easyJet unveils 15 new routes from Birmingham Airport

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• BJ says:

  30 Jun30 June 03:51

  31st March is spring release with flights only through first few days of June with no summer flights yet released AFAIK unless Birmingham is different.

  I am also wondering if Birmingham’s gain is others loss. No flights from Edinburgh to Hamburg or Santorini in this release unless they are summer only, I don’t use EasyJet enough to know. Disappointed as I planned on using both

  • Ryan says:

    30 Jun30 June 05:41

    Santorini from EDI was only launched a few weeks ago to much fanfare, so I would be very surprised not to see it appear again for 2024.

    Most, if not all the Greek routes ex EDI are summer only also.

  • Erico1875 says:

    30 Jun30 June 06:57

    BJ, I doubt they will cut back at EDI.
    They have just added a 9th aircraft to the base at the start if June.

  • BJ says:

    30 Jun30 June 08:14

    Thanks @Ryan @Erico, this is helpful.

• tony says:

  30 Jun30 June 06:48

  Birmingham Airport has engineered itself into utter chaos owing to the new hand baggage screeners that have to be deployed by next year. It’s once again a building site with huge tensa barrier mazes covering the ground floor between arrivals and the old main terminal departures, allowing passengers to be corralled before being allowed up the escalators.

  Despite that not being in use on my last visit, it took 30 minutes to get through fast track security, partly because they kept stopping the fast track pax to push “late” pax through in front. Although i’m not sure pulling FR pax out of line at 7.10am for an 8.10am departure is necessary…

  The lounges are either horrible (Aspire) full (No. 1) or you’re not getting in even if we are empty (Clubrooms). The only redeeming feature is the EK lounge although that looks like it’s just fallen out a time machine from the 1990’s.

  Then on the way back you have the delights of the random number generator on your way to immigration. It said the wait for EU/UK passports was 45 mins and 5 mins for others. I barely broke stride between. the plane door and the e-gate. And the fact judging by signs of the wall, management think it’s acceptable to have a 1 hour SLA for unloading bags from a widebody plane.

  I live a bit closer to BHX than LHR, it’s a far easier trip by public transport and less prone to ground delays. But i’m done with the place now.

  • SammyJ says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:52

    My son flew BHX-PMI and back with Jet2 this week – he’d walked from the drop off, manually checked in, got through non-FT security and had his pint delivered in Spoons before we’d made it on to the M42 – ‘a lot better than Heathrow’ was his description!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      30 Jun30 June 14:12

      I use BHX a lot and unless it’s an early morning departure this is exactly the experience every time

  • Stu_N says:

    30 Jun30 June 08:40

    I think your assessment of the situation is overly favourable, Tony.

    The only thing about BHX that impresses me is how they maintain such a consistently crap customer experience in all aspects of the airport.

    • tony says:

      30 Jun30 June 09:14

      Whilst it has always felt a bit rough around the edges, my experience a couple of weeks back was enough to relegate it down to the level of Luton, which I will now only ever use as an absolute last resort.

      @SammyJ I was dropped off in the car park right outside the door at 7am on a Saturday. No need to check in bags or collect a boarding pass. As I left the security zone there was big digital clock. It was 7:29am. Grim.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    30 Jun30 June 09:12

    Ssssh, Manchester Airport will be envious….

    • tony says:

      30 Jun30 June 09:35

      I experienced that version of hell a year past Easter. Got a good deal on the new EI flight to Orlando booked about 6 months earlier. Then Manchester pax handling fell into an abyss but I was stuck with the flights. I recall walking from the Radisson along to whichever terminal to be greeted by a queue in the elevated walkway. That was the back of the line for TUI check in.

      J check in for EI was comical because they had a PRM – plus their accompanying party of 13(!!) – in the line infront of us. The group was so big not only did it take the absolute p1ss but they also blocked both desks, with staff getting increasingly irate as they tried to move them out of the way.

      We were fortunate that they were letting priority security skip the first line, but even then it was another 30+ minute wait to get through. Heathrow has many failings, but jeez, it’s heaven compared to some other places…

    • ken says:

      30 Jun30 June 09:35

      Went through Manchester a fortnight ago, ok it was a late evening flight but no queues at all at security in T2 – through in 90 seconds at most.

      On returning managed to disembark at 8:15pm get through security, collect bags from carousel and speed walk (my wife might descibe it as running) to catch train at 8:48pm (made it by 5 seconds).

  • Travel Strong says:

    30 Jun30 June 10:04

    After a couple of years without using BHX, I too was amazed by the scenes at 8am the other week – as you say, tensabarrier city throughout the whole lower floor, just to get up the escalators to continue queing!

    Pre-booking fast track security definitely seems like a top tip for any H4P reader booking out of BHX at a peak time (ie. morning flights). At least then you join the queue upstairs!

    Otherwise, you’re essentially just waiting to be pulled out of line and ‘fast tracked’ 1hr before your take off time… which was tbh as I arrived HBO 1.5hrs before takeoff.

