Using Leeds Bradford Airport Questions & Reviews

[Aviador]

The easiest place to park will cost you. The FREE 1 hour parking area isn't far if you can manage with all your luggage and it should be enough time to drop your bags and go. Are you driving far?

 

[White Heather]

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.

My sister used it last month and thought it was great. She wanted to be outside the terminal as she has difficulty breathing, so it cost £3 to park in the drop off area outside, but we went up around 4pm and she was in, checked in and back out again within 10 minutes, and in the morning avoided the long, long, LONG, queues in the Jet2 check in hall.

 

[GDC1]

Used twilight check- in in May,paid the £3 to park only us checking in 10mins and we were out again.

 

[Hendi]

Cheers for the help will definitely use this as travelling with 2 children so should make the morning of the flight alot easier.

 

[Finger66]

If everyone actually did what they threatened to do then perhaps we should be worried but much of this will be a gut reaction and nothing more. And there will be pax that come LBA''s way that vow never to use say DSA again. It's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. However I totally agree that our terminal infrastructure needs sorting as we can't attract new airlines and services without it. I don't think any of us thought we would be running at absolute capacity during summer by 2019. Let's hope these revised plans are big ones and because there is something to be announced route wise

 

[dmrodgers]

Similar experience myself last weekend off the KL1549 from Schiphol, 4 Jet2 flight in just before us, queuing all the way down the corridor and down the steps towards the covered walkway just to get through Passport Control then mayhem in baggage reclaim as the airport staff struggled to get all the different flights onto the totally inadequate carousels. From landing to picking my my car at Sentinal took 10 minutes short of two hours. Yes it is the busy holiday period around Sunday afternoon with a number of flights arriving around the same time but just shows how inadequate the current terminal is. And now we have the delay on the new extension which like others have said in previous posts, if this was Manchester or Bristol it would have been up and finished. Why does it take Leeds so long to decide and implement anything. Yes there are planning applications to go through but we just seem to go on and on with lots of promises and nothing concrete happening. From listening to people around me there were a lot of unhappy passengers with the amount of time it was taking plus the chaos in baggage reclaim. Bad experiences and they will not return as Offint mentions above, plus they tell family and friends and the knock on effect is to drive more and more people over the hill. Things need moving ahead quickly with some co-ordinated plan to develop the airport to make it fit for purpose. Yes it is much better now than when owned by the Local Authorities, but the terminal at peak times can not cope with the volume of passengers. As my local airport I will still continue to use it over the one over the hill but unfortunately not everyone is as loyal to one airport and will go wherever they get the best deal and facilities.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

And now we have the delay on the new extension which like others have said in previous posts, if this was Manchester or Bristol it would have been up and finished.

Can't speak about MAN because I know little about it but there are frequent complaints from BRS users along the lines of the recent posts in this forum.

The snag with the smaller regional airports, especially the busier ones, is that most of the flights are operated by based aircraft and they tend to go out and return in waves causing busy peaks and quiet troughs throughout the operational day.

Our son and his partner returned to BRS a couple of weeks ago arriving around midnight in the midst of 8-9 other arrivals and passport control took an age despite the machines. They blamed the airport. I explained that airports have no control or say in the number of Border Agency staff that are on duty at any one time and that agency, like all government departments, has suffered staffing cuts in recent years because of government austerity measures.

They also had to wait for their bags which as I explained again is a matter for the airline through its contracted handling company.

 

[SNOWMAN]

high dmr
spot on there about people stopping using l.b.a this coming wed our son and family are flying to verona for lake-garda ex east mids still using jet2 holidays,he says lba is not fit for purpose,ie sitting on the floor,and the baggage re claim is a joke.one day things will get done at lba.

 

[airforced]

We can all tolerate a busy and sometimes overcrowded departures area but when it comes to disproportionate and lengthy lines for border control and the usual chaos in baggage reclaim that is another thing. The return experience at any airport is always more memorable than the outward journey.

It is very true that our airport is inadequate in this respect at peak times and if you consider that the people posting on Trustpilot will only be a small proportion of those who are brassed off by their experience means that I have to disagree with the thoughts of Finger66 because, whilst we will never know, I suspect that sufficient people will be put off from using LBA because of such waits. Management should take these sort of things seriously and get on with the new arrivals terminal pronto making sure it is fit for purpose from day one and beyond.

 

[jason1-11]

Rammed in Summer at 2 or 3 pinch points per day and then dead in Winter. Therein lies the problem that LBA Management are more than aware of.

Solution is to get a move on with the terminal extension that should have been built 10 years ago in my opinion and move to a more balanced leisure/ business offering.

I'm currently sat at Newcastle Airport if anyone wants a blueprint for a successful regional airport.

 

[Jerry]

True to a point finger66, those people who live in between (which is a big catchment area) and have a choice will travel to MAN...when they are sat looking at their Jet2 holiday brochure and are given the simple MAN or LBA choice they will simply choose MAN thinking of the dreadful experience they had at LBA and thats the last thing we want...price is another big factor for flight only prices but these days LBA are as cheap if not cheaper than MAN which is a massive bonus......my last 2 flights I have noticed a lot of scousers in the airport for some reason.

I think it depends on the individuals personal experience. I know my sister for instance won't fly from Manchester for her own leisure flights she sticks with Leeds. She hates MAN with a passion and doesn't like using it for work but has to because LBA doesn't have the flights she needs.

