Manchester Airport

I travel through Manchester (usually terminal 1) four or five times a year. Some things have improved since they have revamped this terminal. The only downside is having to plough your way threw the maze duty free shops once you have cleared security. Security checks have speeded up during this past year and it would appear to be more staff on duty during busy periods. Terminal 2 is now long overdue for refurbishing.

Overall good airport with attractive shopping facilities and layout. Only downside can be cleanliness at times and poor signage.

Terminal 1 has had a total revamp since I was last in it. Departures is now full of stylish shops but negotiating your way through those shops is like finding your way through a maze. On arrival back in Manchester from South America (via LHR) my bags arrived within 5 minutes of departing the aircraft and I was in the railway station 35 minutes after landing so no complaints about Manchester airport.

Arriving by LH or LX you are forced to walk downstairs after entering the building from the airbridge - just to be forced back upstairs a few yards down the corridor. Madness! Otherwise this airport offers reasonably short distances but small waiting areas at some gates.

Gone downhill since I lived in Manchester and was going downhill then. Generally shabby and the only improvement is in security facilities although charging £1 for a plastic bag for liquids is outrageous. Two particular complaints - moving walkways badly maintained I counted 4 out of 14 not working between the railway station and T2. Impossible in T2 to walk from security to departures without going through the duty free shop.

Overall a good experience. The redesigning of T1 airside and the consequent increased security check area has dramatically reduced the queues since the last time I used this airport. But there are far two many shops; being forced to pass through the huge duty free complex on departure is disorientating and slows progress through to the gate for those pax with not much time. And the amount of space dedicated to shops - even a supermarket! - in the arrivals area causes serious bottlenecks at busy times.

Much improved facilities since my last visit - more preferable to T3 at LHR in fact. Even with mid morning midweek arrival from CPH on non EU passport I was away from airport in hire car inside 1 hour. Access to North-South and East-West motorways excellent. Security for return flight no worse than many international airports I have transitted - at least the staff spoke English!

Checking in and getting through security is much improved at Manchester and they have got this pretty spot on. The facilities are good the staff always polite and the place very clean. However they have a bad problem with baggage on low cost or budget airlines. It can take up to an hour for the bags to start coming. On a flight with Jet2 in November 2010 it took an hour and 30 minutes to clear the airport from landing to getting in a cab. This was down to the fact it took over and hour to get our bag even though we seemed to be the only flight in that terminal at that time. This is not uncommon and they do need to sort it out. Also expect long queues at immigration on occasions even when coming in from the EU. This is also an area which is very poor with not enough staff for the volume of flights.

Terminal 2 outbound got through check-in and security quickly - on a Thursday afternoon in late September check-in was almost deserted. Security staff firm but polite and friendly to a fellow-passenger who seemed unaware of the 100ml limit on liquids/gels in hand baggage. On return in mid-October around lunchtime on a Saturday bags arrived quickly and we got from the aircraft to the rail station in under half an hour. My one gripe is the distance between the rail station and Terminal 2 - not helped outbound by the moving walkways being largely out of action. But overall a good experience.

Early check in for our 6 am flight polite and friendly check in staff. The airport was virtually empty and due to an early flight we thought as there were very few passengers security would be reasonably stress free. All I can say is passengers were fine but staff seemed to be hyped up even though there was only a trickle of passengers going through. My daughter was chosen by some female jobsworth to go through the body scanner and had orders barked at her - she was asked if she had liquids she didn't - took 3 times for this woman to ask my daughter and 3 times to for her to say emphatically "no". Seating was fine for us in the Departure Lounge but I suppose later seating would be difficult to find.