Manchester - Best UK Airport

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

MANCHESTER was the clear poll winner in a vote to find the best UK airport.

Readers of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine were asked to vote for their favourite and least favourite airport in a poll in the April/May edition of the magazine. Manchester came out on top -- beating Heathrow into second place and Gatwick into third. Heathrow topped the least favourite airport poll.

In January Manchester was the best UK airport in the prestigious Travel Weekly Globe Awards. Manchester Airport Chairman Cllr John Byrne, said: "I think this award reconfirms our belief that Manchester is setting the standard in airport customer service".

BAe 146-100 :D

[qwerty2]

This must be a sick joke.

Have they not seen the filth on the floors of Terminal 1 , the lazy cleaners idly reading papers or whisking mops with little regard for effect?
Have they checked the appalling quality of the food or been scammed by bar staff into paying for drinks they didn't receive?

Have they not encountered travellators that are permanently off or the appallling baggage collection?

I could go on but MIA insist on paying their staff peanuts and the results are evident to travellers like me.
Manchester stinks!!!...literally

[dwlpl]

This was mentioned in this thread (without the cut and paste) http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97480 on 28th July.

[jmc_757-200]

Hi,
When was the last time you where at Manchester Airport qwerty2?
I was there on Thursday and the floor in T1 was shining it was so clean and the food in the food court and elsewhere I think is of a good standard.
Plus all the travellators have been turned everytime I've visited to knowledge.

Thanks

jmc_757-200

[Jinkster]

It is a very good airport - wonder what finningley will be like.

jinkster

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

MAN is a excellent airport and it is much better then most airports in the UK. It is very clean and there is nothing wrong with the food.

BAe 146-100

[Frankfurt_Cowboy]

But never talk to any of the cleaners, EVER!!!!

[GrahamK]

I take it they've sorted out T1 now, or is it still a dump?
Personally, Id rather travel through NCL or EDI before MAN

[Neo]

Manchester's Terminal 1 has a nice comprehensive airside shopping area, but that is it. It is by far the worst airport I have had to work at; I rate NCL, BHX, EDI, GLA, LGW, even LTN as better.

[MAN777]

Firstly I do work at Manchester, I fly from there on an almost daily basis, live 3 miles away on the centreline, have watched it grow from the late sixties and have travelled all around the world passing through literally hundreds of other airports. So I think I am well qualified to judge and compare.

Views on this and previous similar postings often seem very bitter and blinkered, written by the same few, have any of you seen the result of the improvements carried out at T1 and the transport interchange lately, I dont think so !.

Yes the Airport is still a bit shabby in places, is having teething problems with its baggage system and yes the staff having to park at staff car park west do have my sympathy but that is about it. The airport is a dynamic bustling place which can compare with not only the UKs best but also the Worlds.

Another issue which appears to upset a lot on this forum is the Management. This is the real world, old time union ways and protectionism have no place anymore. The airport is slimming to survive and so is all industry not just airports.

So please lets use this forum correctly, explain and discuss, dont just attack with one liners.

Cheers

[DeltaIndiaSierraPapa]

MAN is a excellent airport and it is much better then most airports in the UK. It is very clean and there is nothing wrong with the food.

What in the hell are you smoking. I work at MAN and it is absolutely DISGUSTING!! T1 is dirty at the best of times and downright FILTHY at the worst (Sometimes I think Lagos would be a more hygenic place to work). There is no seating within the departures lounge. Passengers are laying down on the floors for christsakes! You have to actually climb over people to get anywhere. Where the pax arent lying, garbage and cigarette nibs are piling up. Oh and cigarettes...there is no such thing as a dedicated ssmoking area at MAN. People just smoke wherever the hell they like and nobody gives a damn!

The food is expensive and the vast majority of it is crap. If you are really brave you could try out the staff cafe, but you'd better be quick as its opening hours are a joke. Burgere King is about the top of the food chain at MAN. An absolute joke!

There are not enough workstations at the gates so the dispatchers and pax agents fight for space when trying to turn around a flight. Half the sets dont work anyway. Then there is B-Pier. No air conditioning. No seating . Glass walls. What do you get? HELL! I try to board my pax as quickly as possible just so they dont have to suffer with the indignity of B-Pier.

Best airport???

Puh-lease..........

:yuk:

[Hawkley]

Yet again the knockers are out in firce. I think the point they are missing is that both polls were taken amongst paying passengers and at the end of the day they are the ones funding the airport and the views of airport workers are totally irrelevant.:O

[FOXIBOY]

To those knocking it ,if you work there then you should not bite the hand that feeds you,also i am from manch orig and i now live in the southeast when i do get the chance to get home i always try to get to man , whenever i can. I think the changes are brill it looks far better than it did years ago,also maybe those who are from other parts of the country are a little envious of the way man has developed and thier local airports havent,i work out of lgw and let me tell you it can be far worse.

[AOG-YYZ]

Then I would dread to think what Britains other airports are like. Now if you really wish to see a bad airport, at least two terminals, might I suggest you visit YYZ. But hurry, T-New will be opening later this year or early next, propelling us, hopefully, into the twenty-first century of travel.;)

[jmc_757-200]

Hi,
Nothing personal here, but in my opinion I think certain people just have it in for MAN because its been rated better that the likes of LHR or LGW.
Let me tell you about MAN:

T1 - In my opinion it is great, clean, safe and spacious. It has been done up recently and looks good - new departure boards, automatic information kiosks, flight simulator in arrivals and the MyTravel check-in area is excellent.

