Goodness me, I said in my original post that I didn't want to cause controversy or bash MAN, and look what happens...
I go back to my original point. The perception amongst the passengers about the efficiencies of Manchester Airport. And that perception, fair or unfair, was negative.
I say again - as somebody who has done literally thousands of hours of long-haul travel, it is only at Ringway that I have had to wait more than 10 minutes or so for a stand. And it has happened on several occasions. The argument about arriving 30 minutes early is meaningless when other airports around the globe accommodate early arrivals efficiently and without fuss - at least when I have flown into them.
And somebody made a comment a few days ago about the travellators being out of service in Pier C, saying that after a ultra-long haul flight this would be of benefit to the passengers, as they would have a chance to stretch their legs. If so, why bother with travellators? If you have them, make sure they work so that passengers are able to make a choice. The broken travellators didn't bother me personally, but again it is all about setting an impression with your fare-paying customers.
To address a couple of other points - I don't know what other aircraft was parked on our stand. I couldn't see from where we were parked. And the flight crew simply told us that "There is another aircraft parked on our stand, and we have to wait for it to be pushed back before we can park."
The early arrival of EY015 should not have taken anyone by surprise as we were told at Abu Dhabi, whilst still parked on the gate, that we would be arriving around 25 minutes early. I don't know who decides on stand allocation, but the delay could not have been because nobody expected the flight to arrive early.
No offence intended by my posts.