Man arrives 13 hours early for flight after panicking over airport queues

‘Thirteen hours is a bit much, fair enough, but I’d rather be early,’ says passenger

Reports of Manchester Airport queues panicked passenger

(Mike Turner)

A man arrived at Manchester Airport 13 hours early for his flight after panicking that he might miss it due to the long security queues seen during the Easter holidays.

Tim Samunyai, 56, from Coventry, got to the airport for 5.40am on Sunday 10 April for his flight to to Zimbabwe - despite the scheduled departure time of 6.55pm.

The father of two admitted that “13 hours is a bit much, fair enough, but I’d rather be early”.

He told Manchester Evening News: “I was thinking if I come here nice and early then I won’t have to deal with all that madness over there.

“I don’t know if I was panicking because of the news just highlighting the negativity or whatever.

“But there was no differentiation in the reporting, you saw queues for check-ins at TUI, EasyJet or Jet2 and it was choc-a-block.

“My problem was not realising that, it’s a panic if you’re going to Corfu, Greece or Tenerife because everybody wants to go there, and it’s half-term. But if you’re going Africa, then there’s no issue.”

Despite the mix-up, Mr Samunyai remained upbeat, saying he didn’t regret his decision and saw the 13-hour wait as a “spiritual timeout”.

He had four books to read and sandwiches and pastries to eat, checking in at the earliest possible time - 3.30pm.

A member of airport staff said he “broke the record” for the earliest time a passenger had arrived before their flight.

It followed a week in which Manchester Airport repeatedly hit headlines for hours-long wait times as Brits attempted to jet off for Easter holidays.

Some passengers even missed flights due to lengthy security queues, while others waited days to be reunited with missing luggage.