Travelling through T1 today for the first time in about 3 years it’s clear that
- underinvestment in the fabric of T1 (understandable in a world where TP was going to replace the majority of T1)
- staffing
- revenue loss from the pandemic itself and the number of empty and closed retail units have really effected the airport.
But much of the security nightmare has been drawn on by MAN itself. In T1 today almost every bag was sent for secondary screening. Such was the extent that the bag runoff was full, so the conveyor was paralysed. To solve this unique problem the bags for secondary were being taken off the end and put on the dollies to join another line of bags alongside the runoff. There was just one screener for everyone’s bags. Maybe MAN has identified a particular risk, but this level of secondary screening suggests an issue with training. A floor walker said “no one wants an incident on their watch”. Compare this to AMS, LIN or LHR where nothing has to come out of bags anymore. I decided discretion was probably wise and didn’t point out that planes aren’t exactly being hijacked on daily basis or that MANs attempts are no more effective than any other airport….
One thing for sure. I will never go hand luggage only from MAN while this madness persists. 10 minutes of security queue was pretty good, but I waited another 40 for my bag. I’d have saved time by checking it in.