East Midlands Airport (EMA) in North West Leicestershire

Do not buy the tickets online. The website deliberately leads you to higher priced stays. Turn up on the day and park in the short stay car park and pay 50% less. I honestly think this is an abuse to obtain unnecessary additional money from the public. East Midlands Airport should be ashamed. However, after reading some reviews on here, it seems I got off lightly. EMA are really unethical.

Absolutely disgraceful experience. This airport car park recently scrapped its barrier system and replaced it with a new "pay by phone or internet" setup—without proper signage, notification, or grace period for the change. My mother, who picked me up on 21 May, was unaware of the change. She’s used to the barrier system and had far more pressing concerns: she was days away from undergoing double bilateral breast cancer surgery. To make matters worse, their website is broken—stuck in a constant cookie popup loop—and the phone payment line doesn’t work on bank holidays. Despite all this, they issued a £60 fine to my sick mother, essentially for being unaware of a poorly communicated and malfunctioning system. This feels like a calculated money-grab from people who are just trying to go about their lives. Unfair, unclear, and utterly lacking in compassion. Avoid this car park if you can—and I hope the operators seriously reconsider how they’re treating customers.

Awesome viewing area, not too bad oark

We landed at around 2.15am, the airport was really quiet. No other passenger flights. We waited quite a while for the steps to arrive. It almost felt like they were surprised we were there. Baggage was a joke, im sure there was only 1 person loading the conveyor belt. I nipped to the lady's whilst waiting, they were in a right mess, tissue everywhere, overflowing bins. I know it was the middle of the night, but come on.

At 17:30 in the afternoon, all the food and drink places were shut except the big pub upstairs. Whole bottom floor also stank of rotten eggs for some reason. Very quick to get through security, and it was easy to get to on the bus from Derby. Have flown from here a few times before when I was a lot younger but remember it being better.

Good parking for airport travel. Food very expensive

I've used this airport few times, mainly because of Ryanair. It's quite compact and easy to navigate. There are a selection of shops and restaurants and security is generally efficient, though during busy periods it could be a bit slow. In terms of parking I use mainly 2. One is the Rapid Drop off, located right by departures, and costs £5 for 15 minutes, ideal for quick drop offs. The other one is Long Stay 2 car park, which provides 60 minutes of Free parking and is also served by a shuttle service running every 20 minutes. If you choose to walk, it takes about 15 minutes to reach the terminal. Overall it's a decent airport and ideal for avoiding the hustle of larger airports.

Security is fine, but everything else about this airport is miserable. The choice of places to eat and drink is awful (Alembic looked like the best option but it was still dreadful), everything is wildly overpriced even by airport standards and the cost of car parking borders on the criminal. The only real thing this airport has in its favour is the location, and that’s only because it’s the closest one to my house. The range of destinations is also pretty dire. There is, at least, a decent and relatively quick bus connection to Nottingham which runs every half hour.

RAPID DROP OFF BEWARE!! We arrived at the airport on the 2 may 2025 thinking we would pay at the barriers when leaving as last year NOT ANYMORE, NO CLEAR BOLD SIGNAGE WHEN ENTERING RAPID ZONE THAT RULES HAD CHANGED (could be a very small sign somewhere to cover them legally but not easily visible from car moving when you’re looking for a space and to get out quick to not inconvenience other travellers) I went on EMA Website loads before our flight to check arrival flight times etc and NO CLEAR WARNING rapid drop off payment method had changed thanks EMA!! YOU HAVE TO BOOK A SLOT ON LINE NOW ( 01/05/2025) OR YOU WILL BE FINED £100 ( you only have 24hrs to pay retrospectively, well we went away for a week so too late)THANKS EMA FELT SCAMMED!! They will be raking it in for the first few weeks as this will catch a lot of holiday makers out. New rules started 01/05/2025 Cheers EMA DIGITAL HIGHWAY ROBBERY IN MY OPINION as we would’ve paid at the barriers as last year x

This airport is absolutly scandal !

