This is the moment a Manchester Airport passenger became so frustrated by a lengthy wait to pick up his bags he plugged his phone into the Tannoy and played Sweet Caroline. Dozens of other bored passengers, who had waited around two hours to collect their luggage, then started singing along to the Neil Diamond hit, a witness said.
The video was recorded by Anees Iqbal in the baggage area in Terminal 3 on Sunday afternoon. It also shows passengers sat around on the baggage carousels as their waited for their suitcases.
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Mr Iqbal said some passengers faced two-and-a-half hour waits to pick their luggage in the 'absolutely manic' airport. And with no staff around to enquire with, Mr Iqbal, 34, said one passenger resorted to plugging his phone into the Tannoy in a bid to get their attention.
He said: "Everybody was that bored they were all singing along - it was the only thing to laugh about. I don't know how many areas it was connected to - if it was playing in the whole airport or just the baggage area - but the alarming thing was nobody came over and told him to stop. He played the whole song.
"We had no issues getting through passport control, but as soon as we got into the baggage reclaim area it was absolutely manic. There were flights from Alicante and Bordeaux where people told me they'd been waiting two-and-half hours for their bags.
"There were no security, no staff anywhere to ask. There was no-one on the airline desks and everybody was ringing the phone numbers but they just kept ringing out. I know the airport is struggling at the minute, but it was just chaos."
A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "We are sorry to hear that some passengers faced extended waits in baggage reclaim over the weekend. After a very damaging two years, our whole operation is facing resourcing challenges at present, including many of the third parties operating on our site, such as baggage handling agents.
"We and our partners, including airlines and baggage handling agents, are actively recruiting for hundreds of roles and in the meantime we will continue to work together to ensure processes are running as efficiently as they can, and to mitigate staffing challenges as far as possible."
The airport has been dogged by staff shortages and long queues at security since coronavirus restrictions were eased. At the moment, passengers are still asked to arrive three hours before their flight and are reminded to get to grips with security rules around hand luggage to speed up the process.
On Friday Virgin Atlantic also issued an apology after passengers at Manchester Airport faced a 'nightmare' two hour wait to collect their luggage.
