G0ldie

The whole of Manchester airport needs to be knocked down and re-built. A really awful airport!

The Indian airports are 10x better than Manchester now.

The recent parking upgrades which mean you have to pay to drop anyone off and pay to use a trolley are absolutely ridiculous! Can't wait to get away from here.

G0ldie

It just depends on your timing and which airline.

I traveled to Vancouver via British Airways back last October (2017) and the stop over in London was around 2 hours. Luckily the second leg back to Manchester was from T5 at Heathrow. Nicely built and shiny! The wait was not that bad as it takes around 40 mins to switch terminals, grab a drink and its time to board. London to Manchester is around 30 mins and nice to stretch your legs in between.

DigitalGhost

Yeah it's nuts. Plus the transport links to the airport from the city centre are terrible and the airport itself is filthy. And that's the second airport of supposedly one of the richest countries on Earth.

My aunt recently received a telling off from some arsehole who worked there because she was dropping my cousin and her 2 young granddaughters off for their flight home and my aunt rudely got out of the car quickly to help her daughter unload the luggage from the boot.

Jerseygirl

I’ve done it loads of time...the BA or Virgin lounges at Heathrow help. But instead of arriving at my destination 20 mins from MAN airport early morning...it’s sometime during the afternoon. A day wasted IMO. Nope...Toronto direct to MAN for me every time.

G0ldie

Common sense seems to have gone out of the window!

I flew from T1 and got a friend to drop me off at 'arrivals' to avoid the rat race of going into the multi storey car park. The 'parking attendant' did say I cannot do that but did so anyway as I only had hand luggage on that trip. I'm still seething on paying for a trolley. People who arrive from other countries who do not have any pound coins are stuck. I think I gave around 10 pounds in coins that day to fellow travelers! Manchester Airport should be ashamed!

DigitalGhost

For an example of what an airport can look like in more civilised parts though, you need look no further than Tokyo Haneda.

DigitalGhost

When we flew from T1 to Canada last month the security queue at Manchester was insane. The Transat flight to YYZ leaves early so we got there with plenty of time to spare so my OH could look around the make up shops and we could get some breakfast etc.

Unfortunately the 1 hour+ line for a metal detector meant that all went out of the window and we were barely left with enough time for a quick bacon sandwich and final trip to the toilet before boarding. The whole place just seems to be in a state of panic and havoc all the time these days.

DigitalGhost

Oh and apparently at MAN you can't take suitcases on an escalator because it's deemed "extremely dangerous" however no other airport I've ever been through seems to take such objection to it and also offer far better lift facilities than MAN does.

Jerseygirl

I couldn’t believe T1 at MAN. TBH it’s 20+ years since I’ve been in T1...as the US flights used to leave from T2...now T3. There used to be one huge hall...with a very high ceiling and shops around the side of the hall. Now the ceiling has been lowered, it’s dark and gloomy...it is dreadful.

G0ldie

Just came across this thread on yelp:

https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/mancheste...t-manchester-5

DigitalGhost

T2 is probably the most pleasant of the 3, to the extent that any regional airport terminal in the UK really can be but it mostly caters for the charter airlines and flights to Africa and the Middle East.

Ironically, it also had some of the most chilled out airport security I'd encountered in the UK in quite a long time when we went through there on a trip to Morocco last year. It's one of the few parts of that airport with decent and reasonably priced food options as well.

G0ldie

Yep, the escalators are pretty crap. You have to use a lift to take your luggage up and down the areas. The seating is uncomfortable and food, I would rather take something from home.

That said, I did meet the Manchester United team there many moons ago. I saw a guy wearing a white tracksuit, big diamond earring and perfectly defined hair and thought what a weirdo. Pure white tracksuit in Manchester? Come on! I then saw around 20 guys all wearing white tracksuits and thought they must be going on a stag-do somewhere. It wasn't until I saw a old guy wearing a back coat and glasses to which a young kid went upto him and started talking to him and asking him for his autograph. I thought who is this old guy?? Realised, it was Sir Alex himself and the whole United squad! Went up to them and wished them well on their Champions League game the next day. Sir Alex, a really nice man! Spent around 10 minutes talking to him as they were checking in (EasyJet!). That is my highlight of Manchester Airport! The guy with the perfect hair and diamond was Ronaldo!

I think we have quickly de-railed this thread into Manchester airport' bashing corner!

scilly

We last flew out of Manchester Airport, to London, about 20 years ago, and we swore we would never do it again!!

We reverted to our previous habit of ending visits to England with friends in the south so we could drive to a hotel near Heathrow the day before flying out. Their move to Devon wasn't quite as convenient (for us!) as when they lived near Ascot, but it meant we did see different things (eg Eden)

G0ldie

Just been reading on the various news articles on the Manchester Airport drop off charge fiasco. There is free parking available but you have to get a bus in from that location to the terminal. Where that location is I do not know. Could be in London? Taxi's think that charge is a good thing as they will just pass it onto the consumer. BBC Radio Manchester had a taxi driver from Liverpool advising it is a good thing as John Lennon Airport already have a similar scheme this morning. Why they didn't ask a local driver is quite clearly an unbalanced approach of reporting but it is the BBC afterall. He blamed the taxi's on clogging up the terminal and drop off points. It seems quite simple that there is a lane which Manchester Airport closed due to possible terror attacks (closed over 10 years ago) in front of each terminal that can clearly be opened up again to keep traffic flowing.

I'm not too sure what will happen to the long and short stay car parks also. It seems a load of crap and another way to extort money from consumers. They might as well charge us for the air we breathe!!!

Siouxie

I moved the various off topic posts from the 'UK to Canada movers' thread in the main Canada forum - it wasn't fair on the OP to continue derailing their thread, particularly when the posts had no relevance what so ever to their question! I hope we didn't scare them away!

Now you can carry on regardless ...