Birmingham Airport tackles 4am queue carnage as bigger liquid screening facility comes next week

Birmingham Airport has addressed the ongoing queue carnage after passengers reported “chaotic” scenes outside the terminal building at 4am today. A larger liquid testing unit is coming to the site next week.

The airport said tourists passed the liquid check stations, mainly in the outdoor unit, with staff talking to them to make sure there were no liquids in bags or exceeding 100ml in hand luggage. Next week will see the arrival of a larger temporary facility to further accommodate this process, which could help speed up waiting times.

A new Government directive was issued nationwide in all ports last Sunday, with a late amendment restricting passengers to 100ml in liquids, gels and pastes and hand luggage. This limit was already in place at Birmingham Airport, but the restriction was said to hinder the venue’s ability to use new security devices, which have been created to cater for higher volumes.

READ MORE: Queues at Birmingham airport live after passengers report ‘4am carnage’

It added to problems that have generated queues at the airport for weeks. Some angry passengers have labeled the queues this morning, Friday June 14, “carnage” and “embarrassing”. But others said “the tail moves faster than you think.”

Taking to X, ex-Twitter, one passenger wrote: “Carnage at Birmingham airport, three lanes of queuing at 4am @bhx_official #bhx #birminghamairport.” Another passenger said: “Absolutely embarrassing from @bhx_official with this queue to get right into the building at 4am.” A third added: ‘Get to Birmingham airport early. It’s chaos. 4 am. @bhx_official #bhx”

One passenger told BirminghamLive: “It’s queue after queue. It’s so stressful at the start of a vacation.” After filming the long queues, she praised staff for handling the situation and said it took about two hours to clear all the checks.

Tourist Joe Walshe joined the queue at 6.15am for his 9.15am flight. Joe said “the tail moves fast”. He told BirminghamLive: “From the time I started to going through security it was just over an hour. And it helps that you don’t have to take anything out of your bag. I got here just over three hours before my flight. “

A spokeswoman for Birmingham Airport told BirminghamLive: “As we enter the summer season we are seeing some of our busiest days. Customers will now see our new ‘liquid check stations’ outside in our marquee, where colleagues check with passengers to ensure their hand luggage does not contain liquids over 100ml.

“Our security process now has two elements to help our customers get through security with compliant bags. As always, we remind all customers to arrive in accordance with check-in opening time and not before, details on booking documents and to only bring liquids under 100ml in hand luggage.”

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