BHX isn’t a bad airport at all, a bit ‘tired’ in terms of infrastructure as such yet very functional in my opinion. Security and passports could get significantly busy during summer/holiday periods (and as you’d expect) but okay generally speaking. I used the airport on a weekly basis for just over 2 years during my commuting days and never had a bad experience, staff is also extremely friendly. With regards to the lounge: the Aspire has somewhat improved in terms of food (only a few months ago the whole offer consisted in soup, scones and bacon butties if you were lucky enough first in the morning), yet it does get incredibly busy at certain times (I used to pop-in just after 5PM on a Thursday and it was nearly always packed to the brim, to the point that they often re-directed people to the other lounge); the No1 has a manned bar and a few decent(ish) choices from the food menu, otherwise just soup, cakes & nuts — and in my experience it was always less busy than the other lounge (I used it when flying SN so I appreciate my experience is somewhat limited).

G