Flying from Brum? Tell us where you're going

[Brum X]

Just sat in the Departure lounge having some breakfast and a coffee, off to AMS for the day to do some plane spotting. Depart 8am, return flight later this afternoon. Everything was fine, got on the X1 to International station, got the monorail straight to security. Winded round and round for approx 15 mins and straight through, breeze. Airport is now very busy,

Cheers

X

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

In 2026 my Parents will be flying out of Birmingham on the EK A380 on there way to pick up a cruise in Australia that will take them around New Zealand. They were originally going to use LGW and LHR but the prices shot up and by the time they factored in travel to LGW, Overnight accommodation and the flights BHX worked out cheaper. They will be flying on the A380 both ways landing again at Midday so the current EK39 flight.

 

[Karl C]

Flew Kalamata back to BHX today and had a very positive experience. Off the plane very quickly, thru the e-gates very quickly and the bags were already there. Couldn't believe it tbh. Out of the airport in a trice.
Pax on board 145

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Flew Kalamata back to BHX today and had a very positive experience. Off the plane very quickly, thru the e-gates very quickly and the bags were already there. Couldn't believe it tbh. Out of the airport in a trice.
Pax on board 145

Many happy memories of a holiday in Stoupa where we flew to/from Kalamata.

Lovely place.

 

[Karl C]

Many happy memories of a holiday in Stoupa where we flew to/from Kalamata.

Lovely place.

But Kalamata airport isn't an airport I'd like to fly thru again. Makes BHX look super efficient

 

[Jon Dempsey]

But Kalamata airport isn't an airport I'd like to fly thru again. Makes BHX look super efficient

Problem is Karl, it's a military airport.
We were due to fly out from Manchester on an a/c doing a W rotation - the a/c went tech @ LGW first thing in the morning so we had a long delay.
It eventually arrived and went tech again @ MAN. When the part and AWC arrived, the crew had exceeded their hours and the military had closed Kalamata. So a few of us (unconnected pax) opened the duty frees and had a bit of a party. - I will never forget a 90 year old gent (a real gent) standing up and dancing.
Eventually, we flew to Athens and took a coach down to Stoupa.

 

[Karl C]

Problem is Karl, it's a military airport.
We were due to fly out from Manchester on an a/c doing a W rotation - the a/c went tech @ LGW first thing in the morning so we had a long delay.
It eventually arrived and went tech again @ MAN. When the part and AWC arrived, the crew had exceeded their hours and the military had closed Kalamata. So a few of us (unconnected pax) opened the duty frees and had a bit of a party. - I will never forget a 90 year old gent (a real gent) standing up and dancing.
Eventually, we flew to Athens and took a coach down to Stoupa.

It was the inefficiency of the airport staff and the three check in desks for five flights that was unacceptable

 

[Jon Dempsey]

It was the inefficiency of the airport staff and the three check in desks for five flights that was unacceptable

You should try Emirates economy check-in @ BNE. Business & First flew through with ample desks, cattle only had 3 desks for an A380 flight up to Dubai, Jan just gone!

 

[Brum X]

Boarding gate 16 in the old Eurohub

 

[Ianbutty]

Boarding gate 16 in the old Eurohub

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Safe journey BrumX. I assume that the digbeth clean up crews will be okay in your absence - if you have not already check out their efforts on the Greater Birmingham thread....

Looking at the first photo, to the right of the squeasyjet left wing, and off topic, but I never understood why when they connected the two terminals, the apron side extension did not extend the whole distance between the old eurohub and the main terminal pier. Seems to be a wasted opportunity to create much needed space at floors one and two.

Sorry Mr Moderator, if this is moved to elsewhere.

 

[thunderchild]

Looking at the first photo, to the right of the squeasyjet left wing, and off topic, but I never understood why when they connected the two terminals, the apron side extension did not extend the whole distance between the old eurohub and the main terminal pier. Seems to be a wasted opportunity to create much needed space at floors one and two.

In hindsight the Millennium Link as it was called was probably planned 30 years ago when British Airways were operating 737’s into Eurohub and all the jet-bridges were still in operation. If the building did come out further it would have hindered the apron operations and probably would have required a significant reconfiguration which might not have been possible. If you look on Google Earth you can see how tight it is for aircraft pushing back on that stand.

 

[Brum X]

Great views from my hotel

 

[Ray Finkle]

Around one hour and twenty minutes to get through security on Monday.

Jet2 bag drop took no more than ten minutes after which we joined a queue along the right hand wall heading up towards the special assistance area. We then did an about turn and snaked back down again, past Spar, with the line stop/starting as there was a 'level crossing' type operation where they kept having to stop the people walking between T1 and T2 so this line could cross and join the back of the line for the lifts It was absolute chaos with nobody really knowing which queue was for what!

