Using Birmingham Airport (Questions & Reviews)

[Jon Dempsey]

Arrived back into T2 yesterday evening.
I can see where improvements have been made, but without e-gates, there was a queue almost to the A/C door.
When we got into the "sheep-dip pen", I could see that the queue was caused by our flight only and a staff member pointing to UKB gates at the front of the queue, possibly caused by the red-cross/green tick system stuck on red for each UKB officer.

A big improvement when systems and e-gates are working, but yesterday, not impressed.

When we got through, all bags were on the carousel so I assume the delay was down to the red-crosses.

 

[Coathanger16]

Just to post a balance to the mostly negative reviews people seem to leave:

Flew out from BHX on Saturday and flew back yesterday (Thursday), both flights with Jet2.

Outbound entered the Terminal via T2 (Jet2 check-in) with just hand luggage. Secondary security by Jet2 check-in was closed - expected as it was late afternoon - so walked round to the lifts. No queue for the lifts, straight up to security and again no queue. One out of our four cases were sent for review (for some "dangerous" looking nail clippers), but delayed us less than 30 seconds.

Still a longish walk through the ongoing building works to get to duty free then the departure lounge, but can see both just after security and in duty free where the two will eventually connect, so shouldn't feel like such a long, twisting route by next summer.

No idea what "main" T1 departures area was like as headed straight to T2 departure lounge. Kerbside to All Bar One took maybe 15-20 minutes maximum, and most of that was just walking from A to B. All Bar One was maybe about 50% full in T2.

Boarded from Gate 1, so no use of the new holding area, pushed back on time and landed slightly early.

Return flight, aircraft changed from A321NEO to a B737 due to a tech issue with the former. Seats changed but kept together as a group. Knew we were likely to have our seats changed, but weren't given new boarding passes and told what seats until boarding - didn't go to check in at the airport as again hand luggage only. Given Jet2 notified us that the aircraft changed and that the flight would be delayed in advance, I don't know why they couldn't have notified us of our new seats any earlier (not that it would have made any difference).

Outbound aircraft arrived an hour late due to French ATC strikes and slots. Boarded and transpired we also had a slot for the return for the same reason, so sat on the ground for around 45 minutes before pushback. Unfortunately come pushback time, we'd "lost" our tug to another aircraft so had to wait a few more minutes before they arrived. Both issues outside of Jet2's control and fairly normal situation when flying in Europe during the summer. Had more updates from the flight deck whilst we were sat on the ground that I've had on entire flights before.

Landed back at BHX about 90 minutes late and parked on a remote stand. Ended up having to wait about 10-15 minutes before the buses arrived - seems to be the one part of the operation that Jet2 don't do themselves. Considering they have almost exclusive use of the T2 remotes and they account for between a quarter and a third of their departures, I wonder why Jet2 don't use their own buses. Did notice the Jet2 A330 was being turned around on a remote as we taxied in, so maybe a lot of the buses were being used over there.

Bus stop outside the terminal is only big enough for one bus at a time so had to wait another few minutes for the bus in-front of us to empty before ours could pull up. Up stairs into immigration hall and queue was just getting back to the start of the marked queue - marked by the tape barriers - seemed to be our flight plus one other so maybe almost 400 people to process. Noticed the changed layout straight away - the previous 4 manned passport gates have moved and another 4 added, so now a total of 8 manned gates (5 were manned when we came through). The area occupied by the former gates is closed off presumably as they install the e-gates. Took no longer than 10 minutes to get through immigration, then no need to wait for bags and straight out of the airport.

From pulling on stand to getting in the taxi took around 40-45 minutes, with about 10-15 minutes of that waiting on buses, so actual "processing" time was around 30 minutes which I'd say was very reasonable.

Overall I'd say a more positive than negative experience both departing and arriving at BHX.

Are there areas that could be improved? Of course, there nearly always are.

On a number of threads on this forum, people blast the airport for not investing and point to airports like LTN, MAN, & STN as all doing big expansions whilst BHX "does nothing". Actually travelling through the airport and its clear they ARE doing things to improve the customer experience - yes they may appear small compared to new terminals and piers, but they're still improvements.

New scanners already installed
Departure lounge expansion underway
Additional immigration booths already installed
New e-gates being installed

And that's just the passenger facing improvements and not including the improvements that help the operation (e.g. stand reconfiguration).

Looking forward to seeing what will have changed by the next time I fly out of BHX, although that likely won't be until January at the earliest.

 

[Nibbles]

My update...

Flew to Milan last Monday - arrived at the airport (via air rail link) at 14:09. Hand luggage only. Was standing in duty free at 14:15. Departure lounge was busy, but we were booked in to the lounge. All was going well until, after scanning boarding cards and walking down the air bridge we were told to turn around. Seems a cabin crew member and a pilot were both unwell. We then sat around for 2 hours waiting for a replacement. All Bar One was very comfortable during that entire time (to note, when we left the lounge to go to the gate, the main departure lounge was heaving whilst T2 itself was pretty quiet). Eventually got off around 2 hours late. The rest of the flight and arrival at Milan was smooth sailing.

Way back was similarly effortless. Only small faff was having to wait on a taxiway for an aircraft to get out of our stand (10 minutes or so). Then the T2 arrivals passport control (which i dont think i've ever actually been through) which was annoyingly slow (3 agents, no e-gates), but nevertheless was sat on the sofa in Solihull 45 minutes after landing.

