Relief for passengers as Birmingham Airport chaos is avoided on first day of long weekend

Almost 150,000 passengers are thought to be flying in and out of Birmingham (BHX) over the four-day holiday weekend, but after reports of long delays at check-in and baggage reclaim, cancelled flights and lost luggage, it was more plain sailing for many travellers heading off on Thursday.

Travellers heading to BHX today were expecting the same sort of scenes, such as hours of queueing and so travelled to the airport with hours to spare. Although some early travellers had to queue outside, many had much shorter waits than those who flew earlier in the week.

One traveller, Scott from Hereford, arrived at the airport for his Air Lingus flight to Dublin four-hours before his departure time, as he expected the same chaotic scenes.

He said: “I came here four hours earlier to beat the queues as we have seen crazy scenes in the news this week. We’re just hoping everything goes smoothly for our flight.”

A group of co-workers from France however, were much more laid back about the situation and were outside smoking cigarettes before their departure to Paris. They were not concerned about the queues, instead more unhappy with the British weather.

Speaking with Airline staff around the airport, they all felt that everything was running much more smoothly today compared to earlier in the week, and pointed to the lack of queues as evidence.

Whilst the scenes were much calmer this morning, and into the afternoon, there were large queues overnight with some passengers joining lines outside the departures.

Ian Frances, a driver for airport transfers company, All Aboard Shropshire Airport Transfers said; "It was worse than ever with queues stretching outside Jet2 departures down to the arrivals door."

One of those customers was holidaymaker Roy Phillips and his family, who runs Central Paving in Telford.

He said: "We really needed a holiday after a long wait due to Covid and this experience isn’t starting the holiday off in a relaxing way.”

As the day went on, and passengers were able to get through the check-in and bag drop-off process smoothly, things were calm and travellers were excited for their holidays, rather than stressed with delays.

One couple travelling to Cyprus were very pleased with the quick process, they said: "We’re so pleased everything has gone smoothly today. We were nervous coming here, but it was a pleasant surprise. We even had time to sit down for a coffee before heading to security.”

However, whilst thousands went through an easy process today, passengers caught up in the chaos from earlier in the week and still feeling the consequences.

Jenny Mokienko, from Sutton Coldfield landed on Monday on a Ryanair flight from Bucharest and after mixed messages from both the airline and airport, she is still waiting for her luggage.

She said: "First I was told it would be delivered to me by courier, then I received a text telling me to collect it.

"I went to the airport yesterday (Wednesday), and no one there could help me. This is so wrong to do this to people.

“After various phone calls, emails and a visit to the airport, I have finally been told that my case has been located and it will be sent to me via courier.”

Chris Pulley, a 37-year-old dad of two from Stamford, Lincolnshire, landed in Birmingham on Monday, May 30 after a family holiday at Disneyland Paris.

A fun, family weekend away soon turned to the worst once they landed back in England.

He said: “Going out was fine, but it was coming back that we faced issues.

“We got off the plane pretty quickly until we got to the baggage-claim hall where. Nothing was coming through on the conveyor belt.

“There was no one around to ask for assistance or provide any help.

“I have a six-year-old son with ADHD, and a nine-year-old daughter. My son fell asleep on the airport floor, and after over two hours of waiting, we decided we couldn’t stay any longer and a couple other family member stayed at the airport to wait for our luggage.

“However, an hour later, they were sent home without our bags and were told that we wouldn’t be getting them back.

“My dad contacted Air France the next day, and after a long process he finally got through to them, and they told us we would have to wait until next Monday, June 6 for our cases to be delivered via courier.

“That is a week after we arrived home, and they have all our clothes, toiletries, and most importantly, my son’s medication for his ADHD.

“We bought merchandise from Disneyland too and this is just a huge downer on what was an amazing time away at Disney.

“We had five pieces of luggage between 10 of us. This has put us all off going to an airport again for a long time, especially with taking anything bigger than hand luggage with you."