Manchester Airport. How can it be so bad?
Discussion
soxboy said:
Crumpet said:
I just really, really hate everything and everyone at Manchester airport. They couldn’t make travel more miserable if they tried.
I take it you’ve not tried Leeds Bradford then? Manchester is like a palace (shopping and catering) compared to LBA.I can take crap facilities as long as they’re efficient - hence why I don’t mind travelling in the US. Awful airports but they get you through efficiently.
Not sure what facilities you need from an airport, especially one as small as LBA. There's a few airport lounges and a few bars if you don't want to go in the lounge. Shopping doesn't feature for me in an airport so would have no idea whether that is good or not but I am a massive fan of LBA as its so small I am usually through there in minutes.
Yesterday wasn't helped by a bomb scare and evacuation just before I arrived. Fast track saw me skip what was probably a 2 hour queue back through to the jet2 check in desks again. Was in the door and through security in 15 mins with fast track. Lounges weren't accepting Lounge Key visitors until 4pm so had a drink downstairs and then moved to the lounge @ 4pm, bite to eat and a pint, boarded plane and departed/arrived on time. Can't complain. The Mrs is joining me today using Jet2 and not sure that will be as smooth for her.
Yesterday wasn't helped by a bomb scare and evacuation just before I arrived. Fast track saw me skip what was probably a 2 hour queue back through to the jet2 check in desks again. Was in the door and through security in 15 mins with fast track. Lounges weren't accepting Lounge Key visitors until 4pm so had a drink downstairs and then moved to the lounge @ 4pm, bite to eat and a pint, boarded plane and departed/arrived on time. Can't complain. The Mrs is joining me today using Jet2 and not sure that will be as smooth for her.
vaud said:
Lba needs more security capacity and/or better flight schedules to avoid the compression in the 6am-8am window.
I deliberately avoided that morning schedule but to be honest, the afternoon schedule is now no better. Must have been 15 - 20 flights between 3:30 - 6pm. Security was actually running at what appeared to be capacity from what I could see - all belts operating and plenty of staff. The issue was simply many flights (all of which seem to be at capacity) in a short period of time. Was the busiest I have witnessed it and certainly post-Covid.
tty towns in the local region. Shnozz said:
I deliberately avoided that morning schedule but to be honest, the afternoon schedule is now no better. Must have been 15 - 20 flights between 3:30 - 6pm.
Security was actually running at what appeared to be capacity from what I could see - all belts operating and plenty of staff. The issue was simply many flights (all of which seem to be at capacity) in a short period of time. Was the busiest I have witnessed it and certainly post-Covid.
It was mental at half term, even mid week was a 3hr queue in the morning…Security was actually running at what appeared to be capacity from what I could see - all belts operating and plenty of staff. The issue was simply many flights (all of which seem to be at capacity) in a short period of time. Was the busiest I have witnessed it and certainly post-Covid.
T2 last week to Antalya with only hand luggage. No issues at all on the way out and passed through security in about 20mins. Seemed like my normal experience. That said I was chatting to a couple who had waited 2hrs to check their bag in for a flight to the Maldives and another couple in the departure lounge arrived at 4.30am for a 7.30am flight and their latest update they'd be leaving at 5pm!
Arrived back last Sunday afternoon. Airport seemed deserted and from leaving the aircraft I was outside the terminal in less than 20mins.
Arrived back last Sunday afternoon. Airport seemed deserted and from leaving the aircraft I was outside the terminal in less than 20mins.
I went through manchester a couple of days ago and although it wasnt busy the queue for security was massive as they only had one machine open.
