‘Shambolic’ delays at Manchester Airport continue as check-in queue stretches ‘a mile long’

Passengers at Manchester Airport are still experiencing massive delays, with a check-in queue today allegedly stretching ‘a mile long’.

Frustrated travellers took to Twitter at around 6 o’clock this morning to show the ‘shambolic’ queues for TUI check-in at Terminal 2, which some passengers claimed to have stretched for over a mile.

The queue, slammed as a ‘joke’ by one social media user, appeared to stretch all the way down through the terminal, with passengers being forced to queue along the approach to the check-in desks.

While TUI is yet to give a reason for the lengthy check-in queues, one passenger reported a broken luggage belt as the cause of the delays. 

She tweeted: “At Manchester t2 @manairport and the luggage belt is broken @TUIUK… paid for premium… couldn’t make it up”.

She also noted that while it felt the airport was equipped with more staff, the ongoing technical issues were making the queues even worse.

Read More: New photos show ‘chaotic scenes’ as abandoned luggage piles up at Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport has been plagued with lengthy queues and delays for over a month now, with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham recently warning the disruption will continue for ‘the foreseeable future’.

In a statement issued last week, Burnham acknowledged that passengers have faced an ‘unacceptable experience’ before noting the importance of taking ‘every possible step to prevent a repeat’.

His statement read: “Yesterday (April 6th) I met with the senior management of Manchester Airport to get a clearer understanding of the current situation.

“Some of the issues being experienced by Manchester Airport are beyond their control. However, that is not to say that other things could not have been done differently.”

He said that while the airport has made efforts to recruit, ‘more should have been done earlier’, and that its communication to passengers ahead of and upon arrival should have been better, as should the management of the queues.

At this, Burnham offered three pieces of advice to passengers travelling from the airport in the coming days and weeks:

• Arrive at the airport three hours before your flight.
• Check your baggage into the hold in advance if possible.
• If you have to carry hand luggage please try to minimise it and ensure it is correctly packed before you leave home.