Tiger_lily

There has been a furore down here about MAG’s tactics on the short stay car parks, it was £10 for 10 minutes at one point and they were fining people for overstaying being stuck in the queue to get out of the car park. They’ve managed to get the A453 designated as a red route and there’s cameras all over the place, fining people for stopping at the petrol station to buy sweets. The whole organisation is utterly broken from the top down. Our last experience at MAN was awful, and we’ve vowed not to use it again because the domestic terminal is just appalling and the check-in area reminded me of an underground station.

Crampedin13A

I unfortunately have another 2 trips out of MAN ahead of me despite my vow to never use the airport ever again and use the train to and from London exclusively. My last trip out was MAN-FRA-MAN. You could hardly find a more unpleasant combination of airports

DYKWIA

It has never been £10 for 10 minutes.

The drop off charge is £4.50. And has been since it was introduced in 2018.

DYKWIA

Well, there you go! If you don't put your money where your mouth is, what incentive is there to improve?

Crampedin13A

One was a J and F fare combo on BA originating out of MAN that was too good to turn down. It was almost £500 cheaper than going out of LHR for the same dates so I'll have to tough it out

cjb666

My MAN experience is generally combined with flying a coal burning AA 767. I do my best to avoid both at all costs. The issue is leadership and has been for years. I can't remember exactly when it went bad, maybe around the time that BA started to give up, the time of BAcon and they pulled the JFK flight. 2 quid for a plastic bag for your liquids was a particular low. Oh and the pickup/taxi joke... They make Ryan Air look generous.

Crampedin13A

For someone who doesn't live in the UK I will give MAN it's due in that it is in a very picturesque setting once you reach the BA lounge after the joy of security. Gives you time to calm down before the next bit of fun of boarding your BA flight to LHR. What a gong show the whole place is. No wonder airside alcohol consumption is so high

DYKWIA

It seems to change from month to month. I'd sort of got used to paying a bit extra for Arrow Cars - they were generally OK. However, they have now binned them and switched to Street Cars. Now that's a joke... every time I've tried to use them I've got a smirk, and "we've got nothing for about 30 minutes". The last time being less that an hour ago**!

I ended up with Uber, and a driver who'd borrowed somebody else's car park pass. So, he couldn't get out of the car park as the exit process checks the number plate against the card. He was 30p short of cash, so we ended up sitting there for about 10 minutes until the customer service guy took pity and let him (and me) out.

**Has anybody managed to get a Street Cars cab an MAN without a wait? I'm picturing Steve McDonald with his feet up trying to allocate cars.

Tiger_lily

Maybe at MAN, but MAG in their infinite wisdom had the parking charges here at £2 for 5 mins plus £1 per minute thereafter so a notional £7 for 10 minutes. But it was impossible to get in and out in under 10 minutes due to the log jam at the exits and the average charge was a minimum of £10 as they made the drop off car park impossible to navigate in under 10 minutes.

DYKWIA

Sorry - but I have no idea where "here" is? This is a thread about MAN, so my daft assumption was that you were referring to Manchester Airport.

Tiger_lily

Here is EMA. MAG have not made many friends here. As a user of both airports it’s interesting that the things they’ve Implemented at MAN then get implemented at their other sites and made 10x worse in the process. I’ve given up on MAN to be honest. BA premium check in was so sloooow last time we used it 45 mins was not far off the mark. The whole experience in the domestic terminal was dire. Security and boarding was a joke. For the summer holiday we just bit the bullet and flew straight from LHR even though it takes 30-45 min extra to drive there. If I’m going to use domestic connections again, LBA is the next closest and I might give that a whirl.

kc1174

Yeah customs here when connecting is a PITA, but at least they do it right (unless you’ve got a tight connection). They’ve improved. They do still worry about mad cow disease though.. “have you been on a farm?” “no“. The day before I was at my parent’s place - a farm.

CHCflyer

I am not sure LBA can be the salvation for our MAN fringe catchment users. I flew there on BA in October and their schedule seemed to be a pretty skinny 1 flight per day. And it wasn't full, but the club fare helped my Qantas Platinum re-qualification.
And LBA management seemed to have spent a fortune on Tensa barriers and little else. As I had a suitcase I had to dwell in domestic arrivals after a bus journey and a tramp round and through some portacabins. The place feels like it has successfully gone for the shabby temporary look, but I sense this is its sad permanent state. The tour of West Yorkshire to get to Leeds city centre was a bonus.
It really feels that 'sweat the asset' is the management mantra amongst British airport owners.

ecaarch

I follow that advice. And I still get pulled for secondary EVERY time at MAN T3.
While waiting each time for my secondary bag screening, I've started counting the ratio of bags sent for secondary screening. It has been consistently 60%+. That is absolutely absurd.

I detest transiting JFK. The experience is always unpleasant, but at least the place functions. MAN, on the other hand, has managed to be both unpleasant AND unfunctional.

nancypants

yes I’m trying to find some flights to the north of England at present and fear MAN may push me over the edge, LBA while the natural choice location wise suffers from the limited connections you describe. Currently wondering if 2.5 hours from NCL on the train is the smart idea?!