We’re all universally agreed that the worst part of a holiday is the airport, right? You can try and make the best of it with a pint, but it’s not good. It’s pricey, stressful, claustrophobic, knackering and, as anyone who’s visited Birmingham Airport in recent weeks can attest, full of long queues.
A combination of construction work and new security rules has seen one of the UK’s biggest airports become a hub of confusion in recent weeks. Delays through security have seen long queues stretch outside the terminal building – with some passengers waiting up to three hours as recently as Monday (June 10).
What’s happening at Birmingham Airport?
That’s a little unclear, as many are playing the blame game. Many have said that a lack of staff is causing the queues. But Birmingham Airport has blamed the delays on confusion over the 100ml liquids U-turn and a £60m security area it cannot use due to Government restrictions.
“This new facility boasts streamlined and simpler screening equipment to search customers’ bags,” said a Birmingham Airport spokesperson. “However, we cannot use the new screening equipment to its full capability at the moment due to a partial regulatory restriction. This is out of our control.
“The airport has continually planned for this transition from our old security area, to our new, and had considered the impact of the building works, new equipment, and the unfamiliar queuing areas. We have around a million passengers use our airport each month, the majority of whom have a good experience despite the ongoing construction works.”
Last month, Birmingham Airport introduced hi-tech security scanners known as Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC), which meant passengers could keep liquids in containers of up to 100ml in their hand luggage. On June 1, many airports also increased the liquid limit to two litres, but Birmingham was left waiting due to “outstanding regulatory approval.”
Not that it mattered much. As of Sunday (June 9), the Department for Transport (DfT) reversed its decision and said passengers at all UK airports can carry no more than 100ml in liquids in hand luggage – which may have resulted in Monday’s confusion. It’s also worth noting that NGSCs are part of a bigger £300m upgrade at Birmingham Airport – with construction work still ongoing.
Will the queues get better?
Speaking to i, Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website Head for Points, has warned that Birmingham could be in for a ‘summer of chaos’. He argues “The only change on Sunday was the need for the liquids to be in plastic bags and removed from hand luggage – something which 90 per cent of passengers, unaware of the new arrangements, would have expected anyway.”
The real culprit behind the long queue at Birmingham Airport is that the upstairs queuing area in the new £50m security hall remains closed. With passengers reporting long delays since April, “In reality, the delays are primarily due to the major construction work taking place at the airport coinciding with the first wave of summer holiday traffic.”
So if you’re flying out of Birmingham Airport (and are a nervous traveller like me), you might want to consider turning up even earlier. Usually, airports suggest arriving two hours before a short-haul flight and three hours before a long-haul flight. So how’s adding a couple more hours to the airport going to hurt?