Birmingham Airport video showing the excruciatingly long queue I had to deal with and it got worse

This is when I witnessed the horror of queuing to get through security at Birmingham Airport. I arrived early – very early on Sunday 16 June to fly out of BHX on a 7.45am flight to Dusseldorf to watch England play their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.

Having reported the queues at Birmingham airport I was warned about what to expect. But nothing quite prepares you for the nightmare that is the painstakingly winding wait to check your bag and head to the departure lounge.

The full description of my experience can be read in its entirety here. But the video above shows the extent of the queue below which took three minutes and 45 seconds to walk alongside from the ground floor lift exit which arrived by monorail at Birmingham International Station.

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Pass passengers entwined in a “snake” ready to return to where I came from, wandering “how long will this take?”, “will I make my flight?”. The way to the back of the queue was not at all clear.

I had to ask a staff member where to go. And while this video shows the queue just before 4.30am on Sunday, it was longer shortly afterwards. Sometimes the line wound back and forth three times before I got to the point where I joined.

And to make matters worse, the snaking queue downstairs was only half done. An hour-long queue downstairs, followed by an hour-long queue upstairs. Horrible! Birmingham Airport boss Nick Barton gave his explanation for the chaos. He advised arriving three hours in advance rather than the usual two.

If you have an early morning flight, be prepared for a wait. Luck!