In their wisdom, and lack of consideration for the passengers, Manchester airport has withdrawn the useful 10-minute shuttle from Term 3...BA/BD/BE/EZY....to the Airport station. You now have to walk the 3/4 mile, some of which is outside in the rain. Of course, they also charge £1 for the use of a trolley if you have bags. So much for the 'smooth' interchange.

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It has been a while since I last visited MAN, but recall that the shuttle was only ever a temporary feature during the building works. The walk from the station to T3 has always been a route march, I am suprised that parts are now in the open air.

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All is not lost! Use the Shuttle Park

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/Content/ShuttlePark

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Rob, sorry but I don't see the relevance of a car park shuttle service. What openfly is refering to is the shuttle bus that had operated between T3 and the railway station.

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Hi NTarrent the trudge is outside because there is no access internally from T3 to T1 now. It all changed with the reconfiguering with the new entrance to security. Mind you Manchester Airport Authorities have little concern for the passenger if it doesn't make money!!

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It'll NEVER make money if it's not attractive to passengers

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I am not sure if any airport operator in the UK puts customer service at the top of their agenda. It is a pity that the airlines who do belive in customer service (yes there are some that do) put up with this situation and do not exert more pressure

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Well said guys. I hope that MIA management read this...but I doubt it!

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I think the fact that they have not already contributed to this thread tells us all we need to know.

They are probably meeting as we speak to see what else they can do to increase profitabilty and make the Manchester experience worse for the travelling public.

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AlistairNicoll...you are so right! It has to be one of the worst airports for the customer experience. I notice that they are reducing the size of Term 3 ''holding area'', after security, even more and filling it with more shops. Thank goodness for the BA exec lounge!

And why are their security personnel so officious? It can only be poor training.

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This is most odd.

Despite being (I think) run by the Greater Manchester Council, I have been generally impressed by my more recent experiences of Manchester Airport.

There is indeed a significant issue with public transport and walking links between the terminals (which used to work fine, with (mostly) working walkways) but now seems to be a muddle to the extent that I eschew the carbon reducing public transport options in favour of getting a door-to-door cab these days.

I do find that the priority line for security is actually enforced and usually not too busy, even at peak times. The security staff are friendly in my experience, to the extent that on my last visit (two months ago on an Early flight to EDI aboard bmi) I complimented the security people on the set up they had, the extra large trays and the generally friendly demeanour of the team.

Still lots of walking post security, with oddly placed staircases and switchbacks, but then the place is unrecogniseable from the tiny, bird infested building that existed a number of years ago.

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Unfortunately I do not fly BA and I have only used the other second rate business lounges at Manchester

I always thought that the security people at Manchester were trained to be officious and under instructions not to be helpful

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"I do find that the priority line for security is actually enforced"

I fell foul of this last time I went through MAN, but it was the negligence by the airline in not putting the right sticker on the boarding pass.

The security guys politely, but firmly declined to let me through.

The airline manager then caused a scene because I had a c class boarding pass, which as a bit embarrassing as the agents were only following the agreed procedures.

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The £1 charge for trolleys is refundable like when you go to supermarkets.

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We've also built a covered walkway that links the airport between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1. The route between the station and T3 is completely covered.

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Joke of an airport, its one big building site for the last 5 years, totally useless in terms of customer friendly and it smells, its dirty and dont ever think of using a black cab there, even if your hotel is close they will impose a 25 pound minimum charge on you

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MAN is the worst airport I have ever encountered in the First World. Look at their signage problems! There were absolutely no indicators regarding the appropriate terminal for a given airline. I pointed this out to the MAN authorities, and they proudly pointed to their electronic information kiosks. The first two I encountered were out of service - as were 80% of the moving walkways, and 67% of the elevators. I also pointed out that a large sign hung from the ceiling pointing the way to the right terminal could be read by hundreds at any given moment. The kiosks can handle only person at a time, when the kiosks are working. I was trying to avoid LHR at that time, and ended up going thru LHR after all, as the AA flight ex-MAN was cancelled. Suddenly LHR looked good to me!

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Hi VK.

Greater Manchester Council itself was abolished in 1986. However, the ten constituent Metropolitan Councils own collectively 100% of the shareholding, with Manchester City Council holding (I think) 55%.

This contrasts with other former municipally-owned UK airports, where a majority stake has been sold to the private sector.

BHX, for example, was 100% owned by the seven former West Midlands Metropolitan Councils. They now, however, hold around 49%, with around 51% being held by the private sector.

Regards, Simon

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It does not matter who owns it, the bottom line is that its a dump

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proliteboss.....you are so right! I have the misfortune to use MAN twice a week. It is a total dump, especially T3. No wonder BA pulled out...they saw that MIA and the northern passengers wanted too much for nothing. MIA were totally blind to this and went for the quick cheap buck. The place has two runways which are underused. They had an emergency landing on 25R and unnecessarily closed BOTH runways and caused diversions two weeks ago.....they do like to make a crisis out of a drama. If Gatwick can survive well with a single runway, why cant MAN? Now half the floor space in T3 departures has been closed while they build more shops. And as for the power crazy security staff....I rest my case!

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I was on a flybe flight from FRA last year, problem with the front landing gear, we got 14 mts from the gate, they closed down the whole area around T3 and we were made to wait on plane for 80 minutes while they organised a bus to take us 14 mts. All this while about 20 orange jacketed jobsworth merchants all made it look like they were justifying their existance

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JOHNG1979......the walkway from T3 to the station is NOT totally covered!

And why have the builders inserted the etched glass panels with the history of Manchester (at great expense) facing the WRONG way. The only people who can see the artwork are passing drivers...not the pedestrians, as in the plans!!? Cant get anything right.

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prolite...we think alike!!

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Maybe get the US Special forces to go an do some hostage recovery and get the place flattened in the process

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