I will be arriving at BHX in October on a flight from AMS and then taking the train from BHI to MAN. My flight arrives at approximately 17:00 on a Friday.
I have never been to BHX before. Before I book the BHI-MAN ticket, how much time should I allow at Birmingham to clear immigration, collect my bag, and make the short hop to the train station?
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You could book at seat on the 18:38 train and be pretty sure of making it. However, planes run late, immigration can be a pain and bags arrive late.
Pre booking will cost around £15 for the journey, a walk up about £35. Miss the train and you've lost the £15 - no chance to upgrade. If you're making a return journey in a month, a return walk-up is around £37 providing you travel "off-peak", making the difference between walk-up and pre-booking small.
However, EasyJet fly direct from AMS to MAN for €40 most Fridays in October. Hold baggage extra. I'd take plane.
Yep. I have been repeatedly jinxed by the BHX gods when landing to take my once an hour service home. Several times i've missed it by a few minutes, the last time I caught it but only by jamming my bag in the door of the 'monorail'.
As noted above, just buy the walk-up fare (or fly to Manchester in the first place).
Walk up also means you can get a train every 30 mins, as opposed to waiting an hour....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ecaarch
I will be arriving at BHX in October on a flight from AMS and then taking the train from BHI to MAN. My flight arrives at approximately 17:00 on a Friday.
I have never been to BHX before. Before I book the BHI-MAN ticket, how much time should I allow at Birmingham to clear immigration, collect my bag, and make the short hop to the train station?
I would imagine that you will be out of BHX and at the train station by 18:00 at the absolute latest from a 17:00 arrival. I usually am out of BHX with baggage within about 30-40 mins of landing. However, things can happen and I would advise using a walkup ticket.
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Yep. I have been repeatedly jinxed by the BHX gods when landing to take my once an hour service home. Several times i've missed it by a few minutes, the last time I caught it but only by jamming my bag in the door of the 'monorail'.
As noted above, just buy the walk-up fare (or fly to Manchester in the first place).
Walk up also means you can get a train every 30 mins, as opposed to waiting an hour....
But it is worth buying the walk up ticket in advance (it's called Off Peak or Anytime depending on travel times) and reserving a seat because trains will be heaving at around 5-6pm and you can ensure a seat that way rather than having to stand.
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You can travel using an off-peak single or return ticket on Birmingham Intl to Manchester Stns any time except before 0930 on weekdays. The ticket costs £36.80 return in standard class or £35.80 single or £92.00 return in first class or £92.50 single (not a typo).
You can travel using an off-peak single or return ticket on Birmingham Intl to Manchester Stns any time except before 0930 on weekdays. The ticket costs £36.80 return in standard class or £35.80 single or £92.00 return in first class or £92.50 single (not a typo).
Confirmed this via brfares.com.
However I still think it is worth buying this ticket in advance with a reservation, because trains will be very busy at this time of day on a Friday particularly. Reserve on the train you think you're most likely to catch, if you miss it it doesn't matter, just take the next one, no need to change your ticket.
Slightly OT, but the worst thing about getting a train from Birmingham to Manchester these days is that they are all diesel trains - and those awful Voyagers.
When was the southern section of the West Coast Main Line electrified? About 40-45 years ago? So 40 years ago all the trains between Birmingham and Manchester were electric traction - now they're all diesel.
The government might be gently reminded of that when it is extolling the virtues of railway electrification in all these grand projects in the pipeline.
You can travel using an off-peak single or return ticket on Birmingham Intl to Manchester Stns any time except before 0930 on weekdays. The ticket costs £36.80 return in standard class or £35.80 single or £92.00 return in first class or £92.50 single (not a typo).
Thanks to all for the great advice. This is likely what I'll do so I'll have the flexibility in case I miss my desired train to MAN. I will be traveling from MAN to EUS the next day so I will just route via BHI (and purchase a separate BHI-EUS ticket) so that I can utilize the second half of the BHI-MAN rt ticket.
As for the suggestion of flying directly into MAN, the AMS-BHX flight is a leg of a much larger ticket that is already purchased so that is not a possibility.
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Thanks to all for the great advice. This is likely what I'll do so I'll have the flexibility in case I miss my desired train to MAN. I will be traveling from MAN to EUS the next day so I will just route via BHI (and purchase a separate BHI-EUS ticket) so that I can utilize the second half of the BHI-MAN rt ticket.
Note that to do this, your train must stop at the intermediate station and you really have to buy a flexible ticket for the second leg. It's also going to take a lot more time.
Your best solution is to just buy a cheap advance purchase ticket from Manchester to London (Assuming you can be certain on the travel time for this.) It'll cost you about £18 in 2nd class, £36 in 1st and take 2hrs.
If you go via Birmingham Airport it's 2hrs to get down there from Manchester, plus another 1hr 10 mins to London. If you run the risk of a misconnect in Birmingham an advance ticket for the leg to London is £11 but a flexible ticket is £49 (both in standard).
Sample prices were for Thursday 16 August at midday.
Welcome to the insanely complex world of UK rail ticket pricing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swiss Tony
Your best solution is to just buy a cheap advance purchase ticket from Manchester to London (Assuming you can be certain on the travel time for this.) It'll cost you about £18 in 2nd class, £36 in 1st and take 2hrs.
Agree completely. Buy a cheap ticket from Man direct to London. Do not think of going via Birmingham.
This far out you may even get First Class for a decent rate if you travel off peak. Lounge at Manchester, free food and booze on the way down.
Actually, I'll just get off the return train from MAN at BHM, then buy a cheap advance ticket BHM-EUS. I've made my own connection at BHM many times so I'm pretty comfortable with doing that. I just always make schedule allowances for delayed trains (not that delays ever happen on UK services )
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swiss Tony
Welcome to the insanely complex world of UK rail ticket pricing.
Yes, I found long ago that the pricing makes even less sense that airfares. I have often used SOT for a "connection". Breaking the journey at SOT and buying two tickets (both literally on the same train) often results in savings. As long as the pricing for UK rail is scr*wed up, I might as well make it work to my advantage.
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Going via Birmingham will add well over an hour to the journey, and if you are able to get a cheap advance ticket then it won't save very much money.
Alternatively, you could buy a ticket from Stoke on Trent to London, then use your return to Birmingham from Manchester to Stoke.
However, that will probably only save a few pounds.
Birmingham is not on the way from Manchester to London by rail.
It can be if you are on a really tight budget.
Quote:
Originally Posted by big_mac
Going via Birmingham will add well over an hour to the journey, and if you are able to get a cheap advance ticket then it won't save very much money.
Alternatively, you could buy a ticket from Stoke on Trent to London, then use your return to Birmingham from Manchester to Stoke.
However, that will probably only save a few pounds.
A few ££ here, a few ££ there...it adds up when it comes directly from my pocket. I am always open to every trick to shave the ££. On an upcoming trip in a couple of weeks, I found that "beginning" my journey to Manchester at LHR (via tube and then Virgin) rather than separate tube to Euston and Virgin to Manchester actually shaved £30 on my date of travel. As others have posted, there is seemingly no rationale to UK rail fares.
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