The wait for the lifts was less than 10 minutes but when exiting upstairs there was another two queues for the boarding card check point, neither of which moved for quite a time as the queue for the scanners was moving so slowly. I appreciate that I've only used it twice but to me the new system seems much slower than the previous one, especially with less lanes. I also noticed that in every lane that I could see the rejected trays line was constantly full, possibly slowing things down as bags then had nowhere to go?

I don't know what can be done to make things smoother at peak times (if anything) but as far as I can remember that is the longest I've ever had to queue. I also wonder how much it must be costing to employ all of the customer helpers attempting to get some order from the madness.

Departure lounge steady but not packed. Only had time for a quick drink (probably would have had another if we could) and definitely no time for shopping. Are they losing out on some revenue?

Boarded from gate 40 at the far end of the pier, nice flight out on G-JZHE landing 7 minutes early

Came back today on OM-JEX. Jet2 seats fitted so apart from the 'Operated by Air Explore' sticker at the door it would have been difficult to tell the difference. Oh, and the lack of 'that' song being played

Arrived on stand 4 and joined a quite lengthy queue for UKBF. It moved very quickly and in the end took less than 10 mins or so. Around another 5 mins for the bag and we were getting in the taxi home just under 30 mins after exiting the aircraft.

Departure - Needs improvement as too many pinch points causing the queues to keep stopping rather than the continuous flow I've experienced before. It was also uncomfortably warm, again.

Arrivals - Excellent

 

[Vile8er]

Around one hour and twenty minutes to get through security on Monday.

Jet2 bag drop took no more than ten minutes after which we joined a queue along the right hand wall heading up towards the special assistance area. We then did an about turn and snaked back down again, past Spar, with the line stop/starting as there was a 'level crossing' type operation where they kept having to stop the people walking between T1 and T2 so this line could cross and join the back of the line for the lifts It was absolute chaos with nobody really knowing which queue was for what!

The wait for the lifts was less than 10 minutes but when exiting upstairs there was another two queues for the boarding card check point, neither of which moved for quite a time as the queue for the scanners was moving so slowly. I appreciate that I've only used it twice but to me the new system seems much slower than the previous one, especially with less lanes. I also noticed that in every lane that I could see the rejected trays line was constantly full, possibly slowing things down as bags then had nowhere to go?

I don't know what can be done to make things smoother at peak times (if anything) but as far as I can remember that is the longest I've ever had to queue. I also wonder how much it must be costing to employ all of the customer helpers attempting to get some order from the madness.

Departure lounge steady but not packed. Only had time for a quick drink (probably would have had another if we could) and definitely no time for shopping. Are they losing out on some revenue?

Boarded from gate 40 at the far end of the pier, nice flight out on G-JZHE landing 7 minutes early

Came back today on OM-JEX. Jet2 seats fitted so apart from the 'Operated by Air Explore' sticker at the door it would have been difficult to tell the difference. Oh, and the lack of 'that' song being played

Arrived on stand 4 and joined a quite lengthy queue for UKBF. It moved very quickly and in the end took less than 10 mins or so. Around another 5 mins for the bag and we were getting in the taxi home just under 30 mins after exiting the aircraft.

Departure - Needs improvement as too many pinch points causing the queues to keep stopping rather than the continuous flow I've experienced before. It was also uncomfortably warm, again.

Arrivals - Excellent

Your outbound experience sounds very familiar to mine in mid September but at least you had time to get a drink before boarding. I just cant understand how the airport thought that this re-modelling of this part departures area was a good idea given the lack of space there is.

 

[rollo]

Am I right in thinking that the new departures set up is meant to be designed to cope with the projected 18million passengers per annum ?

If so abandon all hope all who enter.

 

[Brum X]

Hey, I'm back too. Had a really enjoyable trip. Berlin is a very interesting city, certainly no Cinderella and definitely one of the ugly sisters. However the vibe and culture over there makes it a unique place. Public transport is the best ive seen anywhere, including London. Trams. Buses, night buses, cross city trains and the underground literally every few minutes in all directions. However litter and graffiti is everywhere, Birmingham has finally met its match. It's quite a grubby city.



Firstly my arrival last night at around 10pm, 10/10. I couldn't of asked for anything better. The timing was perfect, only a handful of planes parked up and as we were walking down the steps on the very last remote stand at the end of the international pier, flights started to arrive. I was out of the airport in less than 20 minutes with 1 suitcase and had 10 minutes to wait for my bus. Perfect Note: Escalator was still out of use so I will deduct 0.5 so total score on arrival 9.5/10. It's these small things that make a difference.

