I flew from Birmingham Airport and passengers in the security queue were asking the same question


We didn’t have any checked-in bags, but turned up to Birmingham Airport three hours before our flight on the May Bank Holiday Monday as instructed. I’d been looking forward to this Tenerife trip with my friend for months, but all that excitement was currently being squashed by a big anxiety knot in my stomach.

There’s something about flying that’s inherently stress-inducing. And I’d heard the horror stories about three-hour queues and passengers missing their flights – even just the day before. I’d text my friend in a panic saying we should give ourselves even more time to get through security, just in case.

We emerged from the tunnel connecting the far car park to the airport entrance and straight away, the building looked different to my last visit 12 months earlier. Scaffolding was up by the arrivals door and part of the road was blocked off, with a walk through set up to the premium pick-up area.

Read more: Key dates hand luggage rules change at Birmingham Airport, Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow

Security queues

We cut inside at the departures entrance and followed the building round to security. Rather than catching the escalator upstairs, the queue started on the ground floor (the ‘new normal’ according to BHX bosses) and had around 200 people waiting in it when we arrived at midday.

The area was hot and I heard several people mention as much as we snaked back and forth around the belt barriers. Thankfully, it moved quickly and we were loaded into industrial-sized lifts within ten minutes.

At the top, the queue continued to wind steadily through a better-ventilated room. Within three minutes, we were through the boarding pass e-gates and 15 minutes after that, we were entering a large security hall that looked totally different to the one I’d used the year prior. The Fast Track lane was moving even quicker.

New scanners, new rules

Four of the six-or-so lanes were open and the new equipment looked like something sent from the future. A big sign told us that ‘body scanners’ were in operation.

What Birmingham Airport’s new security hall will look like once complete(Image: BHX)



Source link