Oh for goodness sake....I mean really ? Lots probably, same as at any other UK airport, or airline, or train customers, or motorway users...or...or.... After all, moaning is a UK national pastime

Obviously been a very quiet news day the last week... :(

No sptraveller its about realism and not exaggerating a perceived problem.
Context IS important - Everybody strives to be better but at the end of the day there are not many perfect situations and things go wrong - its called life.

Its just unfortunate that the same problems happen to the same people ALL
the time!

How many people went through Manchester, had a good experience but didn't bother to make their views known? Your asking a contextless question, one which has extremes at both ends.

Just like some on here have had a good moan, there have also been those who have had a reasonable to good experience, including 2 awards won. Whether you agree with those awards is irrelevant, as just like we accept some have a naff experience, you need to accept some have a good experience.

One thing with us humans, you are NEVER going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time, ever!

Look at the number of people that moan day in day out about the their experience at LHR and has that affected the number of passengers in any way?

So perhaps you could stop defending MAN 100% of the time?

Witty, ill take part of your advice and just defend it 99.999% of the time then haha. I'll knock it 0.01% of the time too just so it's in line with trends...

I can see this thread getting binned and blocked any minute.
Anybody got any actual news?
Here's one...American and United will both be operating 787s out of MAN next summer.

Have been out of T2 a number of times this year, longest wait at security about 15 minutes. Problem seems to be only half the lanes are open, only returned into T2 on one
occasion came up the bridge and we were opposite passport control, no queue but had to do the full zig zag walk. Returned to T1 in late May again no queue. Returned on a number of times this year into T3 with Ryanair as their schedule on the return is better timed for us.

Returned this Tuesday evening at 11:20pm, no bags to wait for waited out side about two minutes to be picked up and arrived back in Glossop at 12:15am. so no complaints by me.

Of course he is, that's what airport fan boys do!

Is UA confirmed yet? It looks like the flight has a time change starting 23rd March, only by 5 minutes but that's usually indicative of a further change due, usually EQV.

In terms of the debate, I agree, it's going nowhere, some people have it good, some bad, it's the same for every airport so it's best just left there.

The problem with this thread is that we have LAX_LHR as a totally committed supporter MAN who will hear “no ill” said about MAN, although his location is given as London!

He also clearly has daily access to one or more of the global distribution systems. He seems to have inside knowledge of new services, and is always ahead of the game when it comes to reporting these, even before many other feeds have had an opportunity to do so.

He claims to travel through MAN frequently, yet he never experiences the problems that many of us face. He is quick to rubbish negative comments about MAN, and now he fears the thread getting blocked because of honest and usually accurate reporting of the daily problems by many of those who unfortunately have no other than choice to travel through other airports.

My own experience of MAN over the last twelve months, as I have said before, is that it is the one airport that I travel through and that I always wish I could avoid.

FFHKG.

LAX may be a supporter of Manchester, if you look at other airports on this site you will see they to have supporters of their local airport, nothing wrong with that.

I tend to travel out in the afternoons and return in the evenings suits me and the airport is quieter then. Look at all the departures firtst thing in the morning,that is when the airport is bursting at the seams, when god knows how many people are trying to go through security. When returning to Manchester at busy periods is it Manchesters fault not enough border control staff are on duty? Is it the airports fault baggage can some times take for ages to come through onto the belts?

The airport is going through change at the moment (should have started earlier) but lets wait for the results of these changes which I am sure will improve your airport experience.

LAX was hounded off another 'MAD' site do not lose him on this one, he is a good for advance info and his knowledge of Manchester if you disagree with him thats fine but no need to attack on a personal level.

I have a good idea who he/she works for, and going of past post by him/her I think
that he/she used to work at Manchester, and possibly has relations in Manchester.

Moan Alert

Attention all moaners !! A sudden outbreak of moaning has just occurred on the Birmingham thread. Security queues, baggage delays, border force queues, poor planning, mismanagement, blah blah....all your favourite pet hates that apparently spoil your day (you know, the ones that apparently only ever happen at MAN) are all being discussed. Major opportunity for a right good moan, enough to keep any would be Victor Meldrew happily occupied for days. Fill your boots folks !!

Warning: those who think their world will end and the sky will fall in at the mere mention of the word "queue" may wish to avert their eyes and exercise extreme caution...

I think there are many good points being made on here.

