Manchester Airport branded 'complete nightmare' in fresh queue chaos

Passengers have again faced long queues at Manchester Airport with flights cancelled and baggage lost.

Half-term travel delays at the weekend have continued with some describing airport scenes earlier as "carnage".

Manchester Airport has apologised for passengers' inconvenience after queues of nearly three hours to check-in.

James Sutton who was stuck at the airport for 11 hours before his flight to Greece was cancelled, said: "It was a complete nightmare."

Mr Sutton, 50, of Warrington, Cheshire, had been due to take off on Sunday on a 07:55 BST flight to Heraklion in Crete.

He told the BBC: "It was a shambles. It took nearly three hours just to check-in with our bags.

"When we did get on the flight it couldn't take off as they didn't know where anyone's bags were."

Mr Sutton added: "After a few hours, the pilot decided to take everyone off and the flight was cancelled.

"There were lots of angry people with many in tears.

"The police came at one point as I think staff were worried it was going to boil over."

Those who did fly away on holiday were shocked to find their bags did not arrive.

Nikki Scragg's luggage was lost after she flew to Menorca for a two-week holiday with her family.

She said: "We have literally just got the clothes we arrived in.

"Fortunately for me I packed a bikini and a strappy top in my hand luggage.

"My husband has had to go out and buy a pair of shorts."

She added: "I have got one pairs of pants and there is nowhere to buy them.

"We are having to wash them out every day. It is horrible."

There were also reports of empty shelves in airport shops and low supplies of food in restaurants.

Jayesh Patel was stranded at the airport for 10 hours after his Tui flight to Kos, Greece, was cancelled.

He said: "A lot of places had run out of food. Queues for drinks were really long and a lot of places were closed."

Mr Patel added: "A few police officers later turned up as people were getting visibly angry.

"There were people on that flight who were going to get married or on their honeymoon."

Other passengers also told of their frustration as former soldier Chris Pike said it took him more than two hours to check-in and it was "very poor and slow".

Airline Tui has apologised to its customers for flight and baggage delays.

The operator said a "sudden increase" in visitor numbers combined with "operational and supply chain issues" had affected a small number of flights.

A spokeswoman said May half-term holidays were "always incredibly busy" but added it was the "first peak period in more than two years" that was not impacted by Covid restrictions.

Manchester Airport has previously blamed staff shortages and a post-pandemic spike in demand for recent travel chaos.

It said it was aware of challenges being faced by a number of airlines and handling agents which had led to delays in check-in and baggage reclaim for some passengers.

A spokeswoman pointed out that "airlines and their ground handlers are responsible for their own check-in and baggage handling services".

She added: "However, this is not the experience we want passengers to have at Manchester Airport and we are sorry to hear customers have faced disruption."

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