Passengers have criticised Manchester Airport over "crazy" queues this morning. Images show people queuing out of the door at Terminal 1 as they attempted to check luggage in.
Andy Clarke took to Twitter to share a photo of the huge queues shortly after 3am. He said: "It’s 3am and the queue for bag drop at @manairport T1 is out of the door! And only one security queue out of twelve is open."
Another traveller described the queue to enter the airport's check-in hall as "crazy". Another person tweeted: "@manairport need to fix up, 4 baggage desks and 4 security desks open in Terminal 1, hundreds of people queueing out into the car park for over 2 hours, the staffing levels aren’t equipped for the volume of passengers you have going through the terminal, please sort it out."
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The Manchester Evening News understands that the delays were down to staff shortages as well as some customers turning up before their airline's check-in desks opened.
The airport has been plagued with issues in recent weeks amid scenes of crowded check-in halls, long security queues and baggage delays. Hub boss Charlie Cornish previously issued an apology and said that due to staff shortages, they would be unable to give passengers 'the level of service they deserve' over the coming months, until the workforce had been strengthened.
Holidaymakers have previously been advised to arrive three hours before their flight. Meanwhile, the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has warned the long queues at the airport could last for months into the summer.
On Friday, some holidaymakers getting away for the Bank Holiday weekend were also faced with delays. One holidaymaker described the situation as a 'joke' and said they had to queue for passport control for two hours. Another said they had been in a queue for one hour and had moved '10 feet'.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We are aware some customers faced longer waiting times than we would like at different stages of their journey through Manchester Airport this morning, and apologise for any inconvenience.
“We are still advising passengers there could be longer queues than would normally be the case as we, and our partner airlines and handling agents, continue to recover from the pandemic.
“Those travelling through Manchester should arrive three hours before their flights and ensure they are familiar with the latest security rules to help avoid any unnecessary delays.”
In a statement issued previously, Chief Executive Charlie Cornish said: "I cannot apologise enough for the disruption people have faced. The simple fact is that we don’t currently have the number of staff we need to provide the level of service that our passengers deserve.
He added: "I also want to be clear that a huge amount of work is going into improving the situation in the short-term. Our focus for the next four weeks is on delivering a more predictable and reliable level of service for passengers."
Manchester Airport has been approached for comment.
