BIrmingham airport delays question

Pollycat

bagand96 said:

elsien said:

Update as of today. Got to airport 8.25 for a 12.20 flight. No queues anyway. In the departure lounge by 8.50. Despite an email last night extending the gate opening times to 31/2 hours beforehand due to issues. 

Not entirely convinced by the body scammer but leaving liquids in Hand luggage was certainly a lot easier.

It seems that the problems are worst at peak times, especially the morning peak where the first wave of departures all depart between 0600 and 0800, that's when the airport can't cope.  Later in the day flights are more spread as is the wave of pax.  0825 is probably a good time to be getting there as the early flights are all gone.  

Frustrating for people as it's quite unpredictable so the only thing to do really is to turn up extra early.  You've had a fair bit of time to kill in the departure lounge!

Went though BHX last week for an early flight (06:45).
We got to the airport at 02:40 with no bags to check in. 
No queues for the lifts but a massive queue for security. 
Why was there a massive queue? 
Because no one was manning the scanners so the queue just got bigger and bigger. 
Just before 03:00 they opened 2 scanners, then a short while later opened another 2.
By the time we went through, not all scanners were in operation. 
BHX management are definitely part to blame for the early morning queues, even if it's because their staff refuse to start work earlier than 03:00.

badger09

Pollycat said:

bagand96 said:

elsien said:

Update as of today. Got to airport 8.25 for a 12.20 flight. No queues anyway. In the departure lounge by 8.50. Despite an email last night extending the gate opening times to 31/2 hours beforehand due to issues. 

Not entirely convinced by the body scammer but leaving liquids in Hand luggage was certainly a lot easier.

It seems that the problems are worst at peak times, especially the morning peak where the first wave of departures all depart between 0600 and 0800, that's when the airport can't cope.  Later in the day flights are more spread as is the wave of pax.  0825 is probably a good time to be getting there as the early flights are all gone.  

Frustrating for people as it's quite unpredictable so the only thing to do really is to turn up extra early.  You've had a fair bit of time to kill in the departure lounge!

Went though BHX last week for an early flight (06:45).
We got to the airport at 02:40 with no bags to check in. 
No queues for the lifts but a massive queue for security. 
Why was there a massive queue? 
Because no one was manning the scanners so the queue just got bigger and bigger. 
Just before 03:00 they opened 2 scanners, then a short while later opened another 2.
By the time we went through, not all scanners were in operation. 
BHX management are definitely part to blame for the early morning queues, even if it's because their staff refuse to start work earlier than 03:00.

We’re flying from BHX 1 September 07.15. Will have dropped bags off the night before, staying in Ibis. 

Is it worth paying for Fasttrack if we’re going to start queuing @ 03.00?

Pollycat

Fast track only works once you reach the scanners. 
So if there's a queue for the lifts, you're in that queue Fast track or not.
There was only a small queue for Fast track (maybe a dozen people) but hundreds in a massive queue for the non Fast track.
The issue really is that people are starting to queue even earlier than normal because of the issues reported in the media and BHX are letting that queue build up before manning the scanners.
Hard to say what it will be like in 2 months time.

Pollycat

And it's not much better when you return to the UK...
No electronic passport gates at Border Control.
Just 5 manned desks, of which 3 were occupied.
Then one of the 3 wandered off for a coffee break and 5 minutes later a replacement arrived and it seemed to take ages for them to log on and be ready.

la531983

This must have been out of hours, Birmingham has loads of E-Gates, or at least it did in October when I last used the place.

Pollycat

la531983 said:

This must have been out of hours, Birmingham has loads of E-Gates, or at least it did in October when I last used the place.

Everything was fine when we came home mid September.
Loads of e-gates.

We landed at 16:00 on Friday so not exactly out-of-hours;.

Had the 'improvements' started at that time?

I bet you could get upstairs to Security using the escalator or stairs...
You can't now.

la531983

Pollycat said:

la531983 said:

This must have been out of hours, Birmingham has loads of E-Gates, or at least it did in October when I last used the place.

Everything was fine when we came home mid September.
Loads of e-gates.

We landed at 16:00 on Friday so not exactly out-of-hours;.

Had the 'improvements' started at that time?

I bet you could get upstairs to Security using the escalator or stairs...
You can't now.

Yes I heard about the mess it has become since my last visit, escalators were defo working in October, glad I have had to use other airports.

Hoenir

Pollycat said:

bagand96 said:

elsien said:

Update as of today. Got to airport 8.25 for a 12.20 flight. No queues anyway. In the departure lounge by 8.50. Despite an email last night extending the gate opening times to 31/2 hours beforehand due to issues. 

Not entirely convinced by the body scammer but leaving liquids in Hand luggage was certainly a lot easier.

