Manchester Airport

Security at Manchester airport was absolute chaos - 80% of people had a secondary bag search. I was stopped for an electric toothbrush and got through at 9.20. My flight was departing at 9.20. Staff were rude and officious. One guy was stopped because he had a bag of tea and a phone charger and hair straighteners are apparently in that category too. Manchester is seriously behind other European airports and they would do well to train staff in customer service. Most whom I have come across think they're the first line of defence and are rude with it. It was a most terrible experience.

Inconvenient hire car drop off, allow at least half an hour from arriving at drop off to getting into terminal. No problem at airline check in counter but then ludicrously long queues at security with surly staff. 'Failed' x-ray of carry on bag twice so had to have manual checks. One reason was 'too many cables', the second was 'unbagged liquid' - a 5ml bottle of ear drops. No problem with these items in Dubai or when coming from Australia. So it took 40 min to get through security. Dreadful when compared with Asian or Middle Eastern and even Gatwick or Heathrow airports

What can you say about Manchester airport except deliberate chaos. Arrival: no unexpected problems other than no staff. I should have chosen the "Outside of EU" passport queue, it was shorter and moved faster. The real fun started at departure: 1) Carry luggage only walking arrows very confusing. 2) Security Theatre at its finest and most spiteful (10 years of liquid checks and they have made absolutely no difference to security): - Only 3 or 4 X-ray machines open. - Deliberate policy of extending the wait for those who have not placed all possible liquids or containers ("You will have to wait up to 55 minutes for a personal bag search if anything is found" as they said). 3) Gates only showed on the board at the time boarding was due to start, so everyone had to run across the airport together. Basically there was no element of the experience that should not be changed. They have managed to make the idiotic security theatre even more unpleasant.

Manchester Airport Terminal 3 must be ranked one of the worst terminals in the UK. Drop off point is a shambles, limited space. Security queues in this day and age are unacceptably long with ground staff shouting out flight numbers, repeated message that if you don't remove your liquids you bag will take longer. I think we all know that by now, remove your liquids and your bag is removed for a further search, rude security staff happy to chat to each other with no sense of urgency. When you finally get through this you walk down a narrow corridor into an appalling excuse for a departure lounge, dirty seating and floors. Is no where in the same league as Liverpool Heathrow and many other UK airports.

I landed in Manchester after a long journey from Asia. I joined the long queue for the bio-metric passport machine which for the second successive time at Manchester, did not work with my passport even though I was doing everything correctly (it's not difficult). The member of staff at the gate was barking instructions at customers, telling them how to use the machine as if people were stupid. Then when the machines did not work, as they didn't for many, they were quite aggressively ordered to get out of the queue and join the other long queue for the normal desks. The lady did not even give people another chance to try the machine, stating 'people are waiting'. My passport works at every other biometric machine that I've used in various places all over the world - why does it not work in Manchester? The issue was further aggravated by the unpleasant staff member. I cringe when I think of the overseas visitors arriving into this scruffy, shambles of an airport.

Terrible will never fly from there again. Long queues, inexperienced staff, no customer service. Arrived 3 hours before flight at 5.40am expecting to drop bags off as had already checked in online then relax and have breakfast. No such luck, hearded like cattle in a never ending queue and supervisors response was new season new staff, should new staff not be trained in the quieter winter months? We finally made it through security to departures as the flight was boarding. No relaxing start to ours and other peoples holiday. Disgraceful for a modern airport.

I am a frequent flyer, Manchester is my "local" airport. My problem with this airport is the security process. Over the past decade, management of this function has been consistently poor. Long queues, sometimes snaking outside the departure building! The term "cattle are treated better" is not an exaggeration. Like any other business, treat your staff with respect and they will treat your customers with respect. The company that is contracted to carry out the security process, clearly are in the other camp. Staff turnover is an issue, I never see the same faces. Poor training leads to inconsistencies. I was last pulled over, along with a lot of others for my collapsed umbrella, this same umbrella that has travelled round the globe with me and my wife!!!

✅ Verified Review | We arrived in good time at Manchester airport to pass security and proceed to departures where we intended to get a meal and refreshments. Security was totally and outrageously pathetic. Queues at first seemed busy until we reached the main queuing system. Progress was so slow that the thought of getting much needed food was rapidly becoming unreal. Travellers suffered with over-tired children who were hot and very bothered with nowhere to sit, stuffy hot conditions in a crowded space under a low ceiling. When we finally arrived at the scanning lanes (16 of them but only 4 operating) some staff were sitting at empty lanes simply staring at monitors while we stewed in the heat. Whilst passengers were becoming more irate after 1.5 hours in the queue, the ultimate horror was a staff member instructing us to be patient - What an insult. Finally to the scanner lane and the abuse continued with the most ignorant staff I have ever met anywhere. So we rushed along with parents with exhausted children.

I fly a lot for work, leisure and as an expat to go home but I have never experienced such rude, unpleasant security staff as in Manchester. My partner was forced to throw away some of her personal products that were not even liquid. Once she was flagged and the staff put her bags once again at the beginning of the belt instead of finishing to check her on the spot. This happens to all with the result that an upset crowd waiting for their bags is a constant feature of the place. Silly procedures and extremely rude staff. We almost lost the flight and we are sure that some unlucky others did.

I have never experienced anything like it at Manchester Airport security check point - disgustingly rude staff asking questions and not giving you time to answer. Ordering you to do something, then slamming your bags through the scanner to be rejected numerous times. Having staff that want to be there would be an improvement. Tell customers what you want before we get there and maybe this will help you get people through quick and stress free instead of every person having their bag checked and rechecked - hardly any bags got through. My daughters pram took over 10 minutes to be returned to her - it just sat there while she held 14kgs of child waiting. I travelled through one of the busiest airports in the world after this (Singapore Changi) and it was calm, polite and organised.