Manchester Airport (MAN) in Manchester

Manchester Airport must be the worst in the country, the security is a joke and chaotic, items that went through in November and January were scrutinised for apparent no reason . Possessions in 4 different trays indispersed between several others and going down different conveyors makes the whole experience traumatic.

Long runway with smooth tarmac.

The people their were horrible and used rude language in future I hope to see better people. Does anyone know where a lady like me could get a drink 🍸 🤔

The airport is totally outdated and like a throwback to the 1990s, UK government need to do better, compare this to Amsterdam, Munich, Dublin etc. It's a relic.

An hour to check in. IT failed at the gate. Plane late in leaving airport as a result.

Endless lines for checks due to staff disorganization, rude security agents. We were about to miss the flight after spending 1.30 hours in line and checking our baggage, the problem was an antibiotic cream. Worst airport I've ever flown into, and I've been to Africa several times...

Absalut caos, would not want to be there at peek times... Dirty with no sence of direction... Manchester airport pull your finger out..

There is no free customer drop off or pick up point, is £5 to drop off for 5 or 10mins, try not to drop off or pick up at not designated area

Improved since covid ended let down by work going on but definitely improving.

Very busy. Staff friendly and pleasant.

Flying from terminal 3 ... got a coffee and relaxed. Wasn't to busy , got through security easily

Love Manchester but some overdue improvements very needed. T1 is in desperate need of a makeover, the flagship aircraft needs magnificence and the full experience, T1 just feels very cramped and dated Staff first class and very friendly will certainly be using in near future and look.forward to improvements

Long queue at passport control. Travelators still not working The worst airport in the UK

One of the worst airports in Europe, security ques, dirty toilets, escalators or travelators never working, got to pay for trolleys, robbery to pay a ransom to drop or collect someone. Three years on post pandemic, still the same, nothing improved apart from parking prices being raised. Travelators never worked since the pandemic and still not working. Getting worse, hardly any shops left in T1. T1 and T3 needs doing up. Whats the point just investing in T2. More shops closed. Still nothing changed, three years on, no improvement.

Good airport, couple of shops. The only thing is they have staff that rob from the suitcases before you pick them up. Its a shame because I realized late at home so I can do anything. Make sure to have a list and check your suitcase before you leave the premises. Apart of that all normal.

Very efficient but long cold walk between terminals - make sure you have a coat!

International flight from hong kong. No connecting steps, 15 minutes for steps to arrive. Baggage reclaim appalling . Way below International airport standard

The layout of this place is dreadful. Horrible for picking up and dropping people off. £6.20 for three minutes' parking? Insane.

Got stopped for having white wipes what the hell

The worst airport I've ever been to in my life. Barely any staff around and infuriating queues. Management should be ashamed of themselves. Avoid.

Very busy not enough room cramped not like other other airports where you have ample room to do things especially the carasoul

Stop forcing the use of scanners.

What a hustle and bustle. Make sure you get here 3 to 4 hours before your flight or you will miss your flight!

Used fast track which was good. Queues for breakfast were really long but fortunately they moved reasonably fast. A few shops to look in, overpriced but to be expected in an airport. Duty free was good. Security were thorough.

Manchester Airport is the perfect example of absolutely shocking design for anyone traveling to it for departures or picking up from arrivals. You get the feeling that the airport design is so complicated it's like a rabbit warren of roads with ultimately leads to chaos and extortionate charges for dropping off and picking up. I wouldn't mind paying the six pounds fee but clear and concise signs would be a start. I am sure that the infrastructure could have been designed better by a toddler, at least they wouldn't lose track of what you was trying to do, a simple strategy for dropping off and picking up, would go a long way. Having the pickup points in overcrowded Car Parks which sometimes are closed is ridiculous. This combined with the fact that none of the bays are numbered, color coded or clearly signed ultimately leads to more congestion and traveler chaos . The masterplanner for the airport should find another job, unless from the inception they were trying to create chaos in which case you have succeeded, congratulations. Updated Sept 2024 They have now manage to completely cause gridlock to T1 shorts carpark, if I could give the airport zero stars I would.