I suppose this positive story wont sell newspapers though, will it...

 

[Deleted member 8277]

I suppose this positive story wont sell newspapers though, will it...

Not to those caught in the peak hours. 44+ mins this morning going outside the security hall to the lifts.

Its like saying the m42 was great today at 1400 but we know rush hour its a nightmare.

 

[pianokeys]

School holidays start today ?

 

[HPsauce]

School holidays start today ?

Correct.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Maybe it's just me but at peak times in the main school holidays I wouldn't moan at 45 mins for security

 

[rollo]

Maybe it's just me but at peak times in the main school holidays I wouldn't moan at 45 mins for security

To be honest I think half of that is just about acceptable bearing in mind the airport in the July and August period should be handling circa 3 millon passengers this year which equates to the 18 million a year or 1.5million per month avg. projected by 2030. That means nearly 2 million per month at peak summer by then.

Those lifts aren't going to go faster and the queing area prior to passing through security already seems tight hence the ques at times downstairs.

The new security machines need to be running at their full capability pronto along with all the supposed improvements and I don't mean more retail space.

Watching with interest and fingers crossed they've got it right after all its important for the airport itself to get people through and into departures so they can obtain revenue through the ever expanding retail areas or my case observe aeroplanes prior to boarding.

 

[HPsauce]

A BHX spokesperson on BBC Midlands Today, Tuesday, stated at length how the problems of summer 2024 were in the past, and this summers experience should be much better.
We will see!.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

Maybe it's just me but at peak times in the main school holidays I wouldn't moan at 45 mins for security

It's not just the school holidays though, I pass the area frequently. A regular 45+ minute wait especially when the system is advertised as “state of the art” is hardly something to be proud of, even if it’s an improvement over last year.

 

[Karl C]

It's not just the school holidays though, I pass the area frequently. A regular 45+ minute wait especially when the system is advertised as “state of the art” is hardly something to be proud of, even if it’s an improvement over last year.

Is there a queue timer at the airport that shows waiting times? Wondering how you know it's frequently 45+ mins

 

[Deleted member 8277]

Is there a queue timer at the airport that shows waiting times? Wondering how you know it's frequently 45+ mins

Maybe, if you know the right people.

 

[Karl C]

Maybe, if you know the right people.

So walking past frequently doesn't tell you how long people have been waiting?

 

[rollo]

You can see live security wait times for BHX on a site called Qsensor. currently showing 3-18 minutes but it's behind a pay wall however you can see the current time if your quick!

Up to about a year ago the BHX official site departures board showed live security waiting times but for some reason they deleted it as to why the did that I couldn't possibly comment

 

[Deleted member 8277]

So walking past frequently doesn't tell you how long people have been waiting?

Nope, but when I see the queue going back to the lifts and sometimes beyond (that is currently quite regular) at peak times I wonder how long the queue time and yes I have the ability to be able to see the queue times. Yes it is often 40-45mins, but conversely I have looked when there is no queue seen and it shows zero mins and up. Good news though there is a definite improvement from last year LOL

 

[Knotty]

Nope, but when I see the queue going back to the lifts and sometimes beyond (that is currently quite regular) at peak times I wonder how long the queue time and yes I have the ability to be able to see the queue times. Yes it is often 40-45mins, but conversely I have looked when there is no queue seen and it shows zero mins and up. Good news though there is a definite improvement from last year LOL

I travel on average 8 times a year to ALC. Always early departure, so arrive between 04.15 & 04.45. Perhaps I'm lucky, using both T1 security and 'Jet2 security', when open, I'd say longest I've had to queue is approx 20 mins, which at a peak time, can't complain about. On same note, ALC security is excellent even at their busiest times on a Tuesday or Saturday. Longest time I've had to wait is 10 mins, and to me, their security is more efficient and very strict.

 

[Karl C]

A few things I've noticed recently......

Tui down to two Max8's at BHX
Ryanair down to two Max8's also
Vueling rarely use A320 NEO's on the BCN route
Are Lingus A320NEO's are as rare as rocking horse s@#t at BHX
Jet2 from having none of the newer 737's at BHX are up to a staggering one this week
Lufthansa are getting better at using more fuel efficient aircraft on FRA and MUC.

EasyJet......nuff said

I'm sure there are more instances.....this from an airport that offers a discount for using more fuel efficient and quieter aircraft. Can anyone shed any light as to why?

 

[Creguk]

I'm due to arrive at 1pm tomorrow for a 4.20pm flight. I'm tempted with fast pass as there are 8 of us and have some 6 year olds in tow. Thoughts guys?

 

[rollo]

I've been monitoring the security wait time over the last few days at random times of the day on the Qsensor website and it's never shown a wait over 20 minutes usually less. I cannot vouch for how accurate the figures are that they give however.

 

[Ryan Kirkpatrick]

I've been monitoring the security wait time over the last few days at random times of the day on the Qsensor website and it's never shown a wait over 20 minutes usually less. I cannot vouch for how accurate the figures are that they give however.

Then going through security in the Morning between 3am & 9am its normally about 20 to 35 minutes, 15 to 20 with fast track.