Belfast International Airport Reviews 250

My husband and I travelled from Belfast International yesterday. We had hand luggage only. At security both our bag were moved to the search queue. As we were aware we could now take liquids through in our hand luggage, I had two bottles of suncream in my bag as had my husband in his. After removing everything from my bag my suncream was taken for testing. After testing I was told the suncream had failed the liquids test and would be confiscated. They could not explain why or for what reason it had failed. My husbands bag was searched and the exact same brand suncream tested and his passed the liquids test and were returned to him. We asked that mine be retested and were told they were not permitted to test twice. We asked for a supervisor who said that some of the machines were too sensitive. So folks it’s down to which machine tests your liquid, a bit of a lottery. Told they could keep our suncreams until our return at a cost of £5 per item to collect. Is this a money making exercise??? Not a happy costumer!!

The airport is looking good with the new improvements and security was no problem. Everything went well and on my return from holiday on 7th May I proceeded to carpark and attempted to leave through exit point. I had 2 more hours to be clear of the carpark. I was prepaid and should have exited easily. The barrier remained down so I reversed and tried the econd exit directly beside rhe one i was at. The barrier again remained down. I went into the office to ask if someone could allow me to exit. A young man on a mobile ignored me and I tapped on the window, although he was aware I was there but ignored me. He was indifferent to my problem and said I must have approached the barrier too fast or the camera didn't recognise my registration. I said I would appreciate being let out and he then asked questions about my booking. I was amazed he had screens in front of him and was oblivious to my predicament. He finally raised the barrier, saying "I'm on my mobile I didn't see you." I was not impressed and less so having sent an email of complaint which to date (1week later) hasn't been acknowledged.

Baggage claim is a joke.
Waited 40 minutes after going through passport controle.
Area was packed and unhygienic,very unhealthy.

Same every time we use Belfast International.
They never improve even after numerous complaints.

The recent easing of liquid allowance I thought was a very very positive move. Meaning the old 100ml had been abolished along with the clear bags.
But be prepared for multiple bags being refused at security and therefore requiring to be searched. So much so the objective of speeding up security has now slowed things up even more than before.
My wife and I both had bags rejected and requested to open both. Two items were removed from both. My wife's Piz Buin sun cream and a jungle mosquito spray. I too had the identical products removed for testing.
My wife was handed both her product's back while mine was not returned. And then I was told I could get them when I return for 5 pounds per item.
The question is why??? Why can this piece of so called modern technology not come up the the same result.
The security at the time had no answer and surely if it was for traces of drugs or explosives, why be offered them back on your return.
Get your act together.

I visited the Causeway Lounge at Belfast International Airport yesterday, and it was an incredibly disappointing experience. This was my second time using the lounge, and unfortunately, it will be my last.

Our group had really been looking forward to relaxing in the lounge before our flight, especially as we were heading off somewhere sunny. It should have been the perfect start to the trip, but instead, it fell completely flat and set the wrong tone from the outset.

The food selection was extremely limited. There were only two hot options:stew and soup - with no sandwiches or lighter alternatives. Aside from the stew, there was no other meat option. Even the basics were underwhelming. The bread offered with the soup was wheaten bread or plain sliced brown bread. No crusty rolls, no fresh options, just very standard, basic bread. It really made me wonder how something as simple as a small crusty roll isn’t considered the minimum standard accompaniment for soup these days.

The snack offering was just as poor: no chocolate at all, and crisps had to be requested at the bar. For those of us not drinking alcohol, this meant standing in a queue behind bar customers just to get something as basic as crisps, which felt unnecessary and frustrating.

The service was equally disappointing. Our table was left uncleared for such a long time that I eventually cleared it myself and brought the dirty dishes to the trolley - while a staff member stood and watched! That moment summed up the experience: a complete lack of attentiveness and hospitality.

I was travelling with a group of eight, five of whom were not drinking alcohol. While the range of soft and hot drinks was good, the overall offering did not cater well to non-drinkers or anyone looking for a decent bite to eat.

The only sweet options were a cheap carrot cake and a small chocolate mini-muffin. Fruit was available, but the selection still felt very underwhelming. In fact, I ended up going to an airport shop to buy a Mars bar to have with my tea - something you simply shouldn’t have to do when you’ve paid for lounge access.

Even the biscuit selection was disappointing, limited to small pre-packaged options like bourbons or custard creams, which felt more like a budget offering than a premium lounge experience.

Overall, the experience was very poor and a huge letdown, especially given how much we had been looking forward to it. Thankfully, we were heading somewhere sunny, which helped lift the mood, but the lounge itself certainly didn’t.

I would not recommend it - poor choice, poor quality, and poor service.

Terrible absolutely terrible

Even the worst Witherspoons has better service than here

As a regular flyer I have, without exception, never, come across nicer more helpful welcoming Passport Control officers at belfast international airport, a total contrast to many other countries. Congratulations

Undergoing renovations - not the issue.

WHERE HAVE THE ROBOTS GONE?!?!
I SAT AND WATCHED MY FOOD SIT ON THE SIDE UNDER A HEAT LAMP FOR 18 MINUTES at the main food court (the waitress walked over to the food place 3 times during that time and then faffed around doing nothing)... wouldnt have had to wait that long for my food to be going cold with the robot!
Sad!

