Saturday 7th September 2024
Arriving at Birmingham Airport (BHX) parking the car on car park 5 south of the terminals we had a steady 10 minute walk to the terminal buildings. I was flying on the 0805 easyjet departure whilst my friend was departing on the 0600 KLM flight. This ment i had over four hours to kill in what would no doubt be an over crowded departure lounge.
Once inside the terminal we found that once again the Jet2 entrance to the departure lounge was now open, unlike earlier in the year when i flew out to Dublin. Hopefully on past experience i would be straight into bag scan and then in the lounge within 30 Mins.Wrong!! Once at the top of the stairs now you walk past where previously was the bag scanning area and join the queue from the main terminal for the new scanning area. All being said in around 45 to 50 mins we was sitting down waiting for our drinks to be served.
I think there was slight improvement from when I came earlier in the year, but I think the time to pass judgement will be once all the improvement works are complete. Once my friend had left i had a walk around the pier to see what was on the ground, with it still dark photos and any videos were out the question with the terminal lights reflecting off the glass. Quick check on flight radar found I would be flying on a fairly new Airbus A320Neo of easyjet Europe.
Boarding was uneventful and was seated on the plane within around 25mins of the gate opening. my seat was 14A an over wing view. The seat provided enough leg room and for a 40 minute flight they was fairly comfortable. The crew was friendly and was always willing to help. We Departed off Runway 33 and landed at a partly cloudy Amsterdam on the Polderbaan runway. I then had a 15 min taxi to the gates where I parked up on H3.
I was off the plane within about ten minutes of being parked up. When i got to the passport control it took me around an hour to get through. The qeue kept moving it was just the fact I think of the amount of flights that had arrived, being at a major hub I wouldn't expect anything else. Once through I headed straight for the viewing terraces, things have changed slightly since my last visit but all was clearly sign posted.
For me this has to be one of the best viewing terraces in Europe and the other view points around the airport its a must visit for avgeeks. This visit we opted against hiring a car to go to one of the other viewing points around the airport. The terraces aren't as big as they once where.
As you would guess all major airlines operate here, Delta Airlines use Amsterdam as a hub with is SKYTEAM connections with the KLM/Air France Group. On the terraces there are toilets and resturants for food / snacks. After a day on the terraces we headed for our hotel. We stayed at the Ibis hotel close to McDonalds, getting here was easy with a hotel shuttle runing every 15mins to and from the airport.
The rooms are basic, but everything you need for a quick overnight stay.The hotel has resturants up on level 4 and a self service snack area and bar on the ground floor.
The next morning after breakfast is was straight back to the terraces for when it opened as we only had a few hours before catching our flights home.
When we arrived at the the departure lounge it took around 20mins to get through passports and security. There are plenty of bars food outlets and shops to pass the time whilst you wait for your flights. So I found a bar over looking the Apron and grabbed a quick lager before heading once again back to gate H3. On all information boards the time to walk to your gate is shown so no reason to miss your flight.
Boarding was prompt and pushed back on time, on again the crew was friendly and always willing to help you. The flight was a lot quieter than on the way out with many looking like they have a very good night in the city. The flight was smooth and landed on Runway 33 at Birmingham (BHX), Passport control was chaos and took over an hour to get through.
All in all it was a brilliant weekend with many new aircraft logged. For me the stars of the weekend where the brand new KLM Airbus A321Neo and the beautiful looking Delta Airlines Airbus A350
