Manchester Airport has officially been declared the worst airport in the UK, according to a new survey by Which?… again.
On what is a week of complete travel chaos nationwide, as thousands of passengers find themselves stranded due to air traffic control faults, and for what is the second year running, an annual ranking by consumer choice group Which? has proved to be pretty grim reading for holidaymakers in Greater Manchester.
That’s because several terminals at the UK’s third largest airport have found themselves at the bottom of the list in Which?’s latest findings.
Manchester Airport have slammed the survey, saying it’s ‘deeply flawed and misleading’ as well as ‘out of date’, pointing out that the pool of people surveyed equates to only around 0.002% of the airport’s annual passenger numbers.
For its annual survey, Which? spoke to nearly 4,000 passengers to gather feedback about their experiences of flying from UK airports over the last 12 months, and asked them to score the airports across 11 categories.
Some of these categories including seating, staff, toilets, and of course, the queues we all dread at check in, bag drop, passport control, and security.
And just like in 2022, it was Manchester Airport Terminal 3 that ranked right at the bottom, receiving the lowest customer satisfaction score of 38%.
Manchester Terminal 1 ranked one place above that with a score of 44%, while Manchester Terminal 2 took the 20th spot on the list with a score of 50%, and only saw Luton Airport and Belfast International Airport sandwiched in between it.
As well as Manchester Airport ranking at the bottom for overall customer satisfaction, Which? also found that it was among the worst performing in the survey for security queues too.
Scenes from last year’s travel chaos for passengers at Manchester Airport / Credit: The Manc Group
An average waiting time of 28 minutes was reported at Manchester Terminal 3.
According to Which?, one passenger who gave their feedback for the survey complained of “huge queues” at Manchester Terminal 3 check-in points, and even went on to call the whole situation of flying from the Airport a “joke”.
Similar to the overall feedback from last year, others who’ve flown from Manchester over the last 12 months have also dubbed the Airport experience as “crowded, noisy, and generally stressful”.
In reaction to retaining its place on Which?’s annual survey as the UK’s worst airport, a spokesperson for Manchester Airport has hit back.
The spokesperson dismissed the survey’s findings as “out of date” and “based on a tiny and unrepresentative sample of the 25 million passengers who travel through Manchester airport every year”.
The Airport claimed it received a 94% rating from its own survey of 840 passengers in July and August.
Manchester Airport named worst in the UK in new Which? survey / Credit: Manchester Airport Group
Their statement said: “Manchester Airport is proud to give the people of the North easy and affordable access to a wide range of global destinations. We are committed to providing a great experience to all passengers, and feedback this summer has been really positive, building on the strong Christmas and Easter getaways we delivered.
“Our customer service is driven by investment in our people – we have recruited more than 3,000 colleagues since April 2022 and established a new 100-strong resilience team, trained in a variety of roles so they can respond at short-notice to ensure passengers get a good level of service. It is also driven by investment in our facilities, especially the £1.3bn transformation of Terminal 2, through which more than 80% of our passengers will fly by 2025.
“We take all customer feedback seriously, but the Which? survey creates a deeply flawed and misleading picture of the service we are providing to our customers this summer.
“The survey is out of date – covering June 2022-June 2023 and not including the majority of this summer season – and is also based on a tiny and unrepresentative sample of the 25 million passengers who travel through Manchester Airport each year.
“Year-by-year the Which? survey becomes less and less relevant as response rates continue to dwindle, with half as many people surveyed this year as were 12 months ago. There were only 567 responses relating to Manchester Airport – 0.002% of our annual passenger numbers.
“As part of our commitment to delivering great customer service, we continually survey passengers. In July and August this year, 93% of those passengers rated their overall satisfaction with the service they received as good, very good or excellent.
“Since April this year, we have welcomed more than 10.4m people through Manchester Airport, who have travelled to more than 180 destinations with nearly 50 different airlines – and 95.6% of them have got through security in under 15 minutes. Almost three quarters got through security in under five minutes and 99.8% in under 30 minutes.”
To make matters worse for Manchester Airport and Greater Manchester passengers overall, it was actually another local neighbouring North West airport that’s come out on top, as Liverpool John Lennon Airport has been named the best in the UK – with a customer score of 82%, which is based on a combination of overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend.
Southampton (77%), Bournemouth (75%), East Midlands, and Newcastle (both scoring 72%) rounded out the rest of the top five best airports.
The UK’s Best and Worst Airports 2023
Liverpool John Lennon – 82% overall customer score
London City – 78%
Southampton – 77%
Bournemouth – 75%
East Midlands – 72%
Newcastle – 72%
Glasgow International – 62%
Leeds Bradford – 58%
London Gatwick North – 57%
London Heathrow – Terminal 4 – 57%
London Heathrow – Terminal 5 – 57%
Bristol – 56%
Aberdeen – 55%
Edinburgh – 55%
London Gatwick South – 54%
London Heathrow – Terminal 2 – 54%
London Heathrow – Terminal 3 – 54%
Birmingham – 53%
London Stansted – 51%
Manchester Terminal 2 – 50%
Belfast International – 49%
Luton – 49%
Manchester Terminal 1 – 44%
Manchester Terminal 3 – 38%
Featured Image – Manchester Airport Group
News
Manchester City supporters groups call on club and fellow fans to ‘make their voices heard’
Danny Jones
A collection of Manchester City supporters groups has urged both the club and the fans themselves to “make [their] voice heard” this season, following this year’s protests over the new and “drastic” ticketing policy.
Man City fans gathered both before and after the game against Wolves back in April to make their feeling known regarding season ticket changes.
