tc69

I don't know why it took so long for me to drop off my bag at Manchester Airport this morning. I reached the priority queue at 815 am for the 0950 flight to lhr and left the check in just after 9am. The priority queue was a lot slower than the non priority lane. The check in staff often left their desks for a long time. I made it to the lounge where they had already made the boarding call. The lounge reception said that the Menzies check in staff were short staffed and in the future they suggested to budget more time for check in to BA at Manchester. Hope that is helpful for the Manchester folk.

corporate-wage-slave

The lounge receptionist also works for Menzies so they may well be correct. Part of the problem is if you arrived at 09:00 hrs (having already checked in) you probably would not have to wait long. Not that I'm advocating that - you then have the delights of Manchester Security with which to contend. Whereas if you arrived at 08:00 (this is crazy for a domestic service) you would probably still have 20 minutes in the queue.

I'd send in a complaint. It won't do much good on its own but even BA will twig if they get a lot of complaints about it.

nivsy

MAN-LHR-MAN unless connecting surely the train is the way to go?

Sam Bee

I'm surprised that BA is not ensuring they are overstaffed at MAN considering the security queues. My first instinct reading your post was it's lucky you got through security in time to make your flight. Took me 90 minutes to clear security despite having hand luggage only, and was the last to board the LCY service despite hoping to grab some lunch in the lounge. Vowed only to use the train in future (I don't connect in MAN, but spend enough time there that AVIOS can save me a fortune vs the train at times).

Purely anecdotal, which is the worst kind of evidence, but MAN must have a serious amount of people that miss their flights? So slow security, so many panicked angry people worried about missing flights.

fluffymitten

Points run?

I'm off to MAN in December for a Christmas Party and I could have taken the train but I need the points

Krisz

I usual do the lhr-man-lhr and I fly as the Avis office next to Piccadilly closes at 6pm. So if I would do the train I would have to go to the airport anyway to pick up the car.

Joeykins

I've pretty much given up with MAN now. I came through on the morning of 6th Nov at around 0730 for the 0905 and the main check-in & bag drop line was horrific, fortunately for me the priority line wasn't bad and was actually being given priority. Between that, the generally grim state of T3 and seemingly eternal problems with over-zealous and under-staffed security I'm planning all my transatlantic trips to start at LHR with a couple of days in the London office beforehand, then to connect back to MAN when I come home. That being said, if the priority queue was moving slower than the main queue I'd raise that to BA as it undermines their brand and the entire purpose of status so they might actually take some action, even if the action is simply to remind the Menzies staff that the priority line is just that.

jeremyBA

I had the same at Palma. Over an hour to check in Club Europe. Complained got the usual platitudes.

ba love complexity and seem to have made this into a Check in art form. I have never understood why printing a boarding card and a luggage tag can take anything other than moments.

At palma EasyJet process many many more pax with nil delays.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm all for giving MAN both barrels over the poor passenger experience there, something that Which? has also publicised recently. What I can also point out is the new £50 per head Premium Terminal, or £100 with lounge access. And also that I've had some afternoon / evening experiences which were massively better than mornings at Ringway. I had a T2 trip a few weeks ago, late afternoon, where there were 8 members of staff assisting just me to get through security, which took all of 20 seconds. So yes, go to LBA or NCL or GLA instead, or go later on.

Tobias-UK

I was about to mention that, here is the link to the BBC reporting on the Which! article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50055255

ThatT1Feeling

MAN is an enigma of an airport when travelling with BA.

I've travelled through MAN T3 3 times in the last 2 weeks and will be going through again this evening. In the last 2 weeks I have been through Fast Track security in less than 5 minutes every time, but I have also known Fast Track to take 30 minutes. They do seem to be starting to police Fast Track a little better in the last few weeks, but the physical setup of the conveyors and the slow x-ray machines is always going to cause problems.

Add in the check-in which can sometimes resemble a ghost town and sometimes can be absolutely rammed (including a very slow priority line), does mean that it's un-plannable as to when to best arrive.

Then you're faced with when to go to the gate to have a reasonable chance of finding locker space. Yesterday, the Group 1-3 line was half of the plane, and the guy next to me in 1A was seriously unimpressed when arriving late to the boarding queue to find that he would be about 70th to board! I know space is tight in the boarding area but I would still expect that they should find a way to board Group 1 first.

DYKWIA

You can't really blame the check-in issues on the airport. This is all under the control of BA.

corporate-wage-slave

That was a good story to read actually, especially the MAN's rebuttal. The rest of the timings - well if you halved all of them it seems about right to me. I mean the idea of spending 8 minutes to get through NCL is amusing, I count on 8 minutes from short term parking to pressing the coffee machine button in the lounge. But generally the timings are about right, not least because Stansted and Luton are next in line.

I appreciate that this wasn't relevant to the OP's experience since the problem was with BA's ground agents, but it is part of a less than stellar service provision at Manchester compared to other locations.

bisonrav

No surprise - this is what happens if you employ Liam Gallagher as head of Customer Experience

Tobias-UK

I agree. I have to admit that there has been great improvement at MAN in recent times, I rarely check in bags so can't offer any contemporary experience of the check in wait, but as far as security is concerned I've been through Fast Track in a matter of minutes - but I'm usually on the 10:00, 12:00 or 15:00 ish flights. When I took the 07:00 flight a few weeks ago there was a longer wait because of a backup of bags being sent to secondary screening. I used to put it down to inexperienced travelers, many of the Ryanair and FlyBe flights depart about that time and that accounts for some of the delays.

What I do find is the greatest issue with MAN is the number of bags sent for secondary inspection. In recent months my hand luggage (with cables, headphones and power pack) is sent to secondary inspection about 80% of the time - 100% of the time when the scanning is automated (which it often is on the Fast Track lane). The same bag (whose contents are always the same) has never been sent for secondary inspection (except for randoms) at any other airport I have travelled through.

I have raised complaints with MAN and the supervisor but nothing has changed. There is clearly an issue with their automated scanner and the level of training with the human scanner. What I have noticed however is an improvement in the attitude of the security personnel, yes there is still the occasional moody one, but more and more I am seeing a more pleasant demeanour.