There are many who will simply accept mediocrity as being the norm, and sadly, mediocrity is not difficult to find.....Open a newspaper, turn on the radio, or fire up the idiot's lantern and it's there in shedloads.

It's not so much about 'moaning', but more of 'how has it got like this'?

There's a very old adage, taught early on during flying training.......'To fail to plan is to plan to fail'.

And personally that would be of greater interest than continuing the other debate. (Liked your humour Logohu).

Re UA, I was thinking it was anybody's guess as to whether our EWR service would be pulled, carry on as is, or upgraded to a wide body a/c. A 787 if it did happen would be excellent news.

Well I'm off to sunny Greece in the morning using Monarch from T2. I'm a regular at T3 but it's over a year since I've been through T2 and many years since flying with ZB.
I'm going with a completely open mind, will make I'm through security with plenty of time to spare and will "go with the flow" - if I can find a decent wifi signal I will let you know my thoughts.

So, let me get this straight.

Firstly you state I am a problem on this thread.

Then you state I actually have access to good info.

Then you raise a question over my honesty or true judgement despite transiting the airport, seemingly claiming I am not honest and will hear no ill or rubbish claims. I'm not trying to silence the doubters by calling for an end to the discussion, it's because judging by past threads, there is actually a real danger this thread will be locked. There is no conspiracy.

So, in your post of contradictions, either, I am a trusted source of good info as in paragraph 2, or totally making things up to defend MAN in paragraph 3? Which is it?

However, despite asking that question, maybe I should just say, let it go. Yes, I support MAN, yes I will defend it if I see fit, either get over it or put me on ignore. Your call, I'm not bothered either way.

I reckon I fly through MAN more than most of the fanboys/moaners on here. Normally depart on a Monday and return on a Thursday.

It certainly helps if you know what you're doing. Get your stuff ready, and make sure you remove everything electrical (all dodgy looking cables etc.). Otherwise, your stuff will end up on the wrong side of the conveyer and you'll be stuck behind 10 people who don't realise a bottle of water is classed as a liquid.

If I leave Urmston at 11:30am, I'm generally in the T3 Escape lounge by about midday.

Similarly, home to T1 lounge is around 30 minutes.

On the return (normally T1), it's sometimes a bit busy, but I've never had to wait more than 30 minutes. Although I originally moaned about the e-gates, they do seem to have speeded things up a lot.

Regular flyers just want to get to the airport, get on their flight and bugger off. Most of us will be happy enough with the MAN experience. The once or twice a year flyers may think a bit differently, but really, who cares about them? :)

My usual other airport is AMS. I've had some *really* bad experiences there, even with a Privium card.

LAX LHR is this threads best poster IMO. He is a MAN supporter, but is level headed and fair with his comments at the same time. Not sure why his ability to post info quickly needs special mention, I for one applaud his contribution.

Has anyone got any information why all arrivals and departures are on 23L. Can't see anything blocking 23R from Signature car park?

Hole in 23R.

Few diversions to LPL and EK19 gone to BHX.

Thanks for the info, hope the hot pour team are on shift!

Nice to see two A388's on the deck at BHX

Hot pour team are always on shift, more holes than a collinder sometimes.

I think most of us are supportive of Ringway, eggc, that's why we're here.

Would love to know what the fuel upload for EK19 is compared to LHR's EK3.

Sneeze at MAN and diverting is the norm. Long hold round Lambourne doesn't seem to phase anyone.

I think the problem among people is is they feel MAN are not doing enough to address basic problems just letting them get worse and worse.

Yes the border control is not really an issue they can control but they can put pressure on those who can if queue's are excessive.

The airport control the capacity level per hour, a review of that with airlines might be a positive move and see what changes if any might benefit passengers, airlines and the airport in general etc.

Good point. Out of interest, does anyone know how many flights landed on 23L while 23R was closed and how many diverted? Incidents like last evening's highlight the significant benefits of R2 but also its limitations.

As for LHR, it's sometimes a couple of holds out in the North Sea, a few more over the coast before they even get to Lambourne!

With the current T2 works, it's going to get worse before it gets better. People will just have to live with remote gates for a couple of years.

As mentioned upthread, you hear about the times when the queues are very bad, but this is pretty rare IME.

The main issue I see is the traffic situation around T1 & T3. This could be avoided if the traffic wardens in T1 did their job and moved on the private hire (Uber and the like) drivers that sit in the T1 drop off bays waiting to pick people up.

T3 is a bit more difficult as the restrictions after the GLA incident have not been lifted.

