Manchester Airport

Terminal 3 at Manchester Airport was our worst experience ever and we are seasoned travellers. I am all for strict security regulations and have patience when going through security. But I have no patience with utter disorganisation and inefficiency. We are herded like cattle from one queue to another with panicky staff barking orders at travellers. We have never seen anything like it. You are then herded to a departure gate with no seats. We had to queue yet again for about 25 mins before the gate opened for boarding. It is obvious that this airport has had little investment and therefore antiquated systems do nothing to make this a bearable experience for travellers. Note to management. Visit Gatwick and Heathrow to see how it's done! We will avoid like the plague in the future.

Chaos at passport control and bag retrieval, overcrowding on moving escalator. Had a similar experience last June but thought it couldn't be worse, wrong! Have to use this place again later this year, dreading it. Incompetence at its very best. Overseas visitors must be horrified.

✅ Verified Review | The Airport is dirty, dust collected in corners etc the whole arrivals area looks like it needs refurbishing. The passport control area was overcrowded, staff very rude and the area became unsafe with people trapped on a moving escalator there was no room for them to get off and people were still getting onto it. The area was so crowded people were stuck on the stairs and queuing to get onto the stairs. Clearly not enough staff, and the area is far too small. On leaving the baggage reclaim I tripped over and nearly fell over. The baggage carousel kept getting stuck as it was too small and the luggage came through just piled onto each other. Manchester Airport excels at seeming incompetent.

My traveling schedule forces me to use Manchester Airport twice a month and whilst I have been using hundreds of airports around the world, I have to say that MAN is by far the worst experience, particularly upon departures. I do not wish to be misunderstood: I am really supporting very serious security checks in the screening process. MAN security, however, constantly turns out to be the very worst when it comes to staff professionalism, staff education and experience and passenger management - and I do not even want to comment on communication and friendliness. MAN's regulations deviate from almost all other airports (why can there not be any harmonization across at least the EU?) and even screening staff constantly turns out to be reacting differently. I always travel with exactly the same bag and contents and every screening turns out to be a new time consuming 'adventure' due to completely incompetent staff. Even the minimal requirements of hygiene in the civilized world are completely neglected.

Departures no problem as had fastrack, did notice the security queue was very long for other travellers. On our arrival back into passport control the desk we were called to had a miserable member of staff who repeatedly scanned my husbands passport then kept rubbing the print with his thumb and bending the paper, then put his glasses on and did the same again. This process took a good 8-10 mins, which is a long time when you're stood still! All the while not once did he smile or say a word and when he was finally satisfied that our one week in Gran Canaria had been a legitimate holiday he sent us on our way with just an ok. This was the first time we had used Manchester in years due to preferring other airports in the North, and will not travel from Manchester ever again. I can't understand how you get a smile and hello when you arrive at your holiday destination yet are treated like you have something to hide when you arrive home?

✅ Verified Review | Used Manchester Airport to travel to Penang Malaysia on 11th March and on my return 25th March and used every year for the last 30 years but just need to say that it is probably one of the worst airports in the world. Yesterday I travelled through 4 airports including Manchester. They were Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. All of which put Manchester to shame they are cleaner tidier and staff much more helpful and on hand. Finally to top it all you have to pay for a luggage trolley that could only happen in the UK - didn't have to pay anywhere else.

TN3 - Security was under pressure and disorganised which probably caused them to be ignorant to people - witnessed 3 all the same. Not enough seats and pax standing everywhere - very poor airport making for stressful travel. Would choose another airport if possible.

Very disappointing at Manchester Airport. Firstly, there is the immigration area which merely shepherds people along in a large crowd and then finally disperses them into EU and non EU sections. So of course, people are suddenly criss-crossing each other at the end of the run in chaotic fashion. Then you must work your way through metal barriers rather like sheep do until you finally emerge, hungry and tired. Luckily, you are met with a fantastic array of restaurants – Greggs Bakery and Joe’s Kitchen which serves a few croissants. But don’t worry both can seat about 50 people (combined)! What sort of impression does this give an international traveler, especially one with a few kids in tow? Apart from the instinct to get back on the plane, it is probably a mixture of bewilderment and a sense you have arrived at one of the UK’s train stations, not an international airport. As I write this, I am sat in Greggs waiting for my delayed flight. The place is a pigsty with no litter bins in sight. Therefore coffee cups and discarded paper bags are left strewn around. What is disappointing most about this is the missed opportunities Manchester faces. Many companies would be queuing up to house a restaurant in the airport, with millions of potential customers who have little choice but to use the eateries on offer. Is this the best the UK can serve up?

Never again will I book a trip through Manchester airport. I thought Paris was bad but Manchester is a disaster. The security check takes forever, I walked miles through the zig zag lines. You don't have to remove your shoes but forget to remove a tablet from your carry on and you can stand there forever to get searched. If your renting a car and it's raining you will get soaked getting to the shuttle bus to the car rental village. Once at the car rental village with paper work done you get wet again getting to the car. I flew from Las Vegas to Manchester and back with Thomas Cook and the experience in Manchester airport spoiled the whole trip. The staff hated their jobs and seemed determined to make life miserable for everyone.

✅ Verified Review | I never write reviews but Manchester Airport warrants a review. My pregnant wife requested a pat-down instead of going through x-ray machine (had a letter from the doctor). They punished her by forcing her to go through a metal detector, into a backroom where they used a wand on all parts of her body with special focus on her stomach. This was in a room filled with lockers (tons of metal) for over 20 minutes. The wand couldn't handle all the metal, but the woman scanning my wife insisted anyway. They then double checked her passport and boarding pass even though that had already been done at the check-in and at the initial part of the security line. Many passed through the metal detector instead of the x-ray machine (myself included), but my wife was "special" because she refused the x-ray machine so she received an extra wand "treatment" in addition to going through the metal detector. We flew via this airport a couple of years ago as well. They singled me out because I had baby food with me for my baby (which I was holding). I had to go through their scanners, get a pat down and speak with a manager. I tried asking if I could just leave the food because I would lose my flight. They insisted because of "protocol." Meanwhile, my wife went to the gate to wait for me. Security was so slow that we lost our plane. They use protocols as their excuses for making your life difficult. Everything gets flagged on the conveyor belt and so you have to wait extra long in the line through security. Count on at least an hour to go through security for a tiny airport. Terrible layout, confusion everywhere. Boy did we make a mistake by thinking that "a couple of years" would make a difference.