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Corfu Kerkyra Airport (CFU)
by tsam
My review is mainly about Corfu airport, not the country.
I think the country is very good, the scenery fantastic and the locals are friendly always glad to say hello.
Due to fly out back to Manchester late on a Friday night, handed my passport into baggage area to get weighed and collect boarding pass.Made way to metal ... detector area (2 of) only one metal detector machine was being used to usher 300 people through for two flights (Manchester & Bristol).
I was asked to put small bag, coat, coins, keys, electricals, passport into tubs and collect other side.
Got frisked turned around to get belongings from tubs and 'UK passport' was gone (in the space of 6ft !!)
Basically it was a rush and a free for all of the other passengers going through the machine - no order or consistency.
They should have split the two flights between the 2 machines, I then could have then narrowed it down as to who may have taken my passport - Bristol or Manchester flight passenger at least?
Raised the alarm immediately, the police did nothing, the other airport staff processing the passengers accused me of leaving my passport at my hotel!!
Even with my boarding pass in my hand and my luggage tagged and on the way to the aircraft hold.
There was a shift change in personel on the metal detector area 5 minutes after I raised the alarm.
The police and other officials had just under 2 hours to find my passport before my flight took off - there attempts and actions were poor.
Disgusted by lack of help from police & easyjet staff and I was basically left at 23:45 Friday evening (flight had gone!) stranded in the airport, everywhere shut and most hotels full due to Greek Easter Holidays.
Easyjet would not accept any other form of UK identity other than a UK driving licence (which was back in the UK) - I did show them my UK military ID card, which proved useless, even though it has a colour photo of me on it, my date of birth, service number etc and organisation I work for!!
Beware if you use this airport, something fishy is going on, I'm under the impression my passport was either mistakingly taken by another UK traveller heading home or stolen on purpose to keep me in the country so I'd have to spend more money.
Easyjet made two feeble tannoy announcements to the UK travellers in the departure lounge to check if they had picked up a 2nd passport by mistake - no-one came forward!
I checked my personal bag many many times to make sure my passport wasn't in there and it wasn't!
The police did not step up passport checks and didn't seem too concerned about going into the deprarture lounge to get my passport!
Phoned both Bristol and Manchester airports the days that followed and no one handed anything in, I await to contact the UK passport agency to see if its been handed in annonymously.
Basically my pp was stolen whilst proceeding to the departrue lounge in Corfu airport, whether it be by the security firm operating the metal detector area or another passenger has picked it up, I had no help, there is no area to leave baggage temporarily in order to find a hotel, the police are reluctant to give any reports to help, there quite blazay about it, and without a passport or police report you don't get a hotel room - it's no fun sleeping rough.
Be warned - my advice is put / keep your passport in your bag zipped up at all times, foremost take out travel insurance before you travel!
The Corfu British Consolute follow the same Greek holiday pattern, so if you need help in an emergency - YOU WILL NOT GET IT - you get patched through to a LONDON duty advisor who tells you to wait!
It is quite costly if yours goes missing ie: Emergency passport from the British Consulate in corfu, Hotel costs, car parking in the UK,phone bills calling around, extra cost to airline to rebook flight,food costs etc
Flights to the UK from Corfu are on a Moday and Friday only.
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Manchester Airport (MAN)
by linzeelou
Although I live very close to Humberside Airport (when I'm not at university), there aren't that many choices of destination from there. Manchester airport is a direct, 2 and a half hour train away from Grimsby so it is the easiest to get to. Because of this, I have chosen to fly from Manchester airport a couple of times now. My first ... experience at Manchester airport was actually quite daunting. I was flying to Toronto for the first time, completely alone and had only been to Humberside airport previously. As I got off the train and saw the size of this airport, I was in shock and a little scared.
The first time I flew from this airport I flew with Air Transat so I had to use terminal 1. From the train, all I had to do was get in a lift and I was taken straight to the check in area. The main check in area for terminal one has 78 check in desks which was amazing. As many airlines check in using this terminal, there are many different desks to choose from but each airline has more than one. I got to the airport a bit earlier than I needed to be there but I was happy to find Air Transat already checking people in. The staff were friendly and quick and this meant I could get rid of my baggage and not have to cart a load of stuff around for ages.
Once checked in, it's time for security. Again, there were plenty of people working this area and I thought that meant I would get through it quickly. Unfortunately, going through security takes quite a while as some people need to be checked differently to others and people have things in their bags that they shouldn't. When it came to be my turn though, I went through with no problems. I only had to walk through the sensors, put my bag on the conveyor belt and I was done. I had been careful beforehand to make sure my bag was packed properly. As I was flying on my own, I didn't want anything bad to happen and for me to get even more nervous.
