Manchester-Boston Regional Airport — Local services in Londonderry

The entire SouthWest staff were SO cool! Suuuper helpful. My bag weighed too much and instead of just charging me like 100 as they could have, they helped me get my stuff in order and under the limit. It was DIFFICULT lmao but they gave me time, gave me tips and helped me out SO MUCH… they seemed like they actually CARED. It was a nice experience… THEN Tina had to come RUIN it. She had an attitude with me downstairs, which I let slide and just ignored her provocations.. well I went up stairs, went to a shop and bought a yogurt and a drink. They gave me a small plastic bag for it. So I go over to my bags and was stepped like TEN FEET away from my bag and I started doing some stretches. Well here comes TINA… she LOUDLY yells MY NAME, like I’m a small CHILD…. Excuse me, Lady?! Unbelievable. She tells me I’m too far away from my bag. Then I go over to my bag and ten minutes later she comes over to me and again loudly shouts my NAME like she is scolding me. Telling me that I now have too many BAGS! The items I purchased from the store, in the plastic bag they gave me now counts as a “personal item” and I have too many bags! She then puts her hands on my property, my PlayStation 5 and insists, starts telling me it needs to be checked in now, while she is trying to roll it away!!! I cannot believe this woman! You don’t get to choose what bags I choose to check or not… PERIOD! I got loud right back with her and set her straight in front of everyone since she wanted to escalate the situation and have everyone in the terminal staring at me. So I laid out the entire situation, beginning downstairs… and nobody else said a word. So then she gives up and goes over immediately to the intercom and starts saying stuff about the baggage policy and specifically referencing my exact situation. I had enough at that point, I got up and found a staff personnel to ask for her name. That staff personnel just happened to be her supervisor! I explained the entire situation to her and at first she was trying to take up for Tina but once I clarified some very specific things, she said that Tina was indeed in the wrong and I had NOTHING against policy with my bags EVEN WITH THE SHOPPING. I cant imagine how alone and miserable and just gross someone has to be to single someone out like this for no reason whatsoever. I was very polite to the supervisor and explained myself calmly like I had done prior. But I will absolutely not be talked down to, treated like trash and insulted in public without standing my ground. I PRAY she got a reprimanding which I encouraged her supervisor to do, but I’m still making this review because until she has a reprimanding that I’m aware of, I’m leaving this review at ONE STAR. I used to fly southwest specifically for the baggage policy anyways, and now it’s devolved into whatever this is. I’ll NEVER fly southwest again. There’s no draw anymore. I mean literally nothing. The baggage and cancellation policy was the only thing going for it. And now BOTH of those have been taken away. I’ll NEVER EVER EVER use this garbage company again. PERIOD.

Oh yah but the TSA crew was super chill and so down to earth fr. I usually have social anxiety but they actually had me talking with them and they legitimately made my day better (until Tina spawned out of what must have been a demonic portal, fueled by discontent and vitriol).

Oh and icing on the cake after all this bag drama… the guy announces over the intercom “we have only 65 people on this flight and it seats over 140 people! So there’s plenty of room to...

In the rolling landscape of southern New Hampshire, a quietly ambitious experiment in regional air travel has unfolded for nearly a century. Manchester-Boston Regional Airport—a name acknowledging both geographic identity and aspirational reach—presents itself as the anti-airport: human-scaled, efficient, serene.

"You have the best natural site for an airport of any municipality in New England," declared airfield expert Karl Kenniston when the facility was established in 1927. This observation proved prescient, though not in ways its founders imagined.

The architectural narrative unfolds in distinct chapters. The original Art Deco terminal from 1937—a jewel box of midcentury aviation optimism—has been preserved not as museum piece in situ, but as a functioning aviation museum on the eastern edge of the property. This preservation illustrates the airport's unusual relationship with its past.

The current terminal, a collaboration between HNTB and Lavallee Brensinger completed in 1994 and expanded in 2000, eschews monumental gestures common to airport architecture. Instead, it offers straightforward functionality that feels radical in its simplicity. Light floods through generous windows, illuminating a linear progression that guides travelers efficiently from entrance to gate. The experience is clarity rather than spectacle.

MHT's aesthetic is New England pragmatism made manifest—accomplishing what larger airports often fail to achieve despite greater resources. From parking to gate takes roughly 10 minutes, a temporal compression that alters the experience of air travel.