Outrageous queues for security - only two lanes working

What an absolute dump. I travelled through terminal 3 today. Security is a zoo, absolute chaos and the staff are rude and shout at everyone. The lounge area is extremely overcrowded. It is just a mess of a place.

Extremely disorganized, very long and confusing checks, narrow gates with people forced to queue in the corridors amidst transit. Late and poorly managed communications. The only "positive side" is that the city is served quite well by taxi, bus and train

Easy. Security on the day was quick. Cleanliness of loos could have been a lot better post security

A small clustered and as others have stated a 'claustrophobic' airport, easy to manoeuvre and well sign posted. The airport comprises of three passenger terminals and has flights to over 150 locations. It's terminals are connected via a skylink making it easy to get to where you need to be. In my experiences, security is always fast and stress-free, all in about 10-15 minutes. Like any airport, it has it's fair share of overpriced shops, restaurants and hotels close by. There's noisy arcades, and a smoking area which is great for the smokers amongst us.

Never clean, always a hassle, and poor signage making public transport links a mystery. You can walk away from the airport, which is about it's only saving grace

Arrived safely from Cyprus and collected suit cases with in 30 minutes of arrival.

Terminal 3 is quick and straightforward, unlike the other two which get very busy

Always had no problems here. I always get searched at security and the security are always nice and friendly, especially when I make them laugh. I love that they have a smoking area, yes smoking is bad but it helps with flying anxiety.

Worst airport for parking and pick ups, staff attitude sticks

I dread MAN airport and try to avoid at all costs - however not always possible. In last week I have flown into and out of it and it really is the worst experience. Flying into terminal 1 - I waited / stood next to the baggage belt for over an hour (as did the rest of the flight!) it was chaos in the reclaim hall and the staff are just so poorly trained and lack basic customer service skills - absolutely clueless. There was a bag leaking sauce all across the floor - no one cleaned it and even when a guy (won’t call him ‘worker’) was told about it - he replied “ah someone will come round soon enough”. I then went outside to the car rental centre bus stop and the line was approx. 50 people - had to pay taxi to get to car rental village- so thankful I did as I arrived, got my keys and was heading home before that bus ever arrived. Returning to MAN this morning to depart and utter chaos once again - the queue to get to T1 drop off was all the way back down the ramp to the roundabout and the car park was coned off. Staff are so quick to tell people off - but why they just don’t help out a bit more and process would be much smoother - it’s a sorry state of affairs when they actually have stantions outside for the long queues. The absolute worst part of MAN is the chronic staff shortages - even arriving 3 hours prior - there is no time to have a drink, visit lounge, shops etc as check in and security is so slow. They have a bizarre process of checking in anything other than a suitcase, so that holdalls, car seats, travel cots resulted in another 25 minute queue. The whole process is slowed even further when ‘helpful’ staff check flight times and allow anyone with an imminent flight to skip the queue and therefore those who arrive on time or early are rewarded with a longer queue time! Tip - put the helpful staff member on an additional carousel to speed up the process. Finally and this is the worst part - security - employ more bloody staff - every time people are shouted at, told off, turned to go downstairs, berated and separated from each other. The security checks were so busy today that I was told to remove tray to repack bag, with only place to remove tray to was the floor?! Whole process resulted in leaving behind all baby formula and medicines for the flight. Admittedly own fault but being told off when repacking a bag isn’t the most helpful. There are some great staff at MAN, but unfortunately the bad ones outweigh the good - they are not trained properly, extremely unhelpful and most of the time clueless (part of wider gripe with customer service skills) but the way they speak to customers and interact is so unprofessional its them who need a good telling off not the travelers paying good money to try and get as far away as possible from this hell hole. Already preparing myself for my next visit!