Air Transat moving to an all A330 operation next summer.

As of now, there are no A310 scheduled past June.

Despite it being a declining market for a while, TS seems to be ever increasing, even if it is little by little. First winter got a boost, now Summer has a capacity increase too. Great to see.

Arrived in T2 at 11.45am yesterday. Fairly busy terminal and a queue at the Monarch branded check in desks. There seemed to be enough staff as we moved pretty steadily through the "snake" - a smart move by the ground staff saw the Hainan branded check in pressed into use after their last pax were processed. At security just after midday where again pretty busy. Moved steadily through the system but - the shouting and bawling by the security staff threatened to spoil things. How do they get that graceless tone in their voices? Lessons from Vancouver security needed - the Canadians are never less than polite and friendly MAG please note.
There is quite a bit of evidence of the TP construction getting started but, to be honest, not as bad as London Bridge Station etc.
Called to the downstairs temporary departure area at 13.10 and boarding commenced soon after - all handled in a business like manner and departed just + 10 mins due ATC.
Monarch were fine and the flight was uneventful as it should be.

So on the whole little to complain about and having "enjoyed" the delights of Lagos, Islamabad and Mumbai a lot to appreciate ...

MOAN ALERT ON
Had a new reason to moan about MAN last week.......
As usual pre-booked into Multistorey Carpark (T1 this time).
After usual queue up the entry ramp, saw two tatty cones in front of barrier. NO signage or explanation.
Now - as a regular user, knew the way round this is to drive (sorry, painfully slowly queue) through the dropoff zone and enter the Multistorey via the back entrance barriers (adding to the dropoff zone delays)
Got in the Multistorey to find it was completely full (hence I guess the cones at the front stopping non-prebooked shortstayers)
I spent 15-20 minutes driving all round the levels trying to find a space - along with many other people as we kept repeatedly passing each other. Was about to dump the car in one of their "Premium Spaces" (only half full) and leave a snotty note on the dash, but got a space in the end.
Not a good impression when you "Pre-Book" a space only to find there is none.
Not good for the airport that I then had 20 minutes less to spend money in the Terminal.
Obvious questions:
Why no explanatory sign at the entrance to the carpark - How hard is it to put a sign saying carparks basically full and only available to pre-bookers?. Why is the IT sales systems availability of spaces runs so tight the situation even occurs?
Why can't they adjust the entrance to the dropoff area so it uses the left hand lane of the entry sliproad ramp and leave the right lane open for the multi-storey - Yes, I understand the roadway closest to the Terminal doors is closed for security reasons, but it should be possible to put up a steel blast wall to at least allow the droppoff zone to be filtered in from left hand lane only, so multi-storey bookers would not normally queue.
Before anyone asks the usual - Yes, I have emailed the Airport!
Just sums the airport up for me a lot nowadays. Too busy, poor planning, poor communication and underinvested.
MOAN ALERT OFF



For balance - Directed downstairs to Jet2 security area as upstairs was busy. Through in 15 minutes. Food in under 5 minutes, seat available. Boarding lounge fine, gate staff fine.

Some Virgin changes for next year:

1xB744 does MCO daily
1xB744 does MCO 5 weekly and LAS 2 weekly
1XB744 does JFK on Tue/Wed/Fri/Sun and ATL Mon/Thu/Sat
1xA333 does JFK on Mon/Thu/Sat and JFK Tue/Wed/Fri/Sun
1xA330 does SFO 3 weekly, BOS 2 weekly and BGI 2 weekly

Interesting to see a B744 on the New York and Atlanta run, but what's good that while the Upper class seats are down, overall seat capacity is up, in fact, it completely restores the weekly seat capacity lost by AA pulling the route, and actually adds a minimum of 149 seats per seek to the market.

The changes to Atlanta take place from 26th March, and JFK from 22nd May.

Good to see some ACTUAL news about OUR UK Airports including Manchester.

Is there something wrong in the first A330 destinations, LAX?

A positive response by VS/DL to AA leaving the MAN-New York market, perhaps. I think the last time we saw a 747 regularly flying this route was the late 1980s with BA/BCAL going LGW-MAN-JFK.

It looks like the Saturday rotation is incorrectly labelled as another Sunday rotation.

Manchester Statistics - August 2017 (Part 1)

Destinations that are either new (no passengers since my records started in January 2005), or have not been served for a number of years - if the latter then the month and year of the last service is shown.

