'We were dreading Birmingham Airport for weeks - but what happened when we arrived surprised us'

And this week, embarking on my own much-anticipated family holiday, it was time to face the crowds and see for myself the new security protocols we've heard so much about.

I last travelled out of the airport in August last year and haven’t encountered problems queuing before. We live about half an hour away from the airport.

We got to the airport at about 5.10am but didn't join the queue for security until 20 past. My flight to Crete was at 7.55am. My family and I were told by TUI to arrive three hours before our flight, and chose not to arrive any earlier, to avoid adding to the queuing chaos. We had initially booked our taxi from home to arrive at the airport two and a half hours before, but changed it to follow the airline's advice.

My family and I were dreading the queues after weeks of seeing pictures online and hearing horror stories of people waiting in line for three hours plus.

When our taxi first pulled up at Arrivals, we all commented that the queues weren’t as bad as we thought, as they only stretched back as far as one marquee, with two set up at Arrivals.