Tim Samunyai from Coventry arrived around 5.40am for a 6.55pm departure to Zimbabwe on Sunday (10 April). 

Samunyai told the Manchester Evening News (MEN) he wanted to avoid the “madness” of recent travel chaos at the airport, admitting news coverage had caused him to “panic”.

The 56-year-old said his worries had been fuelled by television news reports showing sprawling queues at airline check-in desks during the recent half-term holidays.

When arriving at the airport, Samunyai was told by a member of staff he had “broken the record” for the earliest person to arrive for their flight.

He was also told there was “no issue” with queues on his flight and he was then able to relax.

Samunyai told the MEN how he spent his remaining waiting time reading, eating, watching his tablet and sleeping, before eventually checking in around 3.30pm.

Over the past week agents have been telling passengers flying from affected airports to arrive earlier than usual.

Amanda Matthews, managing director at Designer Travel, told TTG the situation at Manchester airport was a particular problem. 

“We’re having to ring every single client who’s travelling and pre-warn them they need to get there earlier, three to four hours earlier," she said.