Review of easyJet flight Birmingham → Glasgow in Economy

Experiencing Birmingham Airport!

Birmingham International Airport is the 7th busiest in the UK, the busiest airport serving the English Midlands, as well as being the third busiest UK Airport outside of the London Area. During 2022 alone 9,597,500 passengers passed through BHX Airport.

Until February 2024 it was also the busiest UK Airport I hadn't flown from. Hailing from the South of the England, you can't get direct flights to the Midlands in the 21st Century (unlike say Manchester or Newcastle) and the hassle of getting to Birmingham when most of the offered flights can be easily served from the London Airports, it is no surprise it has taken me this long to fly from BHX.. But I opted that its kind of a now or never situation.

Getting to BHX Airport on the day of my flight, I opted to grab a one way trip from Birmingham New Station in the city to Birmingham International/N.E.C. The one-way ticket cost just under £4 off-peak and also included access to the free monorail to the Airport.

The biggest attraction to Birmingham New Street is seeing "Ozzy" the Commonwealth Games Bull. As a Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne fan I did enjoy looking around some of the Black Sabbath related spots of Birmingham. I then went to get my train to the Airport. I'll fill in a bit more on my 24-Hours in Birmingham before my flight in the "Tourism Bonus" below.

I grabbed a Cross Country train service to Bournemouth (the irony as I live there) which stopped off at Birmingham Airport's train station before continuing south bound for Bournemouth via Oxford, London and other stops. This particular train was absolutely jam packed!

Getting to the station, I followed the signage over to the location of the Airport Monorail, known as Air-Rail, which runs frequently from 03:30am to 00:30am daily, taking a three hour gap during the early hours of the morning. Alternatively you can also walk over to the Terminal which takes about 8 minutes.

Couldn't get any photos inside the Air-Rail as again, I ended up on a jam packed service, and I didn't want to be late for my flight, or lose out on too much spotting time at BHX.

Despite how busy it was, I got through security in about 5 minutes once I found my way to the check point, there was quite a bit of work going on at BHX, but a walk way with some signage allowed for easy access and directions. Once cleared, I did the mandatory treck through Duty Free before coming out in a central area full of more shops and eateries. I opted to head in the direction of the Gate my flight was showing as on the information screen.

I headed to Gates 1-20, on the way I looked over at one of the many piers at BHX Airport and noticed a decent mix of aircraft from TUI Airways, Jet2, KLM Cityhopper and Qatar Airways all getting ready to head out on their next flights, I also observed a small number of Ryanair, easyJet and Vueling aircraft arriving as well plus the largest aircraft of the day- an Emirates Airbus A380!

Having grabbed a hot drink and toastie from Costa to pass the time in between aircraft, it was nice to stand by the window and observe the afternoon delights, however it wasn't long before the easyJet arrival from Glasgow arrived, which would become my flight to Glasgow within the hour!

easyJet EZ436 (BHX-GLA)

This afternoon flight from Birmingham to Glasgow was to be operated by an Airbus A320neo, registered as G-UZLK. Delivered right in the middle of the pandemic's first lockdown- this aircraft was delivered brand new to easyJet in July 2020, entering service on July 26th. The nearly four year old plane has spent its entire life to date flying with the UK branch of easyJet.

After a nearly twenty minute session of "boarding but not boarding" as the staff began boarding as the plane taxied in, we finally got released down to the tarmac for an open board onto our Airbus A320neo for the short sub 1hr flight up to Scotland.

I had assumed the flight to be nearly full, but once everyone had boarded, I noticed we were likely 60-65% capacity, in fact my original seat for this was paid for so I could get Seat 11A, right by the engine (regardless of what aircraft we got), but that wouldn't last.

Just as the doors were closed, a flight attendant approached me and asked if I wanted to move back a row to the exit seat as the exit rows were all empty at first, I took her up on her offer and enjoyed an "upgrade" to easyJet "first class seating", I also had the whole of Row 12 Seats A-C to myself, which was a huge bonus!

Having everyone promptly boarded, we pushed back and made a quick taxi for an on time departure out of Runway 33.

After waiting for a Ryanair Boeing 737 to land on the runway, it was our turn to take off. Being a sub 1hr flight with a load factor of under 70%, it goes without saying that is Airbus A320neo rocketed up into the skies over Birmingham and Wolverhampton as we made our way North-West for the Scottish boarder!

