Manchester Airport. How can it be so bad?

[usn90]

Is Manchester really that bad in terms of queuing?

We’re due to fly from there in 3 weeks, reading the media it would seem we’re in for a nightmare however I’ve had 2 relatives fly and return in the last few weeks both reporting normal function.

Just wondering if they were lucky on these occasions or if the medias blowing it all out of proportion

[JeffreyD]

usn90 said:

Is Manchester really that bad in terms of queuing?

We’re due to fly from there in 3 weeks, reading the media it would seem we’re in for a nightmare however I’ve had 2 relatives fly and return in the last few weeks both reporting normal function.

Just wondering if they were lucky on these occasions or if the medias blowing it all out of proportion

It seems a bit off and on.
My son went through a couple of weeks ago and it was bad but not terrible.

The queues to get in to departures and cancelling of fast track are definitely real - they just aren't happening all the time.

[98elise]

Are other airports also having problems?

My wife said Stansted got mentioned on a news item about the Manchester delays. We flew from Stansted in March and it was fine then.

We're flying again from Stansted on 21st May so hoping it's not chaos.

[JeffreyD]

98elise said:

Are other airports also having problems?

My wife said Stansted got mentioned on a news item about the Manchester delays. We flew from Stansted in March and it was fine then.

We're flying again from Stansted on 21st May so hoping it's not chaos.

That's what I was trying to ascertain


It seems a very mixed bag.

But I'd rather spend a few hours on the train to a different airport that stand in Manchester T1 car queuing to join a queue

[vikingaero]

Seems to be a surge in bookings from people deciding on last minute holidays and using credit/vouchers from Covid years:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61405632

All that is going to more strain on the airports.

Is it me or do people who book holidays not think? I'd be going ferk that, stay at home/in the UK/use another airport/drive. And I'd plan to travel on a less busy day - why travel over a bank holiday/start of summer holidays when it will be chaos and moan about it? Why not go a week later?

[JeffreyD]

I am pretty sure numbers are still down from 2019.

[anonymous-user]

JeffreyD said:

I am pretty sure numbers are still down from 2019.

Sure but it’s the number of employees (in multiple different airports/airlines/handling agents etc) that are more down and that’s causing the issues.

Demand is up, as most expected but all these different employers just can’t get employees quick enough.

It’s not just happening at Manchester and Birmingham but these airports are where the results of shortages are most visible.

[Monkeylegend]

JeffreyD said:

I am pretty sure numbers are still down from 2019.

TUI say they expect to almost reach 2019 levels with no last minute deals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61405632

[JeffreyD]

Monkeylegend said:

TUI say they expect to almost reach 2019 levels with no last minute deals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61405632

The key words being "expect to almost reach" meaning the issue isn't caused by passenger numbers so much, rather it's caused by a lack of staff.

[anonymous-user]

JeffreyD said:

Monkeylegend said:

TUI say they expect to almost reach 2019 levels with no last minute deals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61405632

The key words being "expect to almost reach" meaning the issue isn't caused by passenger numbers so much, rather it's caused by a lack of staff.

It both really, large passenger numbers and not enough staff to cope with those numbers.

[Carl_Manchester]

vikingaero said:

Seems to be a surge in bookings from people deciding on last minute holidays and using credit/vouchers from Covid years:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61405632

All that is going to more strain on the airports.

Is it me or do people who book holidays not think? I'd be going ferk that, stay at home/in the UK/use another airport/drive. And I'd plan to travel on a less busy day - why travel over a bank holiday/start of summer holidays when it will be chaos and moan about it? Why not go a week later?

After an initial price gouge in January, I would say the opposite has happened and if i had waited until today to book my hotel and flights I would have at least a grand.

TUI blatantly ripped people off with the 'free' flight COVID rebook offer over this Christmas, it would not surprise me if they were investigated for what they did by the regulator. My flight (x3 return tickets to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria) is 500 pounds cheaper today than when i took my 'free' rebook in January and they price gouged me.

Hotels are similar, they started off the year with very strong prices and are now capitulating because June bookings are down 10-15%.

I saved 400 euros this morning for a 10 minute phonecall with the hotel reservation team who simply rebooked my hotel booking on todays price rather than Januarys price, for the same dates in June.

[WCZ]

my friend flew from t3 at mid day today, said it was okay - 30 mins for security

when it's bad is really bad but when it's not it's okay

[Prolex-UK]

WCZ said:

my friend flew from t3 at mid day today, said it was okay - 30 mins for security

when it's bad is really bad but when it's not it's okay

Was better for me than expected.

Hour from queuing for bag drop the clearing security 30 mins of that was them not being open

[Thankyou4calling]

JeffreyD said:

I am pretty sure numbers are still down from 2019.

As I posted above LHR is more than 25% down on the equivalent month in 2019 and that’s the best they’ve had for over 2 years so yes, well down.

[monty999]

Tuesday morning flight 9:45 T2.Due to all the publicity the day before on the news, arrived 4 hours prior to departure. Easy car park t2 west multi storey, into terminal, bag check in took about 2 minutes (Jet2), there were more red coats than customers ! Security queue was miles long and was quite worrying, however moved fairly steadily and took just over an hour. No need to worry though as throughout the whole queue staff were going up and down asking for passengers with flight times and they got taken out of the queue. We found the staff to be quite organised and sympathetic to the situation although the media hype seems to be constantly fuelling the panic. We spent nearly 2 1/2 hours in the departure lounge drinking coffee so 3 hours would have been easily sufficient. Credit to Jet2 for the bag drop off, unless we just got lucky.

[Monkeylegend]

Absolute carnage this morning everywhere it seems.

And yes I know how you all feel about the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10808337/...

[Shnozz]

Monkeylegend said:

Absolute carnage this morning everywhere it seems.

And yes I know how you all feel about the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10808337/...

Yep - as per my post yesterday morning, LBA was a snake queue throughout the entire airport. We had to be pulled out of the queue and fast tracked to make the gate before it closed. Worst I have ever witnessed.

Friends of mine were flying from there a little later in the day and said it had eased by then but early morning was chaos.

[gmasterfunk]

This still worrying, Im out of MAN to CDG on sunday morning T2 about 10ish, hand luggage only, but what time. Im thinking about 730am?

Noting I went MAN to newquay a few weeeks back and there was 0 queue in T1 I mean zero, i normally take watch off etc in queue and I had to do it as I loaded the grey boxes.

[Pete102]

I fly every 2 weeks between Switzerland and the UK. Generally the airports I use vary between Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow depending on flight cost and times. I never fly with checked in luggage.

Most recently I've been using Gatwick and Heathrow without issue, time through security is generally less than 15 minutes unless the facial recognition booths are having a moment. The last time I flew via Manchester it was over an hour, for no obvious reason, I managed to pay the £5 for fast-track and it was still a big wait, no doubt people missed flights because of it. Thinking about it, coming back into Manchester was the same on a late flight, border control was easily 50 minutes - not great when you have a train booked.

My next flights back are via Manchester so I'll update this thread then, but both flights are in the afternoon. It can be a real lottery as to time at security or border control is long.

[vindaloo79]

Shnozz said:

Monkeylegend said:

Absolute carnage this morning everywhere it seems.

And yes I know how you all feel about the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10808337/...

Yep - as per my post yesterday morning, LBA was a snake queue throughout the entire airport. We had to be pulled out of the queue and fast tracked to make the gate before it closed. Worst I have ever witnessed.

Friends of mine were flying from there a little later in the day and said it had eased by then but early morning was chaos.

That’s sounds incredibly stressful. And a long way for a queue to snake at LBA…. We fly in June with young kids, I hope they get enough staff by then…..