Is Manchester Airport Really as Bad as People Say?

I have had the misfortune of having to fly to and from Manchester about 20 times a year for the last ten years. The only time I have ever had anything approaching an enjoyable experience was during Covid when the place was deep cleaned, the number of daily passengers was in the low thousands and the systems and security were able to cope. Their baggage handling system is so old that any bag with even a hint of a strap has to go through the baggage inspection belt rather than sending it via the belts at check in, a process that can take forever, especially in winter when people are also using it to drop off skis. I flew through there last week and on the outbound leg from T1 they had closed Security A to everything but fast track and sending people to the basement Security B. However the doors to B were also closed and an employee were sending people back to A. Classic Manchester airport confusion. When going through the security the staff are inconsistent with what needs to be removed from bags. I fly enough that I get to test this on a regular basis. For whatever reason, Manchester has the highest rate of my bag requiring additional inspection, despite carrying no liquids and having removed all of my electronics. There have been many occasions where I’ve encountered rude and abusive staff. I even had one lad with roid rage start falsely accusing me of using threatening and abusive language and that he would get me ‘locked up’ because I told him I didn’t need to remove my laptop charging cable, but thankfully the other passengers confirmed to his supervisor he was making shit up and generally being a wanker. I have the usual complaints about the food being expensive and shit and the service slow, if you can get a seat. T2 has admittedly got better with the latest improvements. The border control has improved in T1 now they have more gates, but they are still slow compared to elsewhere in the U.K. If you have three or more aircraft disembarking at the same time, the queues are hellish. An acquaintance had to wait two hours for baggage last week on a late night flight because there weren’t enough baggage handlers (not necessarily the airports problem, but the ground service company). Even getting there is a pain in the arse, with charging for drop offs, openly admitting they want to discourage cars and taxis, yet the train service is poor, often delayed and you now can’t get a direct train from over the Pennines. I fly all over the world, including some proper shitholes, and Manchester is in my top 5 worst airports. Remember that it is supposed to be the international gateway to the north. It’s an embarrassment. Copenhagen and Vienna have similar passenger numbers and are light years ahead in service and experience.