Shambles. Miserable and grumpy staff. Inefficient. Management ought to visit other airports worldwide and learn how to run an airport!

Car parking very expensive got charged 5pound for dropping off and 1260 for multi car park for 40min stinks

I was a bit nervous collecting my daughter from T1 but god bless my satnav and a bit of checking up to know to go to short stay T1 car park. The welcome from my grandkids was priceless and provided enough Emotional charge for the next 6 months, god bless them!

Visiting this airport fills me with dread. I’ve used it many times, all terminals, yet because it has been under constant change for many years it is always a different airport each time. Finding the poorly marked and signed car parks is one thing, navigating the terminals is another. Understaffed, unclean, not maintained, it all adds up to a mess. To the staff member on the security checks in terminal 1 on Tuesday 24th; get another job idiot. There were no big queues and all passengers were getting themselves ready emptying pockets, removing boots etc and he was shouting at everyone “don’t do what you think is right! Do what we tell you! You’re not in Bristol or Newcastle now, you’re in Manchester so listen to what we’re telling you, especially you frequent flyers who think you know it all” His thick (as in broad) Manchester accent didn’t do much for him and most passengers just ignored his arrogance and I’m not sure his colleagues were too impressed either. Everyone got through without issues. I’ve used most airports in the U.K. and to me, this is the worst.

Whilst T2 is being upgraded, there are a few things that require improvement. 1. The 0 5 miles walk after security to the departure gates is ridiculous, and not convenient for passengers with mobility issues, as there is no advanced warning of such distance after checking in at the concourse area or on the gate information board. Passengers can get caught out by this and missed connection or flights. Having update info on the distance to go and apology along the way does not ease passenger's inconvenience since we have no choice but to walk to the gates. 2. Security scanning process needs to speed up and more smarter. The queue snakes round many rows of barriers just not good enough. We shall try to avoid travelling from Manchester Airport wherever possible in the future. Please improve the logistics and efficiency of the required processes bearing in mind the passengers well being and convenience, without compromising health and safety.

Terminal 2, what a joke and an embarrassment for arriving oversees tourists. 45 minutes to collect baggage, taxi was queuing for 20 minutes inside the West car park let alone the huge queue outside to actually get in that car park which acts as the collection point for arrivals - cant believe that utter chaos has been left to carry on for as long as it has without someone doing something about it. Surely the management must know how bad it is, or do they even care. Exactly what does the obscene amount of money paid to collect and drop off passengers go on, certainly nothing to make the airport arrivals/collection experience enjoyable. Shameful and no wonder Manchester airport still continues to be one of the worst airports in Europe

Forever proving why it’s one of the worst airports in the world. Not efficient in the slightest, all the staff just treat the busy mornings like social events. Security just tip your bag upside down which takes a lifetime to repack when they clear now the problem items.

All carousels are squeaking does anything ever get fixed

Awful not enough staff to assist not everyone is electronicly savvy and the prices are astronomical for beer and food

I don’t know about the other terminals but terminal 1 arrivals was a nightmare! Male toilets were disgustingly unclean and the luggage took forever to come out on a small flight from sunny turkey.

I flew from Manchester to Mahon this morning. A less stressful visit than in previous times. The new and improved T2 looks good and has some decent shops and bars. Only drawback is the one mile walk to the gates!

always long queues at passport control when arriving. Always takes a long time to get through security when departing. Who are the managers, they need sacking and replacing with people who can run the airport efficiently.

To the security manager at Terminal 1 I was appalled at the treatment I received going through security as I paying customer when I opted (out ) of being forced into the body scanner!!! This isn’t law and we are government by consent, I was made to feel like a criminal and was forced to sign ✍🏻 - I said I was happy to be manually search ( how dare you treat paying customers this way)- Stop treating people like animals she should be sacked!!!

What a HORRIBLE place. Using T1. Absolute chaos, very poor signage and total confusion. Then you finally get to sit down and get totally ripped off by the food places.

