Birminghamairport Reviews 

Awful. Only one scanner for security for jet2. Think I'll try another airport next time

Security and scanning is such a badly organised process that hasn't improved in the last four years , it is not helped by the most unfriendly staff that I've come across in any airport in the world

Long queues, lack of communication and supervision of staff. Poorly organised. Worse airport I have travelled from. Thought things would have improved since a year ago, I was wrong.

Everything about this airport is terrible, it has got to be the worst airport in the UK.
No organisation and utter chaos, queue after queue, security slow, toilets broken or out of order and unkept.
Never again will I fly through Birmingham airport

Atrocious toilets.
Horrendous queues.
Blocked toilets.
Doors hanging off.
Wafer thin toilet paper.
Would not get a one star in
Mumbai Airport.
Wake up Birmingham, you are not an international airport.

Usual disgraceful scenes in Security. Buying a Fast Track security pass actually resulted in waiting *longer* because of problems with scanners and staffing. This airport is a nightmare.

The security hall was completely jammed at 06:20 am - queued for an hour to get through security by which time we had 3 mins to get to our departure gate. Unable to use the Aspire Lounge which we had booked. Whilst queueing we noticed at least 50% of the scanners were not being used.. I would hate to think what the queues will be at peak times. The security staff were dismissive of peoples fears of missing flights. A member of the flight crew said in his opinion Birmingham is the worst airport in Europe- I concur.

I would like to make a formal complaint regarding the behaviour of a member of staff at the airport. The incident occurred on 6 June at approximately 6:30 a.m.
Due to a series of problems with our baggage, for which we had official documentation and receipts confirming the issue, we arrived at the security checkpoint while our flight was already on final call. We approached a member of staff and explained the situation, hoping for some understanding and assistance.
His response was to ask, “What time did you arrive at the airport?” I explained that our arrival time was not the issue and that we had experienced baggage problems, which were supported by documentation. However, he replied that “Jet2 does not have baggage problems.”
He then turned his back on me and walked away without listening further or offering any assistance. His attitude was dismissive, rude, and completely lacking in empathy. At a time when I was already under considerable stress, his behaviour made the situation significantly worse.
I am 45 years old, not a child, and I paid approximately £900 for my flight.
I expect to be treated with courtesy, professionalism, and respect. Instead, I was met with a complete lack of understanding and what I perceived to be a very disrespectful attitude.
Furthermore, I was particularly concerned by the change in his manner after he heard me speaking.
While I cannot know his intentions, his behaviour left me feeling that I may have been treated differently because of my accent or nationality, which I found deeply upsetting.

Please don't make the same mistake as me. Dropped my husband off today and last night he looked on the Birmingham airport website and he thought that the drop off was in Car Park 5 (we know of friends being fined for stopping in certain places and did not want to make that mistake. We entered car park 5 and on the right on entry there are some parking bays that we thought were the drop zone and it is a 5-10 min walk as the website said to the terminal. However, I got stung as I had to pay £12 for 4 minutes. I wrote to Birmingham Airport who passed me onto NCP who gave me a link to an alternative page on the website which explains more where the drop off is which is separate to pick up which is not like some other airports. Stupid thing is I may as well have gone in the premium drop off zone for £7.00!! I actually think my incident aside £12 for an hour to pick someone up is disgusting. I also informed them that the drop off zone is not shown on signage at the first roundabout as you enter the airport.

Zero stars, dreadful place, rip off car parks, long queues, over 1 1/2 hours for luggage to start coming through, outdated worn out place nothing good about this awful airport

We checked around 2 hours 20 before the flight on 16th May. Security queues appalling. The first queue was for the lift to take you up to the queues. Spent 80 minutes wasted in the queue and we had booked a lounge that we had 4 minutes in and half a coffee each that cost me £60. Their reply to my complaint is factual incorrect, dismissive, and claims they were operating normally. Absolute disgrace and worth avoiding.

