Manchester Airport Terminal 1

One would have to travel to a 3^rd world nation to find a worse airport terminal. Or a dirtier one.
It’s absolutely disgusting. Even the Lounges are filthy. Aspire? That’s a joke. After visiting the «Aspire Lounge» the only thing I aspired to was a bar of soap and warm water.
From returning your car to security, lounges, retail and restaurants — everything here is not only a hassle, but an eyesore.
It’s depressing.
Dark, dreary and dirty — one can see how and why British, United, South African and most every other decent airline left this place in recent years and never came back. And they left it an EasyJet meets Ryanair meets Jets2Go, charter filled dump of an airport.
If you’re drunk, loud and on your way to Amsterdam with your mates, this is fine, and clearly their target market. Any other traveller should find a way to avoid this airport, renting or returning a car here, or grabbing a bite to eat.
Pathetic. Never. Again.

Average duty free shops, ordinary cafes, helpful staff, limited one hour wifi, has one close-​by hotel, easy to navigate, prices inside for snacks are the same as the groceries outside. lots of seating areas. Nothing special. Few amenities. Staff are open to suggestions. Clean bathrooms.

Probably my favourite airport. Plenty of things to do, shops and places to eat whilst waiting to fly also handy if you are catching the train to and from as it is situated smack bang next to the airport.

I always say I am not going to book another early morning flight, but it always happens! My guess is that either 1) it is the cheapest option (for obvious reasons) or 2) that I forget about the 2 – 3 hour lead time before the flight that requires you to wander aimlessly, buy expensive things you don’t need, and use up the battery on your phone/​iPod before you even get on the plane.
So my review might be a bit tainted by the immense sadness of leaving the kittens (and Mr. Snarky) for an indefinite amount of time. Check in was fairly easy, although at 5:30 a.m. it was really… REALLY busy. And by busy, I mean there were certain airlines that had crazy queues. Parking was also pretty easy and very close, so no chance of getting lost getting to the terminal.
There is nothing in the check-​in area of Terminal 1… zilch. Typically Mr. Snarky and I have breakfast together, but unless we wanted to have something from a vending machine, that was not happening. There is also not much for seating anywhere. The area itself seemed a bit dated and it wasn’t particularly clean… full bins, coffee spilling out of one. After lots of tears, I pried myself from Mr. Snarky and went through security. The line was quite long, probably a good thing that I went through when I did.
Also, I learned something new… apparently the TSA Approved, clear, zipper bag I have been using for years to tote all of my liquids around is no longer ok to use?! The security guy said, «It has to be an air tight bag and yours is not.» So he made me dump my liquids in the other bag and when I tried to seal it he said, «Oh, you do not have to seal the bag. It just has to be an air tight bag.» At the time, I thought things weren’t making sense since I was still a blubbering mess and I hadn’t had any coffee yet… but replaying it, well it still doesn’t make sense. Why make people use these bags if you don’t have to seal them?!
Anyway, once you get through security, you are forced to weave in and out (not a good idea with breakable items on the edge of the shelves with people walking by with luggage) through the Duty-​Free area before you can get to the waiting lounge. Lots of shops, cafes, etc. I thought it was great that they had ATMs that dispensed American Dollars… until I used one. It didn’t dispense the money and it still came out of my account. What is weird is after each transaction (at least on that day), the screen temporarily flashed that it was out of service. It did it to me and it did it to a couple other people. I actually didn’t have to wait long before my gate was assigned and then I began the journey to get there.
Overall, it wasn’t impressive, but it gets the job done.

Pros: Easy to get to from anywhere in and around Manchester. Our hotel was not too far away. MUCH better than trying to fly into or out of Heathrow.
Cons: shops were like a mall, people packed to the gills, stood in line forever to get checked in, stood in a long line to get through security, and even more waiting once we got inside and ready to board the plane. Very tight Terminal.
Okay, Terminal 1. I wasn’t sure what to expect when flying out of Manchester, but thank goodness we allotted almost 4 hours to make sure we didn’t miss our flight. We returned the rental car fairly easily, and I only say this because the return spot was not where we picked up the rental upon arrival. Which leads us to walking into the Terminal and standing in line for nearly an hour to check into our flight. Why does this take so long? It’s like this at every airport but after some studying I’ll tell you what it is. It’s the stupid people like me trying to check their bags! Sure, when there’s 60 people standing in line and you only have two people working the counter, things take time but really. You know damn well you’re flying OUT of the country but you still choose to check two huge bags, yet carry on a purse, a pillow, a back pack and a personal items bag. Really?
On to security. The queue was quite long, that took over 45 minutes to even begin to reach the front. Once inside, we had to find a place to sit so we could have a quick breakfast before boarding the flight. Space was at a premium. Who would have thought the place would be so busy on a Wednesday morning?
Oh yeah, that’s right… we went to the UK right after the Olympics. Stupid move.
Overall, the airport is convenient in a location thought, it’s just cramped and small inside.

I’ll have to side with Emma on this one — it stinks that everything here is closed in the wee hours of the morning or late ours at night. I always find myself at the airport in these times, and it’s just as I’m craving that morning cup of coffee that I find myself surrounded by coffee vendors, but nobody is open. Meh. Maybe install one of those new-​fangled coffee vending machines all the kids are talking about these days to calm the masses.
Clean airport, easy to get around, easy train back to Piccadilly… not much to complain about aside from the shop hours.