That was frustrating but after standing in a queue for 1.5 hours the number of people who act surprised they have to deal with liquids or electronics is insane. There was a lady in front of me who took 10 minutes to check every pocket of her bag etc. People like that should be shot :-)
That was frustrating but after standing in a queue for 1.5 hours the number of people who act surprised they have to deal with liquids or electronics is insane. There was a lady in front of me who took 10 minutes to check every pocket of her bag etc. People like that should be shot :-)
Flew out of Manchester T3 last Friday. Security was a breeze - 10 minutes max and I arrived at around 09.00. The fun thing was watching everyone who wanted a beer or wine having to stand in a queue for anything up to an hour as there was only 1 poor guy working on the bar!!
Other than that it was normal - busy but you could still find somewhere to sit so nowhere near as bad as the reports I'd read.
Other than that it was normal - busy but you could still find somewhere to sit so nowhere near as bad as the reports I'd read.
Flight meant to leave at 0745 (we’ll come back to that….)
Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Goa'uld said:
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
We've done Florida most years for 30 years now - we had a break and went with Thomsons (now TUI, of course) to Tenerife a few years ago and it was just horrible - capped off by a 12hr delay coming home which meant one of our daughters missed her best friend's 18th birthday party. I tried to get her on another flight to Liverpool but the only thing on TUI's mind was how much it would cost and what mechanism they could use to take the money off us.Hope everything works out OK for you - I know in ash cloud issue affecting flights back home from Florida it was people on packages who seemed to get looked afer best. Anyone self-organising was on their own.
T2 West Car Park was an absolute joke this afternoon.
For some stupid reason there's a single gate between the T2 Car Park and the T2 Arrivals lounge and, for some unfathomable reason, there were about 100 people waiting around the gate (with all their associated baggage). Trying to get through was like forcing your way through a scrum.
Then actually trying to get out of the car park took 30 minutes. It was gridlock. I have no idea what was causing the queues but my guess is that people were stopping the cars in the Exit Lane just to pick people up, resulting in all the cars behind them having to stop. Absolute morons. And that doesn't include the muppets who were parked on the roundabout at the end of Enterprise Way.
For some stupid reason there's a single gate between the T2 Car Park and the T2 Arrivals lounge and, for some unfathomable reason, there were about 100 people waiting around the gate (with all their associated baggage). Trying to get through was like forcing your way through a scrum.
Then actually trying to get out of the car park took 30 minutes. It was gridlock. I have no idea what was causing the queues but my guess is that people were stopping the cars in the Exit Lane just to pick people up, resulting in all the cars behind them having to stop. Absolute morons. And that doesn't include the muppets who were parked on the roundabout at the end of Enterprise Way.
Goa'uld said:
Flight meant to leave at 0745 (we’ll come back to that….)
Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Sensational first week of the cruise done, now on the coach to the resort for a week.Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Couldn’t recommend this combo enough from a young family perspective. Loads to do on the ship, pool is more than big enough for a splash about, kids were up late safely with us every night and the service from every staff member has been top notch. Kids were amazing in the searing heat of Rome, and we ate our way to and from the Colosseum. Honestly feels like we’ve already been away for 2 weeks with how packed each day has been with excursions etc.
We ended up in the airport on that first day for around 12 hours. Felt like Elon Musk with the amount of vouchers they kept handing out to keep everyone placid. The M&S looked like an episode of supermarket sweep with at least our flight in there.
We were one of the few lucky/unlucky families that had gotten through security before the flight delay was advertised, the rest of the flight were funneled straight downstairs to a holding area which we only joined at the end so at least we had a nice breakfast and mooch about to pass the time.
Great British cameraderie while waiting in the terminal for the flight and if anything it just made the cruise a more friendly affair having so many people we had already spoken with.
TUI cruise staff = amazing.
TUI MAN Airport staff = useless. Everyone understood there could be issues, all it would have taken to improve the situation was some simple communication however TUI were ghosts until we were boarding the flight.
Anyway. I’ve had this phone off other than as a camera the whole week and will do the same the second week, no Reddit or Pistonheads needed! Hope anyone else coming through Manchester fairs better than our departure…….and I shan’t even joke about our return to come next week!
