Passengers landing at Manchester Airport were once again faced with long queues on Friday.
Travellers took to social media to complain about their waits in Terminal Three - marking the sixth time in two months the M.E.N has reported on the problem.
Earlier this month, the Home Office, which runs immigration, blamed a broken e-gate.
Last month, queues were blamed variously on someone being sick, a high number of international students, and flights arriving outside their scheduled times.
On Friday afternoon, Border Force blamed flights arriving off-schedule and a 'safeguarding case'.
They would not expand on the nature of this case.
It's understood broken e-gates also exacerbated delays.
Nathan Whittaker is among passengers who says he is often faced with queues at Manchester Airport.
Nathan, 28, a software support worker who lives in Manchester city centre, said: "I fly through Manchester about once every two months and it's often bad.
He added: "I think it's embarrassing for the airport- it's often people's first impression of Manchester. I met some Americans recently abroad and they were recollecting Manchester Airport because they had had a bad experience. It seems to be one of the worst."
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Greg Andrews, Meanwhile, wrote: "Passport queue @manairport T3 arrivals! Absolutely ridiculous. MAN deserves its spot at the top of worlds worst airports lists."
While Sandra Skeels said: "I'd be heading off home if I could collect my partner who has been trying to get through immigration for over 1 hr. It was the same last Friday night, 2 hours to clear immigration at T3. Disgusting Manchester Airport."
Home Office targets are for UK and EU travellers to go through in 25 minutes and for non-EU travellers to queue for no longer than 45 minutes.
A Border Force spokesperson said: “The security of our border is paramount — which is why 100 per cent of scheduled passengers are checked when arriving in the UK.
“While the majority of passengers who arrive at Manchester Airport get through the border quickly, on Friday evening a combination of flights arriving off schedule and Border Force officers dealing with a safeguarding case meant that there were delays.
"We understand the frustration of those involved and deployed all available staff to ensure that the passengers were processed as quickly as possible.”
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “We are disappointed that some passengers arriving into Terminal Three on Friday evening experienced queues at the Border that exceeded Home Office target waiting times.
“We have raised with UK Border Force as a priority.”
It's understood a broken e-gate also contributed to delays. The problem is said to have eased when these were fixed.
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