Is Manchester airport the worst in Europe?

[Sir peace frog]

Just got back from Milan with Rynair and had a 2 and a half delay because of a shortage of swissport ground crew at Manchester Airport.

Also a few weeks back it took an hour to get through passport control. Shambolic!

edited

 

[Ric]

Flew to Mallorca yesterday from Manchester, and was fearing the worst after seeing some of the reports. Tried to get Fast Track tickets but all week it said none were available, then on Friday night luckily managed to get some. Turned up at the airport three hours early for the flight and even though things were a bit chaotic got through bag drop and security in about 45 mins, which was good. Fast track definitely made a difference so would recommend if you can get them. It’s a scam really, but I’d rather spend a fiver not to be stood in a queue for a few hours. As it turned out our flight ended up being delayed for a few hours anyway (not due to Manchester Airport) but at least it meant I got to watch the City game.

 

[bluefish]

The demise of MAN goes as far back as the mid 90s and the privatisation of the baggage services and the so called removal of a monopoly that MIA held. Prior to this all airport authority positions were filled by Council workers, a lot of them ex-binmen who transferred after the refuse collection was sold off. Employment was sought after and cherished, and any staff found to be "crossing the line" were sent to Coventry. However a European ruling in relation to the baggage services monopoly and the Council`s desire to offload the responsibility of the local authority pension scheme opened up the market, meaning standards and working conditions dropped. Whilst the airlines were happy with this due to incurring lower costs multiple agencies fought for contracts and had to reduce their costs by employing cheaper labour. The airport then saw this as an opportunity to become a "Landlord" and no longer a major employer. They are only interested in taking as much money as possible from all and sundry with no responsibilities.

Post Covid they are suffering just like other sectors. They`ve lost staff who`ve now found gainful employment elsewhere. I`ve seen it mentioned that the UK has lost 1 million people from the employment market since the start of Covid. It`s now an employee`s market out there where you can pick and choose your employment. The fact that some supermarkets have upped their salary rates goes to show.

So you can get a job at MAN, get to a staff car park at 4am, then get a bus to the terminal, get run ragged for a shift in summer and return home via a bus and car. Or you can work for Sainsbury`s for more money and less hassle.

Manchester Airport`s problem this summer won`t just be recruitment, it`ll be staff retention.

Bang on....

 

[cheekybids]

Last flew in & out of Manchester before Covid & it was terrible, not far off the videos shown. The staff were blaming the passengers for the process failing, literally said we’ve been doing it this way for years & they still can’t get if right. I had to pull them up & say every day you will come across passengers that haven’t done this before & have you considered looking at other airports where we don’t have this problem.
If it was a production line (which it is) they’d have fixed it in a week.

 

[unicorn]

This is from Christian Machowski, a German living in Malaga who works for Euro Sports & Event Management getting top football teams to games and back so he knows airports.



But as I said on Thursday, my experience last week flying to and from Malaga was absolutely fine, because we check in on-line and only take hand luggage.

 

[splinter]

Be prepared blues who are flying out to Madrid next week

 

[Blue Mist]

Flew to Mallorca yesterday from Manchester, and was fearing the worst after seeing some of the reports. Tried to get Fast Track tickets but all week it said none were available, then on Friday night luckily managed to get some. Turned up at the airport three hours early for the flight and even though things were a bit chaotic got through bag drop and security in about 45 mins, which was good. Fast track definitely made a difference so would recommend if you can get them. It’s a scam really, but I’d rather spend a fiver not to be stood in a queue for a few hours. As it turned out our flight ended up being delayed for a few hours anyway (not due to Manchester Airport) but at least it meant I got to watch the City game.

One reason for a reasonable passage is that Easy Jet cancelled loads of flights due to Covid. My lad was one of the unlucky ones.

 

[andyhinch]

Flew to Mallorca yesterday from Manchester, and was fearing the worst after seeing some of the reports. Tried to get Fast Track tickets but all week it said none were available, then on Friday night luckily managed to get some. Turned up at the airport three hours early for the flight and even though things were a bit chaotic got through bag drop and security in about 45 mins, which was good. Fast track definitely made a difference so would recommend if you can get them. It’s a scam really, but I’d rather spend a fiver not to be stood in a queue for a few hours. As it turned out our flight ended up being delayed for a few hours anyway (not due to Manchester Airport) but at least it meant I got to watch the City game.

Thought you’d have the yacht in Monaco at this time of year ;-)

 

[Ric]

One reason for a reasonable passage is that Easy Jet cancelled loads of flights due to Covid. My lad was one of the unlucky ones.

Ah, that makes sense. Sorry to hear about your lad.

 

[garfresco]

Flew to Mallorca yesterday from Manchester, and was fearing the worst after seeing some of the reports. Tried to get Fast Track tickets but all week it said none were available, then on Friday night luckily managed to get some.

If the Manchester Airport site is showing unavailable for fast track, try Holiday Extras as well