Bristol airport

[Give it to Ron]

Has anyone flown from Bristol?

We have choice of Gatwick or Bristol both have issues like A34 or M25 but we have never flown from Bristol any help appreciated .

 Best place to park?

Edited Monday at 09:06 by Give it to Ron

[whelk]

I have flown a couple of times. Far longer drive than you think (from Southampton) and loads of back arse roads slow you down. But fine as an airport and long-stay was straightforward with a shuttle bus

Edited Monday at 09:16 by whelk

[benjii]

Best airport in Bristol.

[The Kraken]

Yeah done it a couple of times.  As whelk says its further than you think.  It's also well outside of Bristol and trying to do it by public transport isn't great.  Plenty of parking on site though.  In terms of the airport itself it's relatively decent, size-wise a bit bigger than our local airports but still not huge. 

I used to have a massive aversion to Gatwick as it's so massive and you could usually be guaranteed of a big queue somewhere (plus baggage reclaim used to take forever and a day).  But having flown out of Gatwick a number of times in the past few years its actually become very slick, the whole check in and security areas are impressive and IME everything kept moving very well, I flew domestic just before Xmas and bags were extremely rapid.  So I'm less inclined to give it a swerve these days (although for the bulk of leisure travel I always try to fly from Southampton or Bournemouth).

[Turkish]

Lighthouse flew me to Marrakesh from there once.

sorry I don’t remember what the airport was like 

[whelk]

43 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Lighthouse flew me to Marrakesh from there once.

sorry I don’t remember what the airport was like 

Was that reward for having record emojis against one of your posts?

[rooney]

Extremely busy when I fly each year from there end of August. Needs another Passenger Terminal but the Nimbys will not allow it. Parking in the Silver Zone is good with plenty of shuttle buses and drop off and pick up is outside main entrance. Do not bother with the VIP Lounge as given over to perks with holiday companies. Just had permission to extend runway for transatlantic flights. 

[Weston Super Saint]

Bristol airport. Firstly isn't really in Bristol - about 8 miles outside.

Public transport is practically non existent (there's a bus from the city and another from Weston) but not a great service. Train, forget about it as you'd need a taxi from Temple Meads.

By road, avoid the back roads, go A34, M4, M32 (but you need to go through Bristol's CAZ), or M5 to Avonmouth and along A4 (but still go through CAZ!). There's another route from Clevedon or Weston but they are yocal back roads.

If going by car, which is the only real option, book parking in advance. It's expensive though, maybe cheaper at Gatwick for park and ride?

[Winnersaint]

Only been there once to pick daughter up. Got off at Jct 18, what a f****** ball ache it was from there. Came back via centre of Bristol and M32 so much quicker. Take the local advice from WSS.

[Weston Super Saint]

33 minutes ago, Winnersaint said:

Only been there once to pick daughter up. Got off at Jct 18, what a f****** ball ache it was from there. Came back via centre of Bristol and M32 so much quicker. Take the local advice from WSS.

J18 would be a nightmare - along the Portway and through the CAZ.

Best advice would be to ignore satnav shouting at you until you get to J19 - then go past Pill and satnav should then take you the correct way on A369 to A370 which would avoid the CAZ, then it's left at Long Ashton and right onto the A38 which will take you to the airport.

Just googled the route which says to use M32 through the middle of Bristol to end up on the A370 - ignoring that and going to M5 Jct 19 would probably save 30 minutes most days!

 

[Winnersaint]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

J18 would be a nightmare - along the Portway and through the CAZ.

Best advice would be to ignore satnav shouting at you until you get to J19 - then go past Pill and satnav should then take you the correct way on A369 to A370 which would avoid the CAZ, then it's left at Long Ashton and right onto the A38 which will take you to the airport.

Just googled the route which says to use M32 through the middle of Bristol to end up on the A370 - ignoring that and going to M5 Jct 19 would probably save 30 minutes most days!

 

It was a while back, possibly 8 years ago. Don't have any intention of going from there as I can do Gatwick legally in 50 mins. Next door neighbours use it a lot but they've family close to J18. 

[Give it to Ron]

Thanks all especially Weston

[Mustang Saint]

Fly from there quite a bit, massive expansion going on currently, parking very expensive, more expensive than Heathrow.

Silver car park I believe is the long stay, I usually park in one of the surrounding car parks as much cheaper, I'd also agree with WSS definitely come off at J19.

[LGTL]

I’ve booked short haul a few times from there thinking it’s close by when it really bloody isn’t. Pain in the arse to get to and I wouldn’t fly from there again. Saying that, I try to avoid small airports and would choose Heathrow every time. 

[The Kraken]

53 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I’ve booked short haul a few times from there thinking it’s close by when it really bloody isn’t. Pain in the arse to get to and I wouldn’t fly from there again. Saying that, I try to avoid small airports and would choose Heathrow every time. 

Really?

Apart from living close by, I find the whole experience of Southampton especially and Bournemouth to be so much more preferable than a larger airport like Heathrow or Gatwick.  As soon as I land at Southampton I know I’ll have my bags pronto and be home within minutes. Bournemouth is a bit of a pain to get to in that you can only really drive there (and their parking prices have gone up a lot in recent years, it used to be really cheap). Southampton just ticks every box for me, and with easyJet now opening up new routes with the longer runway there will hopefully be much more options.

 

Edited Wednesday at 20:49 by The Kraken

[whelk]

1 hour ago, LGTL said:

thinking it’s close by when it really bloody isn’t

That should be the airport’s marketing line

[Turkish]

On 06/01/2025 at 13:29, whelk said:

Was that reward for having record emojis against one of your posts?

im not one to boast but across 4 posts yesterday i got over 50 likes. I might start an threads story page with tips on how to increase your reaction rates on internet forums. @turkishtips

Edited yesterday at 10:08 by Turkish