Never again im flying from this airport just a lot problem they got problem about passport where passport been little bit dirty and they said ryianair said we can’t fly both company if im can give nothing im will

Hi me and my partner came on the 24th of April excellent food and lovely wine and persecco 😂 staff very helpful and friendly well worth the money 😊

Extortionate and greedy fines. 15£ for a pickup, 100£ fee if you stop to turn around to avoid the pickup toll. Senseless behaviour from a rural airport.

Went to antalya Turkey from Midlands airport ,enjoyed the experience it's a big airport had no problems the way they treated you , security were great stopped me as my flight baggage had deodorant spray in and took this from me , my son got searched from security too from head to toe, got told to take my hat of in the airport to buy security too that was in Turkey airport which they were fantastic to with signing in .airport had far to much duty free I thought and was expensive too at midland airport good choice for eating before are flight we had burger king meals . The flight back to the midland airport they were selling duty free on the plane which I thought was unnecessarily on spirits and bottles of perfumes and sun creams . Toilets at both airport were very clean and tidy great fertility s quit modern , plenty airport staff to guide you , staff on planes were brilliant. Both airports were very clean and tidy great staff too very helpful

Having just returned from a wonderful holiday we were all standing in the queue for passport control , unfortunately with the daft government rules of the family queue which is always far longer than the adult only queue, a rather rude woman decided to push infront of mine and several other families. I called her out and she became rather abusive. Tony defused the situation by sending her back behind us much to the satisfaction of everyone in the huge queue, he then ensured or safety by accompanying my family to collect our luggage. Well done East Midlands for training you staff so well and for looking after us! We always fly from East Mids and will continue to do so xxx

£5 charge to drop off pick up is daylight robbery. Taxis have to go through the same paywall and when it’s busy all vehicles can backed up trying to get through the payment barriers. Also be aware Uber drivers may try to charge the £5 on top separately even though it is included in the overall charge. Could be a genuine lack of knowledge but just putting it out there. Update: my latest Ubers taken at EM now wait until another driver is going through the payment barrier before tail-gating them under without paying !

Absolute chaos at security last night going through baggage scanning,in the peak season it will be a nightmare if improvements aren't made.!!

Very easy to navigate and access from Nottingham

My only criticism of this airport from my experience recently is that everyone is in the same queue for gates 1to 5, which makes it a very long queue and you are worried that you aren't going to make it to the gate in time for your flight. Please address this problem.

If there's an airport which is best for making your travel experience miserable, this would be it. Captive capitalism at its worst. Never beats my expectations for having a bad experience.

It appears you have replaced proof 65 with something well with a very limited market !!! Think you will regret this decision as proof 65 was the best venue by far in the whole airport. Two very disappointed regular travelers.

BEGAN OPERATING 2/4/1965 OFFICIALY OPEND 3 MONTHS AFTER LATER BY DUKE OF EDINBOROUGH .

Happy birthday today to you at east midlands airport.Thank you to so many staff who looked after me so well travelling with you. Lynne Heal in Leicester.

You cannot stay for free in the parking lot ,to pick up your friends or family.

Small airport, very quick through security, not busy. Easy access from M1 J24. Car park is cheap.

Written from the perspective of assisted travel. I travelled out of EMA in Feb '25 to go to Malaga airport with my dad who can walk, but is sometimes unsteady. He cannot use stairs or walk long distances. I have hidden disabilities and wear a lanyard. The airport and travel providers knew of our needs in advance. Departures: Fabulous! We were treated as individuals and we felt acknowledged. We even got our own helper all the way to the departure gate. The helper grabbed an airport wheelchair for my dad and did all the pushing while chatting and asking if we wanted to stop or go anywhere on the way to the gate. The gate staff we also brilliant - double checking on our individual needs for boarding the aircraft. Arrivals: See above - we simply could not have asked for a better experience and will endeavor to fly from EMA more.

Airport management ought to be ashamed and disgusted with themselves over this absolute abomination of an airport. Disgusting toilets. Dirty floors. Take any airport from the 3rd world and it's miles ahead of this depressing dump.

They are charging £6 for Fast Track security when there is no Fast Track.

