Manchester Airport

Several recent domestic flights from T3 to/from LHR mostly with BA one with Virgin Atlantic. My experience is as always with this airport variable. Most of the time it's good so I still recommend it. While the dreadful design of this terminal cannot be quickly improved I see no reason why they can't improve cleanliness or facilities. Flights are often delayed even at quiet times and the security experience is so variable that it's beyond a joke now. While I have always been well-treated by MAN's security it's the haphazard way the rules are applied which is so annoying. On my most recent flight half the queue went through a "standard" check while the other half were subjected to the full-body scanner a separate shoe scanner a full-body pat-down and a full head-to-toe hand-held scan. While several major airports around the world have now given up on such over-zealous screening I'm beginning to wonder just what MAN knows about security risks which the rest don't? Either everyone should be subject to such intensive scanning or no-one at all. This took much longer than the bag scan did - which meant that our bags were sitting unsupervised on an adjacent belt for quite a few minutes. Not impressed at all.

I flew into and out of T3 during the Easter holiday weekend. Even though it's the newest of MAN's three terminals it clearly wasn't designed for the current levels of passenger throughput: huge queues snaking back from passport control on arrival and only two out of six desks were manned. Obviously this is a Border Agency issue but as most flights at this terminal operate to/from EU countries - and the same scenario is replicated at airports across the UK - surely it would make sense for the British government to finally join the European majority and sign the Schengen agreement?

Review refers to T3. Arrived on Monday noon by flybe from DUS without luggage. Arrival ok. 15 min by feet to train station. Flew back to DUS (again without luggage) on Tuesday flight departure time 5.45pm. I arrived at train station at 4.15 at T3 at 4.30 having checked-in online before. I thought I was early arriving 75 minutes before departure. But the security queue was horrible it took 40 minutes to get through. Simply not enough open lanes for the quantity of people. In the end after buying a coffee I arrived at gate just in time for boarding. (Only other airport I know where it takes so long is Moscow DME). One lady was constantly going around and asking for people whose flight would depart soon so that they could get through without queuing. (So late arrivers could "cheat" early arrivers had to queue). Apparently they are trying to keep operating costs low by having too few staff.

Out from T3 on 22nd March 10 minutes through Security which these days I think is pretty good especially compared to Heathrow. Terminal nice and clean and sufficient eating or drinking outlets. Only downside a lack of seating which seems to have been sacrificed for shops!! On return bags on carousel very quickly.

From T1 for an easyJet flight to Tenerife. Used their Meet and Greet parking service which is remarkable value for money. Dropped the car off and left the key with the staff and it was waiting on our return all for £39.99 for 7 days. Flight left at 0700 and the passage through security was painless with plenty of staff and a minimum of delays. Not a great deal of choice if you want to eat before boarding. Tortuous route to the gates through the shops like too many airports they seem to consider they are a shopping mall which lets planes park outside. On return we left the plane to find ourselves walking through very narrow corridors and up steep and narrow flights of steps to get to immigration. Immigration well staffed and no queues. I tried the electronic passport scanning gates while my wife went to the conventional desks. She was through 3 times quicker than I was they are going to have to do something about the electronic system if people are going to be persuaded to use it. Interminable time for the machine to scan your passport then having to stand motionless in front of a camera while it compares the images. Not good. Baggage arrived reasonably quickly and we were out in good time. Manchester is my nearest international airport and if I can avoid a trip down to Gatwick or Heathrow I will but T1 needs some attention to improve the flow of passengers through the building.

Appalling queues for Security checks Terminal 1. Forget any intention of doing Duty Free shopping or getting a breakfast. We ended up running to the Gate although we had arrived at the Airport 2.5 hours before departure time. Aircraft was boarding when we got to the gate hungry and stressed out. It was even worse when we flew out of Manchester Terminal 1 in December 2012. Arriving in Tenerife a couple told us they came through Terminal 1 on the Friday and the queue for security was out of the terminal doors and people were forced to queue outside in Minus 4 temperature. Surely they know how many flights are due to depart and when. Arriving home was no better. Long delays getting our Baggage at Carousel 7 at 7pm on 19 March 2013.

Very long wait at security very nearly missed my flight bad attitude of staff. Had my bag searched but again attitude of woman searching was poor and because I was made to put my belongings in two trays I had to search amongst the trays that were piled up to find the rest which worried me as anyone could have pinched my passport money etc. I felt very degraded - they need to learn people skills.

Flew into and out of terminal one in the last two weeks. Overall I think it's the best of Manchester's 3 terminals due to it's proximity and easy access to the airport station and it's more thoughtful and user friendly design: there seems to be sufficient check in security and baggage reclaim facilities for the number of aircraft and passengers it can handle at peak times consequently queuing is kept to a minimum. Staff are friendly and efficient and there's plenty of seating and a reasonable range of places to have a drink or something to eat in the departure lounge. Drawbacks: the forced torturous route to the departure lounge through the duty free shopping area and the weird way in which the piers are configured leading to arriving passengers having to go down a long flight of stairs - not an escalator - then immediately back up a similarly long flight to the same level.

From the States I prefer to clear immigration at Manchester rather than at my other choice Heathrow. The main reason is because the immigration officials at Manchester have been-so far-quite professional and better yet unbelievably civil and friendly. They beat out not only Heathrow officials but Newcastle and from what I read even John Lennon's. Heathrow officials either seem to be the old school dragons of the past who delight in interrogating foreigners or the new type of lazy unprofessional types who care only about their coffee breaks. Though I would rate the T3 departures lounge at Manchester as being fair in comparison to Heathrow's T5 which is far nicer I'd still put up with T3 just for the immigration officials. Security is relatively quick and painless though it seems as though in November 2012 they were doing some sort of audit and many 'random' passengers were selected for shoe and body scans. Those were ok except if one were in a hurry to catch one's flight it was time to panic. Also one's baggage went through a separate line to be scanned oftentimes being scanned quicker than its owners' shoes and bodies because the latter's officials just took forever and worse had 4 of them to scan one passenger (why who knows). Thus keeping track of one's baggage was a lesson in patience and agility.

I think Manchester is ideally located for travel to many parts of north and central England however I have always had to use T3 for the route I wanted to fly and found the departures concourse to be very cramped and crowded even having to negotiate queues at boarding gates just to use the toilets! Last week however I flew for the first time from T1. This was a much better experience spacious bright clean and not crowded at all! Queues at security differed enormously too. When we landed early and had to pass a few hours before getting a train T1 arrivals had plenty on offer. Flying out from T1 we were delayed due to bad weather but I found T1 departures a very pleasant environment to be stuck in! It would be unusual to select a particular airline on the basis of which terminal it uses in a large airport but I believe that in future if I need to fly to/from Manchester I'll only use airlines that fly in and out of T1!