    • ChrisBCN says:

      30 Jun30 June 10:54

      Problem with the fast track is that they combine families with fast track, rather than having two separate lines. Still usually faster, but not exactly fast.

• GeoffreyB says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:54

  Levelling up? Completed it

• Greenpen says:

  30 Jun30 June 09:38

  I flew from BHX to Santander last Monday, departing at 12.30 on Ryanair. The airport was a muddle because of building work but I passed straight through with no waiting. Security was quick and efficiently done.

  I used the No 1 lounge curtesy of Barclays and Dragon Pass for free. The lounge was almost empty when I arrived but filled a little by the time I left. It was the first time ever I have used a third party lounge and I was impressed. Okay coffee, free fizzy wine (other drinks available) and an acceptable breakfast offering. As I left the lunch items were being put out and there appeared to be a good cold salad selection. Hot yet to appear so don’t know about that.

  It was a pleasant airport experience and to cap it all Ryanair asked for volunteers to sit in the empty exit rows which I jumped at!

• AFKAE says:

  30 Jun30 June 10:14

  Some interesting variations. It’s my local airport, but I suspect I’m probably 50/50 BHX and LHR.
  Went through BHX on a Jet2 1st June having already checked in online just did self baggage drop and up the escalators to security where the wait was probs not much more than 5 mins. Jet2 seem to have migrated to the southern end which used to be monopolised by Ryanair. AllBarOne was cheaper for breakfast than paying £18 for Barclays DragonPass admission.
  All this was fine, but plane departed 1 hour late air traffic blah blah.

  I wonder if the southern end is more efficient than the mainstream part of the terminal.

• Matarredonda says:

  30 Jun30 June 10:56

  I have got to the point where I book fast track security regardless of the airport used as helps to reduce the stress and, where possible, also book fast track border control.
  Well worth the small extra amounts involved.

  • lumma says:

    30 Jun30 June 11:28

    Airports must love you

    • Supergers49 says:

      30 Jun30 June 11:56

      I suppose they do…

      Airport Executive: “I’ve got a good idea. Lets make the normal outbound and inbound customers journeys so utterly inconsistent and usually sh1te, so we can grab an extra £15 out of peoples pockets to give them the type of service that used to be normal at airports”.

      Airline: “What a great idea…”

      • tony says:

        30 Jun30 June 12:29

        Yes, except as we’re seeing increasingly, the airports can’t deliver once they’ve extracted the extra £15 from your pocket. And it’s all a bit silly because if you’re standing in a queue you’re not spending money in the shops & bars airside.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          30 Jun30 June 14:46

          It’s £5 pre booked / £7.50 buy it there at BHX small children go free (buy generally don’t need to with kids anyway as they go the same way)

          If you’re going early morning I’d pre 8:30 departure it’s well worth paying.

        • tony says:

          30 Jun30 June 15:00

          No, I think BHX have now proven themselves of being unable to deliver fasttrack when the airport is, erm, busy. You just check in an hour before departure then get fast tracked for free. 30 minutes to get through security is bad enough for the regular line, never mind the fast track option (which thankfully was bundled with my ticket).

  • yorkieflyer says:

    30 Jun30 June 12:07

    Trouble with fast track at regional airports is they push “priority” passengers through it rather than having a separate lane. The result is, through no fault of the pax, wheelchairs and pushchairs with their sometimes apparently very extended families being waved in front of us twerps who’ve paid for an experience arguably no better than the normal queues

    • Mike says:

      30 Jun30 June 14:37

      I think some families/people play up the PRM aspect at holiday time. I broke my fibula and messed up my tendons (as I found out when I got home), with under 24 hours until my return flight, so decided to rough it and get treatment back in the UK. I was very kindly PRMed through a regional airport on my way home (to jump in a black cab and go to A&E) with about 5 other PRM plus their relatives. They pushed a couple over the customs line and said they’d be back in about 15 minutes as they would have to go back through security. Of the four of us in wheelchairs, three suddenly gained the power to not only walk but to practically run and I was left on my own, talking to the police guy at customs. Very telling….

• Ryan says:

  30 Jun30 June 12:50

  BHX in my opinion is the worst in the UK. Never had a favourable experience in all my time of using it.

• teaboy says:

  30 Jun30 June 12:58

  I’m in awe @SeanM1997, a big hat-tip! I’ve always thought a hat-tip from Rob is like a handshake from the baker guy. But a big hat-tip, what’s that like? A two-handed handshake? I’ve always wanted one but never have I seen a big hat-tip! 👏🙌

  • Aston100 says:

    30 Jun30 June 14:29

    Is it a tip of a big hat, or a big tip of a regular sized hat?

    • tony says:

      30 Jun30 June 14:44

      Surely the hyphen gives that away….

      • John says:

        30 Jun30 June 16:13

        Um. You wouldn’t write big-hat tip even if you meant the former. So it doesn’t

        • tony says:

          30 Jun30 June 17:15

          No, but if you were tipping a big hat, presumably it would be big hat tip. Or perhaps more correctly a big hat hat-tip.

    • teaboy says:

      30 Jun30 June 19:11

      😂

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