Using Leeds Bradford Airport Questions & Reviews

[leedslad]

Not a great experience today.

As you might expect only one security gate open but despite few passengers it moved painfully slowly. In fairness they did open a second one but it didn't help me and probably took twenty minutes + at what should be a very quiet time.

Then floor and chairs opposite Smiths filthy.

 

[countdacash]

Flew out LS185 on 9/3 returned LS186 on 16/3.

Security queue out to WH Smiths with 45 minute wait was not a great start. Seemed that half the machines were not staffed or inoperative. Not acceptable in my opinion. Some of delay being caused, as per usual, by the usual muppets not understanding rules re. liquids etc.

Jet2 great service both ways despite gusty conditions on both flights at LBA

On return, got through passport control quickly so no issues there. Only delays encountered due to use of buses which I am not a fan of particularly when they seem to wait for both buses to be full and all passengers off before either of the buses will set off - just adding to delay and increasing risk of congestion at border control.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Arrived back last week and experienced the usual problems leaving the aircraft.
Arrived at gate 7, airbridge attached without issue.
Captain then advised that he could see that loading taking place from a adjoining gate and by the look of the queue it would be at least 15 minutes before we could disembark.
Looking out the window I could see our ambulift arriving and wondered how we would get off.
After 15 minutes our ambulift gave up waiting and left and around 10 minutes later passengers started to leave.
Were now 45 minutes since airbridge attached, asked the captain, when we were told the ambulift could not return, why he had not requested passengers to sit down so we could get off, surely for once we could be first.
He advised the passengers would just refuse to comply and even try to exit via the ambulift, he was very sorry, we had lost our exit route and now no plan B, even though his arrival time was too the minute as planned from leaving AGP.
In the end special assistance managed to get sufficient wheel chairs to the gate so we could leave the plane, unfortunately only one lady to push all of us to the baggage hall, so we had to wait another 15 minutes whilst more staff found.
90 minutes from landing to getting to the baggage hall, slightly better then AGP were we arrived at the airport at 11.30am and made the gate by 14.10, slow even by AGP standards.
Hopefully the new terminal design will eleminate some of this time issue. Not sure why as many stands empty we had to use number 7, thought it was to use the airbridge, but the sight of the ambulift waiting, showed we could have used any stand.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

My wife and 2 daughters and 25 very giddy hen party girls, women etc went out on the Ryanair flight to Palma this morning.....I was amazed how big, wide and heavy their ‘hand luggage’ was in fact I said they had no chance......and guess what.....nothing was said. One of my daughters who’s hen do it was had such a large ‘carry on’ it was so wide and heavy they couldn’t get it in the overhead bin. No problem but then another flew from Bristol and had to go through all the shove it in the frame rubbish.
Moral I suppose is LBA have decent staff....they could have been a pain or is it because they were young women and not rowdy men?

Always a tricky conundrum. Those people who always stick to the rules and don't go overweight or oversize with their carry-on bags are sometimes indignant when they see others with clearly oversized bags 'getting away with it'.

 

[Finger66]

I have recently used Ryanair from Manchester. It's very clear that reducing their cabin bag size has freed up space in the cabin overall but equally clear, as has been posted above by Offint that many don't stick to the rules which was the case on our flight, if you excuse the pun. And guess what, nothing was said by staff. But the flight was virtually full and no overall bag space issues. We shall see what the return flight brings tomorrow! I certainly can't fault anything with T3 at MAN and nothing with FR either. The only shambles was car hire pick up at Ciampino. Didn't really want to have used MAN over LBA but not the right flights on a Saturday from this side of the Pennines. The M62 was a breeze at 3am last Saturday. Different story to come one would suggest early tomorrow afternoon.

 

[paully]

Anybody know what happened to the TV series they filmed at LBA, ages ago??.. haven't heard of it being shown

 

[Bob101]

Some info here https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week29/yorkshire-airport

 

[White Heather]

Anybody know what happened to the TV series they filmed at LBA, ages ago??.. haven't heard of it being shown

As I posted recently, it is scheduled to commence on TV over 6 programmes, from 16th July.

 

[louis_walton]

I arrived at LBA on Sunday for the 17:30 flight with Jet2 to Palma. I was being dropped of by a family member so we chose to use the free drop of area. It's great that the option is there for free drop off however the new arrivals hall construction makes the path to the check in halls very zig zaggy however that will soon be rectified once the extension has been complete. The Jet2 check in was an organised chaos as normal we had to join the back of the queue and I noticed the new bag drop area and as we had checked in online we could use the new facility. However it was very frustrating that we had to queue for 20 mins looking at the empty bag drop to reach the front of the queue and being told to use the facility. Maybe it would be better to have separate queue's however the service is new and will probably soon be adapted. However all the Jet2 staff at check in where very very friendly and helpful, we then moved on to security.