 

[Finger66]

It's the typical bad press sells scenario and many will choose to, or just will, forget about it. I do however completely agree the infrastructure needs changing quickly for a more pleasant experience. Actions will of course speak louder than words. If we handle say 3.5m in the next 12 months then maybe pax did vote with their feet. If we handle 4m or more then it was perhaps all talk or we picked up pax from elsewhere. Let's hope the end result is a better than expected outcome

 

[Finger66]

I have now finally watched this too and whilst wasn't as bad as I had expected based on other posts I think offint has summed it up beautifully. I am also now no longer a Hugh Dennis fan, even though nothing is directly his fault

 

[Finger66]

Going to watch plane spotters tonight. Part two will probably have to wait for catch up tomorrow. Maybe Steve Punt (for those of you old enough) should narrate part two. Then we could make up our own rhymes!

 

[Tarn Spotter]

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.

We used the service in March and found it wonderful.
We travelled over from halifax, parked in the short stay car park as my partner is disabled and we need to be as close as possible to the terminal.
Walked straight to the desk shortley after 3pm, staff member immediately stated cases would be x-rayed and we needed to keep close to the airport for one hour, at this point we realised we had not bought the keys for the case padlocks (please remember to bring with you), so could return to Halifax immediately.
Fortunately no phone call and so wonderful the next morning we were able to arrive with no hold cases and go straight to the special assistance desk saving at least 45 minutes, as usually a 30 minutes wait for SA staff to take you from the booking hall to their main desk, where you wait to be taken through security.
On our subsequent flights out of LBA have flown in the afternoon and just finding a trolley in the car park and a wheel chair are just the start of our problems, unfortunately have two more PM flights before we can use the twilight service in October.
My eldest son with 3 small children used this service, combined with a stay at the Travelodge hotel and found it made going away so much easier, booked another holiday for the end of August. Flew out at 7am returned at 2pm, second flight out of LBA after giving up on MAN, singing the praise of LBA after battling through security at MAN with young children and the wait for passport control and cases on the return. Took 30 minutes to get through security on the way out and 75 minutes touch down to leaving terminal on return, lightening fast compared to MAN averages for him.

 

[Hendi]

We used the service in March and found it wonderful.
We travelled over from halifax, parked in the short stay car park as my partner is disabled and we need to be as close as possible to the terminal.
Walked straight to the desk shortley after 3pm, staff member immediately stated cases would be x-rayed and we needed to keep close to the airport for one hour, at this point we realised we had not bought the keys for the case padlocks (please remember to bring with you), so could return to Halifax immediately.
Fortunately no phone call and so wonderful the next morning we were able to arrive with no hold cases and go straight to the special assistance desk saving at least 45 minutes, as usually a 30 minutes wait for SA staff to take you from the booking hall to their main desk, where you wait to be taken through security.
On our subsequent flights out of LBA have flown in the afternoon and just finding a trolley in the car park and a wheel chair are just the start of our problems, unfortunately have two more PM flights before we can use the twilight service in October.
My eldest son with 3 small children used this service, combined with a stay at the Travelodge hotel and found it made going away so much easier, booked another holiday for the end of August. Flew out at 7am returned at 2pm, second flight out of LBA after giving up on MAN, singing the praise of LBA after battling through security at MAN with young children and the wait for passport control and cases on the return. Took 30 minutes to get through security on the way out and 75 minutes touch down to leaving terminal on return, lightening fast compared to MAN averages for him.

Cheers for the in depth response tarn spotter I only live 15 mins or so drive from the airport but dropping the bags the day before will help the morning of the flight more so with the kids... never flown from leeds any idea how busy the terminal will be on a sunday morning 8am flight end of september? I read all the posts on here saying its crammed at peak periods during summer and sometimes not very pleasent, didn't look too bad on the tv show but not sure when that was filmed.

 

[dmrodgers]

Was on the Sunday 08.15 Jet2 flight to Faro three weeks ago, yes the terminal was busy but had no difficulty in getting seats and there were seats available all the time we were there. A large number of flights leave in the 6.00am to 8.30am slot so seats are becoming free all the time as passenger move to the boarding gates. Found Manchester at that time of day far more unpleasant than Leeds, especially getting through security where staff can be unhelpful and rude. My experiences in Leeds have been positive with security staff, helpful and pleasant every time I have passed through. September is a busy month with passenger taking advantage of the reduced fares outside of school holidays. Dropping bags off the night before will help as you can go straight to security, I assume you are flying Jet2 and have check in online and printed out the boarding passes. All in all you should not have many worries about flying out of Leeds.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Cheers for the in depth response tarn spotter I only live 15 mins or so drive from the airport but dropping the bags the day before will help the morning of the flight more so with the kids... never flown from leeds any idea how busy the terminal will be on a sunday morning 8am flight end of september? I read all the posts on here saying its crammed at peak periods during summer and sometimes not very pleasent, didn't look too bad on the tv show but not sure when that was filmed.

My sons flight was out of LBA at 7am on Sunday virtually 3 weeks ago. I imagine it will be the same situation, for your flight. As no breakfast at the hotel went at 4.30am to the airport, queued and through security in 30 minutes, called to the gate 75 minutes before take off time, so just time to get food drink, change the baby etc, before this time. With Jet2 so children loaded first and all sitting together, he printed boarding cards within 5 minutes of online checking opened as he had no book seat reservation, all 5 in the party sat across one row..
Same situation on the return and sat in the middle of the plane so just sat their to decide on front or rear door, last off the plane, I had watched the plane land and it was 75 minutes when he called to say leaving the terminal.
Short stay car park was very busy and one exit out of action, took a good 10 minutes after loading the cars to exit.

 

[Len Fish]

Perhaps because there’s relatively few flights after the Jet2 morning rush is over?

 

[paully]

Sat here in the White Rose suite, 1432 suite totally empty yet again.
Airport is dead, 4 people in security, Super Leeds shop empty yet again
Never passed through LBA when its been this quite.

Has the food improved though ??