Manchester Airport — Local services in Manchester

If the designers of this new terminal think it’s been an overall magnificent success of a project, then they clearly haven’t ever actually BEEN to a functioning airport.

There are so many thoughts that come to mind after my most recent experience, but my main one is to never use this airport again and go elsewhere!

Chaotic queuing systems, lack of signage for even the most simple processes - lifts, toilets and exits, staff completely unaware of their own store procedures, staff at the various food and drink outlets yelling out orders at chaotic queues of people crammed into tight, one way systems within their stores . . . the list is endless.

My main point is the huge number of badged airport staff using the special assistance toilets. The are way too few toilets in the whole terminal for the sheer amount of people it is designed to manage for a start - that’s not an expert observation, but that of a human being who has only done a moderate amount of travel in their lifetime, but who needs the toilet, only occasionally.

Travelling with my wheelchair bound mother was a real experience each time I’ve been through this new terminal. There is a distinct lack of accessible facilities throughout this vast terminal.

Badged airport staff routinely use the accessible toilets, as it seems they can’t be bothered to walk that small distance further to the male/female toilets. This leaves several wheelchair bound passengers waiting patiently to use the already short number of accessible toilets. They seem to consider this a justifiable practice.

I was so infuriated after waiting while watching more than 10 staff trying the doors for a vacant accessible cubicle that I confronted two of them - that didn’t go down well at all. The backchat I received just reinforced my view that this practice is considered commonplace among staff and that there is a considerable deficit in management overview throughout this new terminal. This was also clear in the way the various food outlets are absolutely chaotic, even when the terminal is way below capacity.

I am staggered to see how Manchester Airport boast about this new airport project - of course it’s only just opened, but the failings above are not a result of newness, they’re a result of shocking oversight, management inadequacies and seriously simple design failures.

How can the rest of Europe get this perfectly right and learn from previous needs and experiences in their new airport designs, yet Manchester can fail so disgracefully?

Those responsible, who are paid very highly for their profession and supposed design acumen will brush off this (and all other) criticism as ‘teething troubles’, but those human beings like us, with the simplest of needs like using the toilet, will continue to experience these hideous inconveniences for many years beyond. By that time, those responsible for these inadequacies will have moved on to some new project, having been remunerated highly and, no doubt, applauded for such a success. They will not care.

Make a wise choice and fly from another airport.

Manchester Airport has nothing to be...

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...

Ah, Manchester T1. Less an airport terminal, more a grand social experiment into the absolute limits of human patience and the structural integrity of a queuing system.

First, the sheer volume of people. I've been to music festivals with more personal space. The main concourse had the same calming, spacious atmosphere as the front row of a Madonna concert. Navigating the crowds felt like participating in a particularly aggressive game of British Bulldog, but without any of the rules and with considerably more luggage. It is a heaving, shuffling morass of humanity, all seemingly trying to buy a last-minute Toblerone the size of a small child at the same time.

And the passengers! Bless them. It appears a significant portion of T1's clientele are on their first-ever excursion away from home. You'll witness the sheer, theatrical panic of a family attempting to fold a pushchair for the very first time, right at the gate. You'll see people who are genuinely gobsmacked that they can't take a full-sized bottle of shampoo and a pair of garden shears in their hand luggage.

Then, you reach the main event: Security. This isn't just a queue; it's a pilgrimage. A long, winding testament to the human spirit's ability to endure, snaking past signs that promise a '15-minute wait' with the kind of bare-faced cheek usually reserved for politicians. Here, you are instructed by a series of beleaguered staff to perform the sacred ritual of 'The Stripping of the Layers' (less the Decanting of the Liquids these days). The trays, slick with the residue of a thousand spilt Calpols and leaky sun creams, glide by as chaos reigns. Belts are worn with the defiance of a Roman centurion and the 100ml liquid rule is treated less as a regulation and more as a vague, philosophical concept. The staff, bless them, have the weary, thousand-yard stare of people who have seen things. Mostly liquids in bags over 100ml.

And the general ambience? Let's call it 'post-festival chic'. The floors have a certain... stickiness. A patina of grime that tells a story, though you'd rather not know the plot. The tables in the bars and restaurants are decorated with a modern art installation of half-eaten paninis and abandoned coffee cups. The toilets... well, let's just say you'll want to have your wits about you and perhaps a pair of wellies. So, would I recommend Manchester T1? Absolutely. If you're a sociologist studying the breakdown of civilisation, an anthropologist keen on observing bewildering human behaviour, or if you simply find the M25 on a bank holiday a bit too relaxing.

For everyone else, maybe just try the train or a boat?

Two star. And that's purely for the morbid...