So my trip to Edinburgh wasn’t quite as painful as I had expected. Moments before we went airside, Birmingham Airport relaxed the rules on electronic devices, which meant that I could take my phone and avoid getting withdrawal symptoms spending a day out of the office incommunicado.
Security was still tight - every car entering Birmingham Airport was being questioned as to the passenger’s intentions on the airport. At the security check we had to remove belts, shoes and jackets, but to be honest the queue wasn’t that much longer than the week before. What was good to see was that the security staff were being very open and polite to passengers, who, in return, were compliant and helpful (aah Cialdini’s first principle of influence in full effect).
The returning trip back through Edinburgh was a little more intense - the queue for security was quite long, mainly due to the fact that the airport is smaller than Birmingham and only has one set of checkpoints (and four screening lines). The airport was busy (the Edinburgh Festival is on at the moment), but again the staff were friendly and helpful. At they were also carrying out some pre-screening: staff were quizzing and instructing passengers at the escalator from check-in to departures, so that pretty much everyone queuing in the screening line already had sorted out their hand luggage.
All in all, the additional security measures added only half an hour to my day. However I am glad that I’m not holidaying - a lot of low cost flights were cancelled, even from Edinburgh, and I wonder how long their business model can support this - after they make money from last minute bookings, and there can’t be many of those at the moment. Added to the problem of cancelled flights and I can understand Ryanair’s very public frustration.
Still, better to suffer these delays and not be blown out of the sky…
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