The issue affected passengers arriving at Terminal 3, which 14 different airlines operate from, on 9 April 2018.
Passengers arriving in the UK were left with no option but to queue along the corridors, which were said to be “red hot”.
Airport bosses attributed the problem to a number of flights which landed outside of their scheduled time, creating a backlog of passengers, it was reported in Manchester Evening News.
Exasperated passengers took to social media to vent their travel woes, with some allegedly waiting in queues of up to an hour and a half.
One social media user blasted the airport for creating a bad first impression for tourists arriving in the city.
Gordon Whitehead posted: “Passport control at Manchester Airport worst experience. I think you need to take down the Welcome sign and replace it with Visitors Not Welcome (sic).”
Chloe Worthy appealed directly to the airport, tweeting: “Can someone explain WHY the queue in terminal 3 for passport control is going to take over an hour and half? And why the heating is absolutely blasting????????? This stupid f****** queue is going to take longer than our flight. People have places to be!!! (sic)”
Susannah Green posted: “Waited 45min now and had no communication! Any updates please? How long should we expect to wait? This really is unacceptable. It’s baking hot in the corridor!”
Amanda Preston said: “Poorly managed because of 3 flights arriving together and a 30 minute delay to get through customs! Disgraceful.”
Before adding: “Terminal 3 – 30 min plus delay in a red hot air bridge! Disgusting”
However, this does not appear to be a new problem at Manchester Airport, with some complaining the queues are reoccurring.
Chris Villiers tweeted: “This is a recurring problem at all Terminals. Quite clearly no plans to fix the issue. Not even peak season!!!”
Meanwhile, one user stepped in to defend the airport, writing: “I travel a lot and i used to curse Manchester Airport for passenger delays on a regular basis. In the last 6 months thought i have to admit it has been a lot better, i’ve even taken pictures of empty passport control gates – shame to see it clogged again (sic).”
Manchester Airport responded individually to many comments, apologising for the wait in passport control.
It replied: “We have had a number of unscheduled arrivals and are working closely with the UK Border Force to ease this as soon as possible.”
A Manchester Airport spokesman, said: “We are aware that delays have built up in Terminal 3 immigration on Monday afternoon due to a number of delayed flights arriving outside of their scheduled time. We are working with UKBF, who manage immigration, to process passengers as quickly as possible.”
