Manchester Airport has been named the worst airport in the UK by a Which? survey. The consumer champion gathered feedback from more than 7,000 people about their experiences of flying from UK airports between July 2020 and July 2022, with Manchester’s Terminal 3 receiving the lowest customer score of 38 per cent.
The consumer champion said that this year it received “a sea of two-star ratings and the lowest score for security queues at every terminal” at the airport. One passenger claimed: “Security queues are horrific, waiting areas are overcrowded, you can never get a seat”. Which? described Terminal 3’s score as “dismal” and advised holidaymakers to “avoid if you can”.
Manchester Airport has said that the industry has faced unprecedented challenges over the past two years, beginning with the pandemic and then dealing with the aftereffects, such as the spike in customer demand and staffing issues. The airport’s managing director Chris Woodroofe spoke with the Manchester Evening News earlier this week, prior to the publication of Which?’s findings, and vowed to improve the passenger experience.
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In Which?’s survey each terminal was rated separately. Terminal 3 received the lowest customer score of 38 per cent, Terminal 1 obtained a score of 41 per cent and Terminal 2 was rated with a score of 47 per cent.
According to Which? members have regularly reported over the years that the airport is “grim”. One person told Which?: “It’s just not a nice airport” while another mentioned that the layout was “poorly designed”.
Two airports received Which? Recommended Provider status, Exeter and Liverpool John Lennon, with both obtaining joint scores of 83 per cent. One passenger compared the latter to Manchester Airport saying: “It’s much smaller, less manic and so much more civilised than Manchester.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We apologise to any customer who feels their experience was not of the standard we want to deliver over the past two years. The pandemic was the biggest crisis faced by our industry in its history. At one stage passenger numbers at Manchester Airport dropped to just 5 per cent of normal levels and airports around the world had to cut costs just to survive.
“Earlier this year, the whole of the travel industry then faced unprecedented challenges as travel restrictions were removed and demand returned rapidly to the market, and Manchester Airport was no different. The hugely competitive employment market and delays in training and vetting meant there were times when we were unable to keep up with passenger demand, which resulted in longer waiting times than we would like.
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“As the summer progressed, and hundreds of new colleagues were welcomed into the business, service levels improved consistently and we are now in a place where we can provide a good standard of service to passengers. For example, in September, 97percent of passengers passed through security in under 30 minutes, and this improvement was delivered without the need to impose flight cancellations on our airlines, which meant more than 14m people travelled through Manchester this summer.
“Airlines, baggage handling companies and others operating on our site faced similar challenges throughout the summer and we are aware this impacted some of the services they provide, such as check-in and baggage reclaim.
“Even though these are not services we deliver directly, we are closely managing the performance of our partners, making clear the standards we expect from them and providing support where necessary. We are looking forward to delivering a positive experience to all our passengers this winter, and into summer 2023.”
Manchester Airport has also highlighted that the time period from which the results were gathered featured exceptional circumstances, including travel restrictions and coronavirus rules, which have impacted the passenger experience.
Ratings for the airports were gathered by Which? By asking their members to complete an online survey in August 2022 asking them about their experiences of flying from and to a UK airport in the last two years. The results are based on 7,963 member experiences.
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