Bristol Airport — Local services in Great Britain

Having only passed through this airport once, it nevertheless still left me with strong emotions, both for better and for worse. First, I will start with the positives. The airport is bright, modern and well maintained, and is easy to navigate. Security is generally efficient and friendly(even though I was held up as I inadvertently had put throat spray in my bag and failed to declare it), and it took me little time to get through(although I did travel on a domestic flight in February, so that could affect my judgement). There is a good range of destinations one can fly from, even if I feel more could be included. There is also a decent range of places to eat and drink both landside and airside, with plenty of accommodation nearby for weary travellers. Bus connections are also pretty good, and quite cheap. Now the negatives. First, the airport charges £6 for drop off. And parking itself is an absolute ripoff. Granted, Bristol is far from being the only airport guilty of this practice, but even still charging £170 for five night's parking is ridiculous. Honestly, I'm not surprised by the number of dodgy, illegal car parks that sometimes appear in the nearby fields. The wi-fi did not work when I tried to use it. Admittingly, it was at eight in the evening in February, so this might have been a one-off occurrence, but again, this shouldn't be a problem. The biggest issue is the giant elephant in the room, not the airport itself but its location. I have to be blunt. Bristol Airport's location is appalling. It is located just eight miles from the city centre, which sounds reasonably enough, but the transport links are extremely poor. While there are decent and fairly cheap bus services, it doesn't change the fact you have to travel down the A38, a narrow, windy country road that is incapable of handling the massive volumes of traffic forced to use it. This includes local traffic heading into Bristol from the southwest as well as that from localities like Taunton and Wells. It is quite a surreal experience driving past quint country pubs and farmhouses advertising discount parking and accommodation for airport users. As if that wasn't bad enough, if the A38 shuts down all traffic is forced down narrow country lanes, contributing to road rage, air pollution and complaints from local residents who are forced to put up with it. You only need to look online to find photographs of cars stuck in congestion along these lanes as they attempt to reach the airport. This is made worse by the complete absence of a rail or motorway link, which would make access far easier. So, to reiterate, Bristol, the largest city in England's South West, the tenth largest city in one of the richest countries in the world, is served by an airport which is only accessible by either a substandard country road, or narrow country lanes where one risks being hit by vehicles thundering through in the opposite direction. This airport, by the way, is the eighth busiest in the United Kingdom. Ultimately, you might as well walk to Bristol. In conclusion, Bristol Airport is clean, organised and efficient, with a good range of destinations and plenty of places to eat and shop, but its location and extravagantly expensive parking by exploitative owners hinders its development, and prevents the city from having a truly world class aviation hub it can be proud of. Remember, it services both Bristol and Bath, two of the ten most visited cities in England. Ultimately, to end on a melancholy note, Southwest England deserves...

Always use this airport and do so multiple times a year. The last couple of years it has been a complete shower. Majority of staff I encounter need a lesson in customer service. Rude and faces like a wet weekend.

Coming through security on outbound, they are using scanners which are faulty and pulling everyones bags ....causing a massive backlog. The staff advised that they are unable to open other scanning lanes and have been told by their superiors to continue using the faulty ones, (even though there are bucket loads of other scanners not being used)🤦‍♂️.

Passport control is repeatedly understaffed and stony faced on the inbound with constant queuing as per photo... massive backlogs.. especially when 3-4 flights land at the same time. Ground crew understaffed as well and it takes an inordinate amount of time to get stairs to the plane + often a lack of buses and baggage reclaim up to 1 hour wait (particularly at night-time).

Quick drop off (if depositing passengers), is a hefy £7 just to drive in & out again... no wonder everyone is blocking up farmers gateways on the entrance to the airport to dump their passengers😤 ...and get this.. there is NO free drop off for disabled passengers,.which is totally unbelievable for an airport in this day and age. Long stay parking is also £££ compared to other airports.

If you arrive out of hours food/ drink options are limited.

The majority of the Gates are serviced by stair cases, which is a nightmare with children and/ or lugging trolley cases up and down. I really feel sorry for less able passengers. You could at least have put mechanical staircases into help people out.

The terminal is generally dirty with rubbish everywhere when it's busy and nowhere near enough seating for everyone waiting... so a lot of people are sitting all over the floor.

Come on Bristol, pull yourselves together, there's no excuse for pants service in a regional!!...

PS.. congratulations on getting planning for the airport expansion.. but you can't cope with the number of passengers you've got.... so how are you going to cope with another 2 million passengers when there's insufficient infrastructure (A38 constant traffic jam as it is....when busy its easily 30 mins just to drive the half mile up the hill to get in and reach the pickup point... why not just open the rear access of the airport rather than causing horrendous congestion and air pollution!!!!!! ; useless bus service and non existent rail link); insufficient parking and the terminal is not big enough🤦‍♂️.. good luck with that !

Never thought I would say this, but having used both BHX and Gatwick instead recently, it was an absolute joy! Gatwick was especially good. Staff there are polite, security rapid & the whole experience was a breath of fresh air by comparison.

Bristol ..you are useless.. why are you expanding when the place doesn't even function properly as it is, at the...

If Dante had written a tenth circle of hell, it would be Bristol Airport.

My descent into madness began before I’d even stepped foot inside. £7 for the privilege of being dropped off. Seven. British. Pounds. To leave a car temporarily on what is essentially tarmac with some lines painted on it. I wasn’t parking… I was being ejected like a bad date.

Already £7 down, I approached the terminal to find public transport options thoughtfully whittled down to a single, extortionate £15 bus that operates to its own mysterious timetable, possibly influenced by lunar cycles or the vibes of the driver.

Check-in was a spiritual test. Imagine herding blindfolded cats through a meat raffle; now add screaming toddlers, two working self-service kiosks for about 200 people, and one apologetic staff member with the dead eyes of someone who’s seen too much. I queued for so long I made friends, enemies, and enemies who became friends again through shared trauma.

Once airside, I was herded into what Bristol Airport optimistically calls a departure lounge. It is neither. It is a greenhouse full of humans and £9 paninis, where oxygen is traded like currency and if you sit down, you’re actually just squatting on someone else’s suitcase. The temperature hovers somewhere between Turkish sauna and toaster oven. No air conditioning, no peace, just the faint smell of regret and Boots meal deals.

Boarding? Oh, sweet summer child. You thought you’d walk down a nice airbridge to your plane like a functioning society would provide? Not here. Here, we do buses. Dirty, sweaty, diesel-chugging buses. The kind that make you question whether you’re at an airport or in an episode of World’s Most Inconvenient Transport Systems. And God help you if you’re the third plane in line. You’ll sit on the tarmac watching the previous bus loads get escorted off while your own pilot runs out of witty things to say over the intercom.

You might think your ordeal is over once you land. Wrong. You’ve now entered the final level: Baggage Roulette. Bristol’s carousels are roughly the size of a children’s roundabout and apparently serve four flights at once. They are where suitcases go to die, or at least stall mid-belt while alarms blare and no one turns up to sort it. I saw a man age a decade waiting for his Ryanair hold bag. He was clean shaven when he entered, but looked like Gandalf by the time he finally left, wheelie bag in tandem.

All in all, Bristol Airport is the physical embodiment of a shrug. A place where hope, efficiency, and dignity go to get rained on and a place where you will be charged £3.90 for a bottle of lukewarm water.

Would I return? Only...