Edited by Goa'uld on Saturday 2nd July 10:20
Due to fly out of Man soon and it's a morning departure so expecting it to be awful.
Is it worth doing the twilight bag drop-off in anyone's experience? I try and avoid having to park there these days at all so no idea what the current state of play is - am I going to get stiffed for parking if I do this?
Is it worth doing the twilight bag drop-off in anyone's experience? I try and avoid having to park there these days at all so no idea what the current state of play is - am I going to get stiffed for parking if I do this?
Goa'uld said:
Goa'uld said:
Flight meant to leave at 0745 (we’ll come back to that….)
Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Sensational first week of the cruise done, now on the coach to the resort for a week.Day before bag drop reopened for TUI a few days ago, so all bags checked in the day before no problem.
Premier Inn by Terminal 2 all good.
Meet and greet parking drop off this morning nailed.
Security was rapid, traveling with three young children so they put us through the assistance lane and it was faster than pre Covid solo business travel.
Then TUI text an update that the 0745 flight had been delayed to 2100.
We’re doing a weeks Med cruise and a weeks resort stay so at this rate we miss the cruise ship leaving at 2200 from Majorca.
Don’t want to trip the swearing filters, but we are rather peeved and no idea what the options are as the TUI reps on the phone are beyond useless.
We wouldn’t normally do all inclusive type hols preferring to assemble our own Florida hols, so the thought of a fall back of 2 weeks all inclusive at a resort is not attractive. Not snooty, we’re just more active and bored by the thought of being in one location for two weeks.
Couldn’t recommend this combo enough from a young family perspective. Loads to do on the ship, pool is more than big enough for a splash about, kids were up late safely with us every night and the service from every staff member has been top notch. Kids were amazing in the searing heat of Rome, and we ate our way to and from the Colosseum. Honestly feels like we’ve already been away for 2 weeks with how packed each day has been with excursions etc.
We ended up in the airport on that first day for around 12 hours. Felt like Elon Musk with the amount of vouchers they kept handing out to keep everyone placid. The M&S looked like an episode of supermarket sweep with at least our flight in there.
We were one of the few lucky/unlucky families that had gotten through security before the flight delay was advertised, the rest of the flight were funneled straight downstairs to a holding area which we only joined at the end so at least we had a nice breakfast and mooch about to pass the time.
Great British cameraderie while waiting in the terminal for the flight and if anything it just made the cruise a more friendly affair having so many people we had already spoken with.
TUI cruise staff = amazing.
TUI MAN Airport staff = useless. Everyone understood there could be issues, all it would have taken to improve the situation was some simple communication however TUI were ghosts until we were boarding the flight.
Anyway. I’ve had this phone off other than as a camera the whole week and will do the same the second week, no Reddit or Pistonheads needed! Hope anyone else coming through Manchester fairs better than our departure…….and I shan’t even joke about our return to come next week!
Edited by Goa'uld on Saturday 2nd July 10:20
Ended up getting around £1,800 cash compensation from TUI which they practically threw at us, and £500 in TUI vouchers.
Came back through Palma airport and it was very slick, the pickup of all bags at MAN was fine too.
All in all a cracking holiday and all the MAN stuff went fine for us, it was TUI that couldn’t organise themselves.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Due to fly out of Man soon and it's a morning departure so expecting it to be awful.
Is it worth doing the twilight bag drop-off in anyone's experience? I try and avoid having to park there these days at all so no idea what the current state of play is - am I going to get stiffed for parking if I do this?
Day before drop off went well for us. Is it worth doing the twilight bag drop-off in anyone's experience? I try and avoid having to park there these days at all so no idea what the current state of play is - am I going to get stiffed for parking if I do this?
My wife dropped me off at Terminal T2 and I grabbed a trolley to take all the cases in, that cost her £6 to drive out. Then she picked me up at the east car park under T2 for another £6. Best £12 ever spent as we waltzed by huge checkin queues the next morning.
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