Manchester Airport

Not Verified | This airport is a complete disgrace. Poor signage for cars upon entering. Terrible parking which is unbelievably expensive. The security queues are atrocious with unhelpful staff. I vowed never to fly from this airport again and it won't improve until people start voting with their feet. Since my last flight I've flown from Edinburgh, Barcelona, Porto and Lisbon and at each airport it took less than ten minutes to move through security. How can Manchester get it so wrong. Problems like this start at the top. Poor show for the people of the North West.

Not Verified | Came from our holiday in Croatia and we've been kept in the plane for another 15 minutes because airport haven't got steps ready. Why would you allow plane land early when you're not ready for it? Next was the passport check. Staff absolutely rude and arrogant. Then made to wait over an hour for luggage. Absolutely disgusting.

✅ Trip Verified | What a rough airport. I arrived and departed through this airport, both unpleasant experiences, specifically with departure as I was there the longest. Before you get in it there are no signs for the departures carpark in T2 (only arrivals), after circling a few times we got in and realised there was only 1 car park for either. Not the best carpark as the lines have been repainted (badly) again and again, with an elderly father, finding the (unsigned) disabled parks was a joke. Then you head to the (dirty) lifts and look for your floor which is labelled A, B, C rather than the number system that the rest of the entire world uses - e.g. 1st floor, 2nd floor. After checking in (easy - Qatar Airways), there is a lack of obvious places to have a quick chat with anyone you’re leaving behind so basically you head straight in without saying bye (or spending any money). Then you are continually shouted at about the same message (no liquids etc) as you head to disorganised queue after queue. Seriously, I was shouted at with full volume for 20 minutes as if it’s something no-ones ever heard or we are complete idiots. Amazingly for all the security, I did the whole checking in thing with a hat on and wasn’t once asked to remove it? When you finally make it through to the secure area, it’s pretty standard except for a constant grubbiness and general dirtiness of everything you look at. Even the cafes had rubbish piled on the clearly un-wiped tables. I’m not a clean freak but I felt dirty just being there. Every corner of the floor has a build up of dirt and dust, with chewing gum stuck to floors and everything looking very tired. Lots of signs showing off about spending £1B to upgrade the experience. The airport should spend £1B on cleaning instead as it's really disgusting - I've been to tiny islands with very basic airports, but they're still clean and feel nicer overall than this. Dreadful airport, embarrassing for Manchester and not to an international standard at all.

Not Verified | Where do I start? I've never known Manchester Airport to be so chaotic. Signage for car arrival is poor, getting through security at terminal one on my last 4 flights has taken up to an hour with multiple people being pulled out of the queue because their flight is about to board. The new drop off charge, allegedly to reduce congestion, has actually increased congestion and has proved itself to be the money-grabbing exercise we suspected. The cheapest pick up charge of £4 for 30 minutes is difficult to achieve as it's entirely dependent on bags coming through speedily, otherwise the charge goes up to £6.50 for an hour. This airport is now a disgrace and I'm ashamed of the impression of the UK it gives to overseas visitors.

✅ Trip Verified | Consistently bad airport experience. Always overcrowded with exceptionally long queues that go well beyond the queue areas, especially for passport control. Many areas of the airport are dated. Passing through security here seems so much worse than any other airport I've travelled too and takes so much longer than other UK airports.

✅ Trip Verified | Shocking from start to finish. I'll start by saying this airport is apparently doing everything it can to wring every last penny out of the traveller. We arrived as a couple having done everything possible to avoid any unnecessary stress, paid for valet parking (all good but £139 for 3 weeks on a deal) priority check in and fast track security (part of the airline ticket upgrade). It started off well, valet parking as planned and fast check in done as promised. Fast track security? No chance, with a security hall the size of most hangers it seemed about 3 machines were operational (apparently the screening contractors organised a mass sick day). The queue for screening was almost out the door with staff calling people from the middle of this mass of bodies for flight boarding already. Once through, the departure lounge was crowded, food concessions expensive with no option to buy any food or drink tax free (except for boots). Returning, we had the addition of a Special assistance passenger, so would have hoped for a better experience, especially as there would be no security to go through. I guess assumption really is the mother of all. We arrived on time, but had to leave the SA passenger on board as the aircraft was being handled on the apron rather than the air bridge. So, it's down the stairs, across the ramp, into the building, up the stairs, along the corridors, up some more stairs, along more corridors, down more stairs, follow the signs to arrivals only to be directed 100 yards the wrong way to join the queue for passport control. Approximately 45 minutes later after god knows how far we'd walked through the snaking queuing "system" we get to the E passport gates. OK finally, put in passport, quick facial scan, job done? Nope, it had issues reading a fair proportion of people who then got directed to the sole human that was processing under 12's and e-scanner rejects. My turn, I'm 6'2", my passport says I am, so why does the machine start looking for my face at my navel? We're now up to over a hour from chocks but finally we're in reclaim, except there's no bags, also notably no elderly lady in a wheelchair! No panic, lets get a trolley first, well thats a pound or EUR 2, except I've just flown in on an international flight, so no euro or sterling coins on me, luckily, 2 of the 4 trolley blackmail devices take cards, well they would if they worked! Eventally found a pound coin in the bottom of my wife's handbag and released a trolly just as the conveyor started. This was followed by the reappearance of the aforementioned SA passenger who we discovered had been forgotten, along with 2 other wheelchair users and left at the arrival gate. When remembered, it was left to a single porter to ferry them to passport control then reclaim (stairs remember) in a weird sort of reverse relay race. If you can, give this place a miss.

✅ Trip Verified | Terminal 3, arrived 2 hours before our flight. Ryanair queue was humungus taking over the full terminal. Over 1 hour for baggage check in, I only had children car seats to tag, why can't they do it at the gate as they do with the hand luggage? Not enough staff to deal with it. So if you have to go through the check in desk please go as early as possible. Once done we had to rush through, no time for a drink or even to buy a bottle of water as was the last call for our boarding

Not Verified | Shambolic airport with the new pay to pick up. People getting stressed and irate. Ruined my holiday and will avoid using it again at all costs. I felt the management or the system disgraceful.

✅ Trip Verified | I appreciate most reviews are negative but my experience was better than most. Arrived by train and hotel shuttle to terminal 1. Must admit I would not fancy coming by car as signage very confusing. Terminal clean and we found security good, admittedly at 5am IT took 10 minutes and staff were helpful. There is a shortage of seating in the lounge but ok at gate coming back, gates reasonably quick and luggage out soon.

Not Verified | The last 12 months especially has been a horrible experience going through this airport due to long delays through security. The staff are extremely rude. Going to the airport used to be a start to your excitement before reaching your destination, now it's a nightmare, making it a truly horrible experience. I dread going through. Now I have started going to Liverpool airport and what a difference. Would highly recommend. Great staff, great experience and you can even get some shopping done and it still takes less time than going through security at Manchester. Get your acts together. Security is important we all know that.