I couldn't rate zero stars unfortunately but that is more the correct rating for the departures experience.
Unbelievable queue to go through Security. Once spiralled around the never ending queueing system you then realise why clearing Security is taking so long. Only 1 x-ray machine working, out of only 2 available. Apparent staff shortages - was the airport not expecting passengers? Rude staff, no empathy from them regarding the stress levels when you begin to wonder if you will miss your flight. Random instructions to take your shoes off, leave your watches on, only to be told when the scanner detects your watch you should have taken it off. Clearly once you are upstairs in Security you are aware of major renovation work, but not a single sign saying "Apologies for inconvenience", "We're improving facilities" etc. I arrived more than 3 hours early. By the time I cleared security there was no time to eat - I had to go straight to the gate. Utter shambles. I hope to never have to depart from this utterly appalling airport ever again.

Yet another disappointing experience at Birmingham Airport.
Transitioning from Jet 2 bag-drop to the other side of security took over 90 mins. There was only one boarding pass scanner and one hand luggage scanner open…… on a bank holiday weekend! Come on guys you know it’s going to be busy, make a plan!
The return flight was equally disappointing. After arriving on time we had to wait 25 mins for a bus to arrive to take us to the terminal. On the upside, the delay meant that the cases were waiting for us when we finally arrived at the baggage hall.
The Birmingham Airport experience is reliably unreliable!

Despite arriving in good time, the excessive delays and chaos of security meant that we all missed our flights. People panicking as their flights leaving in an hour, expecting to be allowed to jump the que of passengers who had flights leaving in 10 minutes!

Hideous waiting times for luggage no excuse employ more people!

Despite booking passenger assist well in advance they didn't appear either for leaving or return. On return did see man with large wheelchair standing looking out of window...just as we struggled to passport control..hope he wasn't lost.
Birmingham has never been good at assisting...because it's free they don't give a bugger

One of the young security staff has a serious attitude problem, taking his bad mood out on others. Seriously unprofessional. Bet he would not dare speak to a man like that!

Very long waits in security. Only one scanner in use. Staff deny responsibility. Travellers very stressed and upset. Miserable for everyone, no sign of management taking responsibility, apologising or solving the problem. I was told it had been a busy day, but presumably quite predictable and seems to be a recurrent issue. Some travellers missed flights and visibly very upset.

Security at 8pm on a Wednesday night was an utter shambles.

Random request by rude staff to remove shoes, tell you that you don't have to take watch off then get stopped and searched because your watch sets the scanner off, tray with laptop and shoes gets diverted into search area, wait ten minutes and he takes it back to the start of the process with no explanation and you start all over again.

Utter shambles.

I am diagnosed with autism, and for the first time found that due to circumstances I had to fly out of Birmingham (usually Manchester who are amazing). I had contacted Jet2 in advance to notify them that I may need a little assistance due to my neurodivergence. Most of the time I am fine, but as with a lot of autistic people, if something is new and I can’t plan what I need to do, I just need a little help with where to go and what to do, especially if there are going to be crowds of people where I can get sensory overload.
I arrived at Birmingham airport and went to the Jet2 check in (wearing my sunflower lanyard), and the staff there were more than helpful and explained where to go and what to do. I then went through to the initial security desk using the assistance lane ( which actually has a sunflower on it) and again the gentleman on the desk was very polite and helpful. Unfortunately after that is where the problem occurred! Immediately after the desk was another man who was directing passengers to the security scanners, I got to him and said ‘I’m sorry but where do I go next?’ He looked me up and down and looked at my lanyard and with a look of disgust in his face said ‘ where’s your card?’ ‘ you should have a card on your lanyard ?’ I replied ‘I’m really sorry, I’ve registered my neurodivergence with the airline, I just want to know where the assistance lane is?’ Again he looked at me and said, ‘ you haven’t got a card so just join the queue with everyone else!’.
I just want to make the neurodiverse community aware that if you fly from Birmingham make sure you see someone from the airport as well as notifying your airline, even if you only need a little help to get through the airport checks, or hope you don’t come across the same person I did !! And a tip for Birmingham airport, if you are going to advertise your assistance lanes with a sunflower, make sure staff understand what it means. I personally will not y out of there again unless I really really have to.