Chris O.
Yelp
So although my previous review still stands, there have been changes (again) so an update then......
I've reviewed my home airport a few times before. The main reason to keep coming back every few trips is that Belfast Intl evolves like no other airport I know, or pretty much any other commercial business I can't think of. Each visit, there seems to be more changes to the infrastructure and layout. This time the most significant change comes to the airside and not of the food areas that has had an extension added on to the terminal to facilitate the addition of some new eateries.
Perhaps most significantly is what has been going on in security, with the recent addition of 2 extra lanes. Anyone familiar with the airport may well be only too familiar with the recents stories (which made the news) of people queuing right out the front door and standing in line for 2 hours before even getting into the security hall!
Well in order of going through the airport then... while the check in hall is largely unchanged over the last few years, there is now a larger cafe in the hall, which is good for those being dropped off as your lift can now at least sit and have a coffee with you, of course this is all pre the dreaded security so I'd recommend being early if you're going to do that. Check in was uneventful and fairly quick, but then we flew out later in the evening so the airport wasn't busy.
Then security....... It was 'OK'. The staff although still far from friendly didn't quite show the surly/flat out rude demeanour I've come to expect here, but they did still manage to get in my bad books. My 6yr old daughter set off the metal detector, which is OK, but this meant she had to go into the full body scanner, again this would have bee OK if it was not for the way the security staff went about it, she was basically thrown in and barked at about which way to stand etc and she was very clearly to all, left scared and upset. It took a fair amount of cuddles and reassurance afterwards to assure her she had done nothing wrong, so security still needs that customer care training that they've been crying out for for years. The security company famed for years to be poor here has been replaced by another (about 6+ months ago now), and yet there is still no real improvement in professionalism. As for times, it was quick enough, but as I mentioned we were going through at a quiet time, so that is just as it should be.
Airside has seen a fair amount of development activity, especially for the Fed & Watered, Coco Diablo and Chopped food outlets, which are the ones that had the extension built to accommodate them. Having been burned too many times with poor quality high cost food in the airport we choose to eat en-route. The new eateries 'looked' good, though with the usual inflated airport prices but we did get a coffee in Fed & Watered so we could use some of the more comfy seats, the coffee was OK, not great, and the staff seemed a little distant or distracted, something I've some to expect here.
And that finally brings me to the over arching feeling about Belfast Intl. As others have mentioned it's a money making enterprise first and foremost. Most are, but Belfast somehow manages to do it less subtly. Every change and development is always something that the traveller has to pay for at each step. With all the developments there is ever less seating, what there is, is of the hard bare metal variety and located in less than optimal positions either in the corridor going out to the international pier (higher gate numbers) or just in the middle of foot traffic between shops so travellers just feel like they are getting in everyone else's way. So from the 'drop-off' charge for people arriving by car where you have to pay £1 just to drive on site and drop the passenger off at the terminal, to need to avail of an eatery just to have a decent place to wait for your flight, airport management has a hand in your pocket from the moment you are on site to the moment you board your flight.
Belfast Intl isn't really going to improve in terms of its user experience until they start to make changes with a mind to genuine improvement for its customers as opposed trying to squeeze in more and more money makers. This is further reinforced by the fact that on return (where there is less money to be made as people pick up bags and go) it was noticeable that despite year on year changes to departures, arrivals looked just the same as it has for many years and the core decor remains unchanged from the early 90's/80's.