Manchester Airport. How can it be so bad?
Discussion
El stovey said:
Shnozz said:
Dog Star said:
Crikey, Fink Nottle!
However my saga is not yet over - I’m sat on the tarmac in Malaga, not Gib. We had to land due to a “medical emergency “; hopefully we will be back in the air soon.
What a palaver! Just give me a beer!
Blimey. Can only be 10 minutes further by air! Hardly seems worthwhile bringing a plane down for a couple of minutes.However my saga is not yet over - I’m sat on the tarmac in Malaga, not Gib. We had to land due to a “medical emergency “; hopefully we will be back in the air soon.
What a palaver! Just give me a beer!
Having flown pretty much issue free from Heathrow to Aberdeen last plane last night, was back at the airport this morning for SAS to Norway - no issues with that either. Had to feel for the poor souls that were told at the gate that their Tui flight to Dalaman was cancelled today, and would try again tomorrow.
GreatGranny said:
Daughter flew Man to Faro Thursday evening and didn't report any issues.
Maybe going on a weekday evening means less crowds although it was half term.
Also varies by Terminal - T2 seems to be generally OK, and wife went through a few weeks ago at around 9am (was at the airport earlier but Air France didn’t open check-in until 8.30 for the 10.30 flight) and walked almost straight through security despite there being several flights to the US going around the same time as hers.Maybe going on a weekday evening means less crowds although it was half term.
T1 & T3 seem to be generally a nightmare,
Booking a flight in late July this week out of BHX to Spain. I checked their timetable and they have roughly 40 flights taking off between 6-7am compared with 20 flights between 4-5pm on the same day. I’m not convinced the problems with security will be resolved by then, plus there will be an increase in passenger numbers, so am only considering afternoon flights even if it means a change of destination airport and a longer drive to my place.
Blown2CV said:
Manchester is terrible: confirmed. Flew out from T3, which is like a s
thead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up,
that's awful, where is the police prescence ?thead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up, Phil. said:
Booking a flight in late July this week out of BHX to Spain. I checked their timetable and they have roughly 40 flights taking off between 6-7am compared with 20 flights between 4-5pm on the same day. I’m not convinced the problems with security will be resolved by then, plus there will be an increase in passenger numbers, so am only considering afternoon flights even if it means a change of destination airport and a longer drive to my place.
Hey Phil - how did you check the airports combined timetable in advance out of interest? I am going to want to do the same to see what time of the day there are least flights.
WCZ said:
Blown2CV said:
Manchester is terrible: confirmed. Flew out from T3, which is like a sthead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up,
that's awful, where is the police prescence ?thead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up, Blown2CV said:
WCZ said:
Blown2CV said:
Manchester is terrible: confirmed. Flew out from T3, which is like a sthead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up,
that's awful, where is the police prescence ?thead detention centre. There was a benidorm flight before us, with groups of lads literally throwing beer in the gate queue, and offering to slice people (me) in half. My wife tried to take our daughter to the toilet (which was a hastily constructed unisex st pit) and was told to avoid it because there was a brawl between groups of lads in there and there are no staff to break them up, te from p1ssed up stag parties jeering at her and generally being loutish. She also had a flight travelling solo where she was subject to the usual crap but also then one of the stag party got his tackle out in the bus from the plane to the terminal and proceeded to piss all over the floor. Makes you proud to be British.
The flight is usually a bizarre mix of those sorts off to Benidorm and the other half of the flight being relatively well to do sorts off to their holiday homes. There is a joyous sense of relief as we exit the road from the airport to head South as the louts head North on their coaches for the bright lights of Benidorm.
Don’t put up with that kind of behaviour. Airlines will have zero issue denying boarding to anyone in that state or having them met by the police on arrival or even diverting and having them arrested en route. I’d have no problems whatsoever with not letting people like that on a flight or kicking them off.
If order has broken down in the terminal/bus/wherever like that due to lack of ground staff, then call the police or when you get on board tell the crew.
If order has broken down in the terminal/bus/wherever like that due to lack of ground staff, then call the police or when you get on board tell the crew.
