A consumer survey has placed Manchester Airport among the worst in Britain, with two of its three terminals ranked at the bottom of a Which? magazine poll that assessed nearly 6,000 flyers over a 12-month period.
Which? gave Terminal 3 an approval score of 43 percent, Terminal 1 47 percent and Terminal 2 53 percent after surveying 5,789 people about roughly 7,975 visits. The appraisal evaluated 11 categories including cancellations, customer service, check-in and security queues, baggage waits, seating and the availability and price of food and drink.
Passengers cited long queues, limited seating and food and drink options, and what they described as poor customer service. Some respondents reported being stranded without promised assistance, while others told investigators they had crawled onto baggage conveyors to recover luggage delayed on arrival. The survey noted that Manchester’s terminals finished among the four lowest-ranked nationwide.
Manchester Airports Group, which operates the site and also runs London Stansted and East Midlands airports, sharply disputed the findings. Managing director Chris Woodroofe called the report "outdated and unrepresentative" and said it "bears no resemblance to the experience people receive at Manchester Airport day in, day out." In a statement he pointed to a separate in-house programme that asked hundreds of customers weekly and said that 91 percent of 3,045 people surveyed between January and June rated their experience as good, very good or excellent.
Woodroofe also highlighted the airport’s wider figures, saying the complex serves more passengers than ever and is connecting "31m people a year to more than 200 destinations". He described an ongoing £1.3 billion transformation programme and said investment in Terminal 3 would start this year.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data cited by the airport showed just over 1 percent of flights were cancelled with little notice — within 24 hours of intended departure — between May 2024 and April 2025. That rate was lower than at several better-ranked airports such as London City, Southampton and Heathrow, the airport said.
Independent reporting and passenger testimonies compiled over recent years record a string of operational problems. The airport experienced major disruptions in 2022 after staff shortages during the post-pandemic recovery led to long queues, flight cancellations and passengers abandoning luggage in attempts to make flights. A Channel 4 undercover investigation sent in a reporter working as a baggage handler and reported passengers crawling onto conveyor belts to retrieve delayed bags.
On June 23, 2024, a brief electrical fault at Manchester precipitated widespread disruption when systems for baggage handling, boarding passes and passport control were disabled. The outage, which the airport attributed to a faulty cable and subsequent power surges as supply was restored, led to the cancellation of about a quarter of flights that day and left some aircraft circling or diverted while staff worked to restore services.
Another power cut has been reported more recently in Terminal 3, and an August 15 incident in which two easyJet aircraft clipped wings on a taxiway is under investigation. The airline said both jets lost wingtip components and several flights were delayed while the cause was examined.
Passenger complaints have also targeted parking and drop-off arrangements introduced since the pandemic. The airport now operates a "borderless" system that requires motorists to pay online after visiting, and charges for short-term drop-offs. A driver who said he spent an extra 18 seconds in the drop-off area because he needed a toilet was fined, according to his account, and told the penalty would increase if he lost an appeal.
Policing incidents have added to the airport’s difficulties. Footage emerged last year showing officers kicking a man who lay prone in a Terminal 2 car park. Authorities later said the man, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, had assaulted a member of the public inside an airport coffee shop and then assaulted officers, breaking an officer’s nose. Amaaz and his brother are due to face a retrial on related charges next year. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is reviewing the conduct of officers involved.
Airport officials and trade bodies have criticised the Which? survey’s sample size and methodology. Heathrow and Luton airports also described the poll of about 6,000 people as "unrepresentatively small". Manchester Airports Group said larger airports' higher passenger numbers and the resulting density of users make straightforward comparisons misleading.
Which? said its results were based on responses collected over the past 12 months and covered multiple aspects of the travel experience. The magazine's ranking joins a string of anecdotal and reported incidents that passengers and campaigners say point to persistent operational and customer-service shortfalls at Britain’s busiest airport outside London, which spans around 1,400 acres.
Airport management has pointed to recent investments and planned upgrades in an effort to address weaknesses highlighted by passengers and regulators. The company said it would continue to invest in Terminal 2 and had announced plans to improve Terminal 3, while also defending its record on cancellations relative to some other major UK airports.
The dispute between customer surveyors and airport management underscores the complexities of measuring airport performance amid fluctuating travel demand, operational pressures and differing expectations among travellers. Regulators and airlines continue to investigate specific incidents, while Manchester Airports Group has said it will press on with its transformation programme and customer engagement initiatives.