Security was much better than expected however due to the hot day it was incredibly hot and stuffy and the area had not fans or air con so many were very warm and unhappy which you could hear from their complaints out loud. We were in security for 25 mins which isn't horrendous nor great (as at Palma security was less than 5 mins) but I noticed small changes to the security queue system to make sure it does not extend across from security to check in halls a and b. However the queue was constantly moving and I have had much worse experiences with LBA security.

Once through to departures we had the time to explore the terminal we chose to eat in the Saltair Bar before looking at the new Cabin Bar. We were told by Cabin Bar staff that they both share a menu and kitchen however Saltairs menu was very different and much more extensive the food was good of course expensive but it would be at any airport. I asked them if they would fill my reusable bottle and they happily did and added ice which shows that they are encouraging the Refill scheme! I feel that the new management have really improved the departures side of the airport as traffic flows much better and there are so many more options (however it is obvious the airport is in desperate need of expansion). Jet2 boarded us much later than expected however it was very very organised as they used groups we were group C (the final group) and didn't have to queue for long at all. We soon boarded the flight and we were on our way to Palma!

When arriving back into LBA I was very excited to hear the news that Jet2 have started handling their own baggage (not sure if this is new news but it is to me) therefore I had the expectation that the bags may come of quicker than usual. I know many arguments have been made about LBA's runway but I have never had a smooth landing and it must be to do with the length. Jet2 ground staff were waiting for us at the gate and we were of the plane in minutes. We had a short walk towards the terminal and I was very happy to see a functioning escalator (shock horror) which I used with joy! Border control was a breeze all desks were being used we were through in minutes but we were only the second flight of the Jet2 flight wave and all the passengers had left from the previous flight. As we entered the dungeon also known as baggage reclaim it wasn't as dirty as usual but it is so clear that it is not longer fit for purpose. However the bags were out within 10 minutes of us waiting which from past experience is great and we left the airport with ease as our Uber was already waiting outside!

I use the airport multiple times each year and this was my best experience! Clear improvements are being made and I'm excited for the future of LBA which is looking very bright in my opinion.

(Has anyone else who has recently travelled through the airport looked at the old Ryanair advert by security? It was very interesting as it was clearly very old but showed how many routes they have added but also removed at the same time from LBA.)

 

[Scottie Dog]

An excellent review. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Finger66]

I have recently used Ryanair from Manchester. It's very clear that reducing their cabin bag size has freed up space in the cabin overall but equally clear, as has been posted above by Offint that many don't stick to the rules which was the case on our flight, if you excuse the pun. And guess what, nothing was said by staff. But the flight was virtually full and no overall bag space issues. We shall see what the return flight brings tomorrow! I certainly can't fault anything with T3 at MAN and nothing with FR either. The only shambles was car hire pick up at Ciampino. Didn't really want to have used MAN over LBA but not the right flights on a Saturday from this side of the Pennines. The M62 was a breeze at 3am last Saturday. Different story to come one would suggest early tomorrow afternoon.

Whilst again this is not LBA related here is the promised feedback on the return journey to above. Once again the only shambles was Ciampino. Overcrowded and a 40 minute delayed departure due to slow loading of bags. Only 25 mins late back into MAN with a 1235 arrival into T3. Through passport control in about 10 minutes and bags collected and on the road from T3 Meet and Greet at 1310. So how was the M62 - not bad at all as back to Bingley for 1430 and that was using the old way passing the Trafford Centre and Barton Bridge rather than staying South and East via Stockport. Disappointingly this is my 2nd non LBA round trip use this year. But difficult to feel any bad decisions were made in using LPL in March and MAN just recently when they had the flights operating at fares, days and times required, coupled with minimal travel hassle.

 

[kevinbev]

Arrived back from Ibiza yesterday (14/7) on LS 198 (G-LSAA). Flight was full. Aircraft was about half hour late arriving at LBA on stand 11 (1443). Took a few minutes for steps to arrive then 2 buses turned up. Both buses were loaded at the same time, one on the front door and the other on the back door of the aircraft. We seemed to wait for an age before setting off to the arrivals area, both buses leaving the aircraft at the same time. Then everyone gets off and end up queuing down the steps and outside. Just glad it wasn't raining. It took about an hour from the aircraft arrival to get landside. I thought it was very poor service on the fact that the passengers had to use buses from stand 11 to the terminal rather than use the walkway and why were the buses loaded together rather than one at a time. This meant that around 220 people were dropped at the arrival area at the same time whereas if the buses were loaded in turn then the first buses passengers would already be in the queue to clear immigration. Overall not very happy on this occasion as I have another 1hr 45 mins car ride back to East Yorks. Also saw a BA airbus either A319 or 320 on a remote stand, does anyone know why it was parked there.