El stovey said:
Don’t put up with that kind of behaviour. Airlines will have zero issue denying boarding to anyone in that state or having them met by the police on arrival or even diverting and having them arrested en route. I’d have no problems whatsoever with not letting people like that on a flight or kicking them off.
If order has broken down in the terminal/bus/wherever like that due to lack of ground staff, then call the police or when you get on board tell the crew.
All good in theory. We were on a flight to Palma a few years ago where a stag do started kicking off at the back of the plane. The Ryanair crew effectively ran away.If order has broken down in the terminal/bus/wherever like that due to lack of ground staff, then call the police or when you get on board tell the crew.
The group were not only pissed but had clearly taken some extra substances, shouldn’t even have been let on the plane.
Upon landing we had to wait whilst some were marched off by police. As we left the plane to board the bus we could see them on the tarmac being talked to by the police - we then had to wait on the bus on the tarmac as the protagonists were then put back on the bus as if nothing had happened!
Shnozz said:
Hey Phil - how did you check the airports combined timetable in advance out of interest?
I am going to want to do the same to see what time of the day there are least flights.
Hi there! Hope you’re good. I am going to want to do the same to see what time of the day there are least flights.
I used this link for BHX: https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/arrivals-and-d...
Similar for Leeds Bradford: https://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/flights/dep...
Just counted the departures between various time slots to get a comparison and estimate the relative passenger numbers.
soxboy said:
All good in theory. We were on a flight to Palma a few years ago where a stag do started kicking off at the back of the plane. The Ryanair crew effectively ran away.
The group were not only pissed but had clearly taken some extra substances, shouldn’t even have been let on the plane.
Upon landing we had to wait whilst some were marched off by police. As we left the plane to board the bus we could see them on the tarmac being talked to by the police - we then had to wait on the bus on the tarmac as the protagonists were then put back on the bus as if nothing had happened!
That’s pretty unusual tbh.The group were not only pissed but had clearly taken some extra substances, shouldn’t even have been let on the plane.
Upon landing we had to wait whilst some were marched off by police. As we left the plane to board the bus we could see them on the tarmac being talked to by the police - we then had to wait on the bus on the tarmac as the protagonists were then put back on the bus as if nothing had happened!
I’ve had the police meet aircraft in various countries and the outcome for those met was never good and they certainly never rejoined the other passengers on a bus or whatever.
Shnozz said:
We have to run the gauntlet of the Alicante flight on a regular basis and the Benidorm crowd can make for a miserable experience. Mrs Shnozz has been subject to all sorts of ste from p1ssed up stag parties jeering at her and generally being loutish. She also had a flight travelling solo where she was subject to the usual crap but also then one of the stag party got his tackle out in the bus from the plane to the terminal and proceeded to piss all over the floor.
Makes you proud to be British.
The flight is usually a bizarre mix of those sorts off to Benidorm and the other half of the flight being relatively well to do sorts off to their holiday homes. There is a joyous sense of relief as we exit the road from the airport to head South as the louts head North on their coaches for the bright lights of Benidorm.
We prefer to arrive at Murcia as there are very few stag parties heading that far south and it’s closer to our place. But there are only two flights a week presently so expect we’ll be flying in to Alicante this summer but will be avoiding travelling Fridays and Sundays. Although the last time I flew out of Alicante early on a Mon there was one British chap throwing up in a bin before going through security. te from p1ssed up stag parties jeering at her and generally being loutish. She also had a flight travelling solo where she was subject to the usual crap but also then one of the stag party got his tackle out in the bus from the plane to the terminal and proceeded to piss all over the floor. Makes you proud to be British.
The flight is usually a bizarre mix of those sorts off to Benidorm and the other half of the flight being relatively well to do sorts off to their holiday homes. There is a joyous sense of relief as we exit the road from the airport to head South as the louts head North on their coaches for the bright lights of Benidorm.
Phil. said:
Hi there! Hope you’re good.
I used this link for BHX: https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/arrivals-and-d...
Similar for Leeds Bradford: https://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/flights/dep...
Just counted the departures between various time slots to get a comparison and estimate the relative passenger numbers.