The airport has experienced significant passenger fluctuations—from a peak of 4.2 million in 2005 to approximately 1.3 million in 2023. Recent statistics show over 727,000 passengers in the first quarter of 2024, suggesting modest growth. On busy days, security processes up to 2,800 passengers, approaching pre-pandemic levels.

The dining landscape reflects tension between ambition and reality. "The Local @MHT" celebrates regional cuisine with New England classics—a conceptual approach that would fit Boston's South End. Yet its neighbor charges $23 for a basic burger, reminding travelers they remain in the parallel economy of air travel.

The airport's character is defined by transparency. Unlike fortress-like structures of many airports, MHT privileges sight lines and natural light. The concourse unfolds logically, oriented toward windows framing views of aircraft against the New Hampshire sky.

What distinguishes MHT architecturally is integration—the facility harmonizes with function and landscape organically. The engineering achievements remain invisible to most travelers: Category III B Instrument Landing capabilities allowing operations in nearly zero visibility, and extended runways accommodating larger aircraft without disrupting the human scale.

Recent developments suggest renaissance, with JetBlue announcing service beginning in 2025—the first new major carrier since 2004. This, with expanded service from Avelo and Breeze Airways, signals a potential turning point for an airport often in Boston Logan's shadow.

For design pilgrims, MHT offers a refreshing counterpoint to prevailing airport typologies. It demonstrates how modest materials and straightforward planning create spaces respecting travelers' intelligence. In an era of theatrical terminal designs, Manchester-Boston's quiet competence feels revolutionary—a reminder that the best architecture speaks in a conversational tone rather...

I fly out of Manchester airport several times a month and so does my daughter. I like Manchester because it’s convenient, easy to navigate and super peaceful. However, over the last several months I’ve found it harder and harder to get a ride from the airport using Lyft or Uber. It’s become increasingly difficult because the drivers don’t want to go to Manchester Airport. And I believe I realized why, tonight. I was walking out of the airport and under to carport waiting for my daughter to come get me. This woman pulls up, and she is one of maybe 4 vehicles total at the airport pick up/drop off. She pulls up to the Rideshare designated area, where she is the ONLY vehicle, and a young man rushes over to her and says, “you need to move.” She said, “ the person I’m picking up is right in there.” He says, “you’ve got 2 minutes.” Walks away and yells to an older ( and extremely rude) gentleman, “I’ve told her to leave.” The older gentleman walks up to her and says, “you were asked to move, now leave.” She says again, “ my passenger is right in there and I haven’t even been here for 2 minutes.” She was there for 90 seconds if that. He continues to treat this woman so rude and terribly disrespectfully, explaining he will get the cops and then they will make her move.” I couldn’t help but think, WOW, is this what my higher plane tickets are going to? Extremely poor morale of the staff wearing yellow vests? This woman didn’t do or say anything wrong she wasn’t rude or disrespectful until the very end of the conversation where you could see her patience was wearing thin by being accosted by the staff at Manchester Regional Airport. In fact, she pulled into the designated area, where rideshare’s are supposed to be. She was the ONLY CAR THERE!!!!! There weren’t but maybe 2-3 other cars that were down near the Spirit signs. So, why? Why are the Lyft and Uber drivers being treated so disrespectfully that they don’t even want to come to the airport to pick anyone up anymore? I mean, if it was busy, like it sometimes is, and she just pulled up in the middle of the pick up/drop off area and just sat there for 10-20 mins during a busy time, I would get it, but there was nobody there. Not. Only that but she pooped around and her passenger came right out! This morale and distasteful mannerisms is being set by someone’s standards, and I can guarantee you that doesn’t stop, you may just find some real issues on your hands. There’s no reason to be that rude and disrespectful to anyone at any given point in time. I have a feeling it was because she was a Lyft or Uber driver and that was the only thing she was guilty of. How would they men in Yellow vests feel if they were accosted by someone just because they held their position that they do? I’m sorry but not even the state police in Boston treat the taxis that way!!!! And they can be so obnoxious!! I guess I will start using my Boston Airport more frequently after witnessing this very poor altercation. I will never forget this actually. And because the Lyft & Ubers are treated decently in Boston, they’re more readily available as opposed to the alternative. Which, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near that place if I was a Lyft or Uber driver, so I cannot even blame them. But the staff at the airport is to...