The worst UK airports for security queues

One of the biggest stress factors for a lot of air travellers is the unpredictability of the airport security check - an essential part of the journey, but often a frustrating one nevertheless, with long queues and (justifiably) painstaking processes leading to a raised heart rate for many trying to get to their gate on time.

Most of us have at some point forgotten about a bottle of water or an e-reader amid the rush to get through, only adding to the time needed. Travellers jetting off from Manchester Airport, for example, will hear shouted warnings from the security staff along the lines of: "If you don't take all electronic equipment out of your bags it will cause a 60-minute delay". But even when following protocol perfectly, a new Which? survey has revealed the three terminals in Manchester to have the longest waiting times of all large UK airports.

The average waiting time reported by recent travellers from terminal 1 in Manchester was 17 minutes. The smaller terminals 2 and 3 had times of 15.5 minutes, which still put them ahead of fourth-placed Stansted with its 13.7 minutes. While still in the top-10, Heathrow highlights the problem at Manchester, with average times around the 10 minute mark.