Will be nice when they've finished the improvements. Arrivals are still a depressing area though

Spoke to Rinda today on the car parking bookings team, was super helpful and answered all questions, however small.

It is located in Midland of England 🇬🇧, close to Leicester,Nottingham and Derby City, This airport mainly known for Cargo flights and few European 🇪🇺 destinations, ✈️

Airport is handy for us as it's local but at the moment while work is in progress in the security area the fast track lane is a waste of money you miss some of the queue but then join the rest so not so fast.

Water fountain now by the loos at gate 14. No signage though.

✈️🛬🛫Great place for viewing👀✈️ aircraft,,,✈️🛬🛫,, includes, freight aircraft , Passenger, light aviation, and a couple of beautifully restored flying warbirds,,ie mustang and spitfire etc....✈️.🛬🛬

It wasn’t that busy so straight through the new scanners. One of my bags got pulled for additional checking along with pretty much everybody else. It then took over 35 minutes as one person (being supervised so actually 2) checked and swabbed every bag. Staff friendly and the place looks smart but this took far too long. At peak times this probably will be a nightmare and needs improving.

BE AWARE. FINE TICKETS FOR 10 SECONDS STOP!! I stopped at the petrol station to set up my sat nav for nearest petrol station due to the one at the airport being closed. Despite I paid for the parking at the airport when I picked up my mum. Despite all the appeals and evidence, someone already won a court case over the same situation, MONEY GRABBERS. DISCUSSED !!!!

Not a bad airport. But I got fined twice for one occasion. It was 11pm, narry a car on the road. I stopped once to use my phone, stopped again to pick someone up. £120.

Today I was driving to pick up a friend from the airport, I had set a short parking on the navigator. Upon arrival, I followed all the signs and drove to the entrance to the parking lot non of enterece machines worked ended up driving around looking for place i can park car spend 25 minutes crossing around hope until come a cross another short stay parking. This sistem is really confusing I hope i have get tiket for driving an reversing non stop looking for parking because it's like a trap for drivers that drive to East midlands airport rarely.

Bloody brilliant, car park to departure lounge in less than 30 minutes! No plastic bags for liquids, shoes stayed on, roll on all 🇬🇧 airports catching up!

Always a nice airport to fly from, easy to navigate and close to Nottingham!

Held up on motorway - late arriving. Only one person in front if us at security and could leave liquids and laptops in bags:-) Unfortunately, nearly every bag was taken off to be checked and swabbed. Never show frustration! Asif seemed to take twice as long to check my rucksack and bum bag as the other checker. He seemed to find this amusing, smiling to himself as he completely emptied my rucksack of its book sandwich box and snacks. Good job no knickers in there!! I was relied when another member of staff came up - I thought things might speed up!. No :-( She started looking at the contents of my rucksack - now all over the side and suggested he swap my lunch box. An extremely time consuming and unpleasant experience - Manchester next time!!

Active airport during summer less active in winter. easily accessible with reasonable transport links by bus but no trains

Worse website ever, you cannot find out who flies for the airport or where to. Went to leave feedback, but they just want all your personal data to sell

I fly frequently from East Midlands and has always been a great experience. Recently I left my car parked in the airport and lost the car keys , just realised that when I was already in my holiday destination, I’ve called East Midlands and asked about the keys, it had been found and when i landed back in the UK there was a lady in the passport queue waiting for me with my car keys , cannot recommend this airport enough , the staff is amazing and so helpful.

Travel from East Midlands often as we prefer it. The last time we was there was October last year so you can imagine the surprise we had last week middle Jan 2025 when we got to security! Wow it’s finally happened, New Scanners, we travel with carry ons so it was so exciting to see that we didn’t have to take liquids & electrical’s out ! The new area is so modern and looks like something out of men in black - staff were friendly and the whole process was fast & much more easier. Making us love this airport even more. ✈️

Can't fault staff very nice friendly

I will share with you my experience of the airport environment and the airport itself is very clear, small, cozy and the staff is very helpful..regarding arrival..the airport from one side is an absolute disaster, it is not easy to get there. Therefore, I recommend navigation and not following the signs, otherwise everything is OK. Summed up underlined... ...lil and cozy little Airport Shack ♡ :) ♡

Very easy to get about and clean and lots of food options in the airport

Obviously not got the right staff on tonight. Trying to help a vulnerable adult through the passport scanners for the first time and all I get is shouted at by two very miserable jobsworths!!! Remind me why I hate coming home from abroad!!!

