Manchester Airport

What a shambles. On arriving at Passport control the queue was the worst I'd ever seen there. If you were entering from an EEC country you had to use the biometric passport reader. You were not allowed to go to a human being as we were told by using machines it kept costs down. You go straight to a border guard if you were from outside the EEC and you were through in no time. Forty five minutes to get through. Ridiculous.

I use this airport several times a year and have travelled through all three terminals. Very easy to get to either by road or using either the train or tram. The terminals are fairly far apart as is the train station. Make sure you know which terminal you are travelling from to save a lot of backtracking and wasted time. Check in areas are large, how well or quick it works depends on individual airlines. Because it is a major airport with most airlines having several flights, I would advise arriving extra early just in case your check-in is busy. Security can have long waits in peak season, even if every scanner is open, people still take time getting through. The airport sells a queue jump ticket for the security. It can only be bought in advance and costs £4. To me it's a no brainer, if security is busy you have just avoided a long wait and all the stress so you get to relax in departures sooner. If security is quiet then you are only out £4 which compared to the cost of most flights is nothing. After security, it is just like every other large airport. The same stores and a few eateries. Food and Drinks are overpriced compared to the real world but about normal compared to other UK airports. Often the eateries have money off vouchers available on the airport website so it's worth a check out. The gates could be 2 minutes walk from the shops or 20 minutes so don't leave it to the last minute before going to the gate. On arrival you will almost certainly have a long walk down dull corridors to reach security often without travelators, so if you have issues walking be aware. Security in arrivals always gets me through before my luggage arrives despite the queues. Overall the airport is always clean, the only real downsides is that the air con leaves the air really dry and that if you are on a late flight many of the shops will shut before you board.

It seems we are now being forced down the e-passport lane on arrival. This despite fewer people queuing at the traditional desks. And if you point out that the technology is flaky and often fails (leading to queues and frustration) you can now also expect passing stewardesses to involve themselves in the debate for no good reason. Wi-fi slow and restricted by time - a mile behind other European airports.

As a regular user of Manchester airport, I can safely say that their usual standards are slipping horrendously. Flew on a day return to Dublin with Ryanair - security staff were quite snappy to say the least but nowhere near as bad as the staff at Swissport. Outbound flight delayed by half an hour at least (I knew this due to looking at FlightRadar24) when I asked them about this I was told that the flight was on time. Boarding commenced (or in other words, got in the queues) before the aircraft (kudos to Ryanair, a week old 737-800) had actually left Dublin. When I showed them the FR24 data I was told "well, we thought it was on time". Flight arrived into Dublin 25 mins late. The flight back arrived early (despite leaving Dublin 30 mins late), however missed 2 trains due to the inconvenience of the airport and Swissport who bussed us 200 yards which took a grand total of 20 minutes. Disgraceful. I will use the airport due to convenience - however Leeds Bradford will be my first port of call from now.

Arrived into Machester at 01:20 on 1 June (10 mins early) on an Easyjet flight from Dalaman. Was redirected to a queue some 250 yards down a corridor to begin an hour long wait. None of the staff would give any explanation. Fellow travellers were speculating that there were only 1 or 2 control officers on site or e-visa IT problems again. The staff refused to give any explanation. When we got within sight of the control desks we saw over a dozen armed police in attendance, so it was obviously a security alert. People would have been far more patient if more information had been available. Someone did say that a number of planes had landed close together, and one of these, from Antalya, had been delayed. As it takes over 4 hours to fly from Antalya this should have been plenty of time for a contingency plan to be implemented.

Manchester Airport is truly dystopian. Worst experience in an airport to date. Security was disorganized, slow, rechecked bags, and uses a standard for carry on items different from most other airports. Don't fly through. The queue itself was long without any ability to judge wait time.

Most of the time I fly from Manchester with Lufthansa and the check-in process is straightforward. Then through to security - here staff seem to be self appointed judges of other people's time as they seem to make up the rules as they go along. Judging by their attitude and behaviour, not even the most basic form of human interaction is in place, a simple please or thank you for example. Now the security ordeal is completed one has to manage an enforced hurdle run through a duty free area with no clear signage how to get out of there. Gates are only announced just before departure resulting in constant last calls for passengers and threats of gate closure. One has to hang around and look from where the flight is to leave, with no option to maybe spend time in one of the substandard "catering outlets" or to sit down somewhere. If one thought departure is a nightmare, wait for your arrival - passengers are guided through a maze of narrow corridors with steps going up and down for no obvious reason, with no help or assistance to older passengers or families with children. At passport control the E-machines are most of the time not working - if they are don't bother with them because they are slow and after passing they want to see the passport anyway. The staffed desks for passport control seem to have taken part in the same "customer service" training as security staff. As if this is not enough, after having spend up to an hour waiting to get through to baggage belts, here one has to wait an other 45 minutes to get the luggage, so in short - it often takes longer to get through this airport as the time it took to travel to this place. The management should go to places like Zurich, Munich or any other airport in the world to see how an "International" airport is organised and run.

Drop-off is a shambles at Manchester airport - compulsory "cattle" elevator to departure area with incredible queues at check-in (Thomas Cook). Rude, pompous, officious check-in staff (Thomas Cook). Security check - slow, staffed by jobsworths. Forced route from security through obstacle stroon "duty free" shop to reach the departure lounge. Herded to gate with "gate closing" or "last call" when in fact gate is not even open. Terrible shops everywhere. No decent bars or food outlets. A truly terrible experience on every level.

This has to be the worst airport in the UK. The staff in security are so rude - customer service and even basic civility just don't seem to exist at all. In fact I would go as far as saying if you make any comment you just get your bag stopped for a second time - they seem to think that is a fun thing to do. And the car park booking - don't even bother trying to phone to amend a booking. The phone seems to be permanently busy during working hours of 9 until 6 - but then they don't seem to work all those hours anyway and you get the answerphone saying that the office is closed just 6 pm - even if the time is only 5.30 pm. You could try the customer contact centre if you can afford the 1 hour await to get through to an operator who then puts you through to an non existent number that just rings out for hours. Avoid this airport like the plague. Customer service does not exist.

This is the worst airport I have ever had the misfortune to end up at. The layout is chaotic and the signage is very poor. My experience at security was dreadful, the staff were unbelievably rude to all the customers. One member of staff in particular seemed to switch between shouting at people and then gossiping with his colleague about how stupid customers are (very loudly). There was total chaos in the whole security area. Once you are in the departure 'lounge' it is completely packed with people, there is very little seating so most people are standing. It feels more like being on a packed commuter train than in an airport. This airport is a total disgrace and an utter embarrassment to the UK. Would I fly from Manchester again? Absolutely not.