Manchester Airport

Not Verified | Manchester airport gets worse every time we go. When we went to go through security two members of staff were talking to each other ignoring customers then told us to go to the far end as the main security was not working. That was a very long queue up and down stairs in and out of barriers, to get through security it took just under one hour. Its not a good start to your holiday. When you get though that there is not enough seating. Toilets are dirty and smelly. The service in the restaurants is very slow. All Manchester airport say we are improving the airport, they need to put more staff on security! We live about 5 miles from the airport but will be looking at Liverpool in future.

Not Verified | What a disgusting arrival now these new charges are in, dropping off no problem but trying to get a taxi to pick you up is like pulling teeth as we were told by the taxi driver eventually, the system is not working, we could see for ourselves arriving back at terminal 1 was complete chaos! The meet and greet was frantic and queues to get out long, who ever has come up with this plan mustn't of been anywhere where this system is working, drivers have to get tokens and pay first and that is if you can actually find one working. We actually thought our driver had run off because he was gone ages, I can understand sometimes things have to be changed but surely it must be changed for the good of smooth running at times when people are anxious, tense and just want to get home! Now found out you cannot pick up at the train station but can drop off, cannot see what difference it makes, dreading our next arrival back, puts a damper on your holiday. Hopefully some sense will be used as it is embarrassing to anyone arriving to this country for the first time, I know there is Arrow taxis but they have some connection to the airport but obviously not enough cabs as we went to them first and it was at least an hour before one was available. The black cabs are expensive and hate it when you are only going a short distance as we have been on the receiving end of that, so all in all its a nightmare and it needs sorting to accommodate passengers arriving.

✅ Trip Verified | Manchester Airport is one of those airports you know you may have a hard time. Even if it is great the train station is at the airport, the connection between the train station and the terminals is really annoying: you need to go up go down walk some distance etc. But as I know this, I always arrive early enough. It is however difficult to find trains when you need to go early at the aiport (so I took a night bus) or when you leave late from the airport. Most of times, I arrive at the waiting area when the gate is not yet displayed. The waiting area is just horrible: crowded in the middle of the terminal, not all seats have a decent view of the monitors. My plane got delayed, and information on the displays was not up to date. And lastly, I really do not understand how can the airport make people pay for a lugguage trolley? That is absolutely disgusting!

Not Verified | Completely over crowded every time I come to T3. Litter everywhere and very long queues in every single outlet. Nowhere near enough seating for the number of travellers. Terminal 3 really let's Manchester airport down. I've travelled to over 40 airports across the world and this is by far the worst Terminal I have ever been to. Need expanding, redesigning or simply a big increase in the number of staff. Staff are friendly and work hard. Just not enough of them.

Not Verified | As a frequent traveller across Europe and worldwide, this is by far one of the worst performing airports I have ever been to. I have been to T1 twice this year, and have had close family also in T2. Parking is limited and very expensive, transportation to the airport any other way is not clear and often cancelled from the centre. Security is an absolute mess. Staff are customer facing and yet are absolutely horrible to customers. I understand that people are constantly forgetting to take out liquids etc but if your job requires you to deal with people and you are being paid to do so, you cannot act horribly. More so, are they so inefficient that the whole process just falls apart. They make you put every item separately (instead of, for example, in every other airport I've been to, electronics in one box with liquids, accessories in another with smaller bags) so that you end up with 7 boxes going through the x-ray machine. This means that the back log is so rammed that you're waiting for a very long time. If your bag gets pulled up, they purposely make you wait 45 minutes to teach you a lesson (I'm serious!). Family had loose wires in a bag (headphone cable and iphone cable) they then screened and lectured them. There are no requirements on cables. Observed elderly couples who were confused by the whole process again be lectured and forced to wait 45 minutes through security even though there were no other bags to be screened. Terminal has some decent shops, however it is very small and you may struggle to find a seat at peak times. Restaurants are very poor performing (Giraffe - the slowest waiters, had to leave when they took 30 minutes to even ask me If i wanted to order) and also fast food is generally very slow. Bring your own if you can. Other than that, its alright, but give yourself ample time for security. There is a reason why they are voted one of the worst airports in the world, and it most definitely is caused by terrible staff.

Not Verified | Absolutely disgraceful airport, shame on you Manchester! Shame on you UK! After a long flight from Australia I was disgusted with the service. The incredibly long wait at customs was unnecessary, they definitely need more staff. Unpleasant staff, unclean facilities an all round disappointing experience. I plan never to enter this airport again!

Not Verified | This airport is probably the worst airport I have travelled through in Europe. Sorry this is my personal experience. Poor design, forever queuing at security, poorly lit, claustrophobic, toilets belong to the last century. And now they have added to the passenger frustration by rearranging the paradigm for the drop off/pick up experience for greed disguised as improving services. Its a shame. This is what happens when there is no competition and you have a captive passenger pool. But I would avoid this airport if Liverpool is a viable alternative.

Not Verified | Never experienced anything as bad as this place! Very unhelpful rude staff and terrible queues everywhere, plane had to sit on tarmac for 45 minutes as no where to disembark, then had to wait over 45 minutes for baggage. Then had to rush like hell to T3 to catch a connecting flight to Aberdeen, no helpful staff to point the way over 15 minutes walk from T2 then arrogant customs control who knew we were running late for our connecting flight yet made us wait and went slow! The most unhelpful arrogant people I have ever experienced!! Shocking airport that leaves no time to catch connecting flights.

Not Verified | Absolutely appalling visit to Manchester Airport this summer for our family holiday. Huge queues to drop off bags spanning the whole of the arrivals area on departure. Nowhere to sit at all in terminal 3 or anywhere other than WH Smiths to get something to eat. Security staff surly and unhelpful can quite easily see you are struggling with a toddler, buggy and two bags but just grunt "on bag per tray" at you. Why does that even matter? They both fit and there wasn't even room for another tray! Upon return we had a one hour wait before any luggage appeared due to a Swissport "lack of resources". This then left the luggage area with two full flights waiting for luggage plus more arriving and people standing/sitting everywhere.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport I have ever used. On departure, the whole procedure until you were in the departure lounge was a shambles with everthing "do it yourself" even weighing in your own luggage with no help from miserable staff. The VIP lounge we used was a bad experience too. Using the lift we arrived at the floor we required and the doors would not open, we decided to go back down and thankfully the doors opened, we then went up the stairs and were told that they had been reported 2 days ago but was the responsibility of the airport to put "an out of order" notice on it to no avail. On arrival back in the UK It was even worse. After leaving the plane we the had to walk for at least 20 minutes with the moving walkways not working. After queuing for another 1O minutes at Passport Control then down more stairs to baggage collection, another wait for an hour before cases came through. The toilets whilst waiting for cases had not been cleaned, absolutely disgusting filthy, very unhygienic, I had to go into 7 cubicles to find the least dirty to use, needed closing down. Our taxi driver could not collect us at the normal pick up point, we had to go up a floor and then the two lifts were not working so had to carry heavy suitcases up the stairs. As he had to wait for us he had to pay an absorbent amount of money for parking. Visitors must get a terrible impression of our country on arrival. I will never hopefully have to us this outdated, dirty airport with miserable, unhelpful staff again.