Manchester Airport has issued a statement apologising for delays after passengers claim they were left waiting for “hours” just to check in.
It’s not been uncommon to see the UK’s third largest airport mentioned in headlines similar to this one over the past year or so.
The airport repeatedly drew criticism for its scenes of chaos for travellers this past summer – with extended delays, unplanned flight cancellations, and queues so long that many were required to turn up hours in advance and, even then, still ended up missing their flights in the most unfortunate cases.
But, despite the airport’s new CEO claiming “the big issues of earlier [last] year are behind us” in his first interview upon stepping into the role las July, passengers travelling through Manchester Airport yesterday said they were left waiting in “three-hour queues” just to check-in, and it was all due what the airport called an “an IT system outage”.
The airport explained in an initial statement that the IT outage was “affecting some of our processes”.
One passenger, John Gregory – who was due to fly from Manchester Airport to Dubai at 1:10pm – told ITV Granada that he experienced “painful” delays at baggage drop-off, and that, at one point, all passengers were told to check-in at the point where large objects usually go through, which he said made everything “extremely slow”
“We’ve been waiting three hours at the check-in,” Mr Gregory said at the time.
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“All bags are having to go through one bag inspection as the rest aren’t working. It’s painfully slow. There are lots of staff on the ground trying to get things through, but it’s absolutely rammed here now. It’s completely backed up.”
Another passenger told the MEN that they had been waiting for nearly two hours just for the plane to take off due to the IT outage causing baggage delays.
IT fault leaves Manchester Airport passengers waiting ‘hours’ to check in / Credit: Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport assured passengers facing complications and delays due to the IT outage yesterday that it was “doing all we can to ease congestion” within Terminal 1 to get travellers through the airport “as quickly as possible”, and said that its staff were “on hand to provide whatever assistance they can” to passengers in need.
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Passengers were also being advised to “check with their airline for up-to-date travel advice” throughout the day.
Shortly before 5pm, Manchester Airport then issued a statement confirming that “systems are all back up and running” and the airport is now “operating as normal” following the IT outage.
Tesco is trialling giving away expired food to shoppers for FREE at the end of the day
Emily Sergeant
Tesco has begun trialling giving away food that’s close to expiring away to shoppers for free at the end of the day.
You’ve heard of reduced-price food, but now Tesco is taking things one step further.
Food waste continues to be a growing problem, with the latest Government statistics revealing that the UK throws away approximately 9.52 million tonnes of food every year, which is why Tesco has decided to begin a trail at selected Express stores nationwide where it gives away some already-discounted ‘yellow sticker’ items for free after 9:30pm, reports The Telegraph.
Tesco is one of the UK’s major supermarket chains with a partnership to send surplus food to food poverty charities and foodbanks.
Although the chain is already donating its expired food, bosses say they are taking this next step to try to meet its goal to halve food waste by the end of this year.
Tesco is trialling giving away expired food for free to shoppers at the end of the day / Credit: The Manc Group
During this new trial – which is currently underway at selected stores across the UK – the company said the expiring food would be offered to charities and shop workers first, before customers could take it home for free.
Usually the items would be marketed at a cut-off of a 90% reduction, but under the new system – which is the first of its kind in the UK – food will be free of charge.
“We are constantly looking for innovative new ways to reduce food waste,” a Tesco spokesperson commented on the trail.
“In all our stores we offer unsold surplus food to charities and community groups, donating millions of meals each month.
“This trial, in a small number of our Express stores, will allow customers to take any remaining yellow stickered items for free at the end of the day, after they have first been offered to charities and colleagues.”
Featured Image – The Manc Group
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Flash sale launches with two-for-one tickets to some of Manchester’s biggest gigs
Thomas Melia
Two upcoming Manchester gigs are having a flash sale where you can get your hands on some very limited 2 for 1 tickets.
The two biggest arenas in Manchester are hosting exclusive discounts on two of the biggest upcoming Manchester gigs.
If you’re after tickets to Co-op Live’s offering you’ll have to act fast as they have a legend in attendance, quite literally, as John Legend is set to take to the stage on Thursday 29 May.
It’s a very special gig for the singer-songwriter as he celebrates 20 years of ‘Get Lifted’ where Mr. Legend will be playing tracks from his debut album like ‘Ordinary People’, sprinkling in more hits too.
AO Arena are also running a limited 2 for 1 ticket discount and we’re certain it’s about to get ‘Hot In Herre’ as St. Louis MC Nelly brings his UK tour to this very stage along with a troupe of famous stars.
Anyone interested in finding ‘Where The Party At’ doesn’t have to look much further than Saturday 7 June when Nelly brings his tour to Manchester with Eve, St. Lunatics, Jermaine Dupri and Fabolous.
Co-op Live is running a limited 2 for 1 offer on John Legend tickets.AO Arena have a 2 for 1 flash sale on tickets to see Nelly and special guests.Credit:Publicity Picture (via Supplied) / Flickr
‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’ because these tickets are too good to pass on especially when you get the opportunity to see all these rap legends under the same roof for less than three figures at £90.
And we’re giving you the ‘Green Light’ about John Legend and his upcoming ‘Get Lifted – 20th Anniversary Tour’ when we say these 2 for 1 tickets total at £70, It’s ‘Written In The Stars’.
Anyone after 2 for 1 tickets for John Legend and his upcoming ‘Get Lifted – 20th Anniversary Tour’ can find this exclusive running until 28 May HERE.
And there’s no ‘Dilemma’ in sight as you can get 2 for 1 tickets to see Nelly and his music crew on their ‘Where The Party At’ tour HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
18th January 2023 
