How to save time and stress at Manchester airport

There’s no avoiding the news about airport chaos right now. While everyone has been trying to get away for their first summer break in 3 years, chaos has hit the British airports. The travel industry has been well and truly battered by Covid-19. When the world stopped in March 2020, the industry was crippled. Sadly that meant lots of companies needed to make tough decisions and sacrifices… namely staff.

The staff then had to leave, find a job outside of travel, and start a new career path. This has made it difficult to recruit the experienced staff needed to get things back to the way they were before. Resulting in delays, cancellations and so many newspaper headlines! Listening to my customers there’s a lot of stress at Manchester airport. But I guess any airport at any given time could be short-staffed. So how can you reduce that?

Arrive on time

Essential. On-time… Not 6 hours early, not as the check-in desk is closing. Get there at the recommended 2 hours before your flight for short-haul or 3 hours for long haul. Unless your airline advises specifically for your flight to get there sooner this is sufficient.

One of the issues with the airports having huge queues has been people arriving too early. If you get there before your desk opens, there’s nowhere for you to go. This results in bottlenecking and has a knock-on effect. We know you’re anxious about getting your flight. We know that the papers are showing it to be horrific. But we also know that you’re better staying away until you need to be there. A lot of airlines will open their check-in desks 3 hours before the flight for short-haul so if you are an early bird that should be fine. You must check before you set off though.

Pre-book parking

If you aren’t getting public transport or a taxi to the airport and have chosen to drive yourself make sure you pre-book. A lot of the car parks will have a limited amount of space, which during busy times will be fully booked. Not only will it save you loads of time trying to find a car park with space but it will also save you a lot of money! Some car parks charge more than double on the gate compared to pre-booking. Do yourself a favour with this one.

Know where you’re going

Make sure you know which terminal you are flying from. This isn’t new stress at Manchester airport, but it continues to cause a headache to travellers. Most airlines have one terminal for all flights, but some fly some routes from one terminal and others from a different one. Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow are most likely to have this issue.

Which terminal am I flying from in Manchester? Where to go to Heathrow? North or South terminal for Gatwick? There are lots to be said about the smaller airports – you might not get the flight time options but you certainly won’t be in the wrong terminal at Doncaster!

Early flight? Twilight check-in

If you are flying early in the morning and staying at the hotel the night before, twilight check-in could be your time-saver. Check with your airline but a lot have finally brought back twilight check-in. This means you can drop your bags off the night before and collect boarding cards. The following day you only need to stroll straight through to security.

Lounge Access

Airport lounges are the most relaxing part of the airport. Some airlines have their own lounge depending on which class seats you have booked. Check with yours to see if you have a lounge included and utilise it if you do. If you don’t have a lounge included, most airports have at least one that can be pre-booked. Drinks and snacks are included in your cost. Most have unlimited drinks, some have an alcohol limit. All of them are in a quiet room with a guaranteed seat because they won’t overbook. The maximum stay in a lounge is 3 hours usually, so to get there too early again would do you no favours at all.

Have everything ready

To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. Yep, this can be applied to airports! Have your documents together and ready to go before you arrive. Passports, tickets, boarding cards if you’ve checked in online and the relevant documents for the country you’re visiting. Have them to have ready to show to the check-in and security staff. There’s something slightly stressful about rifling through your bag looking for your passport whilst the queue behind you is burning a hole in your head! Keep them to hand, I have a pouch that I keep them all together in, I can grab it with one hand, and pop it back in my bag easy once we’re ready to go.

Check-in Online

If your airline has an online check-in option take it. Skip the huge queues when you arrive and head for the bag drop instead. Lots of airlines now will let you check in online. Some will insist on it. It’s better to check with your specific airline before you go and make sure you have everything you need. Everyone is slightly out of practice with things so make sure you know what you need to do. I heard about a family who didn’t realise that they needed to check in online for their Ryanair flight and were slapped with a hefty charge from the airline. Not stress-free for them!

Pre-book seats

Want to be sure that you will be sitting near your family? Prefer a window seat or to be close to the loo? I would highly recommend pre-booking seats now. I would say that 75% of bookings I make for customers include pre-booked seats. Pre-pandemic it wasn’t quite as high. But this means if you leave it to chance, there’s a bigger risk of you being split up. The airport staff can only do so much.

If you want to relieve a little bit of stress at Manchester airport or any other airport, this is a fairly easy one. The best bit is, if you book a package holiday, you can choose them right at the time of booking and add it to your balance so it doesn’t feel like an extra cost.

Keep liquids and electricals within easy reach.

Security queues have been a major cause of stress at Manchester Airport in particular. The staff have been hit with sickness early in the season, as well as already being on a smaller team than before so it may take you longer than usual to get through. Help yourself to make this less stressful by packing any liquids larger than 100ml in your hold luggage.

If you have liquids under 100ml these can be taken in a small clear plastic ziplock bag in your hand luggage. Ensure that you have this organised before you reach the airport and have them easy to reach. the same goes for electricals, they need to be scanned separately so put them where they can be easily reached. remember to take off jackets and hats too and empty your pockets. This should make it a little less stressful for you and those stuck behind you! More information about hand luggage restrictions.

I’d love to know if there are any other tips you can think of that would help now and in future. Whether it’s Manchester airport or any others, These tips of mine will help to make your airport experience more enjoyable than stressful. After all, your holiday starts as soon as you step into that airport. So let’s get it off to the best possible start!

Happy Holidays!

Becky x