Long airport queues ahead of bank holiday weekend

People were outside the building at the airport

Queues have been reported again at Birmingham Airport as the bank holiday weekend begins, with some people taking 90 minutes to get through security.

People are having to wait outside as building works are carried out meaning the normal queuing route has changed. One woman said she had been there for an hour and 40 minutes.

Delays and large queues have been seen at the site in recent weeks with many passengers saying they had lost hundreds of pounds due to missing flights.

An airport spokesperson said it had predicted it would have a busy morning with more than 24,500 customers travelling out of the airport and it had fully resourced the day.

On Friday, one BBC employee going to Budapest in Hungary said it took an hour and 40 minutes to get through security.

She added: "I would say that they are prioritising flights that are closing. There's lots of members of staff keeping you informed.

"There are six new security lanes open. You don't have to take your liquids out, so once you get to the security lanes, things do move quite quickly."

Earlier, Manny, from Coventry, said: "I've been in this queue for the last hour and a half, absolutely ridiculous.

"I've got my flight to catch in the next hour and this is not acceptable at all."

Kate, from Lichfield in Staffordshire, said: "We are travelling to Berlin today. We came just two hours beforehand to travel, but we heard the queues were massive and they are huge."

BBC Radio WM listener Hayley Owen, who is a travel agent, stated: "You have to go and check your luggage in first with your airline, then make your way back outside to the security queue.

"It can take about 45 minutes to 90 minutes as some people said to actually get through the check-in through to the lifts that take you upstairs to the security."

She added it was recommended "if you can get a fast pass for £5, that will cut out those queues".

The airport has said colleagues were around to help

The airport has said it "has been a working building site for 18 months, and continues to be, while we build for our future with a new security area".

"We have fully resourced this day with our customers teams, and additional colleagues, from across the business and they are in the terminal assisting passengers on this forecasted busy day," the airport said.

"We have had a steady queue since security opened and it is busy in the terminal. Customers will be using unfamiliar routes around the airport as we build our new security area and for this we apologise."

Earlier this week people were left stranded for hours after returning from holiday to find a meet-and-greet airport parking firm had abruptly halted operations.