Why Manchester Airport’s £1.3bn terminal still treats passengers like a problem, not people

A shiny new terminal with the same old indifference

I know I posted about this on social media yesterday afternoon - but I cannot help but repeat my dreadful experience at Manchester Airport, en route to Dublin.

Aer Lingus, along with a number of other airlines (including Jet 2), have relocated to the bright, new, shiny £1.3 bn Terminal 2.

As I walked in and saw the extensive Jet 2 check in area, my first thought was that I may return to them for our annual pilgrimage to Greece in July.

The terminal looks stunning - really stunning.

However........

Check in was average (belt not working), security was just as crappy as the old days in Terminal 3 (and I was in fasttrack), checking in for the flight at the gate was indifferent, followed by the usual bus ride to the flight, presumably because Aer Lingus are not prepared to pay the fees for a gate.

Yet again the passengers at every step of their terminal journey, are treated like disobedient sheep - the only exception being the folks in duty free who are presumably on commission for shoving brochures and product under the noses of us all as we are obliged to run the gauntlet.

I'll repeat the word "indifferent" (which, as we know, is the opposite of love).

Of course I haven't had the opportunity to visit every restaurant or shop in the terminal - but the whole building has the same feel as has been the case for years at MIA - overworked, underpaid people who resent their "patients", the passengers.

There is just no humanity in the place.

Is this just an airport thing - that because they have a monopoly, they don't have to care?

I use Heathrow Terminal 5 frequently, and it doesn't feel like that.

I have had excellent airport experiences in Cologne, Kefalonia, Mumbai, Cape Town, Melbourne, Toronto - even little St John's Newfoundland a couple of weeks ago made me feel welcome.

Goodness me, I've had my run ins with Manchester Airport before now, even making it in to the Manchester Evening News and on to TV's "Rip off Britain" after my social media post on their chaotic new drop off system went viral.

£1.3 billion pounds of investment - and clearly not a penny of that has been directed towards training their employees to, at the very least, respect and maybe even appreciate, the 30+ million passengers a year who pay their wages.

When we fly to Greece next July - it will be from LHR T5 again - I'd rather catch a train to Euston and transfer to the Heathrow Express, I'd rather pay more for a British Airways flight, than be treated like trash, 30 minutes from my front door.

I count my blessings that I'm able to make that choice - and express my dismay that my home city should lend its name to such a poorly run business.