Arrived late at night from Alicante on 11/1/25. We used Special Assistance as usual and they were all great, also as usual, particularly Joanna. She went over and above and was so friendly and helpful. Thank you Joanna

Love flying from this airport. It might be small, but that means it's easy to get through security. Parking is literally across the road.

Airport services could be definitely better

Still as dated as ever. Needs a complete overhaul and refurb. Ok for the 80’s but not now. Expensive too was terrible snacks and coffee. Poor.

Awful place, toilets well I've been in better at a rock festival. Electronic gates are hilarious, big guess will it work? won't it work? usually the latter, oh and the chap that looked important in his high vis just stood looking at them as if they were the gateway to another world. Then you walk outside into a building site where chaos reigns almighty. What an absolute dump

Drop off and parking charges are ridiculous but airport is nice. Lorraine in duty free is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise soulless experience.

A bit small but not a long queue

I bought extra luggage for Ryan air, and my luggage fits well in the frame. But I was still charged 70 gbp. Why as airport staff you do such indecent work for the worst airline in the world? Never ever fly Ryan air, no way!

Disguising service as usual. 2 and a half hours late landing and the baggage didn't turn up for an hour just stud around with kids kicking off.

Shocking ! What a rip off to pick up and drop off

It was one of the quickest airport experiences I've ever had. Both ways. Early December

Good ambiance and great service from the staff

We flew out of east midlands last Friday 27th December and they had the new scanners. Didn't have to take anything out of bags.

EXPENSIVE!!! And slow services. 5£ Entry drop off. My experience is very bad. When I fly again avoid East Midlands

OK, here's my process. When I fly from EMA I tend to go to meet and greet, which is clearly marked on the road in and is an easy drop-off at the office. Then I grab a trolley (albeit a returnable quid, which is free across Europe but we tend to suck as a country compared to Europe). I then go to fast track, which gets me through pretty damn quick. Then we head to a clearly signposted gate for our flight. The whole process is fine...staff tend to be pretty damned efficient and I have no issues. I'm deducting one star because there's not enough seats whilst waiting for the flights to open, but that's my only grief. I'm alright with EMA.

What the hell is going off with this poor excuse of a airport the security section is a joke tired dated airport come on move with the times spend some monet on the place ffs

Edit* autumn 2024. Nowhere near as bad as it was (see below my prev reviews!) QR codes in the bar area so you can just order to your table. This was quick even when it was pretty busy. The whole upstairs has been redone and is a much better use of space. On the return there was no wait at all for the passport machines. I know that it's more luck as to if your plane is the only one arriving... But still... It was the first time in years that I've not been waiting for 45-60 min! Edit* 2023 ... Still the worst airport ever. Miscommunication from the staff and flight boards. Half the places are shut. Not enough seating. Boiling hot. Way too crowded. Everywhere is a pig stye. 19 deep queue at the bar. Delays (though I appreciate that is happening everywhere currently). Really poor overall. Have recently been from Birmingham and it was far superior. Oh and the men's loos at check in were closed... And from what my husband said I feel extremely sorry for any disabled persons wanting to use their loo as all the blokes had had to use it and made a huge mess. 2022 Passport control for arrivals has been awful for years now. Waiting an hour most times whilst they force everyone through the 2 or 3 working passport machines whilst the security sit twiddling their thumbs, only checking in families with young kids. Going from other local airports is definitely preferable. They have also switched from superdrug in departures back to boots... Which is much more expensive and less choice.