 

[oldendays]

The BA Airbus was taken ill on Friday with a poorly nosewheel.

 

[White Heather]

,

Arrived back from Ibiza yesterday (14/7) on LS 198 (G-LSAA). Flight was full. Aircraft was about half hour late arriving at LBA on stand 11 (1443). Took a few minutes for steps to arrive then 2 buses turned up. Both buses were loaded at the same time, one on the front door and the other on the back door of the aircraft. We seemed to wait for an age before setting off to the arrivals area, both buses leaving the aircraft at the same time. Then everyone gets off and end up queuing down the steps and outside. Just glad it wasn't raining. It took about an hour from the aircraft arrival to get landside. I thought it was very poor service on the fact that the passengers had to use buses from stand 11 to the terminal rather than use the walkway and why were the buses loaded together rather than one at a time. This meant that around 220 people were dropped at the arrival area at the same time whereas if the buses were loaded in turn then the first buses passengers would already be in the queue to clear immigration. Overall not very happy on this occasion as I have another 1hr 45 mins car ride back to East Yorks. Also saw a BA airbus either A319 or 320 on a remote stand, does anyone know why it was parked there.

Thanks for your thoughts. It seems that LBA cannot win on this one, as there have been plenty of complaints in the past from those people who objected previously to having to walk any distance at all into the terminal, and demanding bus transport. And, had the two buses been loaded up one at a time, I strongly suspect that those left waiting on the aircraft for the 2nd bus would also have complaints. Ultimately, however you get off the aircraft and into the terminal, what matters really is how long it takes you from landing to getting out of the airport, and these days, 1 hour isn't unusual, especially at busy times. Of course, the new terminal building (when it eventually arrives) will make a huge difference and the fact it is closer to the main apron means that fewer passengers will need to use a bus and more will walk straight into the terminal - so your wish will be granted. All I can say is that had you flown from MAN (as an example) you would probably have taken just as long to clear the terminal, and had a considerably longer drive back to East Yorkshire.

 

[Aviador]

Personally I would say an hour from landing to clear arrivals does seem a little on the long side. I'd say 20 to 40 minutes would be the norm usually. It's no secret that the arrival facilities are a bottleneck though hence the plans to expand these facilities. Clearly when its busy it's going to take a little longer.

 

[White Heather]

Personally I would say an hour from landing to clear arrivals does seem a little on the long side. I'd say 20 to 40 minutes would be the norm usually. It's no secret that the arrival facilities are a bottleneck though hence the plans to expand these facilities. Clearly when its busy it's going to take a little longer.

At LBA I would agree Aviador - but as an average, including larger airports, an hour isn't unusual in this country from landing to being outside. Last time my sister landed at MAN on the A380 from Dubai, it was 2 hours 15 minutes from landing to appearing at the front door of the terminal. That might have been exceptional but at busy times, it happens.

 

[Aviador]

Which is a very valid point when people argue (in another thread and wrongly in my opinion) that Manchester is quicker to get to. Once you have added all the extra time clearing a larger airport, the time it takes is therefore significantly longer.

 

[Britannia94]

People complain about an hour. Took me 4 hours when I landed in New York, now that was painful even for a major airport!!

 

[Tarn Spotter]

I had to smile when reading the conditions involved in booking our car to collect us from Rome Fiumicino airport.
The company suggest you should book 2 hours after touch down with hold cases and 90 minutes, cabin luggage. Waiting time will be charged if you dont amend your pick up time, 30 minutes prior to your booked time.
As i turned my phone on a message from the car company that it was taking 2 hours for cases to appear and they had added 60 minutes to our booking, it took 2 hours for cases to appear, fortunately I know here the biometric passport desks are so we avoided the huge E.U. passport queues, they were a lot longer then the international queues.
We made our car a few minutes short of 3 hours.

 

[Hendi]

Having never flown from lba or jet 2 for that matter, has anybody had any experience of using the jet2 twilight service is it any good/easy to use? Wheres the best place to park while dropping the bags in? Any help hints or tips greatly appreciated.