Manchester Airport. How can it be so bad?

[AnhBanhBao]

I’m dropping my wife off at T2 on Wednesday; as there’s no free drop-off anymore does anyone know of any other options?

We’d even be happy dropping off at a nearby tram stop and paying for the fare. After 10 years working at the airport in the past, I despise few things/organisations as much as the airport and their handling agents.

[deckster]

AnhBanhBao said:

I’m dropping my wife off at T2 on Wednesday; as there’s no free drop-off anymore does anyone know of any other options?

We’d even be happy dropping off at a nearby tram stop and paying for the fare. After 10 years working at the airport in the past, I despise few things/organisations as much as the airport and their handling agents.

Google much?

https://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/parking/pick-u...

[AnhBanhBao]

Yeah, I suppose I’m just very pessimistic that anything there works as it should do, hence looking for other options.

Edited by AnhBanhBao on Friday 3rd March 09:49

[RicksAlfas]

AnhBanhBao said:

We’d even be happy dropping off at a nearby tram stop and paying for the fare.

It costs £5 to drop off. How much is the tram? Is it worth the hassle?

[WCZ]

RicksAlfas said:

It costs £5 to drop off. How much is the tram? Is it worth the hassle?

deffo not worth the hassle imo

[lockhart flawse]

I do a lot of flying for work and do try very hard to avoid Manchester for all the well-known reasons. But I couldnt look past a return flight to Lisbon for £43.00 recently so I had to go again. It was Ryanair too - just about the worst possible combination - Ryanair and Manchester Airport. Massive hold up en-route to the airport because of a major smash gave me 25 minutes to get from the car park to the gate which amazingly I managed. First time I have ever booked the T2/3 multi-storey.

As others have said, hand baggage only is the answer. I waited an hour for my bag at Newcastle recently.

At one time flying was quite enjoyable but now it's just awful. Too many flights where the only motivation is to make it as cheap as possible. Too many passengers, not enough space at the gates or halls and not enough staff. Planes equipped with the bare bones only with st films and crappy food. Just done 4 flights with a Middle East airline where the sound through the headphones on all 4 flights was so bad the films were impossible to hear.

I suppose you get what you pay for all. Pay F all and receive F all.

[Blown2CV]

it amazes me that seemingly a large proportion of people will spend thousands on a holiday but then proceed to try and penny pinch with low cost things that make almost no difference other than just create a pain in the arse for the whole group travelling. Surely this thread highlights that travelling is a pain in the arse enough without making it even worse.

Edited by Blown2CV on Monday 6th March 16:36

[GreatGranny]

lockhart flawse said:

Lots of moaning

TBF the delay getting there was nothing to do with Ryan Air or Manchester Airport.

You got on your flight despite only having 25 minutes from arriving at the airport which is very good.

You paid £43 rtn for a 4hr (?) flight which is bloody cheap.

It's Ryanair, everyone knows it's no frills yet moan about lack of legroom and no films on board.

Not sure what more you wanted for your £43!

[lockhart flawse]

The point is that I would be prepared to pay much more than £43 (but not to Ryanair).

My complaint is that paying only £43 results in the experience that is Manchester Airport.

[andy43]

AnhBanhBao said:

I’m dropping my wife off at T2 on Wednesday; as there’s no free drop-off anymore does anyone know of any other options?

We’d even be happy dropping off at a nearby tram stop and paying for the fare. After 10 years working at the airport in the past, I despise few things/organisations as much as the airport and their handling agents.

If it’s a quick drop and go aim for T2 multi-storey west entrance - you can do a u turn at the barriers and drop off there or try somewhere on Palma avenue the other side of the carparks. Either means walking through the carparks but you’ll save a fiver

lockhart flawse said:

The point is that I would be prepared to pay much more than £43 (but not to Ryanair).

My complaint is that paying only £43 results in the experience that is Manchester Airport.

You could pay £2000 to Poshair for the same trip and it would still be flying out of the same airport and paying the same fees to the airport to do so. Only plus point I can see apart from the actual on-aircraft experience is you might get boarding via the indoor corridor trunky thing instead of outside and up the aircraft steps in the pissing rain.

Hand luggage only is the post-covid safe option, regardless of which airport it is.

[captain_cynic]

lockhart flawse said:

The point is that I would be prepared to pay much more than £43 (but not to Ryanair).

My complaint is that paying only £43 results in the experience that is Manchester Airport.