I fly frequently from East Midlands Airport, and while it’s generally fine, there are a few areas that could be improved. One of my main frustrations is with the security staff. It feels like the rules change depending on the mood of the person on duty. For instance, I use a liquids bag that is the correct size and approved for airport security. However, every other time I fly, the staff insists that I repack my items into one of their single-use plastic bags, despite my bag being the correct size. This not only creates unnecessary waste but also disrupts my packing process. The first time I flew with it, I was allowed to repack my toiletries into the bag, but more recently, a staff member in a particularly bad mood flat-out refused to let me do so and just tossed everything into their bag without any organisation. It’s like trying to pack clothes into a suitcase without folding them—nothing fits. Things got even worse when the same staff member decided to classify my solid deodorant stick as a liquid. A solid deodorant is obviously not a liquid, and this is consistent with the guidelines at most other airports, where solid deodorants are never questioned. My partner, for example, passed through security with his deodorant stick in his backpack without issue. The inconsistency in how the rules are enforced, especially when it leads to waste and frustration, makes it impossible to guess what the requirements are. If they depend on the staff member's mood rather than the actual rules, it’s impossible to know what to expect. It would be great if staff could apply the rules more consistently and handle passengers' belongings with more care. Another odd thing is the parking situation. You can park at East Midlands for a week for a somewhat acceptable fee, but to park overnight, it’s nearly £50. At one point, the cost of overnight parking was more than my outbound and return flights combined, which feels completely unreasonable.

Airport Wi-Fi is still not working unfortunately.

Was quick easy and very friendly staff who was very helpful

Great place. Arrived 4am for an early flight, everywhere clean and open, good space and well maintained. 5 mins through security 👍🏻

If arriving at midnight and thinking about spending the night here, I am doing that right now and it's quite terrible but doable. It's like most regional UK airports, but somehow even smaller. At the arrivals area, there are benches near the bus stands but they're occupied by a couple homeless people. At departures, the best area to sleep is across the Ryanair check in desks, at the left end of the entrance, or the very quiet and dim prayer rooms. Wifi doesn't work at departures and apparently hasn't for years.

So easy to park staff outstanding bus to airport every 15 minutes

Easy to book on line and the shuttle bus is great when you have parked on Jetparks 1 and 2.

Great place to start flying to some where else. 😊👍

This must be the worse airport in Britain. Drop off experience is awful, long delays trying to pay to exit - only two exit lanes that keep breaking down. Toilets appalling, not maintained properly, and a 40 minute queue to use the five e-passport gates. The best advice - Fly from somewhere else.

Staff at passport control very helpful!

Great stress free airport no problem with security etc plus staff are friendly which makes a change 🙂

Today I had a shocking experience at East Midlands Airport. I was appalled to be charged £5 for a drop-off that lasted less than 30 seconds. It's absolutely ridiculous to charge such an exorbitant fee just for dropping someone off at the airport. This kind of pricing is nothing short of a cash grab and leaves a sour taste. It's disappointing to see the airport taking advantage of travelers in this way.

The place is filthy bar tables have not been cleared in four hours

For just being at the gas station near East Midlands Airport, I got a £100 fine for no reason as I needed to pump my tyres at the car up. Not recommended.

Arrived at 3am, bags weren’t out til 4am so not a great start!! Then we’ve been charged an extra £20 for parking for absolutely no reason other than pure and blatant money making… we’ve come from hurghada, and my god that airport shows you up entirely!!

Rapid drop off fee of £5 is not just exorbitant it’s ridiculous thievery. I’ve travelled through scores of airports around the world and can’t remember anyone of them charging a fee for a simple kerbside drop off. Added to that is the way you’re trapped into the whole exercise by the road signage (which makes no mention of any fee) and the £1 per minute excess charge hanging over your head if you felt like protesting or questioning someone in management. This insult to customer services will cost them patronage in the long run. Update: a couple of years later and I’m still avoiding EMA like the plague. Same with colleagues and friends- happy to travel further for better customer service.

No wi-fi, restaurants closed at 5pm, no public water, Toilets are broken ...

Toilets smelt like not been cleaned in a long time

They destroy your luggage. They do not care they will send you to the farthest gate running as they give a gate info 5 minutes before closing the gate. Absolute shambles.

I do find security can be officious and bossy, but we're not all silly and stupid, we know what's expected. My problem is the grubby toilets other countries have far cleaner toilets it's embarrassing.... Bleach would help!