Ah thanks mate - so you are assuming the same flight pattern will be in place in July? I was wondering if you could look in advance for a certain day but makes sense to adopt the same approach. Anecdotal rule of thumb seems to be avoid mornings and you stand less chance of a problem! Just when Covid is a thing of the past now renewed travel BS! I used this link for BHX: https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/arrivals-and-d...
Similar for Leeds Bradford: https://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/flights/dep...
Just counted the departures between various time slots to get a comparison and estimate the relative passenger numbers.
Shnozz said:
Phil. said:
Hi there! Hope you’re good.
I used this link for BHX: https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/arrivals-and-d...
Similar for Leeds Bradford: https://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/flights/dep...
Just counted the departures between various time slots to get a comparison and estimate the relative passenger numbers.
Ah thanks mate - so you are assuming the same flight pattern will be in place in July? I was wondering if you could look in advance for a certain day but makes sense to adopt the same approach. Anecdotal rule of thumb seems to be avoid mornings and you stand less chance of a problem! Just when Covid is a thing of the past now renewed travel BS! I used this link for BHX: https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/arrivals-and-d...
Similar for Leeds Bradford: https://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/flights/dep...
Just counted the departures between various time slots to get a comparison and estimate the relative passenger numbers.
All these arrivals are just two different flights.
One from Amsterdam and one from Frankfurt
Shnozz said:
Ah thanks mate - so you are assuming the same flight pattern will be in place in July? I was wondering if you could look in advance for a certain day but makes sense to adopt the same approach. Anecdotal rule of thumb seems to be avoid mornings and you stand less chance of a problem! Just when Covid is a thing of the past now renewed travel BS!
I think the summer schedules are more or less in place and agree with the avoid mornings rule for now. We’re not booking a return and hope to fly back via Murcia, which is empty at the busiest times. idiotic lads really, many of them will be carrying drugs on the plane too / snorting them (I don't have a problem with this personally if they are well behaved) but the reality is they shouldn't wanting to be drawing attention to themselves as presumably the penalties for carrying drugs to spain are quite large?
El stovey said:
Even in Manchester it’s slowly improving though, new employees are being trainedand once they all get on line it will likely improve some more, the timescale I’ve been told is to expect things to get back to normal HOPEFULLY for the main school holidays in July. Obviously the problem will improve as demand and passenger numbers drop after the half term anyway.
The added issue at the moment in Manchester is that it’s so bad there currently that new employees are being trained or starting a job in what is a complete st show and are understandably leaving after a few days.
Chatting to a mate this weekend who's son started there recently, did his 4 weeks or so basic training and was enjoying the new colleagues etc then was asked to work illegally on the scanner, when he questioned doing an illegal act he was told to get on and do it (i don't know if it's illegal or not) he refused and walked out of the job he was enjoying 2 days later. The added issue at the moment in Manchester is that it’s so bad there currently that new employees are being trained or starting a job in what is a complete s
t show and are understandably leaving after a few days.Another pal middle aged/elder woman absolute top worker in anything she's done worked there a while but gave it up eventually due to the crap working conditions and crap pay. They lost an excellent dedicated worker there, but they don't seem to care.
I'm surprised they haven't stopped flying there and just run the business on overpriced parking/drop off and the horrible slog thru the shops to actually get to the main point of being there, to get on a plane and do one.
Flew to MAN from Athens last night.
Massively busy in general when we arrived at Athens with 3 hours to departure. Only 3 Jet2 check-in/bag drop desks opened for 3 different Jet 2 flights 90 minutes prior to departure. Got on the aircraft 1 hour late and then sat on the stand for a further 20 minutes due to incorrect paperwork. Then sat on the stand for a further 30 minutes after the doors closing due to an ATC delay. Finally pushed back and a 3 hour 50 mins flight to MAN.
Landed at MAN (T2 terminal for some reason) and held on the apron for 20 minutes as the arrival stand had not been prepared. When we were finally allowed onto the stand, we were told that no staircases were currently available so had a further 20 minutes wait on the plane. One staircase finally arrived and the whole aircraft was cleared of passengers through the back door (never seen that before). We were then bussed to Terminal 1. The escalator to take passengers up into the terminal was out of order, so everyone was on the stairs which had various red buckets catching drips as it was raining.