Past security, this airport has amazing shopping on offer. Due to only having been to Humberside airport before, where the shopping is nearly non-existent, I was impressed. Terminal 1 has about 25 shops on offer including W H Smiths, Boots, Claire's, Monsoon, a spa, JD, Timberland and much more. There is something for everyone here and every budget which was nice to see. I also liked the fact that the shopping area catered for men just as well as women and everyone could get their last minute items because of this. There are also plenty of places to eat and drink as well. There are options to grab a quick bite of fast food or have a sit down meal, grab a quick cold drink or have a nice relaxing coffee. The choice here was incredible.
Something that I did notice about Manchester airport is that there are toilets everywhere. You can never walk too far, from check in to departures, without walking past a set of toilets and I thought this was quite impressive. I hate being in somewhere so big and never being able to find a toilet when I need one so this was a good thing for me. For smokers, there is a food terrace slightly upstairs and this is also where you will find the smoking area, near The Real Food Company. I don't really agree that the smoking area is right near food, even though I smoke myself but I was still glad to see a smoking area on offer and inside.
The departure lounges are large and spacious, with lots of room for everyone. The seats were quite comfortable and a good place to sit and wait for your flight once you are done shopping. I was very close to falling asleep while I was sat waiting and I have never felt like that in an airport before.
Overall, Manchester airport is one of the best I have been to and if I was going on holiday from Grimsby, I would happily fly from here again. At the minute, East Midlands is closer for me otherwise I would always be flying from Manchester airport.
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East Midlands Airport
by linzeelou
Now that I live in Nottingham, East Midlands is my closest airport, making it a lot more convenient for me to go on holidays. I once thought that this airport was located in Nottingham but it is actually in Castle Donington. From the city centre, the Skylink bus can take you straight to the airport in only 45 minutes. Not many people go ... to the airport and back in a day so you can get an open return ticket, which is valid for a month, for around £9. This is a great price considering that you get a whole month to use the return part of the ticket. The only problem with this is keeping it somewhere safe while you're on holiday so you don't have to pay again when you come back.
Once you get into the departure terminals, it will dawn on you just how small this airport is in comparison to others like Manchester and the London airports. As you walk in, the check in desks are split into two halls, one to the left and one straight in front of you. The one to the left is the smaller of the two and is the one that I had to use. I flew with Ryanair and because you have to check in online with them, their desks are only for baggage drops. Along the back walls of the main hall are information desks for each airline with more check in desks opposite them for the larger airlines. I found it a little strange that even though I flew in the middle of the day, there weren't that many people around.
Due to there not being many people at the airport, I thought that giving over my baggage would be quick and easy but I was wrong. Ryanair only had two desks open for this and it seemed like everyone for my flight turned up at once. None of the other desks in this hall were open at this time, even one of the other Ryanair desks. I know it was a smallish flight to Estonia but it would have been much more efficient to open this extra desk. However, that is not the airport's fault.
Also on the ground floor of the airport is a small café which serves sandwiches, both hot and cold and a selection of cakes and pastries as well as drinks. The café has quite a lot of seating space so if you want to grab something while waiting to check in, at least there is somewhere to go and sit down. The prices here though are typical for an airport and are a lot more expensive than what you would pay anywhere else. Still, if all you want is a drink then it isn't too bad.
Security at East Midlands was a much better experience than I have had elsewhere. There were plenty of people working and about 6 different lines being formed. Each line went down really fast and this is the quickest I have ever been through security. This meant that we had a lot more time before our flight than we had imagined and a lot more time to look at the shops.
After security, there are the normal host of shops that you can expect from an airport. As well as a large duty free section, there is also somewhere to buy swimwear and sunglasses, a news agents, Boots, a book shop and also an aviation souvenir shop. The shopping wasn't nearly as impressive as in a larger airport but there is still plenty to look at so you can kill some time. When it comes to food after security, there is a pub on the first floor along with Burger King and another café. Surprisingly, Burger King's prices are pretty close to what you would pay in a town or city centre.
The departure lounges are large and spacious with plenty of seating areas. At the very far end of the departure lounges is a smoking area outside. We flew from the furthest gate and the one closest to the smoking area which I was very thankful for. The smoking area is a fair walk away though if you are at gate 1 so be warned to leave your baggage with someone else you are travelling with if you can.
On a whole, while you can't fly everywhere from East Midlands, it is great for European flights which is what I use it for. The airport isn't too large and there aren't too many people around so you get a quieter experience than in bigger airports. The airport is clean with staff that seem more than happy to help. Due to it being so easy to get to and from, I am flying from East Midlands again in June with Ryanair to June and I am quite pleased about that.
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