Doughnuts On The Mound – Morning Manoeuvres at Birmingham Airport
In this epic day trip (and it t’was epic)
- Spotting for the day? Why not?
- Morning Manoeuvres at Birmingham Airport
- EI263 Birmingham Airport to Dublin Airport
- Donughts on the Mound… and a LOT of planes
- Back to Dublin Airport
- EI3276 Dublin to Birmingham Airport
- Cheap ride home sir?
- Community
Morning Manoeuvres at Birmingham Airport
6:00am.
Waking up, I rolled out of bed, and grabbed my camera bag and a few other things – and got a Uber to the airport.
Yup. The batter Etnies Transport bag that has seen far too many better days. I need another one of these as they’re great for splitting clothes, equipment and laptop in an easy to travel bag. Getting another one o these is a challenge unfortunately.
I would had taken a Uber to the train station, and then a train onwards… except I had a fishy feeling what the security queues would be like.
Blitzing down the Aston Expressway. Not the Coventry Road.
And I wanted to cut that risk out as much as I could
£22 later (and the driver taking the M6 rather than going down the A45 as I requested) I was at Elmdon International Airport – or as the rest of you know it – Birmingham Airport.
Hello Elmdom International… I mean Birmingham Airport.
With it the beginning of July, traffic was very much “bucket and spade” traffic, with the terminal busy with families wanting to escape Birmingham and to the sun.
I headed over the Aer Lingus check-in counters and obtained my boarding passes for the day. I had checked in online, with all seats assigned – but I still like getting my souvenir boarding passes – even if they’re thermal paper at Birmingham Airport.
To the departures!
With that, I headed up to Security – and I was right to be worried. There was a queue that was being held before the boarding pass check, and then three lanes of switchbacks to clear to get to the scanners.
Waiting for the barriers to be re-opened.
Into the switchbacks
3rd switchback!
Things BHX is good at: Monetising anything.
Sigh.
The queue moved as best as it could – with it taking 15 minutes to clear the hurdles of security.
Once that was done – it was time to play “run the risk” of Duty Free – Remember, this is a British Airport – it’s a shopping centre with air-bridges attached.
Run the risk!
With nothing interesting me in the shops, I headed to a shop that made something resembling coffee.
Things you can get for £2 in Birmingham Airport – Coffee. No Starbucks here though for those Starbucks Lovers.
With a “Big cup of Joe” in had, I headed over to the “International Pier” to watch planes. With me in full plane-spotter mode, there were a few interesting sights parked up at BHX that morning. Here’s the nerd stuff.
As I’ve noted – there was a fair bit of bucket and spade traffic – so it’s no surprise to seeing carriers in full swing.
TUI Boeing 757-200
Monarch Airways Airbus A321 and Jet2 Boeing 737-800
Regular schedule traffic was also doing its this thing, with Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Wizz Air, Emirates, and a Brussels Airlines plane I’ve never seen before. Yes, it was a Sukoi Superjet 100 (operated by CityJet).
Brussels Airlines Sukoi SuperJet 100 (operated by CityJet).
Wizz Air Airbus A321
Qatar Airways Boeing 787
Lufthansa Airbus A319 pushing back.
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER landing. Soon to be replaced with an A380…
Children’s play activity area and a model Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER. A bit large to fit in my home sadly…
Eventually, I spotted my inbound service coming in, and I chose to head towards where the gate would be – which would be Gate 55.
Hello Aer Lingus A320!
And it seemed I found a whole new definition of “gate lice” with nearly half a plane load already lined up to board. Yes, this is before the plane had even arrived at the gate.
Editors note: The plane was turning for the gate at this point
Give me strength.
Eventually boarding was called – and the queues shuffled forward as people were beeped aboard.
Checked. Needs more cool air.
My boarding pass was blipped, and I slowly made my way down the stairs and onto to the tarmac.
Next: EI263 Birmingham Airport to Dublin Airport – Ooh. Empty Middle Seat!
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