The cabin crew started off the in-flight service offering the easyJet bistro to the passengers onboard, I opted to kick them a few £££ and ordered a white coffee with a chocolate croissant to keep me occupied.

I paid a "flying visit" to the toilet on this A320neo, it goes without saying that its a pretty standard expectation for an easyJet A320neo. It was clean enough despite a few passengers being ahead of me.

I also took the time to grab a quick photo out of the small window in the rear door at the galley afterwards, getting a good shot of the wing and the bright orange-clad sharklet.

Overall it was a pretty smooth flight, flying above the clouds during the late afternoon in the winter meant there was a good sun out as we darted up North for Scotland, but before we knew it, the pilots came on the PA system to announce our imminent arrival into Glasgow.

We dived through the thick clouds over Southern Scotland, we passed Glasgow city centre and made a turn toward Glasgow International Airport passing around the North of the city over a small town called Lennoxtown, we then arrived into Glasgow Airport passing the Clydebank area of Glasgow on our final decent before touching down on Runway 23.

We arrived at the Gates for Glasgow International Airport that are somewhat clearly designed for budget airlines like Ryanair, easyJet & Wizzair. This also was a sign for an open disembarkation off the aircraft once the stands were in place.

As it was a quiet flight, I opted to wait for everyone at the front to get going, before heading down to the back of the plane and exiting from the rear of the aircraft so I could get some decent pics of G-UZLK as I made my way towards the Terminal where I would be connecting onto my first ever international flight out of Scotland, but I'll cover that very soon!

Overall the flight itself was a standard easyJet experience that I've had some 20+ times before since 2015. 

As for Birmingham Airport, it was nice to tick off another airport that I'd yet to fly from and I hope that there will be a next time and a chance to explore a little more of the Airport airside at some of the other gates. I was quite happy based on first impressions.

Bonus : Click here display hide

Misadventures in Birmingham!

So what did I get up to in Birmingham during the 24-hours leading up to my flight out of BHX Airport?

After an early start in Bournemouth with National Express (stopping in London Victoria), I arrived into the Coach Station for Birmingham around midday. I'd never been to Birmingham City properly before, only spotting at the Airport twice and when I was even younger making a single visit to Cadbury World.

My first item on the agenda was to see some Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne related sites in Birmingham city centre. Birmingham is home to British Classic Hard Rock with Black Sabbath, The Move/E.L.O, Judas Priest, half of Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant & John Bonham) and Slade all hailing from Birmingham and the surrounding area. 

I saw "Ozzy" the Commonwealth Games Bull at New Street as well as taking time to find "The Crown" Pub which is where Black Sabbath played their first gigs in Birmingham before going onto become Metal Legends. I also grabbed a quick Coffee with some macaroons before heading out on a Midlands Tram to Black Sabbath Bridge. Usually there are four statues of the original Black Sabbath members on a bench at the bridge, but a few days before I got to Birmingham they took the statues away for restoration work- they will be back soon.

Following the canal around and going under a very low bridge, I came across a pub called "The Canal House" where I stopped for dinner. It was a nice atmosphere, I got a table with a nice view out of the window as well as a decent bit of slightly fancy "pub grub" with a pint.

As I left the Canal House I passed the BBC's Midland's office and studios, which was pretty cool.

I spent the night in the Penta Hotel, which I really enjoyed for my one night stay. It wasn't a far treck from Birmingham New Station which was one of the biggest selling points for me. I was so impressed by the establishment that I am heading back there in October 2024 when I go up for a Rock concert!

The following morning I had a quick stroll across Birmingham from my hotel towards the city centre as I found a museum that looked like a nice place to spend a few hours of the morning before going to Birmingham Airport. I even grabbed a picture of the Birmingham City Hall!

I paid a visit to the Coffin Works Museum, formerly Newman Brothers Coffin Works, an old time business that ran until the late 1990's showcasing the company's history in the funeral business in different areas over some 100+ Years of trading and operating in Birmingham.

It showcased everything they company provided from the metal works to the textiles side of the business as well as the company management side and the history of the company over the 100 Years they operated. Its a fascinating place to visit, but the place can only be done as a guided tour, you can't just wonder about yourself.