A number of holidaymakers said they were 'pleasantly surprised' at the queueing situation as Manchester Airport today as bosses said they are to draft in a further 150 security staff to deal with the big summer getaway.
Today (Friday) marked the first day of school summer holidays, with a total of 3.5 million people are due to jet off from the airport over the next six weeks whilst the kids are off.
Chaos seen at the airport over the past few months, which has been blamed on industry-wide staff shortages, has caused anxiety amongst many of those preparing to jet off for the first time since the pandemic hit in 2020.
READ MORE: Manchester Airport sends message to travellers ahead of weekend summer getaway
However, despite it being what bosses admitted was a "busy" start to the summer holiday peak, many people traveling from the airport today said their experience surpassed their expectations.
Sam Tyrer, 36, who was flying with TUI to Antalya in Turkey with partner Kate and their six-year-old daughter. said: “I was expecting it to be complete carnage if I'm honest.
“My mate flew out on Sunday and he said it took him four hours overall to get right through. We flew in May, again with TUI, and we queued for two hours then to check-in. Today we got here about three and a half hours before we were due to fly to make sure we didn't miss our flight.
"But it's just taken us 10 minutes, if that, to check in this morning. We’ve not been through security yet but the queues don't look too bad either. from what I can see.
"Time will tell on that. But things have definitely improved I think from the last time I was here."
Another passenger, who did not want to be named but was also flying with TUI from T2, said: "It's been brilliant so far. Can't fault it. I've been pleasantly surprised."
A woman flying with her son to Trapani, Sicily, with Ryanair from Terminal 3 said: "It was absolutely fine. It took us about half an hour to drop our bag but in the circumstances, that's nothing really. We obviously need to tackle security yet but we're just looking forward to starting our holiday."
There were reports of some long queues very early in the morning. Some passengers took to social media to vent their frustration at long waits at both check-in at Terminal 2 and at Terminal 1 between 6am and 8am.
When the Manchester Evening News visited the airport around three hours later, some passengers waiting to check-in with some long-haul airlines, including Emirates and Turkish Airlines, were being held in the car park of Terminal 1 in order to control numbers in the terminal building. However, marshals were on hand to manage the queues which appeared to be moving quickly.
Norman Hoole, 75, from Durham, was flying to Toronto with Air Transat and said he and his partner had been waiting just short of an hour to get into the terminal building to check-in. He said he then expected to be in security for at least another 45 minutes after that.
He said it was "very busy" compared to his last visit to the airport in 2019. "It's as if they only have two or three check-in desks open," he said. "There used to be more than that and you were straight through."
Others said on Twitter however said that they had no problems. The M.E.N witnessed no major issues at either T3 or T2. There was a busy queue at the Jet2 bag-drop in T2 however two separate groups said it took them no more than 10 minutes to deposit their luggage.
A spokesman for the airport said they believed it had coped well despite the busy start to the holiday season.
Despite the issues seen over recent months, the airport has not enforced any cancellations or cut capacity, they said, to allow as many people as possible to take well-earned trips.
A total of 500 people had now started working in security roles as part of their recruitment drive which began in January, and they another 150 were due to start work before August they said.
In June 91 percent of passengers got through security in under 30 minutes and two-thirds in under 15 minutes they added and said their aim during the school holidays is for 95 percent of passengers to get through in under half an hour.
Whilst bosses say they are continuing to work with airlines, tour operators and other third parties dealing with check-in, baggage and immigration etc to provide them with support as passenger numbers increase.
They continue to advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their flight but no earlier, and for them to be prepared before entering security as each rejected tray adds over 10 minutes to wait times.
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