Manchester Airport has officially been declared the worst airport in the UK, according to a new survey by consumer choice group Which?
The UK’s third largest airport grabbed headlines repeatedly due to its scenes of chaos for travellers this past summer – with long delays, unplanned flight cancellations, and queues so long that many were required to turn up hours in advance and even then still miss their flights in the most unfortunate cases.
And now, the country’s biggest consumer body has named it the worst in the UK.
For its annual survey, Which? gathered feedback from more than 7,000 people about their experiences of flying from UK airports between July 2020 and July 2022 – with Manchester’s Terminal 3 receiving the lowest customer score of 38%.
Angry travellers from our region’s airport over the past two years described their experiences “chaotic”, “heaving”, and “an end-to-end shambles, with people explaining they were mainly frustrated by the queues throughout the place – for everything from getting through security, to buying something to eat and drink.
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Manchester Airport has officially been declared the worst airport in the UK / Credit: The Manc Group
Terminal 1 (41%) and Terminal 2 (47%) did fare a little better in the survey than Terminal 3, but passengers said they were still pretty irritated by long waits.
According to Which?, it’s not just the recent survey results that have been pretty damning for Manchester Airport, as many of its members have regularly reported over the years that the airport is “grim”, with others saying the layout was “poorly designed”, and that basically, “it’s just not a nice airport.”
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Manchester’s neighbouring airport, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, however, has come out with a glowing review from the Which? survey – receiving a ‘Which? Recommended Provider’ status and obtaining a score of 83%.
“It’s much smaller, less manic and so much more civilised than Manchester,” one passenger claimed.
We've ranked airports up and down the country. Where has your go-to airport landed in our table? ✈️ https://t.co/3p8uSoz1L3
Speaking on taking the title as the UK’s worst airport, and addressing the survey head-on, a spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We apologise to any customer who feels their experience was not of the standard we want to deliver over the past two years.
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“The pandemic was the biggest crisis faced by our industry in its history.
“At one stage, passenger numbers at Manchester Airport dropped to just 5% of normal levels and airports around the world had to cut costs just to survive.
Manchester’s Terminal 3 received the lowest customer score of 38%, according to Which? / Credit: The Manc Group
“Earlier this year, the whole of the travel industry then faced unprecedented challenges as travel restrictions were removed and demand returned rapidly to the market, and Manchester Airport was no different. The hugely competitive employment market and delays in training and vetting meant there were times when we were unable to keep up with passenger demand, which resulted in longer waiting times than we would like.”
The spokesperson added that the Airport is “looking forward to delivering a positive experience to all our passengers this winter, and into summer 2023.”
Featured Image – Manchester Airport
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James Acaster reveals eerie song all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable
Emily Sergeant
James Acaster has revealed the eerie (and pretty surprising) song that all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable.
In case you’ve been living comfortably under a rock, you’ll probably be aware that comedian James Acaster is currently a contestant on this current season of BBC‘s smash-hit reality TV competition show, The Celebrity Traitors – a show that viewers in their millions are tuning into each week, with some big names on the cast.
Acaster is currently (spoiler alert… but it shouldn’t be at this point, we are several weeks in after all) one of three Traitors competing on the show, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it.
But we wonder how much of his success can be put down to the producers’ love of a certain song they like to play before every roundtable? Probably next to none, but it’s surprising to find out how much of an integral role the tune plays though.
The song we’re referring to here, it has been revealed, is ‘The Hanging Tree’ – a folk ballad made popular by The Hunger Games.
‘The Hanging Tree’, composed by James Newton Howard and Suzanne Collins, was famously sung by Jennifer Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen in the third instalment of the film franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
The lyrics are as follows:
Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man They say who murdered three? Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight In the hanging tree
So, as you can see, the song does make reference to ‘murder’, which is a key part of The Traitors game (not real murder, of course), but even with that context, we’re still not sure why the producers are keen to play it out before every roundtable.
During a viral TikTok clip from an on-stage Q&A this week, Acaster revealed the song’s usage to the audience: “You all walk in silence down the corridor, and you all sit down, and they don’t announce it’s gonna happen.
“The first time this will completely blindside you, but they do it every single roundtable. They play that song from The Hunger Games, that ‘coming to the tree’ song. Like acapella, Jennifer Lawrence.”
He continued: “It was every f***ing time, it was the only song we heard the whole time we were in there, and all day I would have it in my head constantly, everyone would, I’d go ‘have you got coming to the tree in your head?’ and they’d go ‘yes, it’s in my head, again’.”
Viewers who watch the show may have spotted the song being played in the background or transition between certain scenes, but now it’s been revealed that the contestants hear it too.
Who would’ve thought?
Featured Image – Euan Cherry / BBC / Studio Lambert
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Tickets officially go on sale for rare 70mm IMAX screenings of Dune: Part Three in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Tickets have now officially gone on sale for rare 70mm IMAX screenings of Dune: Part Three in Manchester.
Arriving on screens from 18 December and gearing up to be one of the most anticipated films of the year, Dune: Part Three – which is the third and final instalment in director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise – will be screening in IMAX 70mm at Vue Manchester Printworks, one of only three venues to show it in this format nationwide.
There are only 40 other venues across the globe showing the film in IMAX 70mm, and Manchester is the only city outside of London to screen the blockbuster this way too.
Based on the novels of Frank Herbert and set nearly two decades after the previous film, Dune: Part Three features an ensemble cast of all-star names led by Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya.
Alongside them will be Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rebecca Ferguson, Robert Pattinson, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin.
After seats for a special early screening of the film in IMAX sold out in less than 30 minutes last month, the IMAX 70mm showings – which officially went live today (20 October) – are expected to be snapped up fast by film fans in Manchester.
“A decade in the making, Denis Villeneuve’s epic Dune trilogy is reaching its dramatic conclusion this December,” explained Dean Cross, who is the Senior Screen Content Manager at Vue.
“As the only venue outside of London to be screening Dune: Part Three in IMAX 70mm, it’s a privilege for us to offer this unique way to experience the film.”
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2022 
