Passengers at Birmingham Airport have left frustrated by delays and long queues

Tourists were hit by delays at Birmingham Airport, with long queues snaking from outside the building and enveloping check-in areas. Travelers also reported that escalators were not working, forcing many to be crammed into elevators to reach their desired terminal.

Airport bosses said they were carrying out construction work to help create a “more streamlined” security area, the MEN reports, with long queues reported on Friday 18 May.

A Birmingham Airport spokesman said: “Due to our ongoing construction work to build our new security search area, customers will find themselves queuing in unfamiliar areas. With the sunny morning we had today, we made the decision to queue our customers outside to reduce the congestion around the construction work.

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“While this seems unusual to our customers, and for that we apologize, we make operational decisions daily to ensure the flow of customers through security.”

Ryanair issued a warning to passengers, urging them to arrive earlier than usual to avoid delays. A spokesman said: “Due to the increased number of passengers traveling over the summer period and the expected congestion at security, we advise all passengers to arrive three hours before departure and go through security as soon as possible possible.

“Ryanair check-in desks will open three hours before your departure time. Please prepare your hand luggage in accordance with the advice found here before reaching security, as failure to do so may cause delays for you and other passengers.

“We also advise all passengers to monitor the Ryanair app for the latest information about your flight.”

Some passengers have complained extensively about the delays. Aimee Franciso, who was due to fly out at 8.25am, told Birmingham Live: “We arrived just before 6am. I stood in line at security for about two hours.

“There were security people right in front of us whose flights were due to leave 10 minutes later.”

Another passenger, Charlotte Deakin, said on social media that she was stuck in the queue despite arriving two and a half hours before her flight was due. She wrote on X: “What a joke. We’ll probably miss the flight.”