Passengers were again greeted by 'scary' long queues at Manchester Airport this morning as the 'chaos' caused by staff shortages continues.
The airport has been plagued by problems in recent weeks including long queues at both check-in and security in the departure lounge as well as long delays and issues with baggage reclaim for arrivals.
And today was no different with passengers sharing photos of lines snaking out of the terminal buildings and into the airport's car park from the early hours of this morning, with some people reportedly being forced to wait hours and some even missing flights.
READ MORE:
Airport bosses have say the delays are down to staffing and recruitment issues being experienced by the entire industry as international travel slowly begins to return to normal following the Covid pandemic.
But travellers again vented their frustration describing the scenes as 'chaotic' and 'scary.' A traveller called Matt tweeted the airport directly saying: "This is an absolute disgrace. It’s 10 past 6 and security are already acknowledging that the security nightmares are going to make people miss flights this morning."
Robert Whittaker said it was 'peak chaos' and that it took him over two hours to get through security at Terminal 2.
Media company director Steve Blears said there were around 1,000 people in a queue which snaked out of departures when he arrived at the airport around 4:50am this morning. "Inside confusion with people unclear where to check-in and where to queue," he said. He said he made it onto his plane just before 8am as they were waiting for missing bags and passengers stuck in security.
"I recommend turning up AT LEAST 3 hours before your flight," he said. The airport have recommended passengers at the earliest time suggested by their airline - which is usually the time check-in opens for their flight.
One passenger, posting on the Twitter account Cheshire Dyslexia Testing said: "Scary queues for security snaking into the car park when we arrived at 05:50 for 08:15 flight T1 but Fast Track queue much shorter, moving fast and we got through in 40 mins. Very glad I pre-ordered Fast-Track two weeks ago. People in normal queue 2-3hrs."
However another Twitter user, Music is the Answer, said that the fast track lane was making the situation worse for those in the regular queue.
Many panicking passengers, security B at T1 had only 2 scanners operating from 4 lanes, worsened by the constant arrival of fast track going in front, slowing progress" they said. "Clear profiteering. Close fast track, share resources."
Another passenger said: "Can’t even get into Manchester Airport never mind through security or passport control!"
However, others said they passed through with relative ease. One passenger said they got through security at T2 in just 15 minutes. Whilst others praised staff for their efforts and their patience in such testing circumstances.
A Manchester Evening News reporter this morning went to see the situation for themselves by catching a Ryanair flight to Dublin.
Lyell Tweed said he believed he had been 'quite lucky' as the queue he waited in at Security Gate B was a "fraction of the size' of the queue at Security A and that he had 'zero issues' and passed through 'fairly quickly.'
However, his flight was delayed on the tarmac with the captain blaming the hold-up on a lack of staff, telling passengers "it's out of our hands."
Leading political figures Coun Pat Karney and MP and former chairman of the airport's board Graham Stringer have both added their voices to the calls for the airport's management to urgently get a grip of the situation.
Yesterday an Airport spokesperson said: ""We understand the frustrations of customers and other interested parties, but want to assure all concerned that we are working as hard as we can to tackle this issue and have put a number of short-term measures in place while colleague applications are being processed. This includes hiring temporary staff in the short-term and exploring ways in which existing employees can support the operation."