There is no tragedy, very nicely marked, but I have never seen such crowds and dirt at an airport in my life, a lot of drunk people in the evenings. Toilets ok.

Special thanks to the wheelchair assistance team ! I hurt my hip before our French flight and was struggling with crutches. The special assistance dept was efficient and caring. We were whisked through the bag check and airport security and used the chair until we boarded the aircraft (albeit 2.5hr delay with EasyJet!) so great big thanks to All the team on such a well organised, helpful, superb service 👏🏼

It's an airport and let's face it they are all horrible. This one is particularly bad for charging for any cars coming within 5 miles of actually dropping someone off whilst not having viable alternatives.

T3 was ok apart from no smoking area, especially when you have a delayed flight

Staff is good. Immigration is fast. Baggage collection is fast. It’s a small airport and can be improved with some renovation. It was bit messy. Uber works

Amazing difference on terminal 2 both going out and coming back. Efficient, speedy and much improved. Will see if it is consistent next year. 👍

Rip off parking miss leading signs

Worst airport experience ever had to walk 15 minutes beyond passport control to join the end of the queue to return in to the country was told this was due to 4 flights landing at the same time who would of thought planes land at an airport!!!!!!! Would not recommend this airport if there are more than one plane due In

Shocking airport like many other in the UK. They take the enjoyment out of a holiday, cram you into a chicken pen 3- 4 hours early on a lie so you spend more money to only feel stressed and frustrated.

lpl airport better no matter what

Flew from terminal 2. All food outlets are over priced and not good quality. Flying back we got in at 4:30am, no other flight came in at that time and we had to wait 40 minutes on the plane for buses to pick us up and then had to wait an hour for the bags to get to the conveyor belt.

A disaster, avoid this airport (and Aer Lingus!). Flew in Business Class, over night from Orlando into Manchester, UK, terminal 1. Arrived in the morning and Aer Lingus did NOT send our luggage to its final destination in Tanzania because the “layover” was too long. We were told we had to take our five huge suitcases to terminal 2 to a storage facility. We had to pay for two carts and push hundreds of pounds literally a mile from where we were to Terminal 1 for storage. We get there and are told they could NOT store our luggage because their scanner was down (“they should have known this when you were in terminal 1” and also that “all the other storage facilities is the entire airport are not opened.”). We were told to load the five suitcases onto a bus and go to the “train station” in town. We are two women with five large suitcases! We went to Aer Lingus and wanted to speak with a manager - how is it that we flew BUSINESS and we are being saddled with our luggage; how is it that an international airline is incapable of sending luggage to the final destination? The woman at Aer Lingus asked if we booked with a third party (we did not, and even so, does that justify not having a system in place so luggage is sent to the final destination?). We were then told to take our luggage and get a room at the airport hotel and wait for our connection flight. The employee at the luggage storage facility then told us they would make an exception for our luggage but they had to open all our luggage and rummage through it. We ended up storing it for four hours at it cost us $100. We got two more carts and hauled our luggage alllll the way back to terminal 2 and were unable to check in for our next flight for two hours. We should have been able to get off our flight this morning, taken advantage of the lounge services which comes with flying Business, and had a relaxing day. But no, it has been one of the worst travel experiences. The airport is a dump, it is ridiculously large not to have a tram, and every single moving walkway was not operating. And they have hardly any seats in departures as we waited a few more hours to check in our bags AGAIN. Avoid this place, and Aer Lingus. Don’t sell connections if you can’t get luggage to its destination. And if you do this to customers, at the very least the airlines should cover the storage cost, and the airport should have storage facilities in every terminal.

Big queue going through passport control. When we go to EU Countries now we have to go through a special channel for English. When we return British & EU go through the same channel why do we give them the same benefit as British.

