back from Singapore due to the flight time back to Brum

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

Ok I will tell my friend that Zurich, Frankfurt and Dubai have been recommended down to his family to then find prices and so on

 

[SRDey]

1 week to go then off to Amsterdam with University

 

[Nethercote2019]

We may need to change the name of this forum to ..... places your unable to go to
Very sad news about Flybe tonight, thinking of all the workers tonight

 

[Otisblue]

Arrived back at BHX yesterday on the Qatar from SIN/Doha.

First time with Qatar. We were flying business, but Qatar were absolutely fantastic. The whole experience was just
superb, and the crew on all flights were amazing.....all very engaged, friendly and could not do enough for you.

Doha airport was fine to transit through, although i found it a bit dark with not too much natural light ( a bit like the main
departure lounge at BHX ) although that could be a design feature due to the sun/temperatures they get.

The Doha/SIN legs were on the A350-1000, my first time on the A350, and loved it, fantastic aircraft.

The only bit of a drag was the 11 hour stopover in Doha on the return leg. I did manage a good few hours spotting
though and made a good few of the Qatar fleet !! I am certain that Qatar are missing out on business because of the current
schedule. Hopefully they will increase the schedule in the not too distant future. They are certainly my airline of choice now
going East.

The flight out of Brum was almost full. The return was not full, but looked a fairly healthy load.

A few weeks ago we had booked flights to Auckland with Qatar for Oct/Nov and so looking forward to those now.

We are also going to Vancouver Island in Aug/Sept with KLM/AF/Delta............and just to say we had those booked
before the news of H and M moving there !!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I am certain that Qatar are missing out on business because of the current
schedule.

It seems to be a recurring theme.

There is talk of an upgrade to an A359 but I think the general opinion is that a frequency increase is desperately needed.

 

[Ashley]

Flying out on Emirates lunch time flight on the weekend. Have been avoiding Dubai for good few years but the temptation of flying the A380 finally got better off me.

 

[SRDey]

It’s so strange how everything can change in 1 week. To think last week Wednesday I was with Amsterdam with university and came back last Friday and Birmingham Airport was like a ghost town the day I arrived even AMS was like a ghost town last Friday imagine a hub like AMS now? It’s sad that everything in this modern day & age can go into stand still for something so small and temporary it’s scary. What’s even worse is no screening was put in place for any arriving passengers so how would one know if they are ill or not? my hope is if we can survive the SARS outbreak of 2003 (I was 4 years old) or even swine flu in 2009 then we can survive COVID19