Using Birmingham Airport (Questions & Reviews)

[TheLocalYokel]

Many thanks for that, Ray. Porto does sound a splendid place to visit and Mrs Yokel and I really will have to go there. No excuse not to and it's one of Bristol's twin cities too.

 

[richard winterbourn]

Yes, Porto is a great city; culture, food and wine and, if you want, football, make this a 'bucket list' destination. But it is not alone in places to enjoy in Portugal: Lisbon, Lagos, Faro and Tavira are all great places and for the same reasons as Porto.
I live in Portugal as well as England and offer this tip for anyone who is retired and visiting the country -- rail fare is half price! All you have to do is show your passport when you book your ticket. And rail fares in Portugal, even full fare, are nowhere near as exorbitant as they are in the UK..... So from Porto it is easy to visit Lisbon for a day or, from Faro, the same is the case.

 

[Ray Finkle]

That was a great trip report mate, I enjoyed reading all of it.

I had to laugh when you mentioned going to Spar for a loaf of bread and some milk, I do exactly the same when i arrive back into the UK. I bet they make a profit just on the amount of bread and milk they sell, it is so convenient to have that Spar in arrivals. I would be lost without it.

It's usually my first port of call.

We have to have toast and tea for breakfast, well we are British don't you know

Many thanks for that, Ray. Porto does sound a splendid place to visit and Mrs Yokel and I really will have to go there. No excuse not to and it's one of Bristol's twin cities too.

I'm sure that you will enjoy it.

Obviously it depends on individual needs and budgets but I'd definitely recommend staying in a place by the Douro and paying that little bit extra for a river view. Sitting on the small balcony with a glass of port just admiring the view was really something special.

 

[Matt995]

My mother came back from Porto a few weeks back, she was impressed with Porto airport, only downside for her was the weather in Porto, rain and thunderstorms! She flew back to BHX with Ryanair, and was actually quite impressed with the flight and service, more than could be said for her arrival in BHX, she thought the old terminal 2 looked very tatty and wasnt too impressed with the queues at security!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We visited Lisbon for a few days some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, and of course we've done the Algarve too, albeit many years ago. I remember we used the Birmingham-based airline Orion (part of Horizon Holidays I think with both airline and holiday company later absorbed into Britannia Airways/Thomson Holidays, and it was the first time I flew on a B737-300 - in 1985 according to my cine film records).

Porto seemed the obvious progression and Ray's trip report plus comments from Richard and Matt confirm it as a place to visit.

 

[thunderchild]

Glad you had a good trip.....I'm on the countdown to my Mythos now!

 

[Matt995]

I remember we used the Birmingham-based airline Orion (part of Horizon Holidays I think with both airline and holiday company later absorbed into Britannia Airways/Thomson Holidays, and it was the first time I flew on a B737-300 - in 1985 according to my cine film records).

My first flight out of BHX was on an Orion Airways Boeing 737-2T5 G-BHVI the '737th' 737 built to Mahon, think that was 1985 as well!!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

My first flight out of BHX was on an Orion Airways Boeing 737-2T5 G-BHVI the '737th' 737 built to Mahon, think that was 1985 as well!!

We came back from Faro on that aircraft in 1985. It had a notice by the door proclaiming it the 737th 737. Out on a 733 and back on a 732. From memory both were pretty full. I was never a collector of registrations so I have no record of either aircraft in that respect.

We flew from BRS and I spent some time during the outbound flight on the flight deck. If only we could still do that...........

I always remember the captain's name, Pilkington (the glass connection stuck with me). He was a gentleman and I hope he is still with us. He would be quite venerable by now.

 

[jfy1999]

I am hoping to have a weeks break in Bordeaux this summer. After that Rome is on my bucket list but I think Porto is definitely one for the future after seeing Ray's excellent review

 

[Ray Finkle]

Rome is on my bucket list

Rome is great, I'm sure that you will love it

 

[thunderchild]

We flew from BRS and I spent some time during the outbound flight on the flight deck. If only we could still do that...........