Gate won’t be assigned at check in. People wait at lounge which is a kind of shopping mall untill the gates are open. Interesting. Airport may get good revenue from this system.

the airport website offers 30 mins free wifi service! yeah!

It’s a terminal at an airport.
There are shops, more shops, food type places and electronic shops and book shops and clothes shops and voodoo magic shops (not really).
Airport terminals are basically Malls, i hate Malls!
Lets face it Terminals are there to try and skint you before you’ve even gone anywhere…
On the plus side there is an Epernay, which is where i am now, at 8am drinking a double Bourbon and Coke…
The holiday starts here… Ta ta :)

I fly from here quite regularly. It is very convenient if you arrive by train, which is my preferred mode of transport to the airport.
The security area has been upgraded and is usually straightforward. I always get extra security attention because of my hip replacement, and the staff here are courteous and efficient. I have never had to wait for an agent like I have had to at other airports in the past.
There are several restaurants and bars to choose from, but I usually opt for a Boot’s meal deal if I need to eat. I rarely eat a full meal before travelling, so can’t comment on any individual restaurants.
I do wish that they had a better system of allocating the departure gates, on more than occasion, we have been sent to one gate, only to be re-​directed to another gate, usually at the other end of the terminal. If not for that, I would have given four stars.

. Really good memories about this airport. First of all, the excitement, when I first arrived in Manchester. Everything was new, surreal. Everybody talking really fast and different accents everywhere. I was confused and lost in space. Excellent people there, they helped me how to find my way out, to meet the people from university that were waiting for me. Very clean all the time, not too expensive for an airport. You can spend a lot of time shopping around. Very well organized as well. As soon as you get into it, you can find your way to terminals, and to the check in. When I flew away for a tiny holiday, I’ve noticed how smooth everything was. No problems whatsoever. Everybody was friendly and with big smiles on their faces. Incredible. Even if is morning, afternoon or 4 o’clock in the morning, they seem fresh and active. If you fancy a job in the airport, you will definitely have nice colleagues, if you are lucky enough to fly from or to Manchester airport, you will like it, you will be impressed. At least, I was.

This is the terminal that we flew from when travelling to Germany recently.
There are plenty of signs to the terminal and it’s easy to find from the train station.
What I didn’t really like about Terminal 1 is that once you go through security, you just have to walk through the middle of one of those duty free style shops. Now, I’m all for airports encouraging people to shop whilst there bored out of their minds waiting for a plane, but this is pushing it a bit I think.
Shops wise, terminal 1 is really pretty good. There’s some cool high street fashion like Fat Face and Timberland. Also there’s a good few options for eating upstairs, with everything from Burger King to some real food at some proper restaurants.

I have got to say that this here review was a much needed one! I always feel that coffee should be available at all hours, wherever you are, especially in a major city. In Manchester you are never more than a 10 minute walk away from a double vodka red bull until 5 or 6 in the morning, but you cant get a blooming coffee after 7pm. Whats going on here? Do only drunk people stay up late?
Don’t get my wrong, I do like a beer or ten, and often require a drink in the wee hours, but I also am often out and about, or doing some work, in need of a coffee after early evening! And I cant get one! Now, to the subject of this review. Its an airport. Can you think of a place where there are likely to be a lot of people up late and not drunk? How about an airport? Yep. Definitely. So why aren’t any shops open? And why is the bar open later than and coffee places? I’m sure you’re not even supposed to drink much when travelling. In Europe train stations and airports are always vending coffees and snacks at night, so they win and we lose.
Everything else about the airport is as you’d expect. You can pick up all those emergency supplies and travelling items. Its got planes as well which is good.

Let me just digress for a moment… a little airport rant. Why oh why when people are coming back from or travelling to places at all sorts of ridiculous hours of the clock, why do you not keep coffee shops open? Or magazine shops open? Why do you expect life to stop at midnight and only return at 6am? It drives me bonkers, when I flew Air Canada and was stuck at the airport for ages coming back I was bereft of entertainment for a good two hours and had to stare at people sleeping. Hey, I don’t care if that’s what I should do too, I’m never sleeping in an airport. I have my dignity, my pride.
Er, moving swiftly on, I think that’s a British thing and hopefully we’ll get it drummed out of us in time. Meanwhile Manchester’s Terminal number 1 is where you’ll travel pretty darn internationally, with the likes of the aforementioned Air Canada and BMI, Lufthansa and friends operating out of it. I’ve found in recent years, having used this terminal aplenty, that things have quickened up in the security department, something much-​needed. It has a health centre offering advice and potential necessary vaccinations but it’s appointment only and you will find yourself coughing up. However there’s also a walk-​in NHS centre which doesn’t offer vaccinations or prescriptions but will treat minor injuries and illnesses.
There are plenty of cash machines and Bureaux de Change, and this particular terminal has a ton of restaurants and shops if you need to wet your whistle or grab any last minute essentials. In fact you could probably collect a few outfits there too, and of course there’s one of those little Waterstones outlets so you can stock up on holiday reads.