BHX Worst Airport For Delays 2nd Year Running

[TM3]

Hi,

I saw this article on line which shows BHX is the worst airport in the UK for delays

UK's best and worst airports for flight delays revealed - full list

Packing your bags and planning a holiday this summer? Check out which airport might be the best to travel from and what might be the worst when it comes to delays.

news.sky.com

I think this is really bad as one of this things I expect from a regional airport vs LHR for example is that it will be less hassle and fewer delays.

As it says in the article BHX also says "In addition to flight delays, many departing passengers were forced to spend several hours in long queues for check-in and security."

I've seen this first hand and and I know this is a real problem for the airport and it's probably already detering people from travelling through BHX. I don't love going to LHR but at least I can expect to get through security in a reasonable amount of time.

I think the airport must also loose a lot of money in the duty free and retail area as in a lot of cases passengers are having to go straight to the gate instead of shopping. I woudl say this historically has been a moneyspinner for the airport as the have a captive audence to sell overpriced stuff to.

Here is another one about the delays last week:

'Absolute carnage' at airport as passengers fume over two-hour security queues

BHX said travellers might find themselves queueing downstairs due to construction of its new £40m security hall

www.birminghammail.co.uk

It's a repeat of exactly the same problem they had in 2022 which you can kind of excuse a little bit because it was the year after COVID but this time you would have expected them to be prepared!

 

[route66]

Hi,

I saw this article on line which shows BHX is the worst airport in the UK for delays

UK's best and worst airports for flight delays revealed - full list

Packing your bags and planning a holiday this summer? Check out which airport might be the best to travel from and what might be the worst when it comes to delays.

news.sky.com

I think this is really bad as one of this things I expect from a regional airport vs LHR for example is that it will be less hassle and fewer delays.

As it says in the article BHX also says "In addition to flight delays, many departing passengers were forced to spend several hours in long queues for check-in and security."

I've seen this first hand and and I know this is a real problem for the airport and it's probably already detering people from travelling through BHX. I don't love going to LHR but at least I can expect to get through security in a reasonable amount of time.

I think the airport must also loose a lot of money in the duty free and retail area as in a lot of cases passengers are having to go straight to the gate instead of shopping. I woudl say this historically has been a moneyspinner for the airport as the have a captive audence to sell overpriced stuff to.

Here is another one about the delays last week:

'Absolute carnage' at airport as passengers fume over two-hour security queues

BHX said travellers might find themselves queueing downstairs due to construction of its new £40m security hall

www.birminghammail.co.uk

It's a repeat of exactly the same problem they had in 2022 which you can kind of excuse a little bit because it was the year after COVID but this time you would have expected them to be prepared!

I think this is a misleading article: a few minutes cover the first ten airports ( including other large airports) with delays but you don't hear about them. I'm not excusing delays but put putting some perspective on the issue.

 

[Coathanger16]

I think this is a misleading article: a few minutes cover the first ten airports ( including other large airports) with delays but you don't hear about them. I'm not excusing delays but put putting some perspective on the issue.

It also covers the Easter period last year which was when aviation really started getting going again after the pandemic. Staff shortages were common across the industry and I definitely remember other airports being far worse than BHX at the time.

 

[TM3]

I think this is a misleading article: a few minutes cover the first ten airports ( including other large airports) with delays but you don't hear about them. I'm not excusing delays but put putting some perspective on the issue.

I don't think so really. I think the key point is BHX is the WORST in the UK.

I have a choice which airport to use to I think you should also consider that EMA is the best in the UK.

It also covers the Easter period last year which was when aviation really started getting going again after the pandemic. Staff shortages were common across the industry and I definitely remember other airports being far worse than BHX at the time.

Did you read the second article? It's exactly the same this year. Also BHX was still the WORST when compared to every other airport in the UK.

 

[Karl C]

Everyone has a choice. BHX will always be my first choice. On the odd occasion when I can't find what I want, I head south. Never EMA and absolutely never north. İf you're not happy with the lot at BHX, vote with your feet and use EMA et al.
İ personally couldn't care less what an article says....I'll still use BHX

 

[Garybrum]

Maybe this thread should be called something like "Airport rankings for delays" rather than a statement which may be true now but might not be in years to come

 

[TM3]

I'm happy to change the thread name when the reality changes. The article is, after all, less than 2 weeks old. I travelled through the airport last week and I don't see it getting any better.

