Manchester Airport Security – word to the wise

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  • FDOS
    Participant

    I’ve used the airport T2 and T3 in the last week. Both times, my bag has seen selected for a secondary search and whilst there was no problem either time, I did have to wait for 15-25 minutes for one of the staff to get around to searching it and telling me I could go.

    To be fair, they are having to deal with some people doing idiotic things, e.g. one traveller going to HK had four pieces of hand luggage pulled, because he’d left various items that should have been placed in a tray.

    Neither of these times were peak busy, so this is just a note to suggest cutting things fine might not be the best strategy, at the moment.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    YorkshireTraveller
    Participant

    Its the worst airport in the world for security, the slowest processing speeds known to man. The scanners seem to be be automatic with no human watching the bags and rejection rates last time I was there was 50%+ – utterly crazy. The Airport Management couldn’t care less about the customer experience. Complains always go unanswered. Vote with your feet and use another airport.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    cheshirecat
    Participant

    Had the pleasure of the Security ‘B’ i.e. non fast track at T 1 on Saturday
    down the side of the A search point; down stairs (no escalator and one lift!) it’s effectively the Jet2.com security zone
    it’s in the bowels of the airport (quite appropriate!)
    usual secondary search and back round and upstairs again!
    not sure if an permanent feature


    rferguson
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1233710]

    I have voted with my feet. Where possible, I now use Liverpool Airport. Whilst very basic in terms of experience, security and check in as well as inbound passport control has never taken me longer than ten minutes in the half a dozen times i’ve used it.

    The only problem is of course, MAN has the bulk of airlines and routes in the region making it impossible to vote with your feet a lot of the time.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    miningguy
    Participant

    Most of my travel is done through Manchester airport. I travel all over the world and by a long way, Manchester airport remains the slowest for security. Whilst I appreciate the need to keep everyone safe, they seem to have a totally over-zealous approach to checking bags – with rejected items well beyond what is typically on the list.

    During the pandemic, I was queueing for a flight with perhaps 30 people in line (i.e. it wasn’t busy at all). The security staff literally rejected every bag going through the scanner (including the cabin crews). The flight ended up being delayed and we all ended up milling around for close to an hour to get our bags.

    Whilst that was an extreme example, myself and my colleagues have had so many bad experiences that we have now resorted to almost entirely emptying our bags prior to going through. This has been quite effective in ensuring we no longer get stopped. And yes its a massive faff repacking the other side but still quicker then standing around for 20-30 minutes.

    So in short EMPTY your bags of anything that could vaguely be considered bad. This should include cables, laptop mouses, headphones, pens…..the stuff we normally leave in elsewhere.


    nevereconomy
    Participant

    I did the mininguy thing years ago for MAN after they put me through secondary screening because of my wax earplugs !!!! I always scour my bag for anything that is out of the ordinary. That being said it is also one of the airports where I have seen people with the daftest things in their bags – not quite up to the electric food slicer with lovely big blade that got pulled at Heathrow in my line.

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