I can't believe me and Ray travelled on the same day as I experienced none of that mentioned above, however I did arrive at the airport at 4am. My journey to the security area was plain sailing from the check in desks, no problem with the lifts and no problem with the security area, however our security belt broke down so they had to put all of our stuff on the next belt, but that was only 5 mins delay and appreciate these things happen. Not the end of the world. I even had time to walk around the duty free shop, and grab a bacon roll and coffee from the Soho coffee shop in the quiet area of the pier (see photos from Monday)

This is where my moan comes from and I think its an Easyjet issue, no issues with the flight itself, all on time and flight crew fantastic. No loud music playing, you know that one, looool and everything nice and simple, just how I like it. However I had already checked in online, but you have to wait in the same check in queue with everyone else until 2 hours before departure when the normal check in desks open ???? What's the point of bag drop then, everyone might aswell just check in the old way and wait in a queue. Considering I arrived at the airport at 4am for a 7am flight, I literally had to wait in a queue of people until 5am when the staff arrived to open normal check in and the bag drop kiosks. The bag drop should be open as soon as the airport starts getting busy which is nowadays after 4am, you shouldn't have to wait until the check in desk is open as you do it yourself? This is something Easyjet need to look into as there is no point doing everything on the app when you can't bag drop at 4am or 4.30 am when check in only opens 2 hours before a flight.

As a comparison, when I arrived at BER airport yesterday on my return, and this is what it should be like at BHX in 2024, there is no need to even join an Easyjet queue, there is a central bag drop area for all airlines (you select which airline) and done straight away. I arrived at the airport 3 hours before my flight. If that was at BHX, I'd have to wait another 1 hour before I could bag drop.



So to our Easyjet friend on the forum, please get HQ to look into this, everyone shouldn't have to wait until you open check in 2 hours before a flight to bag drop.

Otherwise had a great time.



Also and not Easyjet or BHX related, more to do with airports on the continent. I noticed this when I travelled from Amsterdam in May and yesterday at Berlin airport. How come you go through a passport control at the departing airport, as well as again when you arrive back at BHX ? I've never had to do that at a Spanish airport like Las Palmas. Yes obviously when you arrive but never gone through passport control when leaving Gran Canaria. Is this a Brexit thing ? I just find it weird as a departing passenger?


Check out some rather blurry photo's of BER on the BER thread.

;-)

 

[Nethercote2019]

On board LS1361 to PMI the last flight of the season but 1 .. arrived at airport door at 06:15 & eating bacon sandwich at 06:45 !
My question is why are so many bags rejected at security I think they need to turn the sensitivity down a bit
Used the new tent for first time & it was a bit draughty but ok
We are on the second jet 2 of the morning to Palma outbound pax load of 19 …. For both but both inbounds are full
Simon

 

[Ray Finkle]

I can't believe me and Ray travelled on the same day as I experienced none of that mentioned above, however I did arrive at the airport at 4am.

We were there around 13:00. When my lad asked the woman at the Jet2 bag drop whether all the pax were going to KRK she said to him 'we've got loads departing this afternoon, it'll be busy down there'. She wasn't wrong.

It was so bad that last night Mrs F suggested us using EMA next year

Also and not Easyjet or BHX related, more to do with airports on the continent. I noticed this when I travelled from Amsterdam in May and yesterday at Berlin airport. How come you go through a passport control at the departing airport, as well as again when you arrive back at BHX ? I've never had to do that at a Spanish airport like Las Palmas. Yes obviously when you arrive but never gone through passport control when leaving Gran Canaria. Is this a Brexit thing ? I just find it weird as a departing passenger?

I believe it is to get that exit stamp in the passport. No issue in KRK last week as we just walked straight up to the desk but AGP in August took around 25mins to get through. I wonder how many people have been caught out and nearly missed flights.

My question is why are so many bags rejected at security

I'm glad it's not just me that noticed it.

Every single rejected line I could see was full and when one tray was screened another joined it's place. It seemed as if this stopping and starting held up the queue, which then held up the queue at the boarding card scanning point, which then held up the queue at the bottom of the lifts, which then held up the queue for the queue

 

[Ray Finkle]

Mrs F wants to take members of her family so we're heading back to Krakow next year.

Jet2 timings are awful and easyjet are winter only so we're using Ryanair. Hoping now that it doesn't get canx

 

[Nibbles]

Arrived at the airport at 6:10am yesterday morning. Off the air rail link straight in to security, no queues at all short of the boarding pass gates. We had fast track, though that got slowed up by a couple at the front. In reality, those without fast track who were with us on the air rail link got through just as fast.

The queue did build in the 10 minutes we were passing through, filling all the lines within the main security area, but not yet snaking back to the e gates.

In any case, all an absolute doddle.

Rest of the airport was fine.