Security, Immigration & Border Control

[Nibbles]

Well that's not very coherent planning - pax going through 2 sets of security screening areas depending on how long the queue are.

A coherent plan would be to build a single area which can adequately cope with current demand, let alone 18M!.

I can imagine the chaos in the terminal when someone decides to open up additional screening lanes. Pax already lined up will be racing to get to the front on the newly opened queue.

The security access from south departures already exists and was used regularly mostly by Jet2 (as it is adjacent their check in desks). The 'peak' periods referred to are basically the waves of Jet2 departures, e.g. with most leaving in the first 2 hours, then around lunchtime, then mid afternoon/early evening, and would be signposted by Jet2 staff directly frmo the check in queue. By taking all of those pax out of the main security area (which they could use if they wanted to...) you avoid a whole heap of pax walking up and down departures and make the whole (main) security access area run more smoothly rather than being rammed to the gills.

What it effectively means is that Jet2 at the south end of the terminal will almost operate like its own airport for pax until they exit security in to duty free - at which point they'll join everyone else. That hardly screams inefficient, does it?

Yes, in an ideal world the security area would be centralised and huge, but there is not the space for that without a massive expansion of the building (remember that the airport has just been through significant upheavel to extend the building frontage a few metres and remove escalators all to maximise space at the northern end of the terminal!). The fact remains that security is currently being hobbled by the restrictions on liquids which, once removed, will streamline everything.

Note also that any of those arriving on the APM from HS2/NR, who doesnt need to check in, will be able to go straight up to security (assuming its open...) rather than walking down to the main security area.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

The security access from south departures already exists and was used regularly mostly by Jet2 (as it is adjacent their check in desks). The 'peak' periods referred to are basically the waves of Jet2 departures, e.g. with most leaving in the first 2 hours, then around lunchtime, then mid afternoon/early evening, and would be signposted by Jet2 staff directly frmo the check in queue. By taking all of those pax out of the main security area (which they could use if they wanted to...) you avoid a whole heap of pax walking up and down departures and make the whole (main) security access area run more smoothly rather than being rammed to the gills.

What it effectively means is that Jet2 at the south end of the terminal will almost operate like its own airport for pax until they exit security in to duty free - at which point they'll join everyone else. That hardly screams inefficient, does it?

Yes, in an ideal world the security area would be centralised and huge, but there is not the space for that without a massive expansion of the building (remember that the airport has just been through significant upheavel to extend the building frontage a few metres and remove escalators all to maximise space at the northern end of the terminal!). The fact remains that security is currently being hobbled by the restrictions on liquids which, once removed, will streamline everything.

Note also that any of those arriving on the APM from HS2/NR, who doesnt need to check in, will be able to go straight up to security (assuming its open...) rather than walking down to the main security area.

So the new security area is too small and they need a second smaller stand alone security area to cope in busy periods at current levels pax. That doesn't bode well for the future unless the new smaller area can be expanded significantly. I don't buy it that the liquids rule was the sole problem for last years problems. The problem is the inadequate space for rejected bag searches that block the scanner line and then queues build up. There was plenty of information last year about the rule changes including big signs, liquids drop off bins and verbal instructions before they entered the security area yet there was still huge problems.

 

[Nibbles]

Where do you propose the extra space would come from, exactly? Sure, they could expand the building more, but that gets very expensive very quickly and they are also inhibited by security requirements outside the building e.g. standback from the road. What they built last year was a sensible infill. The APM, once removed, will free up extra space - that might assist a little.

A separate access to security always existing at that location, so its retaining a functionality you already had. Its not about 'coping' during a busy period, though its ideal location adjacent the Jet2 desks will serve to take a lot of pax out of the main queues. Why is it a fundamental problem to have more than 1 security area?

Just because you 'dont buy it' doesn't mean that you are correct. Yes, there is limited rejected bag search space, but this would've been designed based on a percentage of rejected bags being expected. The reason there were vastly more bags than expected either comes down to;

1) faulty equipment which flagged more bags than it should've done (yep, part of the reason why the restrictions were reimposed across Europe) or

2) people travelling with liquids they shouldn't have. This was well documented, partly as a result of people seeing press releases saying that restrictions would be removed and/or talking to people who travelled through the airport during the initial works (when there was a 50/50 split with some security lanes allowing all liquids and others stuck at 100ml.

