Off to the Abyss… or the shopping mall that’s Birmingham Airport
Polishing Silver
There’s a running joke that some airports are just shopping malls with jetbridges and security. How does Birmingham Airport match up to that description?
In this Tier Point-laden adventure
- All I ask is for one decent airfare. Just ONE. Anyone?
- Off to Birmingham Airport
- FR669 Birmingham to Dublin Airport with Ryanair
- Welcome to Dublin, Premier Inn – Dublin Airport
- Early Morning Dublin Airport and US Preclearance, 51st and Green Lounge
- AA723 Dublin to Philadelphia – Flagship Business Class
- A Rocky Interlude – Exploring Philadelphia
- Return to PHL and the Philadelphia American Airlines Admirals Club
- AA2663 Philadelphia to San Francisco – US Domestic First
- A new terminal and The Crowne Plaza, Burlingame
- The Intercontinental San Francisco (and trying the new BART trains)
- Asian Eats around San Francisco
- A challenge unto myself: Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
- Ferrying around the bay with Golden Gate Ferry
- Of Dragons and Lions – Celebrations in San Francisco Chinatown
- Back to SFO, American Airlines Admirals Club
- AA164 San Francisco to New York JFK – Transcontinental Business Class
- A snow-laden pit stop at JFK and the American Airlines/British Airways Greenwich Lounge
- AA104 New York JFK to London Heathrow – Flagship Business Class
- Transiting across Heathrow Terminals and the British Airways Galleries North
- BA836 London Heathrow to Dublin Airport – Club Europe
- A Two Hour Dublin Turnaround featuring the Dublin Airport Lounge
- BA4469 Dublin to London City Airport – Club Europe by BA CityFlyer
- To the trains… and on the cheap
- Points in the bag
Off to Birmingham Airport
You join me as I’m walking out of my office in Birmingham, heading for the train station as I finish another day at the salt mines. Leaving the city, it’s in the grip of cold weather – which could get worse by the time I get home.
But that’s a problem for the future Kevin.
With my trash (and clothes) stored at the office, I made a few stops on the way – namely to pick up dinner for the evening (as I’m not paying Premier Inn prices for dinner, nor risking UberEats where I would be staying).
With nibbles in hand, I headed towards New Street station.
Those who know, know that I have more than a few issues with the number of ticket options between New Street and the Airport station, with fares scaling from £2.80 single to £4.80, depending on the operator.
I timed it perfectly, with the cheapest operator (Transport for Wales), charging £2.80 for a single. And I had more than five minutes to make the train.
I popped in the details into TrainPal and a ticket spat out via the app. With that, I scanned the barcode and headed down to the platform.
My timing was perfect – the train was pulling in as I walked downstairs.
Transport for Wales
Class 158 Express Sprinter
Price paid: £2.80 via TrainPal
On this route (with the train used to operate services to Shrewsbury, Aberwyswith and Phiwelli, TfW uses older trains that are fitted with ETRMS. Thus, the stock selection for now is a little limited, as the ETMRS rollout is more than a little slow in the UK.
Nonetheless, this train had been refurbished to a high standard. It’s possible to do a four-hour journey in these… but I’d avoid it if possible.
And yes, there are mains and USB-A outlets at the seat. Wonderful.
The run to Birmingham International Station has no scheduled stops, so it takes around 10 minutes to make it to the airport. It took slightly longer, as we had to wait for a platform, but eventually, we were allowed in.
I exited the train and headed through the barriers (barcode tickets are wonderful things) and off to the AirRail link.
Like the recently opened Luton DART, this is a cabled-hauled liner. The big difference – it’s free to use.
Dropping out to the building site that’s Birmingham Airport, I headed downstairs and into the latest version of the rat-run to get through security – now requiring lifts to get to.
Still wonder which 10-year-old thought this was a good idea
Birmingham Airport security was its usual self – taking around 20 minutes on the normal lanes, with frequent stops and holds to allow the queues for machines and scanning not to get overloaded.
Once through that, it was time to enjoy the retail experience this airport offers. I joke that this is a mall with jet bridges on it – and in the main waiting area, it is full of High Street brands to extract your cash from you.
All I got was a bottle of water for the next few days – I had got my dinner earlier on in the day.
Hmm. WHSmith in the beauty game. Whatever next?
Sadly, the other thing that Birmingham Airport likes to do (apart from retail), is hiding the gates until the last possible minute. That makes it hard to plan (even if you can guess which gate you’re going from, in some respects).
With the gate finally displayed, I gathered the two bags and myself and headed to the boarding gate.
easyJet Airbus A320
The inbound Ryanair Boeing 737-800
Helvetic Embaer E190-E2
This gave me time to watch the aircraft come in and watch the queues build up, as gate staff were getting people through the boarding area as fast as possible.
Which are you?
I made my way through the queue. With my baggage unchallenged, my boarding pass was blipped and I was allowed to head into the stairway.
Next:
Ryanair FR669 Birmingham to Dublin – heyyyyyyyy… the seat map might have lied…
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