Manchester Airport

Manchester is an efficient airport. I have flown from T2 mainly with KLM and Air France almost every week for the past 13 years - and must say that their move to T3 has seen an improvement in security waiting times and passport queues on arrival. The BA lounge is OK - even if not as good now they've flogged part of it off to Flybe. Use T1 on occasions with Finnair and Aer Lingus. Rarely have a long wait for takeoff - taxi times usually short and holding - rare. As with many airports it is constantly being improved and updated - which must in the long run be a good thing for the travelling public.

Going through security on Monday Jan 16h at about 08.45 in T2 notice that the security staff have resorted to shouting rather than a portable microphone. Also when your Tray of belongings have passed through the X- ray scanner they just push it along with passengers no where near surely a security problem. Also going out we were on a Remote stand T2 bussed out to remote parking with Aircraft steps no problem coming back waited 15 minutes for steps. Airport low Aircraft Traffic at 18.00 hours is there a staffing problem after 5pm.

My hometown airport richly deserves its no-star rating at least for those of us unlucky enough to be using terminal 1. The gate areas are draughty drab and uncomfortable especially for those on A380s who get shoved down to the far end of the gate area. The whole thing has the 'temporary/prefab' vibe one also finds in other 1960s-1970s British architecture. It's all so desperately tired and cramped. Tear it down and rebuild please.

On 16 December we sat on a plane for just over 4 hours waiting for de-icing! This was on a day when inclement weather was anticipated and following two winter periods when airports were unprepared for bad weather. Manchester is clearly still not able to meet its obligations to passengers and airlines in poor weather. Prior to that departures was a mess with people joining wrong airline queues because of a lack of organisation. On return immigration was a breeze but we had to wait over 30 minutes for bags to come onto the line. When they did the line kept breaking down because of the way bags baby buggies and so forth were flung onto the belt causing it to jam. I will avoid Manchester if at all possible in future.

Used T1 in and out - business class check and quick security - otherwise long queues. Etihad lounge excellent. On return speedy Immigration and luggage retrieval. However overall impression was poor after South African Airports.

Two separate flights from LHR and GTW to T3. On both occasions bags on the belt within 5 minutes of leaving the plane. Domestic flights so no security to clear. On a train into town within 20 minutes of landing so no complaints whatsoever. Cleanliness is still a problem though I wasn't at the airport long enough for it to matter to me but this does need to be addressed.

Terminal 1 Arriving from Palma 13.30 on a Wednesday. Immigration queues. Its almost as if its a surprise to immigration staff that passengers get off planes and need to be processed. Only 4 immigration staff on duty. The automatic gates were not working again. Bearing in mind that the A380 had just arrived from Dubai and you get the picture. It took us well over an hour to get through. This has to change. I fly through this airport 5-6 times a year so it not a one off event. I hope Manchester management read this and act on it.

Arrived at 13.55 from BCN on ZB at T1. Disembarked down a flight of stairs walked 10 yds then ascend the mirror image of the stairs you have just come down through a dingy corridor then joining a backlog of passengers stuck on an another staircase (with the escalator switched off) prior to immigration. On way there look down into generously spaced out shopping concourse - is this where the money went that should have been spent on a welcoming arrivals area. Used the e-passport channel machine can't read passport so went to Desk 12 where passport is instantly read. Enter crowded baggage reclaim area got my case and joined another bottleneck through customs. Glad to get out.

Departed T2 on Thomson to Mykonos 08.20 departure. Self-serve check-in available which massively speeds up the process got our boarding cards from the machine and walked straight over to the bag drop desk bypassing the large Thomson check-in queue. Security was relatively busy but moved fast staff polite and efficient. Good choice of shops bars and restaurants the food court in T2 had a full breakfast and a drink offer for £5 which was good value for an airport again staff courteous. Clean tables and floor in spite of the terminal being quite busy nice relaxing background music in the food court created a calm atmosphere. Flight called at -30 and boarded quickly for an on-time departure. On our return there was a very large queue for passport control due to several flights arriving together and the E-Passport Gates were out of service causing us to wait for over 30 mins. We expected to find our luggage waiting on the carousel after this amount of time but then had to wait another 15 mins for suitcases to appear and typically ours were the last off. The departures process is very good but arrivals has plenty of room for improvement T2 Arrivals in particular is very dull and uninviting.

Arrived back from Alicante to find we had to negotiate two flights of stairs which given our age of 75 to 80 yrs was rather difficult especially as we had been sat for 3 hrs. We didn't want to ask for disabled help as we felt we could manage. A number of passengers with tired young children also had trouble. Ran into a large queue and discovered it was for passport control apparently at least 4 planes had arrived at the same time even a large queue at the fast machines. Eventually arrived in the baggage hall to find our luggage strewn all over the floor. We normally enjoy 3 to 4 holidays a year but we have been reluctant to try this year and after this one we have to find an alternative. So come on Manchester please do something to ease passengers arrivals into the airport.