For months, due to excessive queues for security flying from Birmingham airport has been chaotic and stressful. Flights are being missed and people’s plans wrecked. The worry about this happening also affects many people.  The initial reason for this was the building of the new security area. However this was completed a couple of weeks ago and the situation is still as bad, if not worse.

An insider at the airport has blamed this on staff shortages. 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-airport-insider-berated-passengers-29256422

Based on reading others experiences (AM flyers queuing out the door but afternoon travelers getting through in no time) this may be the case. Or planning of staff at the right times might not be effective (although the airport knows exactly how many flights and passengers will be traveling and when).

So far the few recent statements from the airport seem to give the impression that is ‘this is the new normal and we don’t care’. Repeated emails I’ve sent to the chief executive Nick Barton (who earns £700k a year) asking about any plans to improve, have been ignored. 

As passengers we pay BHX indirectly via our flight tickets / the huge fees that our airlines pay to the airport. We deserve better than this when we travel. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe this will change any time soon. 

This petition is to ask the owners of Birmingham airport to;

• Consider removing Nick Barton from his post and replacing him with someone capable of - and interested in - providing a better service.
• Urgently review their staffing levels and scheduling / encourage overtime etc. in the short term.
• Come up with a long term plan to fix this ongoing issue. And keep their paying passengers informed to help restore some confidence.

Please sign and share if you too are sick of starting your hard earned trips with stress and anxiety.