UKC

We are flying out of Manchester on the 2nd of April. I have heard the horror stories of the queues for security. We are having arguments about how early we need to get there. I say let's get there very early. My wife says there is no point. Anyone had a recent experience? 

I flew from Manchester about a month ago, pretty early flight. Got there a couple of hours before departure, check in (we used one of those self check in ones which was pretty quick) + security was probably about an hour total, plenty of time for getting to the gate. Might be worth leaving a little more time if you think it's gonna be a particularly busy when you're going through.

I traveled out of Manchester quite a bit over the winter,up to the end of January,  a d generally it was ok, not having to wait too long on any occasion, that said I did make sure I was there in plenty of time,.my flights tended to be early mornings so that may have made a difference as well, but I certainly didn't feel I had to wait excessively 

For some reason I enjoy airports ... im voting very early on that alone. 

Flew out of Manchester last Saturday morning, mid morning flight. Got there 2 hours before, self check in to drop the bag and about a 15 minute queue for security.

All very normal and as hassle free as flying ever is these days.

Rolling coverage of the situation in this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2047943-ba-e... 

I went through on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago (not half term), and it took about 20-30 min to get through security. There were queues for check-in/bag drop due to extra paper work involved (depends on your destination of course). 

I used to fly a lot, not necessarily Manchester, and having several times come close to missing flights caused by delays at security, once by a crash causing a long delay on the M11 approaching Stanstead, and once by a hire car with a dodgy fuel gauge running out of fuel about half a mile from drop off at Venice, and having to push it,  I came to the conclusion that it's worth reducing the stress of a possible missed flight by aiming to get there well before check in. Now I usually aim for between 2 and 3 hours before.

What's the problem with doing that? Once you are through security you can relax in the Departures area, have a coffee and/or meal, and chill out. Thinking you are about to miss your flight is incredibly stressful, and not an experience I recommend on anyone.

I was there two weeks ago. Security was awful, queues into the ticket hall - guess maybe an hour to get through. Things weren't helped by the number of people who seemingly had no idea what you can take in carry on bags. Do yourself a favour and pay for fast-track. That's what I did and it was £5 well spent.

Depends on the terminal. New fancy one (T2?) is great, old shitty one (T1?) is, well...

I flew through there on Tuesday evening, returning to Dublin (T1)

It was late-ish - a 10pm flight so it was quiet.

Security was fine, they are quite fussy but polite, pleasant and efficient.

The airport still sucks though.

I have to get people to the airport on time as part of my job. I tell them what time I want to leave and they always moan how early it is so I give them the opportunity to go later. As it then becomes their decision, if they miss their flight it's out of my hands.

You could do that with your wife and blame her when you miss your holiday.

On a more serious note, sitting in departures, air side for two hours with a coffee is far better than clock watching in the security queue watching time speed up and people slow down. Even worse in a traffic jam with a heart rate of 150.

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An after thought. Manchester security are overly prone to doing a secondary bag check, which can delay you for a further 45min if very busy. To mitigate against this, I now take nearly every electrical item out of my cabin bag (laptop, chargers, camera, phone, tablets etc etc), even if it means using 2 or 3 trays (I've used 4 sometimes when travelling for work). 

They told me once that bags packed tightly with electrical equipment are almost impossible to decipher on xray. As you say removing items and lieing out individually on a tray makes their job much easier, plus although a faf is less inconvenient than having a physical search.

Flew out of T1 a week last Wednesday 10.30am.

I was very glad I'd podded out for a fast track pass to avoid the ginormous queue (45 mins I'd guess), but wished I'd also bought a passport fast track for the return - the queue at 11.30 pm on Monday night was 40 mins to get through immigration. 

My most recent experience was pre-covid in 2020 (Terminal 1, I presume you're going from?) and it was pretty bad. Long queues, very rude staff shouting at the masses of people like they were cattle rather than human beings, stressful environment. However I think checking in a bag and going through security took around 1 hour in total which isn't tooooo bad,despite being really unpleasant.

If you're getting dropped off I believe there's a drop off fee now, so bear that in mind. I've used the 'jetparks' a few times and they have been fine, just need to allow a bit of extra time for a bus to come and pick you up and take you to the terminal, never had to wait for long though. 

In general returning to Manchester is a really painful experience as well though - often end up queuing backwards through 'no entry' signs as the queue for passport control is so long. The train station is woeful too - I think a couple of years before 2020 I tried to get the train back from the airport and ended up missing two trains in a row while trying to buy a ticket - all the machines were broken, humongous mass of people trying to buy tickets, Mobile tickets weren't available, and when I tried to tell one of the members of staff sat in the ticket office (about three of them in there, only one window open though) he basically told me I was lying about the machines being broken and refused to step outside his office to look at the mass of people around the ticket machines amd queueing up for the office. 

Manchester Airport might be my least favourite place in the entire world. Always choose to fly from somewhere else if there's a reasonable alternative. 

If your travelling from the west on the M56 be aware they have been occasionally closing the M56 between the M6 junction and the airport (bridge works)

this involves a very disconcerting diversion so check this

Time wise fast track is pretty good, I’ve flown twice in the last month from Manchester other than the M56 diversion it was relatively painless (for Manchester) but I was on the red eye both times so I could imagine it was pretty slow an hour or so later.

I always prefer to leave enough time for a relaxed coffee in departures even if it means getting up at 01:00 in the morning 

for the odds to be in your favour at manchester, fly at tea time but arrive at lunch time(lots of flights to lanzagrotti etc tend to go am), book fast track for security and the same for airline if possible. Don't use a ruck sack as the airports outdated baggage system can't cope and you’ll have to queue at out sized baggage.

When things are ok Manchester is survivable, when it's just not happening it's easily the worst airport experience you’ll ever have. Do you feel lucky?

Yes 3 weeks weeks ago on Sunday morning flight. It looked horrendous in T2 but I had fast track so was ok. Coming back it was 2 hours through immigration. 
 

iF T3 reopens it will improve things. 
 So get there early. 

I would suggest you allow three hours. I flew out from T1 two weeks ago very early and arrived two hours before my flight. The queues were horrendous and it took 45 minutes to 60 minutes to clear security. They were clearly short of staff and didn’t have many scanner lanes open, apparently they weren’t expecting so many people to travel! Surely they can predict how many people are travelling? T1 & 2 are the worst terminals in the country for length of time to clear security.

I have just returned this afternoon and it took approximately 25/30 minutes to get through passport control.  Absolutely 💩e

My son flew out last saturday early morning and said it was a nightmare. They nearly missed the plane.

Basically, the thread thinks you should set off now! 🤣

Book the £5 fast track. Best value thing in the airport by some margin.

Thanks for the replies so far. I think I have a plan. I will book the fast track and book the taxi for 1 hour before our original plan and not tell my wife until I wake her up at 4am!

"What shall I travel in? Loads of chunky jewellery, thigh length boots with huge thick soles that take 20 minutes each to take off and a big coat with 40 buckles done up to the neck. Sorted. Now, just got time to distribute some 200ml bottles of liquid, various electronic items and a carving knife at random locations in my hand luggage before setting off to the airport."

We travelled with friends who paid for the privilege of fast trackat Manchester. We were through ages before they were.