Happy days. I remember visiting the cockpit of a BA 742 'City of Birmingham' city en-route LGW-MCO. Must have been about 7 at the time, best thing ever!

 

[Jon Dempsey]

That was a great trip report mate, I enjoyed reading all of it.

I had to laugh when you mentioned going to Spar for a loaf of bread and some milk, I do exactly the same when i arrive back into the UK. I bet they make a profit just on the amount of bread and milk they sell, it is so convenient to have that Spar in arrivals. I would be lost without it.

I tend to use M&S myself, but that's only because I'm a lazy git and it's closer to arrivals!!

Nice report Ray. I went to Porto & Lisbon for a day each on the school cruise. Fabulous memories of both cities.

 

[rollo]

Happy days. I remember visiting the cockpit of a BA 742 'City of Birmingham' city en-route LGW-MCO. Must have been about 7 at the time, best thing ever!

Some years ago we had project for BA in the maintenance hangers at Heathrow and my job involved many site visits i managed to get a tour of a 747-200 from nose to tail including the flight crews rest area in the tail - brilliant.

Did try to get a look round Concord but no chance they probably thought I'd got to get on running the project.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Afternoon all, thought I'd do a quick report of our recent trip which was a typical package holiday with Thomson/TUI, our first trip with them in quite a while.

TUI offer day before bag drop at Birmingham which we intended to make use of so we headed to the airport with our bags on Friday 25th. The TUI website has three little words missing (or at least I didn't see them) that you see written on the screens when you arrive at the airport, "Subject to availability!" We picked up the phone and dialled the number quoted on several occasions but there was no answer. We kept calling for quite a while and then decided to give up, especially with the airport parking clock ticking, in fairness the TOM check in area was absolutely heaving. Being only 10 mins drive from BHX it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for us but for those who live further away it may be worth a call in advance.

So back we were again at T2 in the wee small hours of the 26th, TUI had 5 or 6 flights checking in with a steady stream of people arriving, the staff managed the queue well never letting it build up too much. I had a quick wander round and saw huge queues at Monarch (massive), Jet2 and Thomas Cook which was nice to see. As said elsewhere, being a busy weekend we had booked the security express lane and am so glad we did. From joining the back of the small queue to entering World Duty Free must have been 5-6 mins, I'd definitely take advantage of this again. The departure lounge was heaving but we were lucky to get seated in Wetherspoons fairly quickly for breakfast. I didn't manage to catch Mr Dempsey on this occasion, maybe next time.

Boarding was on a bus from gate 50 which is in the new bussing area, accessed by the stairs opposite Costa in the pier. I can't comment on the new area as we got to the bottom of the stairs, showed the boarding cards then got straight on the bus. The bus pick up was almost under the nose of a recently arrived Qatar 787, I would have got a picture but all of the service vehicles were doing their thing so there wasn't really a decent angle.

We were on 757 G-OOBE heading out with a departure from remote stand 81. Boarding was completed with the doors shut pretty much on time although we actually departed RWY 33 approx 35 mins late, this was due to ATC restrictions into Mahon and nothing to do with BHX, in any case we made up some time en route and landed only 20 mins behind schedule. There was one row blocked off but other than that I didn't see any empty seats.

Arrival at a very hot Mahon saw us park on a remote stand, after disembarking the bus we saw the queue for immigration was reaching out of the arrivals corridor. It moved very slowly and must have been 40-45 mins to get through. Despite the queuing we still had to wait another 20 mins or so for our two bags. In fairness Mahon is not a huge airport and there were quite a few arrivals, the usual TUI, Jet2, Thomas Cook, Monarch etc along with some Iberia Regional.

