TP Run - MAN-LGW-MAN-LHR (Domestic to Domestic at LGW and MAN)
Hi
I do my first ever TP run in a few hours, to get the remaining TPs I need to stay silver. The routing is MAN-LGW-MAN-LHR (for those wondering, I did LHR-MAN a few days ago).
Anyway, I have never done such a thing before.. the first flight is at 6.40am and I get to LHR at 2.45pm... all the flights are on the same day and I have about 2 hours between each change.
The question I have is.. when I land at LGW where do I go? Do I go out into arrivals and then back into departures and through security etc or do I go to 'Transfers' if there is an option? I have the same question when I land at MAN to wait for my flight to LHR.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :-)
Last edited by dxb-flyertalk; Dec 16, 12 at 9:40 pm..
Basically you are doing a domestic connection at LGW. Domestic to Domestic.
You are also doing a domestic connection at MAN. Domestic to Domestic.
(I think you might get more responces if you edited you title to "Domestic to Domestic at MAN and LGW, or something like that).
LGW:
It has been ages since I've arrived at LGW as domestic pax AND wanted to connect.
I don't think there is route for domestic arrivals to flight connections at all regardless of where you are connecting to. I think you need to arrive normally (walk out) and walk in again through normal security.
If it is possible to get to flight connections as a domestic arrival, then there might still be a probem.
Because of the shared departure lounge (passengers for UK and Ireland comman travel area flights are mixed with passengers for flights to elsewhere) you - like all domestic passengers at all UK airports with a mixed dep. lounge - need to be photographed upon entry to the departure lounge. This photograph is then checked when passengers board/go to gate for domestic flights - to ensure the right people board, because you can walk straight out at the destination, into the UK. No swapping of boarding passes, etc.
Now, if you were doing NON-domestic > domestic at LGW, I believe (although I may be out of date) that there is no provision for taking this photograph at flight connections security point. Hence you can do NON-domestic to NON-domestic as a flight connection, but for NON-domestic to domestic, you have to walk round via landside.
As I said, I may be out of date with that.
Also as I said, I'm not sure if you can reach a flight connections route at all as a domestic arrival, but even if you there is this issue to be weary of.
MAN:
Ok, struggling to remember this well enough, it has been ages since I have arrived as a domestic and wanted to connect at all (domestic or non-domestic), and it was only once of twice. Done non-domestic to domestic quite a few times.
I did LGW-JER-LGW-AMS-LGW yesterday using the CE sale fares in November and requalified for silver
On arrival at LGW from JER we parked at an international gate and then were bussed to the domestic arrivals area. From here there was no way to connect to anywhere and had to exit and come back in again. Not sure if things would have different if we'd parked at a domestic gate and exited directly?
Some other notes from the run.
* I'd bought a 100ml EDP in St Hellier. Jersey security required it to be unwrapped and the bottle placed in the plastic bag. LGW and AMS did not require this and the box in the bag was fine.
* My CE AVML (lunchtime) was just a standard vegitarian meal, roasted pepper salad. There was nothing Asian about it.
* Back to back flights are definitly possible in both JER and AMS (if it's the same aircraft). You arrive in the same area as the departing gates and in AMS in the secure zone after the end of pier bag check.
Connecting off a domestic flight at LGW is a bit of a lottery. If you are lucky to arrive on a proper domestic gate you simply head for Flight Connections and you will not need to reclear security. However you will have to have your photo taken.
However, if (as often happens) the arriving plane parks at an international stand - generally because the plane's next flight is an international one - you will endure the tedious process of being bussed. The bus will drop you at the domestic reclaim hall, from where it is not possible to access Flight Connections (although God knows why not). You will need to exit, go up two floors to departures, and reclear security.
Having had to do this on several occasions I can see why BA are dropping the MAN -LGW route, as connecting through T5 is so much easier.
If you land on any of the 55 stands and some of the 56ers, you will disembark into the domestic lounge. Simply stay there (assuming you already have your boarding card) as your flight will leave from this area. There is no requirement to have a photo taken as you will not be mixing with any international departures. If you land on an international stand and are bussed, do the following:
After arriving at the terminal bus stop, and havng ascended the stairs, turn to the left and you will see a sign directing connections to the right and arrivals to the left. Again, if you have a boarding card for the next flight, go LEFT for arrivals but then take the next right ( unsignposted). It used to be guarded, but the new owners saw it as a waste of money, so you can now walk straight into the glass corridor that funnels arriving domestic pax on domestic stands through to the arrivals process. Simply walk the glass corridor in reverse and you will emerge into the domestic lounge.
No hassle, no photos, no time at all. The only downside is that there are only vending machines to keep you occupied these days.
How many TP will this earn you? I take it that the ticket is a full flex Y?
I needed 60 TPs (with an extra 2 weeks leeway provided to do this, given my circumstances over the past year).
As I was organising a Christmas gala event in Manchester anyway (I run an Event Management company) and needed to be there for a few days I decided to fly it.. and bought Economy (with full TPs) LHR-MAN-LGW - giving me 40 TPs
I chose LGW as the return portion for that journey as the timings and price worked out better if I did LGW-MAN-LHR (bought economy with reduced TPs giving me 20 TPs)
All pretty last minute bookings.. (done 2 days before I travelled out from LHR).. and worked out cheaper than doing any JER or AMS trips...
