Manchester Airport

✅ Verified Review | Manchester is the worst airport I have ever been to. I have been to many countries, including poor countries with limited budgets but I have never seen such a disorganised and unpleasant security check service like here in Terminal 3. It is very unpleasant and ruins the experience of the rest of the airport.

✅ Verified Review | I use this airport regularly as I return home to visit family, but have never bothered reviewing as I didn't want to post something negative in the hope that it might improve in due course. Sadly, this has not happened for around 8 years now and most recent reviews are right on the money - while check-in staff aren't too bad, the mess begins at security with horrific queuing (even with babies or small children, although if you bother to ask for yourself you may be allowed into a quicker line despite initially being channelled in with the masses) and a distinct lack of clarity of understanding between staff overseeing the lines. And this is before the screening procedure even begins, at that point, you will be "greeted" by rude, pretentious, patronising and poorly trained staff who bark at passengers (and sometimes to each other) as if we are schoolchildren. How some of these guys are allowed to work anywhere at all is a wonder to me. During busy times, only around half of the scanning "desks" seemed to be open (why?), leading to a fair bit of chaos if any items (and there seemed to be a lot) have to be rescanned for one reason or other. With this mess you would expect there to be at least a competent surveillance system in place. Seemingly not. Due to a screaming toddler - thanks to the moronic staff for making matters significantly worse on that front by ignoring advice and trying to interact with said toddler, despite repeated requests not to - I left 3 items in one of the trays there. This tray was not to be seen with my other items and so I left it as an oversight (my fault admittedly). It contained a laptop and two cameras. The laptop and one camera were recovered via LuggagePoint. The second (and larger) camera that was in the same tray, somehow disappeared. How did the other items make it to lost property? Surely CCTV should pick this up or at least give us some indication? Apparently not, as the images weren't clear enough to see. It really is that easy to walk off with someone else's property at the security screening despite there being multiple CCTV cameras in the vicinity. Unbelievable. Once you've finally escaped and made your way through to the shopping/refreshment areas things don't get much better. Eating options are sadly limited (not a massive issue for short flights which typically depart terminal 3) and there aren't screens in convenient areas showing you your gate number - you shouldn't have to go right through to a bar area to see one of these! Oh and good luck trying to find a clean toilet/baby change facility before your flight. Seating at the gate seemed to be ample though. So it's not all doom and gloom. Departing the city of my birth used to be a slightly sad experience, but the idiocy of the airport staff ensure this is no longer the case. Such a shame that they do not represent the people of Manchester as a whole. I live in hope that someone sees sense and completely overhauls the airport and its practices, but I don't expect it to happen at any time soon. As a final note: having to pay for luggage trolleys really makes you look cheap!

✅ Verified Review | My 93 year old father and I required wheelchair assistance. When arriving at assistance desk we said we had booked assistance, he was very rude and unhelpful and snapped at us saying we'll have to push the chairs ourselves. We nearly missed our flight. Fortunately another pusher saw us struggling and he pushed one of the chairs. He apologised for our treatment. I would suggest a customer service course would be helpful on how to cope in stressful conditions.

My husband and I recently departed from Manchester on the afternoon Emirates plane to Dubai for Hong Kong. We are seasoned and well travelled. We normally transit through Heathrow. However, this time decided to go via Manchester. Never again would be my opinion. Security - a joke. Staff directing fast track passengers to non fast track side, then being told to go back. Sigh. Inspection of hand luggage. Totally at odds to rest of the UK and other airports. Solid depodorants, asthma inhalers, solid lipsticks, all leave in bag at other UK airports & worldwide - at Manchester a rude man told me I had to decant into see through bags. All wires/chargers were pulled out of bag as were told they had to me. Issue, no consistency in U.K or even at Manchester itself. My wires were left in bag. My husbands were all pulled out. His solid deodorant was left in bag yet mine was pulled out. Avoid Manchester at all costs. Just not worth the effort. Staff rude and unhelpful and not what you expect from such an organisation.

Now I know the odd bad experience isn't a one off. The problem is the high number of un educated, un trained and non caring people that work now at Manchester airport. There are a minority of exceptions. If there was another option locally the present airport would be closed. But please don't expect any improvement, the management don't care like the poor section of the staff. I suggest they put up the approval kiosks at each sector of the process, like they have in Europe, they would be amazoed with the publics option of how they delivered their service. I hope travellers don't think these people represent Manchester, they don't.

✅ Verified Review | I don't normally have the time or inclination to write 'reviews' but recent experiences at this airport (all bad) have compelled me to put pen to paper. Manchester is easily the worst UK airport I have ever experienced - possibly the worst airport anywhere. Everything about about the place is grubby and tacky, with dirty floors and accumulations of dust and dirt everywhere. The toilet facilities are hopelessly inadequate - too few, too small and too smelly. Every inch of available floor space is given over to retail outlets, with traveller comfort coming a long way down the list of priorities. On departure, the baggage check/security arrangements are a shambles and a nightmare, overcrowding, staff inefficiency and staff hostility all contribute to an painfully slow process and a genuinely unpleasant experience. On arrival, the queue at passport control was enormous and moved at a glacial pace. To top it all, there's even a charge for baggage trolleys. What kind of a cheapskate operation is this? Manchester airport is badly in need of significant investment in staff and facilities. Hint to the operators - take a look at any major continental airport to see how it should be done. I have made Manchester my airport of last resort.