It seems that the problems are worst at peak times, especially the morning peak where the first wave of departures all depart between 0600 and 0800, that's when the airport can't cope.  Later in the day flights are more spread as is the wave of pax.  0825 is probably a good time to be getting there as the early flights are all gone.  

Frustrating for people as it's quite unpredictable so the only thing to do really is to turn up extra early.  You've had a fair bit of time to kill in the departure lounge!

Went though BHX last week for an early flight (06:45).
We got to the airport at 02:40 with no bags to check in. 
No queues for the lifts but a massive queue for security. 
Why was there a massive queue? 
Because no one was manning the scanners so the queue just got bigger and bigger. 
Just before 03:00 they opened 2 scanners, then a short while later opened another 2.
By the time we went through, not all scanners were in operation. 
BHX management are definitely part to blame for the early morning queues, even if it's because their staff refuse to start work earlier than 03:00.

Staff cost money.  Sounds as if people getting there earlier and earlier before their flight is now making a problem that didn't exist previously. 

bagand96

Pollycat said:

And it's not much better when you return to the UK...
No electronic passport gates at Border Control.
Just 5 manned desks, of which 3 were occupied.
Then one of the 3 wandered off for a coffee break and 5 minutes later a replacement arrived and it seemed to take ages for them to log on and be ready.

Border Control is is the responsibility of UK Border Force, so that part at least can't be blamed on Birmingham Airport.  There are plenty of e-Gates in the main arrivals hall however I think there's two arrival routes, and some flights end up in the old "Eurohub" terminal where there aren't any e-gates.

My last experience arriving at BHX was excellent, even including bag reclaim, which is a rarity!  And it was a busy time of day.

Pollycat

Hoenir said:

Pollycat said:

bagand96 said:

elsien said:

Update as of today. Got to airport 8.25 for a 12.20 flight. No queues anyway. In the departure lounge by 8.50. Despite an email last night extending the gate opening times to 31/2 hours beforehand due to issues. 

Not entirely convinced by the body scammer but leaving liquids in Hand luggage was certainly a lot easier.

It seems that the problems are worst at peak times, especially the morning peak where the first wave of departures all depart between 0600 and 0800, that's when the airport can't cope.  Later in the day flights are more spread as is the wave of pax.  0825 is probably a good time to be getting there as the early flights are all gone.  

Frustrating for people as it's quite unpredictable so the only thing to do really is to turn up extra early.  You've had a fair bit of time to kill in the departure lounge!

Went though BHX last week for an early flight (06:45).
We got to the airport at 02:40 with no bags to check in. 
No queues for the lifts but a massive queue for security. 
Why was there a massive queue? 
Because no one was manning the scanners so the queue just got bigger and bigger. 
Just before 03:00 they opened 2 scanners, then a short while later opened another 2.
By the time we went through, not all scanners were in operation. 
BHX management are definitely part to blame for the early morning queues, even if it's because their staff refuse to start work earlier than 03:00.

Staff cost money.  Sounds as if people getting there earlier and earlier before their flight is now making a problem that didn't exist previously. 

Of course, 'staff cost money'.
As the poster above says. Border Control is a government organisation (I'd forgotten that when I wrote my earlier post)..
But they both provide a service to passengers travelling through BHX.
The improvements must have been planned for many months before they even started.
It wouldn't have taken a giant brain to realise that continuing to open Border Control at 03:00 would result in massive queues.
Is it too much to expect for BHX management to actually have a dialogue with Border Control to see if the scanners could be opened earlier to avoid queue build-up?
As for cost, this must have damaged BHX's reputation.
That should also be factored in.

The problem is not people getting there earlier and earlier that is causing the problem.
The problem is caused by the ongoing improvements to the airport, leaving limited access to the Security and Departures floor.
Of course people are going to get there earlier and earlier, given the widely reported issues.
The alternative is to risk missing their flight.

bagand96 said:

Pollycat said:

And it's not much better when you return to the UK...
No electronic passport gates at Border Control.
Just 5 manned desks, of which 3 were occupied.
Then one of the 3 wandered off for a coffee break and 5 minutes later a replacement arrived and it seemed to take ages for them to log on and be ready.

Border Control is is the responsibility of UK Border Force, so that part at least can't be blamed on Birmingham Airport.  There are plenty of e-Gates in the main arrivals hall however I think there's two arrival routes, and some flights end up in the old "Eurohub" terminal where there aren't any e-gates.

My last experience arriving at BHX was excellent, even including bag reclaim, which is a rarity!  And it was a busy time of day.

See my post re Border Control.

I too had an excellent experience the last time I arrived at BHX That was September 2023.
I can't say the same for July 2024.
When was your last experience at BHX?
We had an appalling experience both outbound and inbound.
We were towards the back of the queue from our flight and by the time we got through passport control, all bags had been loaded on to the conveyer belts.
That's how long it took passport control to deal with a 737.