Manchester Airport

❎ Not Verified | Manchester airport excels in employing the most miserable and rude staff of any airport I have ever travelled through. The rules for security are arbitrary and appear to change on a whim. One week a small e-reader doesn't need to be out of a bag, the next time it does. This week apparently all charger cables should have been taken out of hand luggage. And face powder (clues in the name) is a liquid. Best option is to tip your all hand luggage out into the trays probably. Terminal 3 is cramped. There is no room to manoeuvre around boots or WHSmith's. Not enough seating or places to eat.

✅ Trip Verified | Security staff are the worst in Europe. Why is it that the security staff at Manchester Airport don't seem to have any real idea of what they're doing? As a regular weekly traveller I never cease to be amazed and flabbergasted by their incompetence and rudeness towards the travellering public. Most of them are control freaks who obviously get their job satisfaction by bossing and bullying people around.

✅ Trip Verified | Flying Easyjet to/from Amsterdam Feb 24/25th Feb. Outbound 1 hour to transit T1 security. Some queues feeding 8 or more channels, others only 3-5. Usual constant stream of shouting from human and mechanical sources. Situation normal. Return took 30 minutes from arrival to UK border. 10 minutes to provide stairs, then on entry to the terminal confronted by a locked door. The only way to communicate the problem was by hand signals to staff processing a departure from an adjacent gate, if this had been unmanned we would have been totally isolated. Despite said contact it took 20 minutes for a handling agent, Menzies, to open the door. By comparison, despite the late arrival / departure, the Easyjet handling agents perforrmance at Schiphol was faultless.

✅ Trip Verified | Honestly I can’t believe Manchester has such bad reviews. I always have a pleasant time at Manchester. It’s got short queues, friendly staff, adequate bars/restaurants (thought depending on the terminal can get too busy). On this occasion I was in terminal 3 which is probably my least favourite - mostly because of the lack of a central area with bars and restaurants - the little area it does have is always overcrowded and you’re lucky to get a seat. It’s clean(ish), staff are helpful, well signed and generally security queues are reasonable and efficient. If you think it’s bad, try going to CDG - it’ll give you a new perspective!

✅ Trip Verified | Worst security scanning system in the world. I use Manchester nearly every week as a very frequent business traveler. This parallel loading of trays is invariably a total lottery, particularly at peak times such as before 10am. Passengers need several trays, these trays get split up as there can be up to 4 people loading the conveyor. This result is people waiting at the end, thereby causing trays to back up. I know identical systems are used in Stansted, Heathrow etc but it does not work as well as the normal 'in series' system used by every other airport across the world. Look at airports such as Geneva or Hamburg for best in class. The Manchester system also adds additional stress and anxiety to infrequent flyers, and it's no wonder staff are correspondingly stressed, and sometimes terse to passengers. No doubt some very expensive time-in-motion consultants propsed it, maybe they and the airport management should use it to experience the pain.

❎ Not Verified | Stayed at the Manchester Airport Radisson on Thursday 1st Feb. Arrived by train. I am an elderly man, slightly disabled but fiercely independent, travelling alone to Philly with American Airlines. Got off the train and up to the concourse to get to Radisson. None of the travelators were working and I had two heavy cases and a bag. A real struggle. Radisson restaurant was full so went into airport to seek hot meal. Terminal 2 nearest. One of four travelators working. A long way. Got there - no hot food (8pm). Went back to The Station - two out of six travelators working. Arrived back from Philly last Tuesday 13th and guess what? Four out of six travelators not working? Heavy bags, exhausting struggle back to The Station. No help offered or apparently available. Went thru PHL, CMH, ODR airports and guess what? All travelators working everywhere. Must do better - very disappointing and will be reluctant to use MAN again.

❎ Not Verified | Unfortunately I use this airport regularly for business and as the only direct for holiday without driving down country what people must think arriving in this dump is beyond my comprehension. The place is a dingy set of rat runs, the staff must have had previous lives working on market stalls the way they shout and carry on no other airport in the world has these fish wives working there. Surely the company that runs this place must look at other international airport hubs and are embarrassed. There is talk of a Northern powerhouse, it needs to bypass Manchester to save further embarrassment to northern England. Manchester Airport you need to get your act together shame there is no competition, then you would be closed.

✅ Trip Verified | My departure was marred by incredibly rude security staff, in hindsight it was obvious I was singled out (perhaps because I had no check-in luggage for a long-haul flight?) as twice I got to the front of a queue and was then told to join another line. On reaching the front the third time I was pushed into the full body scanner, then taken out and frisked, followed by a going over with yet another machine. I felt violated and couldn't understand why a 70 year old retired UK professional engineer should be subject to this sort of treatment and given no explanation when a complaint was made at the time. It doesn't end there. On my return my wife came to collect me at Terminal 2 Arrivals and was met by a temporary barrier and a rude jobsworth (where do they find these morons?) and told she had to go in the multi-storey where it cost her £4 for a 6 minute stay. I would advise anyone lucky enough to have a choice of airports to give Manchester a very wide berth.

✅ Trip Verified | Once again the security check at Manchester proves itself to be one of the least customer friendly security checks in the UK. Overzealous, self-important jobsworths seem to take perverse pleasure in trying to irritate passengers. Having used all major airports in the UK Manchester is by far the worst, worse even than Liverpool and that takes some beating.

❎ Not Verified | Was transiting here arriving from Houston (SN) to Brussels. The airport is clearly not built for transiting. Staff sent passengers the wrong way, in order to switch terminals airside you have to find a tiny sign in the corner of a cold dilapidated room. If you don't speak English, you have no hope. Airside security was the worst part. Everything was a shambles, passengers belongings were mixed up, the whole process took ages. Majority of staff were bored and unhelpful. Major design issues with this airport, would not recommend transiting here.