Would be 2 star but I enjoyed the pre flight starbucks staff they were lovely

Still do not have drinking water stations widely available. Trekked to gate 14 and there is a station dispensing luke warm water. Website states that food retailers will fill bottles but when i asked at grow and grain I was told he only had hot water as did all the other restaurants so none would be able to fill. With the amount of work going on you'd think they could provide basics

Was stuck here during a storm in October 2025. There were no announcements. No help from easyjet staff other than to show us a QR code and tell us to book a new flight. It was freezing cold. The staff seemed to have mostly left for the night. No taxis. Hotels fully booked. We huddled together on chairs towards the exit while we rebooked flights for the next morning ourselves. Not a tea or anything for anyone stranded in the building. Was grim.

The Northern Quarter Bar.
Only plastic glasses to drink from..disgraceful
It's a temp bar but that's no excuse for treating customers like this..
Full price and plastic beakers..
Hard to believe they couldn't be bothered to facilitate customers with proper glasses.

No magazines on sale of any kind. Long wet walk from official car park with poor surface to wheel bags over. Long wait for bags to come off plane and when they did they were soaked through. While standing in the long slow passport check queue I and others watched bags tumbling off a badly loaded trailer and lie in the rain for 5 minutes before they were retreved by the truck driver. Why do we put up with this dump.

Please watch when you go through the duty-free I bought Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat Illuminating Pen - 1 Luminous Radiance £29.90 on the easyJet plane it was only £22 please watch and save your money on the plane instead of the duty-free shops rip off..

Security took 5 minutes which is very good great staff very helpful and just very good in total

BFI has the latest scanners for luggage but there are still problems. The 2L fluid rule seems great on the surface but I had my bottle of cocoa butter taken off me because the machine could not dertermine what it was. Also because my water bottle is double insulated, the machine could not determine what was in the bottle and my water was emptied out.
BFI does not have easily accessible water filling stations. I was told there are two, both at gates but nothing where the restaurants and cafes are.
I also found this new airport very difficult to negotiate with steep ramps to walk up. I observed people pushing wheel chairs needing extra help to get the wheel chairs up the steep ramps.
Not a lot of thought was put into such things by the designers. There is a gradient for wheel chair access and I think these ramps are much steeper.
But more than anything, install more water filling stations so that people don't have to fill water bottles in toilets.
Also at gate 17 where I had to go, there was very little seating once through the check in counter and you have to stand till boarding. For me at 73 with bad knees, this was very difficult.

my review is regarding EasyJet flight 3053 Belfast to Krakow on the 28/12/2025. There were 5 adults in our group, and we arrived together at the airport at 3.20am and on arrival checked our bags on for our flight. We checked the board, and it indicated that our flight as delayed until 6.45 am. We went through security and went to soul and grain for tea and coffee . We checked the board again at 3.45 and it indicated that the gate would be shown at 6.05am. We remained in the cafe waiting for the gate to be displayed. We checked the board a number of times the latest being at 5.45 am and the gate was not on the board. One of our party then checked the board at 5.55am and rushed to the cafe to tell us it was final call for our flight.
We went immediately to the gate and on arrival the lady at the desk told us that our bags had been removed from the plane and we had missed the flight. She also said the door of the plane is closed and the steps have been removed, which was not correct as we could see clearly that the door was open and a person was standing on the steps. She then proceeded to tell us that we should have checked the board and that she had called us by name over the PA system. The PA system was clearly not working in the area we were seated as we heard no calls at all in our time waiting .
We were not the only passengers who didn't get the flight there was a man travelling with his wife and their daughter who also had been in the airport for 3 hours waiting and were not able to board. An airport employee also told us that passengers who did get on the flight were running to the gate.the employee at the gate was less than helpful when we requested that she contact the plane to see if we could get on and in fact argued with us for over 5 minutes before contacting the plane and then telling us the passenger list had been completed,
We were taken by an east jet employee to collect our luggage. The luggage was waiting for us at the other end of the airport and the plane had not yet departed. This was concerning, as to how swiftly was the decision was made to remove our luggage ?
We had to get buses to Belfast city centre and to Dublin airport to get a flight from Dublin to Krakow.

Landed 45 minutes ago and still no baggage on carousel… the investment in this airport is all superficial and not geared to improving traveller experience… pathetic advert for Belfast to incoming Tourists

Travelling with special assistance and very pleased with smooth transition between areas. However, one person in the group smokes and there is no smoking area anywhere in the airport. We were not aware of this. For passengers who are addicted to nicotine it's pretty poor. There's no harm in having one room with ventilation available.

Went to the Aspire lounge to be told we could only have 2 drinks and not unrestricted as previously. Food selection was very limited as usual and the host had little or no personality as we have come to expect.
By comparison we went to a lounge in Gatwick, the host was very pleasant, food selection excellent and no drink restrictions.
I understand people should not over indulge in alcohol when flying but 2 drinks is a joke. Thank goodness we have Priority passes as £37 each is a rip off like everything else in Belfast International airport. Must be fantastic to be able to charge outrageous prices when you have a captive audience. Not to mention that drop off is now £3 compared to £1 previously and I believe going up to £4.