Only went to drop someone off parking is £5 for 5mins, disgusting,

Recently used Manchester Airport to fly to our cruise.I must say it was the quickest and trouble free check-in ever. Well done 👍 Unfortunately our return journey tipified our normal experience. An hour delay on our flight, ok. But then we waited 1 hour 40 mins for our luggage! Resulting in extra taxi fees for the parking charges. I complained directly to the CEO and on the official complaints platform. Still waiting for a sorry , just like my luggage. Is it a wonder it's been voted one of the worst airports in a recent survey.

They should learn from barcelona airport where no drop off and pickup charge exists for first 15 minutes and parking prices are way much expensive for no reason because it's hard to find parking.Very poorly managed T3 prkng and building.Only I can see a lot of greed

Huge lines to departure, and some strange system where some passengers are let through before others. Almost missed my flight despite beeing at the airport more than 2 hours in advance. Edit: Second time flying through this airport, this time the lines were shorter, but there were still many issues. Lounges and terminal waiting areas were both overcrowded, forcing many to stand, mobile connection is very bad so you are not able to work while waiting.

I travel a lot, I cannot avoid Manchester airport, otherwise I would Staff can be.grumpy, dismissive, the place is generally shabby and cold and poorly designed

My recent trip on Air France went pretty smooth, on Terminal 2 even with all the construction going on, I can't understand the bad ratings, MA might not be the best but it's got clear signs to get around, good facilities etc.. I've used the airport on majority of my trips (only Heathrow as an exception) and it's been fine, the staff have to deal with 100s of passengers a day so have to be vigilant, it's not fair to criticise them too much..most likely to use Manchester again given the choice of flights and food options around

Parking is an absolute rip-off, 20 minute park to pick my son up cost me £12.40 and to just drop him off without parking cost me £5. Talk about monopoly, they know we have no choice so they hold us to ransom, disgusting.

This airport is by far the worst airport I've ever used, and i've traveled a lot. It is just not ment to be used by people. I understand that they have recently spent millions in some sort of refurbishment, it's just a shame that making it easier for travellers to use wasn't a priority. Nice if they had working escalators and travellators instead of up and down stairs to get to your plan. Pull it down and start again. Also the staff are not the friendliest. Awful place.

It's an airport, never going to be anyone's favourite place to be! Clean, well signed (on the whole) and staff are helpful and approachable.

Was okay but full of foreigners

Moving walkways are always in either not working or being repaired.

I travel to various airports and always feel that Manchester airport is always a very sad reflection on the city. What a awful underwhelming experience it is. All terminals are very sad and very dated.

Modern scanning for fast throughput, no need to separate bottles etc. signage can be confusing . Excellent signage for baggage collection.

The entry experience is not good, and there are too few windows open.

Why the treadmills still not working

Only giving one star because I can't give none. It is not for for purpose. Not enough seats for the volume. The layout is bizarre, when a gate is announced, several of them block access to and from shops. Hardly any seating areas to either wait for a flight or to have food. The noise levels were atrocious and very triggering. Really needs to be a quiet space no children or drinks.

Travelling with assistance made things easier to traverse through the system. Seamless for us but others seemed frustrated waiting for luggage.

Friends and i flew to krakov from Manchester airport. The parking was so easy and a bus took us to the airport. As I am on crutches the staff were so helpful and guided us through the many queues which I was very grateful of and again getting us seated on the plane aswell. Returning home I accidentally picked up the wrong suitcase and only realised when I was outside. However trying to return it and claim my own was not an option and some of the staff were less than helpful. Fortunately with the aid of 3 of the most wonderful staff members that came to my aid I eventually managed to collect my case and get home. Luckily 95% of the staff are helpful, friendly, understanding and willing to go the extra mile no matter what the time. Shame about the odd few.

My but is that for an airport where so many people of different languages ​​pass through, absolutely no one at the security control speaks Spanish. They gave me a hard time, because I asked them to please at least use the translator. But they closed themselves off in their own understanding 🤦🏻‍♀️ The person who had to search my luggage agreed, thank goodness.

