Manchester Airport

An awful experience. Arriving with a rental car, there are no signs for the return locations. I had to stop and ask four times. Took thirty minutes. Secondly, everyone takes an elevator to get to check in, causing a bottleneck and the terminal inside is so narrow, the line ups to check in impede any ability to walk by to your counter. Thirdly, after security one is forced to run the gauntlet through 100 yards of perfume counters, assaulted by competing "fragrances". Fourthly, I went to three restaurants for breakfast, sat down in each, waited for 15 minutes, with no service. Fifthly, the walkway to get to 15 gates is six feet wide, for passengers going in both directions, causing congestion at the last minute when boarding. A tired, badly run, airport, offering a vile travel experience. Give this one a miss if you can. On the other hand, the plane did leave and landed safely.

Manchester Airport is still old and dated. Customs and security check at departures is painfully slow and I don't understand why by now the airport hasn't managed to improve the screening process. That said the actual security staff are patient and courteous. I fly mostly from Terminal 2 and the entire airport looks dated and utilitarian. Considering this is a major regional airport the authorities should put some money into the place to actually give passengers the feeling that they are wanted.

Flew into Manchester airport with FlyBe from Amsterdam - Terminal 3. We arrived at the gate some minutes before the scheduled arrival time, but had to stay on the plane as ground personnel were not ready for us yet, and had to get stairs so we could off board. This took almost 15 minutes. Arrived at the baggage hall, it took almost 30 minutes before the first luggage arrived on the belt, and this was for an Embraer 175 which was half empty. Returned to the airport to fly out to Amsterdam again. The signage is very confusing, so I ended up in Departures - Security with luggage which I still needed to check in. Luckily one of the very friendly ladies at Security allowed me to get back to the general hall so I could find my way to Check-in (which was quite swift as it was very quiet). Went through Security, and ended up in the departure lounge which was absolutely packed with people. It's definitely too small to deal with the number of lights in the summer. People, noise, litter everywhere, quite hot, no place to sit, bars and restaurant packed so it was hard to grab a bite before getting on the plane. I'm used to London City which can be quite crowded as well, but it never feels as claustrophobic as I felt on this airport. Not a very pleasant experience.

It takes a lot to get me complaining, however I've travelled through Manchester airport so often now that I just need to let off some steam regarding T3. Such poor facilities with not enough places to eat or sit. After finally managing to grab a table I was then faced with the issue of leaving my bag there to reserve the table whilst I went to order some food. Why do they have order at the bar processes in airports when you're constantly reminded not to leave your bags unattended? No use for solo travellers. When my food eventually came, they couldn't supply me with a fork! They "had none". Enough said really.

Horrendous, chaotic experience at Manchester airport. Arrived 3.5 hours before flight was due to leave, I spent all my time queuing - initially for check in where hundreds queuing with not enough check in desks open. Check in staff were rude a total lack of customer care. The queuing continued throughout the security process - we were eventually taken to the front of the queue when we raised concerns about missing our flight. The staff once again were rude informing me if I missed my flight that was my problem. There were 3 X-Ray machines in operation this was causing the queues. We managed to board the aircraft with minutes to spare. We had no time to get refreshments to take on board or go to the toilet prior to boarding. The culture of this airport and its staff is they are doing you a favour by letting you fly from there. It needs to change and deploy sufficient resources to process its customers and ensure a pleasant experience. On return it was once again chaos - the e-passport system is a joke. I would not use this airport again through choice. I would rather pay more to travel from somewhere that appreciates their customers.

Despite arriving in plenty of time, we nearly missed our flight. Jet2 check in hall was a shambles. All flights in same queue so no prioritisation to flight time until the very last panic minute. Security painfully slow, both on the departure and arrival back. Really not good enough.

Using Manchester Airport used to be a pleasant experience but it has grown in size and declined in quality over recent years. Staff are rude and aggressive, queues are long and it's a very sterile unwelcoming place. When going through security last time I had mine and my wifes passport and boarding passes in my travel bag which I've always done to keep them safe and together. My stuff was selected for further searches for whatever reason and the attitude of the 'grunt' was unbelieveable. "Why do you have these passports?", "Where is your wife?" he asked as he rifled through the pages of both our passports, checking stamps and visas looking annoyed. It was totally beyond his remit, this was not immigration this was security, it had nothing to do with him and I really wish I'd have taken his name and made a complaint against him. Also, we always seem to land a mile away from the terminal and end up walking up and down stairs through the underbelly of the airport before we finally reach passport control. No moving elevators, a cramped space with everyone rushing around. Although Manchester is closest to me I'll really start looking at other airports such as Liverpool, Leeds, maybe Birmingham because I'm really sick and tired of Manchester airport.

What is going on at Manchester Airport. We have travelled through here twice in the last 2 months and both times have been horrendous. The queues are horrendous. The last time, (June 2016 Terminal 1) we arrived almost 3 hours before our flight, an hour earlier than we needed to. The queues for check in were miles long, we were taken out of the queue, as there was a possibility we would miss our flight. Then it was security, queues even longer. Staff extremely rude and unprofessional, yelling across the security hall 'If anything is in your hand luggage, that should be in the plastic bag, you're going to miss your flight, and that's your problem' in a most aggressive way. The staff all yelling and shouting. My husband was told to 'take his hands out of his pocket' not as he went through security, but as he was placing his bag on the table. Simply no need. When we finally got through, the final call for our flight was being called. Management need to read these reviews and do something about it, don't know what visitors must think of this chaos. There is a need for security, but maybe they need to invest in more staff, as this is unacceptable. This is a joke, but not a funny one. The arrival back was pretty much the same, the queues at the e-passports were unbelievable. More yelling staff. Not enough gates. Our bags were there when we came to pick them up, and no wonder we had been so long getting through security. Come on, get your act together.

Manchester airport is our local point of departures. It has grown but not in terms of passengers satisfaction. The security queues are long and slow. Then comes the departure area which is covered every square centimeter in shop displays and mirrors, looks more like hall of mirrors, in fact it can be difficult to follow signs to departure gates through this maze. Then there is a long walk to departure area. Arrivals is shambles, the EU/UK passport/immigration check queues were serpentine with passengers being directed to the back of the line which extended in to the arrival corridor. Our flight arrived at T1 old parking area, we disembarked via steps and then we had to go up, long walk, go down, long walk and after immigration area steps down again to baggage pick up area. This is arduous for anyone with any degree of difficulty! why cant there be escalators or aerobridges for all flights? The UK Borders agency needs to improve the passport queues or is it a universal phenomenon in UK with cuts in all government departments? Creates a bad impression for visitors to our country.

Flew out of Manchester earlier this week and I was amazed with the experience after previous visits. On departure going through security in Terminal 1, I was through security within 5 minutes - no queue, staff were very efficient. Once through security the Terminal was very busy - which is to be expected when nearing the busiest period of the year however there were plenty of seats available. On the return we arrived on Pier B and were straight into passport control. All desks were staffed and even the E-gates were working. As a result there was no queue there either - and when arrived in the baggage hall the bags were already there. No waiting. Landed at 21:50 and out by 22:08! 18 minutes after touchdown.