T2 - Very spacious, light, great for TAS meetings and functions, good food and quite modern.

T3 - One of the best terminals I've ever been in, VERY modern, clean, airy, pleasant. The BA check-in is great and very speedy and the bmi staff are very helpful and you can get a good coffee in there too!

Thanks

jmc_757-200

[Stand 22]

I wonder if any of those passengers who have to stand and que all the way from T1 security, around the departures hall and back into T3 becasue there are only 2 or 3 X-ray machines staffed were asked to vote. Or what about those passengers whose bags don't turn up with them because the T1 baggage system has failed yet again. Or the passengers stuck on the taxiway for half an hour whilst stands become available (we can't go remote because there are no bus drivers until 9am!)

Chip away at that fresh new paint in T1 and you very quickly start to see the sorry excuse for an airport the place really is.

[jmc_757-200]

Hi,
I have never seen que's from T1 to T3 ever nor have I seen an a/c wait half an hour for a stand, not even on 28th May! 100s of PAX arrive from LHR each day to find that their luggage hasn't been loaded on there flight with them, so its not just MAN who might have problems with its baggage system.

Thanks

jmc_757-200

[EGCC]

jmc_757-200,

Believe me MAN T1 gets extremely busy at times, especially in a morning around 8-9am. Last time I flew to Tenerife in february the queue's were already backing up into the landside lounge. My relatives on a flight to tenerife 2 hours later that day said the queue was stretching back up to check-in with people in tears as they thought they'd miss their flights.

I was in the terminal last week and again it was heaving, as expected this time of year. Announcements were being made appologising for check in delays as the hall was completely full.

From a passenger point of view I find the airport fine on most occasions, but when the queue for passport control is long it gets frustrating, especially when there only seems to be 2 or 3 people on the desk.

[Stand 22]

JMC_757-200

The baggage system in T1 was supposed to have been "upgraded" last year, yet you can bet your life that come the weekend, it will fail.

On more than one occasion in the last few weeks we have had passengers miss flights because they were held up by security. We now have to send a member of staff to walk the que to make sure we get everyone through in time. I personally have taken calls from BMI staff in T3 who have been approched by our passengers, worried they would miss their flight because of the ques.

Perhaps you would like to explain to 360 of our customers, returning from SFB, who were made to wait on the taxiway for 30 minutes that this never happens. Whilst you are at it, explain the same to the captain of the 767 we sub chartered not long ago who was sat outside the FLS/MYT hanger for 40 minutes, made to 'U' turn and park remote, then told to get to stand 29.

Yes the terminals might be clean, credit to the cleaners. Yes the BMI staff might be friendly, credit to BMI. However the only thing MAPLC are worried about is are the passengers spending in the shops. We can't even gate flights early because the pax might buy something in that ten minutes!

MAN might well be the best airport when its quiet, but turn up the pressure and it all goes pear shaped.

Regards,

[jmc_757-200]

Hi,
Maybe I exagerated with the word "never" but your not telling me that these things don't happen at other airports?

Thanks

jmc_757-200

[sisyphus1965]

Stand 22

Most of your criticisms of MAN are relevent to any busy airport in this country, if not the world.

Personally speaking, I have waited on a flight 60 min at LHR waiting for a stand: I have been "escorted" through passport control at LGW after queing for three hours at check in: i have missed a connecting floght in BOS because of the queues in immigration and do not get me started on JFK and EWR.

MAN is no worse or better than most other UK airports, none of which get close to the best of the European airports, AMS being a personal favourite.

It is all down to piece-meal development with no long term strategies in place. Much like the UK in general!!

[Stand 22]

sisyphus1965

I understand your point, and JMC_757-200, I do accept that this sort of thing will happen at other airports. However we, the airlines, are the ones who are left to pick up the mess the airport leaves us in. We have to get passengers on the next flight at our expense. We try to provide a quality service to our passengers, but are constantly let down by shoddy infrastructure.

regards,

[chiglet]

OK,
A bit from an ATCer
I wander in from Staff7 [Back end of T2], at 6.30am, and EVERY day I say "hello" to the cleaners. When I finish at 2pm, I say "goodbye" to the cleaners. Same at 1.30pm and 10pm
Fact. T2 Very clean. Fault, Escalator goes the "Wrong" way [personal gripe]
Fact. Cleaners work T2 to station, and station to T1. Fillth not seen.
In fact, the only "Problem" is the well paid person who decided to close the T1 car park to "Refurbish" it at the hight of the Summer Season
As to the "Stand Probs....No bags, no deps, Apron and ATC worked aroud it..
Yes, I have got a bee abour "Scheduled" Airlins vs "Charter" Airlines re stands. I think that some "flexibuility" may help here
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[tangocharlie]

Because we are based at MAN does not make us an authority of what goes on in the terminal. The baggage handling system repeatedly breaking down has got to the stage now that carriers are refusing to pay the charges. Get your heads out of the sand, MAN needs to go a long way to improve greatly.

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

Returned from Paris earlier in year, bags through and waiting before we could get through immigration

Ian

[kopbhoy2]

If MAN is the UK's best airport I'd hate to see the worst!

The last time I was there (may) it was a mess, the time before that (january) I was among 120+ pax who got stuck in a corridor for over 30 minutes as no-one bothered to unlock the doors going into the baggage hall in T2.

I've flown into & out of LHR, LCY, LTN & LPL and have never encountered any problems. Maybe it's just luck...