In reply to Groundhog:
My most recent experience was pre-covid in 2020 (Terminal 1, I presume you're going from?) and it was pretty bad. Long queues, very rude staff shouting at the masses of people like they were cattle rather than human beings, stressful environment. However I think checking in a bag and going through security took around 1 hour in total which isn't tooooo bad,despite being really unpleasant.
If you're getting dropped off I believe there's a drop off fee now, so bear that in mind. I've used the 'jetparks' a few times and they have been fine, just need to allow a bit of extra time for a bus to come and pick you up and take you to the terminal, never had to wait for long though.
In general returning to Manchester is a really painful experience as well though - often end up queuing backwards through 'no entry' signs as the queue for passport control is so long. The train station is woeful too - I think a couple of years before 2020 I tried to get the train back from the airport and ended up missing two trains in a row while trying to buy a ticket - all the machines were broken, humongous mass of people trying to buy tickets, Mobile tickets weren't available, and when I tried to tell one of the members of staff sat in the ticket office (about three of them in there, only one window open though) he basically told me I was lying about the machines being broken and refused to step outside his office to look at the mass of people around the ticket machines amd queueing up for the office.
Manchester Airport might be my least favourite place in the entire world. Always choose to fly from somewhere else if there's a reasonable alternative.
Post edited at 15:42