Add to that people panicking and arriving at the airport well ahead of when they needed to and outside of the times that the airport expected them to (note that the airport base their security staffing and operations around 'typical' arrival patterns - it would be not be typical for example for a pax on a 12pm flight to arrive at 7am resulting in extra demand which outstripped operational supply).

BHX were stuck in a perfect storm - a requirement to carry out major works to upgrade, specifications to meet in terms of throughput based on new equipment, and then a government requirement to put the new equipment (temporarily) in the bin which upended everything. There are undoubtedly things that could've been done differently, and lessons will no doubt be learned, but viewing it through a lay persons lens without the context of everything else is foolish, imo. Operational transport planning is not easy, regardless of what the Daily Mail thinks.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

They have infilled a space for security that is too small that they have already acknowledged by now making a separate stand alone channel. The previous security hall could have been extended outwards outside the front of the terminal that would have made a larger security area that would still be central and filled a lot of dead space (except for the outside temporary queuing area they need) this could also have expanded the arrival meeting area as well. But like you say it would be expensive, but at some stage they are going to run out of infill space and have to extend the terminal that will be a lot more expensive the longer they leave it. Yes it would have an impact during building but so has the present project.
I don't know the BHX financial situation is but past master plans show real expansion at BHX and not this cheap infill that's going on. The terminal extension with the mezzanine that got shelved during covid now has the new baggage handling area extension tin hut in its space being built. They are going to have to give some serious investment if the want to achieve their passenger goals.

Passengers were advised by their tour operators to arrive at least 3 hours early due the queues so they didn't miss their flight surely, the airport must have been aware of this.

Liquid restrictions lifting was short lived and had an impact when re-introduced but no way that was the only cause for the queuing problem to drag on over the summer. Passengers were made aware from many different sources both prior to reaching the airport and at the airport about the re-introduced 100ml rule. Didn't passengers at the time say that not all the lanes were open, if so then there's a problem straight away at peak periods.

Bag reject area, somebody got their calculations seriously wrong there then. There seems to be no back up plan and no extra search area available when lots of rejects happen so the lane comes to a stand still while they physically search bags. Couple this when they don't operate all the lanes and guess what grows very quickly during busy periods. I witnessed this first hand back in January when I passed through for a ski trip on a busy Saturday morning, only 2 scanner lanes in operation rejects built up on one lane and it came to a stand still whilst the one person physically checked the bags, you could see the passenger queue grow very quickly. So it still happens.

It doesn't matter how you view it or knew what was going on in the background it made horrendous negative news for BHX in both mainstream news and social media. Other airports got an extension for the security deadline but BHX seemed intent on meeting the deadline and and boasted when they met it. Was the project rushed to a detrimental effect? They should have admitted there part/failings instead of blaming passengers/liquid rules.

 

[KARFA]

Liquid restrictions lifting was short lived and had an impact when re-introduced but no way that was the only cause for the queuing problem to drag on over the summer.

Indeed. I fail to see why some people keep trying to blame the passengers - in the same way BHX did as well. Pretty much every other airport in the UK is fully or partially converted, and has had the same issue with the liquid restriction on new machines being rolled back for now, yet they didn't have the same problems with queues. So unless BHX passengers are particularly bad compared to other airports (spoiler - I am sure they aren't), then I don't see how they are to blame.

 

[hishaq96]

Flying out in 2 weeks time and was thinking of buying the express lane tickets, I was wondering how do they work as you have to pick a time slot do you have to be in the lane at the exact time?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Flying out in 2 weeks time and was thinking of buying the express lane tickets, I was wondering how do they work as you have to pick a time slot do you have to be in the lane at the exact time?

You pick your time slot when booking and have +/- 1hr to use it.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

My mum went through security on Saturday morning at 5.30am and she said she went through within 30 seconds.Staff were consistent and calm and politeful and it is what you expect from customer service.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

My parents are flying to Belfast at 8.40 this morning.Got there at 5.15 to be safe they wouldn’t be any issue.Already saying there’s a queue about to go out the door.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

My parents are flying to Belfast at 8.40 this morning.Got there at 5.15 to be safe they wouldn’t be any issue.Already saying there’s a queue about to go out the door.

