I tried to book Birmingham Airport Express Lane tickets and a major problem occurred

Passengers departing from Birmingham Airport have faced long queues and delays over the past few weeks, including this morning (May 16). As a result, many consider booking the airport express lane to bypass the queue.

The Express Lane allows travelers to pass through security as quickly as possible for a fee. I decided to try booking Birmingham Airport Express Lane tickets to see how it works.

These tickets are priced at £5 each when purchased in advance or £7.50 each if you decide to buy them at the airport on arrival. Children under five can travel for free if accompanied by a paying adult.

READ MORE: State Pension inheritance rules explained after the death of a spouse or partner

READ MORE: Boxing fans watching Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk live stream will get free TV

The concept is that passengers who have booked Express Lane tickets enter a separate queue in Security, allowing passengers to get to the security area more quickly. Simply present your barcode and booking confirmation to the officer at the Express Lane entrance to avoid queuing, Birmingham Live reports.

When I tried to book at 8am on the 17th of May, I found that every slot for today was closed until 8pm, which was the first available slot. However when I clicked ‘book’ I got a message from prebook.birminghamairport saying ‘it is now too late to book the selected date and time’.

So, I set out to get an 8am slot for the next day, but got this message: “Sorry, but we can’t find any products available for the criteria you’ve entered. Please check the date, time and code you entered. , and try again.”

A similar thing happened to me when I looked at later May 18th slots and even a midday slot for the following weekend. The system in place allows half-hour slots for ticket booking, allowing you to set a suitable date and then decide between the peak of an hour or the midpoint.

However, what grinds me down is the blindness to slot availability, forcing him to dissect and examine each time slot independently. Life would be so much simpler if we could go through a list of promising times and pick what fits into our flight schedule.

Outdated booking infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired in terms of ease of use.

In my frustration, I started exploring from May 18th (this being the earliest opening) at half-hourly intervals until the clock struck one, but found nothing. Of course, if plane tickets were in possession, Express Lane tickets for a particular phase would be the focal hunt, but the scarcity was still evident.

Not satisfied, I jumped at 8pm on May 18th and found success!

Fortune permitting, a 5pm slot on 25th May also fell into my hands and I managed to slip a £5 note into my virtual bin. It would seem prudent to secure Express Lane tickets after the rush given their limited supply leading up to the day of the flight.

It is important to be aware that there is no Express Lane at the security entrance in Check-in Zone A. If you are checking in at Zone A and have an Express Lane ticket, you should proceed to the security entrance in Zones BC .

More information and reservations for Express Lane tickets can be found here.

In addition, the Express Lane ticket entitles you to a 10% discount when you spend £75 or more in World Duty Free stores. Simply present your Express Lane voucher at checkout.

Please note that this discount does not apply to tobacco, Chanel products or Macallan whiskies. The maximum discount available is £20 and cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions.

Get daily headlines and breaking news delivered to you by email – it’s FREE