CMiM

Hello all

I am flying out of Manchester with QR for the first time in a week or two and was wondering if there is anything in the way of tips to maximise the experience and minimise any inconvenience. I have only got as far as the queue for the 1903 Lounge before, is it any good?

Oh, and yes - J, naturally 😅

littlevoices

Sorry to say you are doomed, no matter QR's best intentions they are let down by MANchester airport, oh and the fact that at least one of their flights a day is the "Virgin Australia" flight.

TL;DR - you may have priority, but the security is rubbish, the boarding is rubbish, so it doesn't get you into the best mood - and QR pay for the best lounge at Manchester, but you aren't going to see much due to the general incompetence of the airport. And you are unlikely to get QSuites on the plane. Once you board QR can start to do things, but it's still on sub-premium planes.

Look forward to the return trip more:
QR28 ex Manchester always late
QSuite Future Availability MAN and HKG
Qatar to buy/lease ex-Virgin Australia 777-300ERs


Context, I grew up with MAN as my nearest airport, so I have reasons to return, but would in general prefer to arrive in MAN (they can only mess it up so far, though enjoy watching your priority bags arrive last, or at least in the middle), but would proactively rather leave from London. Last flight out of MAN was as follows: Arrived 150 minutes prior to flight, the time was spent as follows: 30 minutes at check-in, as the belt stopped working and everyone was confused. 30 minutes at "priority" security as they managed to jam up the bags with their super sensitive but as a result super pointless extra checks (whilst the staff belt ran just fine next to us), got to the lounge for ten minutes ("final call was made so left") before we arrived at one of the furthest gates to hang around for another 30 minutes as the crew boarded around when we got there*. At least we then boarded, some 30 minutes after departure time. QR made up the difference by dropping us straight into the departures lounge at DOH for our onward connections.

*This beats the 30 minutes I once spent in the space between boarding and getting on the flight, as they preferred us to be a bit closer to the airbridge.

So, enjoy that "J", it will make it only a little better than "Y" until you actually get on the plane and get that first Rose Champagne. Sorry until then. But, to be helpful, my tips for minimise/maximise would be:

1. Arrive super early, to just remove the stress (note, you probably can't hand over luggage more than 3 hrs early)
2. Stay in the lounge as long as possible (it is actually a nice lounge and has great views, btw as a business class passenger you should really get priority entry, the people queuing have priority pass and similar)
3. Board as late as possible... there is obviously a risk/reward to this (I normally prefer to be on the plane as early as possible. MAN isn't the place for that)
4. Once onboard, then you can enjoy the service as QR really wanted you to.

CMiM

Thanks for this post. I suspect the experience will be better than my usual trips via T3 and the horrid Escape lounge, though I did like the Emirates experience at T1 except for the 1960s security area, their lounge is very nice indeed.

I will take a look through those threads. I have 3x 789s and 1x 77W on my itinerary. 777 seems a bit rubbish but the Dreamliners looked nice on the reviews.

FlyingScientist

What did I do to have deserved an on-time Qsuite QR28 and plenty of time in the 1903 lounge after a security fly-through in Dec last year?

FlyingScientist

The 1903 lounge is not eligible for Priority Pass (or similar schemes). I saw people queuing to enter the Escape lounge and kept walking straight ahead to check in for the 1903 lounge.

toothy

I would add, that whilst I too am constantly disappointed by my local airport, the good news is that it's T2, which is better than T1 or 3, as it's the one they've spent a bunch of money on.

Littlevoices has done a good job of setting expectations low for you though, so hopefully you'll enjoy it


T

roberino

I've not flown J on QR, but I ended up quitting MAN entirely because 3/4 of my trips through were hellish. I typically use BHX instead as I can drive there in the same time (and claim more mileage) or take a direct train. Overall BHX is only a smidge better.

FlyingScientist

Talking about BHX, I found it quite convenient to use from Milton Keynes, given that there are direct trains straight to the airport.

locomiler

Just a heads up on BHX, it’s currently a construction site which presents challenges navigating around when you get off the air-rail link from the train station. Last I was there, the access to the security area was also impacted.

roberino

True, although security is currently not taking any longer than before IMO. The detour from the train station is a PITA though.

IAN-UK

Manchester's T2 is the best of a remarkably unattractive trio of terminals. The airport was recently fingered by Which as the UK's worst, and praise for T2 is very faint indeed.

Btightness comes with provision of public transport to the airport by bus, coach, tram and train, though this can tail off early and the trams now only start the run from the city centre after 6am. And sadly it's quite a slog to check-in from the airport transport hub, since the once rather glam walkways linking station to terminal have seen their travelators junked.

I've learned to be ultra careful at MAN security inspections and routinely risk annoying the agents by using multiple trays and removing anything vaguely suspicious from my bag. This failed last week when my cables overlapped some other gubbins on the tray.

Once through security and the perfumery maze, things brighten up. The central airside area is spacious and quite attractive (remember this is MAN and we're talking relative). The 1903 lounge is an off the scale improvement over the sad little cubby hole QR used to provide.

Gird yourself for another long walk to the gate when the sign switches dramatically from "relax" to "now boarding". But this time rejoice in what are MAN's only functioning travelators: I think there are only two assisted stretches of walkway, and at any time one might be under maintenance, but again think Manchester and small mercies.

All in all QR's Manchester experience isn't all that bad .... on a good day.

DYKWIA

Supposedly these are being replaced at the moment. The T1 travelators will not be replaced as T1 will be closing ion a couple of years.

DYKWIA

I was supposed to be on QR22 today, but had to cancel. Good job, as it's delayed from 08:30 until 22:00!

DYKWIA

Oh, and finally, the 3 flights will be 2xA350 and 1xB787 from later this year (assuming QR don't change them).

IAN-UK

T1's travelators worked intermittently for the decade before finally giving up the ghost what seems a couple of years' back. I hope the airport's procurement team aim for a more reliable supplier and maintenance package for a replacement of the T2 run.

I'm sure someone in MIA-Towers will be fretting over the difficulty in getting us to pay directly for travelator use