Shush, you cant say that anymore. Everything is great at BHX with the new flawless security hall and its mini queue busting busy period extension. There are no queues anymore, they must be imagining it.

 

[Ianbutty]

My parents are flying to Belfast at 8.40 this morning.Got there at 5.15 to be safe they wouldn’t be any issue.Already saying there’s a queue about to go out the door.

I Think the security area is too near the door. If they moved it a lot further in maybe the queue would not reach the door and so pyschologically, there would be no queue as queues only become an issue, in my 60 years experience, once they go out of the door.

We went to go into a cafe the other day, and we saw the queue coming out of the door, and did not bother. All in the mind.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

I Think the security area is too near the door. If they moved it a lot further in maybe the queue would not reach the door and so pyschologically, there would be no queue as queues only become an issue, in my 60 years experience, once they go out of the door.

We went to go into a cafe the other day, and we saw the queue coming out of the door, and did not bother. All in the mind.

It was an infill security area in the middle of the terminal with no room for further expansion so you cant take it further from the door or in this case the lifts. They are running out of spaces to infill so will have to bite the bullet and expand outwards from the existing terminal at some stage.

You have a choice joining a cafe queue but no choice joining an airport security queue

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Shush, you cant say that anymore. Everything is great at BHX with the new flawless security hall and its mini queue busting busy period extension. There are no queues anymore, they must be imagining it.

 

[richard winterbourn]

The question that needs answering here is: if they arrived at 5.15am for an 8.40am flight, how long did it take them to exit security?

Asking the question when with a celular phone call they could also have provided the answer is unfair.

Did they queue for 20 minutes, 30 minutes or longer than an hour?

If it was around the 30 minutes, or indeed 40 minutes I think that would be consistent with a lot of airports during the busiest two weeks of the summer.

Let's have answers not accusations...

 

[Deleted member 8277]

I don't see any accusations only facts that the queue was nearly out the door. Great forward thinking and design for the new state of the art security hall that will make screening faster, that doesn't cope well with peak period traffic and they had to open a second security lane elsewhere to meet the increased demand.

Personally for a supposed state of the art design I don't think a 40 min or even 30 min wait is acceptable especially with an entirely separate overflow security lane.

 

[Ianbutty]

Sorry a bit of humour from me...apologies.

 

[Matty_85]

I flew out of BHX on Friday. Arrived at security queue at around 4:20am. It was no more than 15/20 mins despite it being very busy. I have to say very efficient too. I did notice the queues at the check in desks were horrific though which could be contributing. I really dislike the idea of one huge queue for each airline. Check in desks for each destination just seems more sensible.

 

[pianokeys]

Pass through the airport most Fridays around 2pm and haven’t yet seen a meaningful queue upstairs or down on that day, busy yes, but moving (can’t speak for mornings). Ironically, the queue for the air-rail link is sometimes bigger now they have slowed the cars down. If you’re only going to/from the train station use the stairs adjacent to the currency exchange not the lifts. It doesn’t seem too widely known, is generallly quiet that way but is sometimes barriered off if contractors are working around there. It’s not sign posted, and doesn’t throw you straight into the security queue, so not intended for departing passengers.

 

[IanFarquharson]

BHX is coping very well with 50k pax passing through the airport on most days.
So much better than S24
The bad press in S24 has made some travellers look elsewhere in my opinion, but very positive comments about BHX this year so hopefully passenger confidence is being restored quickly.

 

[Knotty]

Flew out yesterday with Jet2 on the A330 to ALC. Specifically kept an eye on times. Taxi drop off Premium Car park at 04.28. Across to 'Jet2 Terminal', was very very busy, but well organised. Used escalator next to Jet2 and was through security etc and in the start of the redevelopment of World Duty Free by 05.03, so can't complain. A Couple of asides.(1) The A330 was on the 80's, but boarding etc was well conducted, and pushed back only 11 mins late. (2) ALC. Not sure if just ALC, temporarily, but all UK families were directed into Schengen Queue. Great for those of us without family, through E Gates within 5 mins!!
Finally, ALC now has 12 EES photo scanning booths fully installed ready for 12th October. Approx 20+ more waiting to be installed, albeit on Levels 1and/or 2 of arrivals.