Warning - on no account book Birmingham Holiday Inn & car parking. They are having major refurbishment and as a result there is no lift but they still have not thought to offer a porter service. The very unhelpful person behind the desk VERY grudgingly carried my case up the the stairs and then ordered me to roll it myself to the room! Such poor customer service. Breakfast did not begin until 7.30 am (in an airport hotel!) and we would have to pay an extra £15 each for one in the room before that time! The courtesy bus is now a shuttle bus which runs limited hours and you have to do the waiting, ie you cant phone them from the shuttle train and ask them to set off from the hotel, they won't. They now want to charge you £2 for the ride to the airport shuttle - I realise this is a small amount, but it seems very petty and money grabbing - we would normally tip anyway. That said, the driver didn't even help us with our cases out of the boot. However, the worst of it was when we arrived back after a 9 hour flight to discover they hadn't fetched our car from their 'secure' car park. They thought it was 'out front somewhere' and told us to 'go and have a look'!!! It wasn't. When we asked to be taken to our car, they were very reluctant. We had been told it was in an NCP car park. It wasn't; it was in a rough car parking area attached to a local sports ground with no permanent on-site security. All round a dreadful hotel and an unpleasant end to our holiday.

I am flying to Zante with my family in July and the flight is at 5.00 am. I have had a look on the web site and see that Yates and Witherspoons open at 4.am. We have not booked food on the plane as we usually eat at the airport, do you think we will have enough time to have a breakfast at one of these pubs before getting on the plane. I thought that they start to call you from about half an hour before your flight so I think we are cutting it fine. Any other ideas of where we can get something decent to eat before the flight? Many thanks. Di.

wolvo girl wrote:

I am flying to Zante with my family in July and the flight is at 5.00 am. I have had a look on the web site and see that Yates and Witherspoons open at 4.am. We have not booked food on the plane as we usually eat at the airport, do you think we will have enough time to have a breakfast at one of these pubs before getting on the plane. I thought that they start to call you from about half an hour before your flight so I think we are cutting it fine. Any other ideas of where we can get something decent to eat before the flight? Many thanks. Di.

Seem this flight is a charter , check in will close at 5.00 am which means you should of already been past security by now. You should always be at the boarding gate no later than 45 minutes before departure. This is to ensure you are there early incase the aircraft takes off early.

david,

david891 wrote:

This is to ensure you are there early incase the aircraft takes off early

It's more to ensure it's ready for puchback at the allotted time and ensure the flight meets it's allocated departure / air traffic slot. It's rare for a flight to leave early due to slot restrictions as they only have a 30 minute window. If the flight is ready early, it'll just wait until the allotted take off slot.

wolvo girl wrote:

do you think we will have enough time to have a breakfast at one of these pubs before getting on the plane

I think you'll you'll be pushing it for time to be honest. It might be worth taking sandwiches with you for the flight. By the time they've opened, you've ordered and it's served, you'll be getting called for your flight.

Darren

I have booked 3 days parking at Birmingham airport NCP Long Stay car park 1

When I booked I got a confirmation number - but they havent emailed me any confirmation (thank god I wrote down the reference number) Is it usual for them not to email you a confirmation?

When I enter the car park - do I just quote the 5 character reference number they gave me? is that all I need?

Many thanks

mrselliott,

You should only need the reference number but it's always useful to have printed confirmation too. Could the email have been picked up by your spam filter and be in a seperate inbox? It might be worth emailing them go see if they can send you the confirmation again or confirm if it's ok just with just the confirmation number.

Darren

Thanks Dazbo - I called them and they have resent the email - and you were correct - it was in my junk mail!!!

They told me just enter the car park, take a ticket and go - when I return at the exit just quote the reference number and they will open the barriers for me to get out.

Whilst Im here - whats the seat config on tomorrows flight 3/7/2009

Ryan air, BHX to Alicante, FR 2152 leaving 0625.

mrselliott,

It Will Be A Boeing 737-800, So Seating Will Be Configured 3-3

Gower

Many Thanks GowerL7

For anyone interested, Emirates will be operating one of their Airbus A380-800's in to Birmingham from/to Dubai on 9th September 2009 as part of the grand opening of the new international peir and the airports 70th aniversary. This will be the first commercial A380 flight in the UK outside of Heathrow.

Darren

Darren, How are they going to get the A380-800 off the ground, i didnt think the runway was long enough for these or the 747s if they are heavy.

Son Of Homer,

I had wondered that myself, but they've done their figures and the runway is just about long enough aparently. Dubia isn't that far so it'll be nowhere near maximum take off weight (MTOW). 747's have operated out of BHX in the past with a weight restriction. I had to do a dummy booking on Emirates website in order to beleive it, it's clearly stated they're operating EK039/40 on 09/09/09 with an A380-800. I know people who've booked on the flight just to get a ride on the A380, coming back the day after! I'd be off down to BHX with the camera to see it with my own eyes, but I'll be in Turkey. It should be quite a sight and I bet the runway is lined with spectactors.

Darren

Nice to see that the have bumped the prices up for the special occasion, £900 return as opposed to £350 ish normally

Lets hope it does get off the ground, otherwise it will make a mess of long stay car park 1

Will of course be 09/09/09 (good job not three sixes I suppose!!).........................

Birmingham gets new flights

Hellenic Imperial Airways starts a new weekly service this weekend between Birmingham and Athens, with onward connections to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

The Greek airline hopes to increase it to a twice weekly service in August, subject to demand.

It will operate a Boeing 747-200 aircraft with 450 seats.

Flights will arrive into Birmingham on Saturdays at 19:00 and depart back to Athens and Jeddah at 22:00.

On Mondays, the airline will arrive into Birmingham at 17:00, departing back to Athens and Jeddah at 22:00 the following day.

The airline's chairman, Talal Abureyal, said: "Athens, which is our HQ, is not currently served from Birmingham so we expect that our flights will be welcomed by those travelling for business and leisure, in particular those visiting friends and relatives."

Its commercial manager, Theo Silvestros, added: "As the principal gateway to Mecca, the Jeddah flights to be used by many Pilgrims wanting to access Islam's holiest city, and with such competitive prices Midlands people will be able to start this important journey from their doorstep."

Return flights start from £199, excluding taxes, to Athens and £399, excluding taxes, to Jeddah.

With permission from Travelmole

How baby friendly is Birmingham Airport? Might be going through there next April with twins.

cate_taylor,

The Airport Is Fairly Friendly In Catering For Babies

Gower

Hi I have never flown from birmingham before, what is the shopping and eating facilities like there.

does anyone have a list of retail outlets airside

Thanks
Bowza

Bowza,

There Is A List Here Of What Retail Outlets Can Be Found Both Landside And Airside

Gower