Check in for the return flight this morning was painless and security moved quickly. The departures area at Mahon is not the biggest and got rather hot and crowded, we found a little cafe and had a (very expensive) bite to eat. The inbound flight was scheduled to depart Birmingham at 07:40 this morning but actually departed at 09:24 meaning it landed in Menorca 1hr and 20 mins behind schedule. The aircraft was 757 G-OOBB which parked directly in front of us and it looked a very healthy load getting off. Boarding was pretty quick although once we were all on and ready to go the Captain told us there would be another 20 mins until engine start, this lead to quite a few groans up and down the cabin but it's just one of those things. Eventually we pushed back with a Vueling A320 to the left of us and after a short taxi we were on our way. I had a quick walk up and down the plane and as far as I could see there were no empty seats at all.

We landed today on RWY15 at 14:52 after a flight time of 2h 26m (the scheduled time of arrival was 13:30). EK40 was holding (amongst others) as we landed giving us a great view of it's departure as we taxied to the gate. We parked on stand 54L, again with a Vueling A320 on our left and were lucky enough to get a jet bridge. After a walk along the pier and a brief comfort stop we were greeted by a lengthy queue at UKBF and after spotting a PIA 777 taxiing in I feared the worst. As it was the queue moved continuously and were we into the baggage area in around 15 mins. The real bonus though was our first suitcase coming through in around 5 mins with the second only 3-4 mins behind, after the usual bread and milk stop we were on our way to the car in no time at all

I usually look forward to going through BHX but after recent events and this being peak school holiday time I have to say that I was dreading it. Thankfully it turned out to be the complete opposite and everything flowed as it should, BHX a it's very best It may be that our delay meant missing the lunchtime rush so it could have actually been a blessing in disguise. The 757 is one of my favourite aircraft and it's been quite some years since I've been on one so this was a real treat. There are reports out there about horrendous leg room but I can't say that I found it any worse than Monarch, Norwegian etc. Overall they were nice flights and the crew on both were great

This was our second trip to Menorca and it is still as beautiful as ever. It was our first time to Cala n' Bosch and it really is a great resort, very family orientated with all of the restaurants catering for the kids as much as the adults. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone with little ones

One observation I made whilst there is just how wide the Jet2 Holidays net is being cast. Upon arrival we spotted a huge Jet2 Holidays advert on the side of the Mahon Airport terminal building with more Jet2 Holidays advertising on the little fun train that toured our resort. When waiting in reception this morning there must have been 25-30 families heading home, when the first (double decker) coach for the Jet2 flights pulled up all but two got on, there was only us and one other family waiting for TUI. During our stay the Jet2 Rep was at our hotel every day and seemed to stay for quite a while, I think I saw the TUI Rep twice (although I can't say that I was particularly looking so it's possible that they were there more often), Jet2 were definitely more visible though. Checking in at Mahon this morning there were several Jet2 staff marshalling the queue to keep it flowing, at the TUI desks there was one woman stood at the back talking away to one of the check in agents. Even in the departure lounge there were numerous Jet2 staff overseeing their departures. From what I saw I was very impressed with their operation, as was Mrs F who said 'Jet2 Holidays seem really good, we should look at travelling with them next time.' This is not a slight on TUI as we found them great but the Jet2 machine must be working as it's not like Mrs F to take any interest in that sort of thing, she just gets on whatever plane I book the seats on

Anyway, if you've managed to stay awake and have got this far thanks very much for reading

 

[User001]

Great trip report Ray.

I'm using a Jet2 holiday in just over a week, so can give the low down on my return if you wish?

So far, pre holiday comms have been great, so, given what I've read on various sites, I'm looking forward to the holiday now!

 

[thunderchild]

Glad you had a great holiday.

I'm already booked on Jet2 for next September to Kos - I flew with them before and they're terrific.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm using a Jet2 holiday in just over a week, so can give the low down on my return if you wish?

That would be great as there is a very good chance that we may try them next year, our flights in October are already booked with Monarch.

If you post a review on the MAN forum give me a heads up and I'll have a read

 

[Aviador]

Great write up Mr Finkle.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Great write up Mr Finkle.

Muchas gracias Señor

 

[Seasider]

Ray, book Jet2 with confidence. It isn't very often anything goes wrong but if it does, they look after you. We go on our 6th holiday with them in 2 weeks to Croatia, can't wait.