✅ Verified Review | I have a lot to say about this airport and hope it's taken on board. It has great potential. I hope when its reburbished its as spectacular as the Trafford centre was initially. First I acknowledge the toilet refurb in T1. I have IBS. I'm middle aged. I'm tall and over weight. If you can accommodate me then 99% of people are covered. Arrivals, after security the toilets, the seats and cubicals are too small. I can't actually use them. The disabled one was locked. I then went to the other side to luggage 6 area toilets and used the disabled one. I don't use airplanes toilets only in dire circumstances. The sinks are great. Hand driers you inserts your hands in are never clean looking 6 months down the line. I prefer paper towel. It's hygienic. I noticed in Departures the toilets were not being cleaned. Many were dirty and the room smelt. You could smell it in the hallway. These toilet cubicals were good size. Toilets were small but with room in the cubical it makes it easier to use them. Going to and from gates. The stairs kill me. They are steep, uneven, the floors are uneven. There is no room to walk around people. Toilets in these areas are too small. Gate 22 example. Staircases are narrow. Security departures. I get scared when I have to wait there with so many people for a long period of time before x-ray. I hope you change it to several security areas. I get searched almost everytime because of my bra. I understand why but I feel singled out because of my weight. After you get through it's madness. People have no room to get belongings together. Arrival passport control is a huge cattle gate. You get dizzy going through. Its narrow. I always catch my suitcase on the barriers. The last 3 rows are fixed. Why? Machines are getting better but you need more. Departures shopping concourse. Again you feel like cattle. Aisles are narrow. poor artifical lighting. Low ceilings and claustrophobic. Liverpool airport is much nicer layout. Again think of the Trafford centre. It's a shopping area, make it feel like one. Wifi is very poor. Worst I've experienced. Zurich, Helsinki or Vienna airports are good examples of what it should be like. You want to encourage people to use their phones but if they can't pull up their travel documents it won't work. Customer Service is rarely manned. Where is it? Unless you look for it you wouldn't know. Departure boards. Need to be larger print. Think Euston Station. That is easy to read from any angle. The boards outside the shops are good. I would like to see some healthy food options too. Smoothies, salads, soups for example. Also why not wok to go, subway or Nandos if it has to be a chain? In front of Arrivals and departures. Inside, its claustrophobic and dark and congested. People go through to get to departures. People queue directly across the path of the door for parking. People are everywhere standing like statues you need to navigate around to get to the lifts. Very badly laid out. It was the cleanest I've ever seen it before last time I was there. It's not pretty and functionally it's a mess. Outside isn't any better. Smokers congregate in front of the doors. There are conrete blocks to trip over. A huge hut blocking access to the ramp. Stairs. Why? Everyone has luggage. Move the smokers away from the main doors. Move the taxis further on. The hut in the middle blocks the path to the car park and buses. It also blocks natural light. Have you fixed handle on door to exit parking at top?

Manchester Airport is terrible. Charges for trolleys on arrival when many guests do not have pound coins. Security always takes forever - they only have one channel open if it is quiet and check almost every bag for daft reasons eg. it's packed messily. If the airport is quiet almost all shops / cafes closed so nowhere to get a coffee. Lounge sold and out of date, toilets always dirty. No charge points for devices. In short, no consideration of passenger comfort. Silly 'find a table & order at bar system in restaurant, so if you are travelling alone either have to leave luggage unattended it take it with you to order. Much worse airport than Heathrow - to be avoided!

✅ Verified Review | I had the unfortunate experience of using Terminal 3 for a KLM flight to Amsterdam. This is certainly one of the worst airport terminals I have used in Europe. First of all, it was quite remote and required a long walk from the train station. Once you arrived there, you could immediately see how poor the place was: everything looked dated and not properly maintained. It was very crowded, and security couldn't be less pleasant. Many agents were yelling instructions at long queues of passengers. My bag was pulled out for secondary inspection, and I had to wait twenty more minutes. The staff was trying to be nice and pleasant as much as possible, but security were clearly understaffed and struggling. The experience I had after security wasn't much better: the seating areas were quite scarce and the seats weren't in good condition at all. The shops weren't particularly attractive, and I had the great opportunity to enjoy the lowest-quality sandwich I have ever tasted from one of the shop offering a £4 meal "deal". Unless you have no other choice, I would really advise you against choosing an airline using Terminal 3 in Manchester.

✅ Verified Review | I use Manchester Airport Terminal 3 at least twice a month as a result of work, it is appalling. It is very rare to get through security without delays that you just do not get at London or other main UK regional airports. On 5th April at 5pm there was a queue back out past all of the check in desks, it took over an hour to clear security. Note to airport owner - during the school holidays you get more travellers, just like last year, it is really quite predictable. Try opening the 3 out 9 security lines that were closed on 5th April and then folk will have time to spend more cash in your abysmal selection of retail and catering outlets, resulting in higher profits. I do a lot of flying and this terminal ranks right down there with the very worst that the USA (step forward Dallas Fort Worth) has to offer in terms of customer experience. A proper shambles, a stain on an otherwise great city.