Not really, there are loads of airports that cater almost exclusively to LCCs but aren't bad at all. Some larger airports have dedicated LCC terminals like KLIA (Kuala Lumpur).

This is a Manchester issue, not an airport issue and I suspect it has more to do with how MAN is being run combined with it's age. The newest terminal was opened in 1989, there's been a lot of changes in airport security and baggage handling since then, changes that a lot of older terminals didn't have enough room to accommodate.

andy43 said:

Hand luggage only is the post-covid safe option, regardless of which airport it is.

Utter tosh.

Loads of airports can handle baggage near flawlessly. Heathrow and Gatwick don't seem to have a problem. If I'm going away longer than 4 days I always take a bag as I don't like smelling or hanging out in laundromats for half my trip, not once post-COVID have I had a major incident with baggage (and damn few pre-COVID).

Taking a bag is perfectly fine, it's Manchester Airport you need to avoid.

[Imasurv]

I’ve travelled almost exclusively through Manchester over the years and generally not had issues barring one close call once ten years ago. We’ve gone through with checked baggage twice in the last three months both long and short haul without any delays from start to finish. Manchester are undergoing significant redevelopment at the moment - pretty much rebuilding most of the airport, and this combined with covid (and admittedly bad management) has created some serious issues.

I’m not trying to defend them - I know how people feel about the place (I hate the place for my own reasons!), but the issues they have suffered recently could be seen across the airline industry over the last 18 months since covid reopening - try Googling what’s been going on at Frankfurt (and many other German airports last year), and try not to travel at 6-9am on a half term weekend!

[Oliver Hardy]

I agree Manchester is crap, especially the terminal Ryanair fly from, but then you get to Modlin in Warsaw and you realize it is not so bad, although they don't rip you off for dropping people off or for using trolleys at Modlin.


How come all the walk ways are turned off, went home by train last time so had a long walk from the terminal to the station and non of them were working

Edited by Oliver Hardy on Friday 10th March 02:25

[Swervin_Mervin]

captain_cynic said:

This is a Manchester issue, not an airport issue and I suspect it has more to do with how MAN is being run combined with it's age. The newest terminal was opened in 1989,

Terminal 2 opened in '93

[Blown2CV]

Swervin_Mervin said:

captain_cynic said:

This is a Manchester issue, not an airport issue and I suspect it has more to do with how MAN is being run combined with it's age. The newest terminal was opened in 1989,

Terminal 2 opened in '93

surely 3 is the newest given like numbers and that

[popeyewhite]

Went through MAN on Sunday. Standard security checks debacle. Very very poor service. Jet2 BTW.

[Armitage.Shanks]

Oliver Hardy said:

How come all the walk ways are turned off, went home by train last time so had a long walk from the terminal to the station and non of them were working

Have they ever been turned on? Knowing MA Plc they will be saving on electricity costs whilst trying to eek out as much as they can from airport users.

The government has given the green light to relax liquids etc in hand luggage when the new scanning equipment is in place. This requires the airport to upgrade and buy them. I'll put money on Manchester being the very last to comply and when they do I expect drop off/pick up/car park charges to follow

I hate the place but its 15 minutes from me and the most convenient.

[Axionknight]

Blown2CV said:

Swervin_Mervin said:

captain_cynic said:

This is a Manchester issue, not an airport issue and I suspect it has more to do with how MAN is being run combined with it's age. The newest terminal was opened in 1989,

Terminal 2 opened in '93

surely 3 is the newest given like numbers and that

I assumed the same but apparently not. It used to be called Terminal 1A and it has definitely been open longer than T2 but has been significantly expanded at some point post T2 opening at which point it was renamed.

[popeyewhite]

Innsbruck today: even worse security queue issues than MAN, which is going some. Armed Police in evidence trying to be cheerful but were quick to 'have a chat' to a German or Austrian who got loud. Strike action in France to blame for the chaos in certain Euro airports today apparently.

[captain_cynic]

popeyewhite said:

Innsbruck today: even worse security queue issues than MAN, which is going some. Armed Police in evidence trying to be cheerful but were quick to 'have a chat' to a German or Austrian who got loud. Strike action in France to blame for the chaos in certain Euro airports today apparently.

UK airports too. I was stuck in Gatwick for 10 hours on Thursday thanks to the French ATC strike.

OTOH Air Europa did alright by me. Put me up in a hotel in Madrid, dinner, breakfast and got me on the next flight to Medellin which was the next day.