'Mad scenes' at Birmingham Airport as nurse queues for hours and almost misses flight home

A nurse has recalled facing 'mad' scenes at Birmingham Airport's security checkpoint as she almost missed her flight back home. Lucy Kenneally, 23, said she waited more than four hours to get through security at the West Midlands airport with her boyfriend Matthew, 24.

Ahead of their arrival on Monday, April 29, Lucy claims the airport's app said it would '0-15 minutes' to get through security. But once they get there, the couple were met by "hundreds if not thousands of people" queuing, she said.

Lucy recalled children being in tears and passengers feeling claustrophobic. But Birmingham Airport said this was the "new normal" while work takes place to construct a new security area.

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The pair had spent the weekend at Silverstone and were flying back home to Newcastle, Northern Ireland. They arrived at Birmingham Airport at 6.10am - two hours ahead of their 8.40am flight to Belfast International.

Lucy and Matthew waited in line to get through security for more than four hours and were still in the queue when the plane was due to take off. They eventually managed to get through and say their flight was held for a few hours due to the chaos.

Once they got through security, the couple sprinted to the gate and luckily made it onboard before their flight took off at 10am. Lucy, a student nurse, from Newcastle, North Ireland, said: "I would say there was hundreds if not thousands of people - it was mad.

"Children were crying, a lot of people were feeling claustrophobic. There was a lot of elderly people there too - it was mental. The flight didn't end up setting off until around 10am."

A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said: “We saw a usual busy morning on Monday 29th of April at Birmingham Airport with customers queuing downstairs, which is the new normal, as the upstairs queuing area has been taken out of service as we construct our new security area. In addition, there was a technical issue with our security lanes, which compounded the peak departure schedule and hindered our operation.

"We sincerely apologise to our customers for the level of service that they received, this is not what we aim to deliver here at Birmingham Airport."