We made it to the front of the line at exactly 10:45 and checked our bags without issue.

Birmingham is now tied with Edinburgh as my least favorite airport in the U.K. I purchased fast track security, and it was worthless. Three gentlemen in kilts who entered the regular queue ten minutes after us were in the duty area free post-security at the same time.

The fast track line moved at a glacial pace. The problem as I saw it is that the scanner belt is located right to the left of a dividing wall in the temporary set-up that's in place, and one can't see the process until it's one's turn. That meant that most people were only using stations 1 and 2 to load containers, no one was using 3-5, and it wasn't possible to view others who could model a proper process. Of course, active instruction would have helped.

I have a feeling this hallway is permanently under construction.


I didn't observe issues with fluids. My wife's bag was stopped for secondary screening due to medicine, and the bag searched before hers had two cigarette lighters in it. I think those could be issues even without liquid rules.