No new routes to report

Three domestic statistics are currently missing from the CAA report for August.

Belfast City, Belfast International and Inverness are again missing from the initial monthly statistics for August.

Moving monthly and annual figures - based on CAA statistics

Monthly passengers - 3,165,031 + 7.9%
Annual Total- 18,972,653
Moving Annual Total - 27,493,488 + 11.6%

Monthly Movements - 19,948 + 4.8%
Moving Annual Movements - 195,422 + 10.6%

Manchester Statistics -August 2017 (Part 2)

Top 25 destinations - by passenger numbers

PALMA............................................. 134,269
ALICANTE......................................... 110,724
AMSTERDAM..................................... 93,846
DUBAI................................................ 89,852
DUBLIN.............................................. 86,998
MALAGA............................................ 85,602
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA)............. 82,094
FARO.................................................. 75,785
ORLANDO.......................................... 63,063
IBIZA................................................... 61,575
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE)............. 56,263
HEATHROW....................................... 55,815
BARCELONA....................................... 54,532
ARRICIFE............................................ 50,165
DALAMAN.......................................... 50,097
NEW YORK JFK................................... 43,441
ABU DHABI......................................... 42,573
PAPHOS.............................................. 41,637
HERAKLION........................................ 39,139
MAHON............................................. 36,439
CORFU................................................ 35,419
FRANKFURT........................................ 34,813
LAS PALMAS....................................... 33,757
DOHA................................................. 32,728
RHODES.............................................. 32,045

CAA statistics for August are provisional.

Manchester Statistics - August 2017 (Part 3)

Top 25 destinations with highest percentage increase.

Destination......................................Total Pax....Schedule Pax....Charter Pax....Percentage change
TOULOUSE.......................................... 7,863............. 7,863.................. 0.................... 220.02
BERLIN (SCHONEFELD)...................... 28,774.......... 28,774................... 0................... 161.92
CAGLIARI................................................ 240..................................... 240................... 155.32
MIKONOS............................................ 6,425............. 6,425................... 0.................. 139.47
HAMBURG........................................ 30,146........... 30,146.................. 0.................... 119.08
OPORTO............................................. 9,221............. 9,221................... 0.................... 115.39
BOSTON............................................ 10,449........... 10,449.................. 0.................... 115.35
SPLIT................................................. 14,384............ 12,291........... 7,219.................... 99.252
CUNAGUA........................................... 5,528............. 5,528................... 0.................... 98.492
OLBIA................................................. 6,252.............. 4,784.......... 1 ,468..................... 98.413
DUBROVNIK...................................... 20,294............ 20,294................. 0...................... 93.129
KRAKOW........................................... 13,802............ 13,802.................. 0..................... 90.425
ILHA DO SAL CAPE VERDE.................. 5,820............... 5,820................. 0..................... 85.883
HURGHADA........................................ 8,764.............. 8,764.................. 0.................... 81.074
SALONIKA......................................... 11,249.............. 7,848............ 3,401................... 69.362
CATANIA (FONTANAROSSA)............... 7,523.............. 6,068........... 1,455.................... 64.725
LOS ANGELES...................................... 7,694............... 7,694................. 0.................... 46.972
GDANSK.............................................. 4,636............... 4,636................. 0.................... 45.011
NEWQUAY......................................... 10,545............ 10,545................. 0.................... 44.769
BILBAO................................................ 7,288.............. 7,288.................. 0.................... 43,804
LISBON.............................................. 26,419............ 26,419................. 0..................... 43.621
GIBRALTAR........................................ 11,241............ 11,241................. 0..................... 43.435
BOA VISTA.......................................... 5,828............... 5,828................. 0..................... 41.732
PREVEZA............................................ 11,755.............. 8,335........... 3,420.................... 38.473
LAS VEGAS......................................... 17,061............. 17,061................ 0..................... 37.473

CAA statistics for August are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - August 2017 (Part 4)

Figures for the European and long haul destinations that I consider to be the main points for our connecting traffic.

