I have used BHX a few times over the last 7 times. What a difference between my last visit and what happened last month. The whole departure experience was painful to see infront of my eyes. Ques for every shop going and not a seat in sight. Security wasn't nothing like reported and was through within 5-10 minutes which is good for the morning rush. Boarding down by gate 60 I believe was tragic. It was so outdated down there and the toilets were something I expect to see in WW2. Get the bus over to the plane and slight delay of putting bags on the plane and then departed 30 minutes later than scheduled.
As many will know who fly regularly from this airport that the amount of morning flights compared to about 2/3 years ago must have added another 2000 people to each hour from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock. The airport might start sliding down the rankings and could be down there with LTN and STN. One thing that does need addressing is seating and putting the correct amount of staff in shops. WHSmith which is always busy has 1 member of staff which i bet you all could imagine how long the que was. Arrivals was quick and straight through to the baggage. Not many arriving flights but bags took still 35 minutes.