Maybe this thread should be called something like "Airport rankings for delays" rather than a statement which may be true now but might not be in years to come

 

[Aviador]

Take it with a pinch of salt. Doncaster airport was best airport last year basically because nobody was flying from there and now its closed.
Popular airports mean busy airports and busy airports will inevitably pick up delays.

#WorstAirportForDelays

 

[route66]

I don't think so really. I think the key point is BHX is the WORST in the UK.

I have a choice which airport to use to I think you should also consider that EMA is the best in the UK.



Did you read the second article? It's exactly the same this year. Also BHX was still the WORST when compared to every other airport in the UK.

Another issue to mention is, how much is down to the airport and how nuch is down to airlines constantly late and the ensuing delays - there is no reference to airlines in the article.

 

[thunderchild]

I don't think so really. I think the key point is BHX is the WORST in the UK.

Go fly from Manchester, you’ll gain an extra minute on your holiday. What a stupid article, last year was a complete shambles everywhere!

 

[HPsauce]

I read that article in the press at the end of last week. Yes, it certainly read badly for BHX, but reading the whole thing, as thunderchild said, it was just minutes between several airports.
It was a difficult year following a spike in bookings post Covid, plus people using their airline vouchers following cancellations. The security angle is at least being addressed at BHX, although this Summer will be tricky too with major work throughout the year and beyond.

 

[TM3]

TBH I don't think you guys actually use the airport very much if you don't know how bad it is. I'm not here to spout propaganda for the airport I'd like it to be a gateway to the city and the region that I can be proud of. As it is it's a million miles from being a world class airport and it's no wonder airlines don't want to come here.

Last week passengers were queuing outside the terminal. People who had got to the terminal at 6.30am weren't able to get on flights at 9.30am. People who had been told to sit tight in the queue we being send home without going on their holidays. Only 1 e-gate was working and they weren't even running the full set of scanners.

The staff I spoke to told me themselves they expected it to be like that for the rest of the summer.

If you think it's about saving a couple of minutes you don't really understand the stats. It's about the whole picture, carriers like Ryanair and Wizz will always leave on time regardless because it's just better for them commercially. They don't have to pay EU flight compo and they avoid the knock on effect of delays further down the chain.

For package operators like TUI and Jet2 they actually will wait a bit longer to get all the passengers on which is going to factor in the numbers but the really important stats as I see it would be a comparison of how many checked in passengers failed to get on their flights. I would put money on BHX being the worst for that too.

 

[TM3]

This is a further article from the BBC which states BHX was worst in 2021 too:

Birmingham Airport ranked worst for delays for second year

Departures from the airport were on average half an hour behind schedule, analysis reveals.

www.bbc.co.uk

I think the BBC article is useful as it states the problem got a lot worse in the second year as average delays were "only 12 minutes" in 2021 but now it's more than half an hour.

 

[Ianbutty]

It makes bad headlines by shoddy journos, particularly at the BBC, but one minute worse than Manchester and an airport which is, eh, shut. Wow. Underwhelming underwhelming news. Hardly news worthy.

 

[Seasider]

The problem is, people will read the headline and act on that without reading the full article.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I have a choice which airport to use to I think you should also consider that EMA is the best in the UK.

The trouble with EMA, is that it has such a meagre offering of destinations. Try getting from there to AMS, ATQ, BRU, CDG, CPH, DEL, DUS, DXB, FRA, IST, MUC and ZRH (most of which offer more than one flight per day), not to mention all of the eastern European cities offered by Wizz Air.
Go to the EMA or LBA forum and offer the members there the range of services that BHX has (mostly with flag carriers, with good onward connections) and they will bite your hand off.
So, I disagree with your statement that -

it's no wonder airlines don't want to come here.

as airlines very much do want to operate from BHX.
Long haul, is a slightly different matter, as being located between LHR and MAN and the airlines don't want to dilute their passenger figures from those bases and have the expense of setting up another base.
And, yes I too have a choice of where I fly from and I made it many years ago. That is, basically never to use an MAG airport. I would much rather support local jobs, even if it means flying via AMS or DUB to head to the US.