Never have a good experience flying from here. Now drop off and pickup is a RIP off. When dropping off it might only take you a couple of mins but the queue to get out can result in higher than the £5 minimum charge. At night the illumination on the pay machines at barriers is poor resulting in it taking longer than necessary for people to pay. Pick up is an even bigger joke and on the last 2 occasions has cost over £10 each time due to delays in gates being available for the aircraft and faulty gate equipment. I try to use Liverpool airport first if possible now.

Terminal 1 O.K. Disserves praise.

I needed assisted travel and was worried about how it would work...it was Fantastic!! The staff were really helpful and friendly it was a smooth trip. Thank you 😊

Parked using the on-airport Car park "JetParks 3". We had an uncomfortable 25 min wait in a poor outdoor bus shelter for the bus on our return, late at night. I would not recommend that aspect of the airport. Security was busy but efficient. No passport control on our return from Ireland (Cork). However, being bus'ed from the plane to the terminal was slow, uncomfortable and long.

As busy as this airport is, it is really disorganized. When you get off the plane you have to walk down the stairs and then on a plane you come across meaningless queues at the passport controls. Furthermore, there are few lounges available for how many people use them and I have only been able to get in a few times as you have to book.

Bloody old x-ray scanners that force you to take literally everything out at security. It doesn't surprise me that the percentage of people having to scan their bags again is so high at this airport. Other European airports have way more modern devices, you often don't even have to take anything out.

What can I tell you, it's a airport. Follow the instructions and guidance you won't have a problem. Their pickup charges, however, (£12.40 for an hour) are exorbitantly high...

Hideous. After months of travelling around Europe this is the most awful airport to have to go through. Dark, damp, claustrophobic, way too small to deal the vast amount of people. Herded like cattle 🐮, every 4 person failed automatic gates, then waited over an hour for baggage. My tip: use Liverpool !!

Very busy airport, even at 03:30 in the morning. Nice and quick though security. Busy once you get though security, where the restaurant are and duty free.

Terminal ONE and Terminal TWO are about a 2-3 miles walk with broken moving sidewalks and no transport between them. The duty free shopping mall clogs the flow of traffic as cattle graze on duty free and get in the way of actual passengers trying to make a connection. Extremely un-user friendly airport for connecting flights from Europe (Ryan Air) and transatlantic flights.

Waited for 1.5 hrs for luggage to arrive

Terminal 1 is a big improvement on Terminal 3

We arrived late at night from Madeira. Toilets very dirty and not enough assistance staff. Relatives had to push wheelchairs a long way and I'm not sure what would have happened if they hadn't had someone to help. 2024 September departing from Manchester early morning. Airport was well staffed and mostly clean. Assistance desk on entry was a trying experience. Staff had no understanding of the impact of physical disability and barely grunted when I asked if I could go into the assistance area to sit down. Oh well I'm getting used to this treatment.

If I could give zero I would do. Just a bloody rip-off to pick someone up you can't get out of. Government needs to step in to regulate these merchants. Now charging just to use a trolley. Legalised fraud.

Fast track is a joke It should be called slow track !

I’m sorry to say but Manchester airport badly needs upgrading. Especially the scanning machinery & security staff who check the bags. For a start they need be trained on how to speak to people with some courtesy & manners. I understand they are doing their job but at least explain to the public what they are doing when you see your bags being emptied & split 4 ways into different trays things get lost & this is exactly what happened. Something did get lost. Bad attitude, rudeness & generally narcissistic behaviour is not on. Not a pleasant experience for us leaving the UK at all. You really need to up your game Manchester airport. Not a nice way to treat people at all.

Must be the worst airport in the world, I have used airport, in the USA, Singapore, Spain and many other but Manchester airport is the pits

Having read a lot of negative press about Manchester Airport, I had a great experience flying out of T2 today. Security was quick with bag scanners which don’t require separating laptops and batteries. Airport not too busy, lounge (1903) about 70% capacity at lunchtime