The itinerary worked out as: LHR (14 Dec 11ish) - MAN and then today MAN - LGW (06:40) ; LGW - MAN (10:00) ; MAN - LHR (13:45)
I am currently sitting in the lounge in MAN. I could have booked the 13:00 flight MAN - LHR but did not want to chance anything with any delays so decided an extra 45 minutes wait could not hurt. I did ask at the ticket desk when I arrived in MAN from LGW if I could change my flight to the earlier one but they said there was a change fee of £100. Nah..
My experience so far.. arrived at LGW but got bussed to the terminal. The baggage hall only has one exit.. to the outside (although on the plane we got told that we will get bussed to the baggage hall where we just have to turn right for any flight connections.. no such thing though).
Up two flights of stairs and through the whole security thing.
Here in MAN, got off flight.. (all BA goes/arrives at T3).. and the only option was to go to baggage and then straight out. Did not see any signs for flight connections unless I missed it. So.. up an escalator and through security check again. :-(
I was wondering if I was in LHR again where going between terminals requires the umpteen unnecessary (IMHO) security checks!
After arriving at the terminal bus stop, and havng ascended the stairs, turn to the left and you will see a sign directing connections to the right and arrivals to the left. Again, if you have a boarding card for the next flight, go LEFT for arrivals but then take the next right ( unsignposted). It used to be guarded, but the new owners saw it as a waste of money, so you can now walk straight into the glass corridor that funnels arriving domestic pax on domestic stands through to the arrivals process. Simply walk the glass corridor in reverse and you will emerge into the domestic lounge.
No hassle, no photos, no time at all. The only downside is that there are only vending machines to keep you occupied these days.
Do you mean the stairs in the Baggage area where the bus dropped us off? I thought that was for people coming in from flights.. I even asked the lady sitting there about transfers and she said was not possible (even for international transfers) from that area. I would have to go all the way out. There were only two carousels in this baggage area and to the right of the exit doors was a desk for BA and Easyjet baggage enquiries.
As for boarding pass.. always have the mobile boarding pass on my phone..
Unfortunately the bus drop off point changed recently. Now you get dropped off immediately outside the reclaim hall from where there is no access to flight connections. I tried going up the stairs from the reclaim hall last week but there is a security guard who will stop you before you get anywhere!
Programs: BA Gold GL CCR, KL/AF Plat, AC Super-Elite, EK Gold, SPG Plat
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BasilBush
Connecting off a domestic flight at LGW is a bit of a lottery. If you are lucky to arrive on a proper domestic gate you simply head for Flight Connections and you will not need to reclear security. However you will have to have your photo taken.
However, if (as often happens) the arriving plane parks at an international stand - generally because the plane's next flight is an international one - you will endure the tedious process of being bussed. The bus will drop you at the domestic reclaim hall, from where it is not possible to access Flight Connections (although God knows why not). You will need to exit, go up two floors to departures, and reclear security.
I was going to post this. It's a lottery. Connected through LGW a lot through the summer (always from MAN) and quite often there was no option to go to Transfers - we had to go out to Departures and back in again.
Programs: BA Gold GL CCR, KL/AF Plat, AC Super-Elite, EK Gold, SPG Plat
Posts: 1,947
Quote:
Originally Posted by dxb-flyertalk
Here in MAN, got off flight.. (all BA goes/arrives at T3).. and the only option was to go to baggage and then straight out. Did not see any signs for flight connections unless I missed it. So.. up an escalator and through security check again. :-(
Bit late for you now but for future reference in case others are reading.
Although there is no access to any sort of transfer lane arriving domestically at MAN, apparently if you show the duty manager at the top of the jet bridge that you have an onward domestic boarding pass, they will open the door for you and let you straight back into the departures zone with no need for checks or security.
Haven't tried this myself as I live in MAN and thus have never connected there, but am fairly sure some others on here had reported success doing this.
Yes Gaz - this is an unfortunate retrograde development by Gatwick's new owners. And I can't understand why you can't still access the flight connections after being bussed - after all you're still a 'clean' pasenger from a security point of view. Unless it's something to do with having had access to the reclaim hall, such that you could theoretically unpack something from a checked bag and then take it through to the departures area. Even so it's a backward step, and although I accept Capn Benj's point, if you did have a choice of where to connect, the relatively seamless Dom-Int connection at T5 is a lot smoother than the frequent bussed process at LGW (requiring a second security search).
Programs: BA Gold GL CCR, KL/AF Plat, AC Super-Elite, EK Gold, SPG Plat
Posts: 1,947
Quote:
Originally Posted by BasilBush
Yes Gaz - this is an unfortunate retrograde development by Gatwick's new owners. And I can't understand why you can't still access the flight connections after being bussed - after all you're still a 'clean' pasenger from a security point of view. Unless it's something to do with having had access to the reclaim hall, such that you could theoretically unpack something from a checked bag and then take it through to the departures area. Even so it's a backward step, and although I accept Capn Benj's point, if you did have a choice of where to connect, the relatively seamless Dom-Int connection at T5 is a lot smoother than the frequent bussed process at LGW (requiring a second security search).
Agreed: domestic to international at T5 is a dream.
If you have done at domestic to international at LGW using the Transfer lane, you will also know what a pain that can be if you have a self-printed boarding pass, or mobile boarding card.
For some reason, at the transfer security check they can only accept standard airport-printed boarding passes, so if you turn up with a self-printed BP or mobile BP, they need to take it away to another room to get scanned. A true pain in the neck and has been like this for over a year!