Horrible , cold., dirty , no coffe shop on departures only on arrivals Chaotic ,staff horrible , Awfull experience

I have travelled through the airport many times over the years. Very good service during covid restrictions. But since then I have noticed a change in tone and friendliness. Starting in the passport checking. The unwelcoming tone of the signage. The absence of a smile from the staff who herd and coral the passengers with a sense of officialdom. When it comes to departure the tone of the staff is the same. In between, those dispensing hospitality are very good. My conclusion is that half of your staff have what it takes and the other half from Security check to passport control and to the Departure gate, need a shake up.

Small but decent airport, have always got through security and gates with very little waiting or fuss. Plenty of toilets and places to get drinks etc.

I don't know what airport the other reviewers went to, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with EMA. 2 reasons: it pretty poor in appearance, inside and outside, it was better 50 years ago, also the airport layout favours the commercial users who don't need to be near the terminal, whereas the passenger facilities, e.g. car hire and hotels are not close. I can see how this has happened, but is mega inconvenient. Perhaps the owners of the airport should take themselves off to Alicante (much bigger, parking and car hire adjacent, and infinitely more attractive.

Rubbish. No buses on landing as usual. On plane for 30mins waiting then slow passport control. Final insult, £6 for 2 mins for friends to pick us up.

Not a bad airport staff are lovely and friendly but unfortunately the state of the toilets were disgusting the whole area too and from departure to arrivals looked like it could do with a good clean up

I like this airport because it’s small and quick to navigate. You don’t need to be here hours beforehand and still worry that you won’t make it, as gates a quick to get to. Parking it’s a bit of a mess but a lot of people express their feelings about it already so no need for more. Duty free has all the usuals, not huge but big enough. I way prefer to fly from here than hectic unorganised Birmingham AirPort.

Shocking airport , landed at 1am - no staff to take us off the plane resulting in various delays down the chain. Same as any other UK airport really.

Have been flying from this airport ever since Doncaster Sheffield Airport closed, and I can't wait for it to reopen because this airport is shocking, it can't handle the amount of traffic that travels through it, if you choose to fly tui (totally useless incompetence) then your experience is even worse, every time we have flown which is 7 in the last two years we have never had a smooth time here and on the last visit we arrived to find that the luggage belts had both gone down and had to travel with no luggage because between the airport staff and tui staff they couldn't organise anything they walked round like headless chickens no one looked in charge and no one was even trying to do the basics right like putting the luggage in flight order it was absolutely embarrassing watching them, jet2 and Ryanair both had the same issue to deal with but delt with it so much better, everyone was asking why haven't jet2 got huge cues, and then when we arrived on the return flight it was hammering it down with rain but they still made us walk all the way to the passport control area, there was two flights in so why no buses, seriously get the basics right cattle get treated better.

Got diverted here from Birmingham with TUI. Awful airport, extremely slow to sort bags and border control. Been 70 mins since plane landed and still sat here waiting for our luggage.

Finding it hard to believe someone at East Midlands Airport Allow 17 flights to leave without any suitcase on board 3rd day now and still waiting for suitcase. Along with tui who claim to offer a perfect holiday experience totally ruined this holiday

Please, please, please sort out the wifi! Shocking that in 2024 this doesn't work (and has never worked!!!)

There was a breakdown at the Ryanair check-in desk and the luggage was accumulated at the side, and we were in a hurry to depart. It turned out that only 4 suitcases were packed on the plane and the plane was full of people. We landed in Krakow and our luggage (3 suitcases) was left at East Midlands Airport. Luckily for us, we had just finished a short stay and were heading home. But what were people who flew to Poland on holiday or had medicines in their luggage supposed to say? We will see how quickly (if at all) our luggage will be returned to us.

1 only because 0 isn't an option. Here we sit in Benalmadena, 12 hours after our flight landed, with absolutely no luggage due to the baggage handling system at EMA not working. What sort of a tinpot outfit has no back up system to deal with a major failure like this. NEVER EVER AGAIN EMA!!