Foreign_airport……..Total_Pax 2016……..Total Pax 2017……% change
VIENNA…………………. 10,007……….…………… 10,891……………….. +8.8338
BRUSSELS……………… 15,807……………………. 16,729……………….. +5.8329
BEIJING…………………… 9,287………………….… 12,117.………………. +30.473
PRAGUE………………… 11,886……………………. 13,942…….…………. +17.298
COPENHAGEN………. 29,356……………………. 27,987……………….. -4.663
HELSINKI………………... 9,711…………….……... 10,356……………….. +6.642
PARIS (CDG)…………… 53,366……………………. 56,293…………….... +5.4848
DUSSELDORF…………. 19,761………..………….. 23,715……………….. +20.009
FRANKFURT MAIN…. 38,613……………………. 34,813….…………….. -9.841
MUNICH………………… 30,469..…………………. 33,324………………… +2.8061
HONG KONG………….. 10,543….………………… 11,112 ……….……… +5.3969
KEFLAVIK………………….. 7,839……………………… 9,823………………… +25.309
DUBLIN…………………… 90,135……………………. 86,998………….……. -3.48
MILAN (MALPENSA).. 14,017……………………. 17,239……………….. +22.986
ROME (FIUMICINO).. 12,348..………………….. 12,806……………….. +3.7091
AMSTERDAM…………. 91,456…………………….. 93,846.……………... +2.6133
ISLAMABAD……………. 25,268..…………………… 15,409………………. -39.02
LISBON …………………… 18,395…………………….. 26,419………..…….. +43.621
DOHA…………………….. 33,989…………………….. 32,728………………. -3.71
JEDDAH……………………. 8,074………………………. 9,101……………….. +12.72
SINGAPORE……………. 10,450………………………. 7,715……………….. -26.17
MADRID…………………. 14,963…………………….. 15,240………………. +1.8512
STOCKHOLM (ARN)… 13,254…………………….. 17,467………………. +31.787
GENEVA…………………. 19,286…………………….. 21,052….………..... +9.1569
ZURICH……………………. 9,548……………………… 10,929………………. +14.464
ABU DHABI…………….. 44,633……………….……. 42,573…..…………. -4.615
DUBAI…………………….. 81,321.……………………. 89,852………………. +10.491
ATLANTA……………….. 13,577…….……………….. 12,960………………. -4.544
CHICAGO…..…………… 10,127…………………….. 10,418………………. -2.793
HOUSTON……………..………… 0………………………. 4,981………………. +0.00
NEW YORK (JFK)……… 38,119…………………….. 43,441………..……. +13.962
NEW YORK (NEWARK). 9,152………………………. 9,180………………. +0.3059
PHILADELPHIA………… 11,758……………………… 11,796……..………. +0.3232
HEATHROW……………. 58,179……………………… 55,815……………… -4.063

CAA statistics for August are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - August 2017 (Part 5)

Comparison of top 25 destinations - July 2007 versus July 2017

Foreign airport...........................August-07...........August-17
PALMA.............................................. 118,879................. 134,269
DALAMAN.......................................... 83,056.................. 50,097
MALAGA............................................ 74,337.................. 85,602
ALICANTE........................................... 71,168.................. 110,724
HEATHROW....................................... 71,142.................. 55,815
FARO.................................................. 63,529.................. 75,785
DUBLIN............................................... 61,398.................. 86,998
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA)............. 56,374.................. 82,094
SANFORD.......................................... 50,775.................... 7,949
AMSTERDAM..................................... 50,751.................. 93,846
DUBAI................................................ 48,693.................. 89,852
IBIZA.................................................. 48,136.................. 61,575
LARNACA........................................... 46,059.................. 24,885
PAPHOS............................................. 44,084.................. 41,637
HERAKLION........................................ 42,332.................. 39,139
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE)............. 43,298.................. 56,293
RHODES............................................. 36,712.................. 32,045
MAHON............................................. 36,455.................. 36,439
ORLANDO.......................................... 30,016.................. 53,840
ARRECIFE........................................... 33,933.................. 50,165
CORFU............................................... 33,761.................. 35,419
ZAKINTHOS........................................ 32,897.................. 29,337
BODRUM........................................... 31,547.................. 12,217
GATWICK........................................... 30,800.................. 0
FRANKFURT....................................... 30,733.................. 34,813

CAA are statistics for August are provisional.

Reported elsewhere the reason the 747 has been drafted in is due to overrunning A330 refits/maintenance.

I was thinking more that the JFK and the ATL route are split across one of the B744 and one of the A330s, just not sure which does which days.

The EK22 to Dubai was cancelled this morning after a mouse was spotted on board. Naturally the A380 involved was the one with a special "United for Wildlife" animal livery adorning the fuselage :)
The aircraft now has to be fumigated and the uninvited guest awaits its fate - if it hasn't escaped already !