UK airports with the biggest security queues REVEALED – so how long will you have to wait if YOU fly?

Are you flying from Manchester Airport?

Be prepared for winding security queues.

Holidaymakers leaving Manchester experience the longest delays when passing through the metal detectors.

Nearly two-thirds of passengers flying from MAN – Britain’s third busiest airport – queued for at least ten minutes in 2023.

Only 30 percent whizzed through and collected their belongings on the other side within five minutes.

Gatwick, meanwhile, came top of the pack.

According to survey data from the Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), only a fifth of holidaymakers flying from there last year waited ten minutes to pass through security.

Government researchers asked 13,600 passengers about their experiences with security at Britain’s five busiest airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Luton.

When broken down by specific terminals, all three of Manchester’s terminals ended up at the bottom of the table.

When broken down by specific terminals, all three of Manchester’s terminals ended up at the bottom of the table. Manchester Terminal 1 was the worst with 19 percent of passengers having to wait longer than 20 minutes, followed by Terminal 3 (17 percent) and Terminal 2 (14 percent)

Manchester Terminal 1 was the worst, with 19 percent of passengers waiting longer than 20 minutes, followed by Terminal 3 (17 percent) and Terminal 2 (14 percent).

Behind Manchester was Stansted Terminal 1 (7 percent).

By comparison, the comparative figure was just 1 percent in both Gatwick’s North and South terminals.

Heathrow’s newly renovated Terminal 4 saw 68 percent of passengers through the queue in less than five minutes.

It comes after a survey earlier this year named and shamed Wizz Air as the worst airline for UK flight delays.

According to analysis of CAA data, the budget airline’s departures from UK airports lasted an average of 31 minutes and 36 seconds at the end of last year.

It meant that Wizz Air was the least punctual airline for UK flights for three years in a row, despite a decline of almost a third from 2022.

Wizz Air, which sells tickets to holiday destinations in Greece and Spain for as little as £45, said it had made ‘significant improvements’ but acknowledged there was ‘still work to be done’.

Turkish Airlines recorded the second-worst punctuality last year, with an average delay of 28 minutes and 36 seconds.