Appealing to manager Pep Guardiola directly, insisting that he needs their energy to get the kind of “alive” crowds he’s also called for in the past, ‘The 1984’ has now been joined by four other supporters trusts in reaffirming their aims for the new campaign.
Sharing a new joint statement on social media, the five fan groups say that “last season saw unprecedented off-pitch unrest among City fans in the post-Maine Road era”, and the only way to avoid further disruption is to listen and heed their warnings.
STATEMENT FROM CITY FAN GROUPS AS WE ENTER THE NEW SEASON
After last season's protests, 2025/26 sees the most drastic changes to season tickets we've ever had. We ask supporters to use their voices & the club to put fans first going forward.
— MCFC Fans Foodbank Support (@MCFCfoodbank) August 21, 2025
Writing on behalf of the aforementioned 1894 group, Canal Street Blues, MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, Solid Citizens, Trade Union Blues and nearly 700 official members, as you can see, they penned a lengthy open letter to the club and the City Football Group (CFG).
“Despite recent success on the field,” they say, “two major in-stadium protests took place, with an estimated 16,000+ fans delaying their entry at the Leicester and Wolves games, and thousands more joining silent protests.
“The triggers were rising ticket prices, season ticket availability, poor supporter engagement (including the Club refusing to meet City Matters on ticket prices for months), and away fans in home sections – often linked to third-party resellers like Viagogo, whose new partnership with the Club proved the breaking point.”
They also conceded that the freeze in the cost of a full season ticket and reduced matchday prices were a welcome breath of fresh air and stirred hope for better fan engagement moving forward.
However, as the statement continues, “Unfortunately, the Club has instead introduced sweeping changes to season ticket terms and conditions, hitting some of our most loyal supporters and damaging long-standing fan culture.”
You can see all of the new and almost universally opposed ticket changes listed in full via bullet points above, but standouts include an unprecedented ’10-game personal attendance policy’ – the first of its kind in English football – stricter ticket transfer rules, and even new facial recognition scanners.
We completely agree. No warning in the middle of summer, communicated by one email on the same day that it was announced? Horrendous.
— MCFC Fans Foodbank Support (@MCFCfoodbank) August 21, 2025
Fan reaction online has been as you would expect; most City supporters are in almost overwhelming agreement with the concerns raised in the latest communication, particularly in the minimum attendance and transfer rules, adding: “the latter directly undermines the stated aim of ‘keeping the stadium full.'”
“There are also fears some of these rules won’t apply equally to hospitality season ticket holders, introducing worries of inequality between fans,” the statement continues.
“These changes create unnecessary workload for ticket office staff, introduce barriers for digitally excluded fans, force some into paid memberships, and erode supporter culture.
“All [the] while, City Matters, our elected Fan Advisory Board, has repeatedly faced delays and broken deadlines for meeting minutes, with the most recent minutes now 59 days overdue from the June meeting. No one wants constant conflict with the Club, but when official channels fail, protest becomes the only option. Last season proved that fan action can drive change.”
“We call on all Blues to:
Track and record if and how these changes affect you.
Make your voice heard – online, via City Matters, and through fan groups.
Join fan groups such as 1894, the Disabled Supporters Association, Canal Street Blues, Trade Union Blues, and your local OSC branch to discuss issues with fellow Blues.”
Lastly, they have called on the club to rethink their current policies surrounding personal attendance and ticket transfers, “take a ‘fans first’ approach when it comes to all future policies affecting supporters, engaging in meaningful consultation with fan representatives,” and publish fan meetings “on time.”
What do you make of the supporter groups’ statement and, more importantly, how do you feel about recent changes to season tickets and matchday admission, City fans?
Manchester’s newest bowling venue Wynwood Lanes is giving away 100 FREE sessions on opening week
Emily Sergeant
An exciting new bowling venue is opening in Manchester this week, and they’re giving away 100 free bowling sessions to celebrate.
Manchester get ready, as Wynwood Lanes is taking over the legendary Dog Bowl site and giving it a full Miami makeover.
Think five upgraded bowling lanes, pool tables, basketball hoops, sun drenched tunes, poolside cocktails, smoke machines, and a brunch menu from Kong’s NQ that’ll have you salivating before you’ve even sat down.
Wynwood Lanes will be running on a ‘unique’ day-mode and night-mode model.
This means that by day, guests can expect fresh brunch dishes and low-fi tunes, with children welcome until 7pm, and then when it’s in night mode, the Miami heat is turned up with party beats, celebratory smoke machines, late night snacks, and bar games.
Manchester’s newest bowling venue Wynwood Lanes is giving away 100 free sessions on its opening week / Credit: PICRYL | Supplied
As mentioned, fuel for the fun comes from Manchester legends Kong’s NQ, but this time with a Miami twist, so expect Cuban sandwiches, lime chicken avo arepas, tacos galore, and Miami-style brunch plates.
A boozy bottomless brunch will also take every Saturday and Sunday from next Saturday 30 August, with 90 minutes of Miami plates and free-flowing cocktails from £39.50 per person – with the option to upgrade to bowling for just a tenner
With the grand opening date just days away now, Wynwood Lanes wants to start things off with a bang… or you know, a strike.
In a bid to do this, they’ll be giving away free bowling sessions to the first 100 people through the doors on bank holiday Monday (25 August) from midday through to 11pm – with up to six players allowed per group.
Wynwood Lanes is open from 4pm tomorrow (Friday 22 August).
Bowling prices will start at £9 (or totally free if you’re one of the first 100 to book for opening weekend), so follow this link to grab access to bowling booking slots when they’re released, and secure your lane before they’re gone.