Manchester Airport

Not Verified | Manchester airport has by far the worst security screening process I have ever experienced. Ridiculous queues, constant build up of trays, staff that move at a snails pace and have the personality and face of a bulldog chewing a wasp. I travel over and back to the UK for work almost weekly, trying to avoid this soul destroying airport as much as possible but unfortunately it's the closest to my destination. I always pay for fast track just to ease the pain of going through the place but they still add your bag/tray to the long queue of trays, waiting to scan them...I wonder what the stats are for all their scanning. I always make sure my bag is exactly as per their requirements but it still gets stopped and scanned every single time. The system needs a complete overhaul. Customer service is despicable. Worst airport!

Not Verified | This ranks Number 1 as the single worst airport in Europe and maybe eve the World. Officious and rude security staff, long queues, time wasting searches, totally disorganized. Lounges crammed and dirty, poor seating, lousy food, poor service and expensive. It is a disgrace. I’m British and can’t be proud of this cesspit with inadequate staff, gestapo like security personnel who themselves are uniformed badly. Take Valium to get through the experience!

✅ Trip Verified | Second departure from Manchester and it was worse than the first time last year. How can a City like Manchester dare to treat their guests like that? The time which is spent for the Security Check is disgusting. We arrived two hours before boarding but had to rush in a hurry to get our plane - we reached it minutes before the gate was closed. But the most shamefull part for this "international" airport is the behaviour of the Security Staff. Shame on you Manchester Airport.

✅ Trip Verified | Wed 30th May - flying to Amsterdam with 0705 departure. At 0530 the 2 Security Departure entrances were effectively closed with queues down the Check in hall. At 0600 these queues had hardly moved. As is typical at Airports there was no information and no attempt to manage the passengers who were in danger of missing flights. I eventually found someone to let me jump the queue and get to my gate for 0630 . Only Airports with their trapped customers can feel free to abuse people in this way. One day an enlightened CEO will have the courage to come and apologise to their customers and explain what`s happening. Manchester Airport is no longer Customer Friendly.

Not Verified | I have never flown from Manchester and this will be the first and last time. Queues for security so long (1.5hrs) even though we had arrived hours before our flight to the US. Staff rude and because of the queues we never got a chance to go to Duty Free. Very poor. This place needs a full management overall! I have flown often at busier airports and they seem to manage. Not much better coming home going through passport checks, short staffed maybe but something needs to be done reading similar reviews to mine.

❌ Not Verified | I am at the airport now after just having had the pleasure (not) of negotiating security in Terminal 2. We have come through here on many occasions but this morning, just interacted with the rudest, most officious, arrogant, full of his self importance security official I think I have ever had the displeasure to meet at any airport I have been through. I get security; a necessary evil but this person had no social skills whatsoever. Do this, do that. No please, no thank you. We know that items must be screened properly but this patronising jobsworth took the biscuit. Behaviour breeds behaviour. You want us to conform, fine, but passengers react so much better to good manners.

❌ Not Verified | Filthy and over-crowded. He only good thing that can be said is that T3 has no forced snake-through duty free. But there's no space to sit anywhere in the retail area anyway, and common to the retarded custom in all UK airports, the gate is not mentioned until the last minute, so you are forced to stand in shops or consuming in cafes—if you can squeeze yourselves even into those. The train station is ridiculously far from the terminals, and especially T3 insanely difficult to reach. The management now forces people to use slow elevators having put barriers in front of escalators, and route to T3 forces to take elevators up and down several times. The security often just has a few checkpoints open with long queues and half of the bags checked manually. In the T3 in particular the cafe/restaurant offering is horribly bad—the only quick option being the rubbish known as Costa.

✅ Trip Verified | It was a horrible experience. Limited staff, too much delay, poor assistance. Not only was the flight delayed, but also the bag drop and security were unacceptably slow. Only very few people were working. It was my worst experience and I do not recommend this airport to anybody.

❌ Not Verified | I have been to numerous airports and Manchester is my Home airport. Terminal 1 is generally no longer fit for purpose and fortunately is due to be demolished soon. We avoid it as much as possible. Terminal two is ok except for the security screening. Of all the airports i have visited, the security is the worst. I am of the opinion that queues are deliberately maintained to entice you to pay to fastrack. The fastrack queue is frequently slow so what's the point? There are ten lanes for screening and I have never seen more then six in use, even when busy. Of particular annoyance is the metal detector goes off randomly even if you have completely removed anything metal. This wastes everyone's time and could cause a cry wolf situation. Next time I'll wear sports trousers as it has no zipper to see what happens! There is a sign saying that if your bag is searched, you could be delayed by up to half an hour. Translation- If you miss your flight because your bag is stopped, too bad, and don't blame us. One occasion, after being delayed in traffic then by the disgraceful security queues, we had to sprint the slalom through the duty shop dodging shoppers idly perusing goods to get to the gate. Admittedly the airport in having a huge upgrade. Hopefully this will improve things and maybe get in the top 100. However I have seen in the artists images a sign saying "Fastrack" at the security entrance and the queue lines to concertina queues so I wonder if they wish to improve here. (My heart sinks.) If the airport is to ascend this list it has a long way to go. This beef is a common thread of ALL the reviews of this airport. Will the management pay attention or will they continue to sit in their ivory towers looking at spreadsheets and draw their bloated salaries instead of seeing what really happens? Also, pay attention to these reviews to see the dissatisfaction you are causing.

❌ Not Verified | Trying to find Air Transat check-in is a joke. Asked 3 different members of staff who gave incorrect information. It took a member of the general public to advise which was the correct way. Please install correct signage - it would be very helpful.