Then it was Passport Control which was absolutely heaving – but if you had a kid with you &/or a non-UK passport, you were ‘fast-tracked’ to the left-hand side and expedited through. If you didn’t have kids & a UK passport you were in a long queue (which kept rolling to be fair) and were through there in around 20 minutes.
After that, I was at the carousel (each carousel was showing 4/5 different flights which is unusual) and waited around 10 minutes for our bags – much better than I imagined.
The airport itself was filthy with litter everywhere and the toilets looking like they hadn’t been cleaned for days and no soap to wash your hands with (broken dispenser fittings and empty substitute plastic bottles).
Athens by comparison was immaculately clean despite dealing with vastly more people on a daily basis. It also has some good shops & excellent food places which were all operating properly.
On the way out of MAN on Jet2 10 days earlier (arrived at 4.00am for a 6.30am flight) it was also chaos at the bag drop (automated machines which needed human supervision on each one, rendering them almost pointless) with massive queues. We had Fast-Track booked for security which worked a treat (relatively) as the non-Fast-Track side was chaos. Was still amazed at the people who were acting like they’d never left the house before, let alone flown – the amount of liquids being dragged away and people not knowing how to take off their belt or baseball cap was unbelievable.
Then it was through to Departures and it was a choice of a Pret sandwich if you could find a stool or join the long queue for a rubbish Giraffe/generic chain type place ‘meal’. Got away on time though. No issue getting through Athens at the other end and very efficient.
MAN is a sthole at the best of times but it almost felt like entering a Third World country last night. I’m not looking forward to the other flights I have booked in & out of there.
Just my experience - I think we were actually lucky yesterday when I see the news.
Massively busy in general when we arrived at Athens with 3 hours to departure. Only 3 Jet2 check-in/bag drop desks opened for 3 different Jet 2 flights 90 minutes prior to departure. Got on the aircraft 1 hour late and then sat on the stand for a further 20 minutes due to incorrect paperwork. Then sat on the stand for a further 30 minutes after the doors closing due to an ATC delay. Finally pushed back and a 3 hour 50 mins flight to MAN.
Landed at MAN (T2 terminal for some reason) and held on the apron for 20 minutes as the arrival stand had not been prepared. When we were finally allowed onto the stand, we were told that no staircases were currently available so had a further 20 minutes wait on the plane. One staircase finally arrived and the whole aircraft was cleared of passengers through the back door (never seen that before). We were then bussed to Terminal 1. The escalator to take passengers up into the terminal was out of order, so everyone was on the stairs which had various red buckets catching drips as it was raining.
Then it was Passport Control which was absolutely heaving – but if you had a kid with you &/or a non-UK passport, you were ‘fast-tracked’ to the left-hand side and expedited through. If you didn’t have kids & a UK passport you were in a long queue (which kept rolling to be fair) and were through there in around 20 minutes.
After that, I was at the carousel (each carousel was showing 4/5 different flights which is unusual) and waited around 10 minutes for our bags – much better than I imagined.
The airport itself was filthy with litter everywhere and the toilets looking like they hadn’t been cleaned for days and no soap to wash your hands with (broken dispenser fittings and empty substitute plastic bottles).
Athens by comparison was immaculately clean despite dealing with vastly more people on a daily basis. It also has some good shops & excellent food places which were all operating properly.
On the way out of MAN on Jet2 10 days earlier (arrived at 4.00am for a 6.30am flight) it was also chaos at the bag drop (automated machines which needed human supervision on each one, rendering them almost pointless) with massive queues. We had Fast-Track booked for security which worked a treat (relatively) as the non-Fast-Track side was chaos. Was still amazed at the people who were acting like they’d never left the house before, let alone flown – the amount of liquids being dragged away and people not knowing how to take off their belt or baseball cap was unbelievable.
Then it was through to Departures and it was a choice of a Pret sandwich if you could find a stool or join the long queue for a rubbish Giraffe/generic chain type place ‘meal’. Got away on time though. No issue getting through Athens at the other end and very efficient.
MAN is a s
thole at the best of times but it almost felt like entering a Third World country last night. I’m not looking forward to the other flights I have booked in & out of there.Just my experience - I think we were actually lucky yesterday when I see the news.
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