exlhr

When flying out on an early morning flight I normally drop my rental car off the evening before and stay at the Radisson Blu, catching the shuttle bus to T2 and using the skylink to walk to the hotel. I see there is some redevelopment going on in T2 and wondered if that was still an easy way to get to the hotel, or if there was a better alternative. I will have a couple of suitcases on wheels.

DYKWIA

The Skylink goes to T1 also. So, if you get dropped of at T1, you can walk to the Radisson from there.

RichardInSF

Is there a shuttle bus between terminals at MAN? Whenever I've come in on the train, I've never seen signs for anything other than the Skylink (which typically has about 1/3 of its moving walkways non-functional).

stut

The shuttle buses will often drop you off at the railway station if you ask them nicely - this is the closest point to the Rad anyway.

There aren't any terminal shuttles, as it's not really set up as a transfer airport (particularly not between terminals). IIRC, the car park shuttles act as unofficial on-terminal shuttles for those unable to walk the distance to the railway/tram/bus station.

RichardInSF

Thanks. Last time I tranfered at MAN, I arrived from the USA in T3 and had a completely different ticket leaving from T1. Anyway, I followed signs for inter-terminal transfer and walked down long internal passageways. At one point, someone checked my upcoming boarding pass, and waved me through (although they seem to take your picture every time you do most anything at that airport). Wondering how it was all going to end, and also wondering if I would have to go through security again, I walked down a final long anonymous hallway, opened a door, and found myself right in the middle of T1 airside. This was about a month ago. Go figure!

stut

T1 and T3 are a bit of a special case, as T3 was originally the domestic wing of T1, primarily used by the shuttle services to London. When the Home Office decided that mixed departures were going to be allowed, it became a terminal in its own right.

So the path from T3 to T1 was fairly well trodden, and they decided to keep it. I doubt they would do the same now.

The photo they take is part of the mixed departures process, as there is no ID requirement for domestic flights in the UK. It's to prevent someone on an intl-intl transfer (which requires no immigration) switching BPs with someone on a domestic (which requires no photo ID). The photo is associated with the BP at the point of leaving the non-mixed area.

gnaget

I am on a tight schedule going to a place about 90 miles from MAN and need to get back for an 18:30 flight. I am trying to decide train vs. car rental. Last time at MAN (maybe 10 years ago) it was easy with in terminal car rental. Now there is a "village" with consolidated buses. Is it really slow to return the car?

Google say worst case 2 hours so I was going to leave at 15:00 arriving MAN area 17:00 worst case. Flying SAS with no checked luggage. Will probably have BP on the phone..(Is there priority security for *G at MAN?) The train option would be bring me in at 17:10, but have to catch a cab to the train station and would need to leave 10-15 min earlier than car.

Also is there a petrol station near the "village"?

Thanks!

exlhr

Nearest petrol station, that I know of, is on the airport near terminal 1. Once the car is checked back in, from the car rental village to the terminal is about 10 - 15 minutes depending on which terminal.

NewbieRunner

If you are flying SAS you will be leaving from T1. The whole area around Manchester Airport especially between T1 and T2 where the BP petrol station is located is one big construction site with new road layout, road closure, diversion, etc. I would not try to go to the BP petrol station before driving to the car rental village. Also the time it takes from the car rental village to T1 is unpredictable although there may not be much happening at that side of the airport. If you decide to rent a car fill it up before you get to the airport, avoid the area between T1 and T2, follow the signs for T3 and get off the shuttle from the village at T3.

gnaget

Thanks! Actually, since posting, I realized that Google maps warns of especially heavy congestion on the motorways from the E-NE (Yorkshire) on Fridays (I am travelling on a Friday). I would be driving to MAN 3-5 pm. It's 3 hours 10 minutes (increased by 20 min since last time that I looked!) worst case versus 2 hours 10 min on other days. My starting point is just on the north side of the city of York. That plus the mess and the car rental village strongly suggests that the train is a better option. Is Google correct?

DYKWIA

That's gone and is now a car park.

There is another one at the intersection of Ringway Road and Style Road. However... it appears that you can't actually get to that since the new bypass has been built.

DYKWIA

The train is definitely the better option in my opinion.

NewbieRunner

Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve walked from the T1/T3 long-term carpark to the Hilton, from the Hilton to T1, and between the railway station and the Hilton many, many times but more recently I’ve been travelling to/from MAN by train and as there have been so many changes in the area both for motorists and pedestrians I wasn’t sure if the petrol station was still there.

Yes, there is priority security for *G in T1. Just show your *A gold card to staff guarding the entrance. Since you are flying SAS you won’t have access to a lounge but you won’t be missing much.

gnaget

Earlier I was looking at the *A page to confirm that MAN is "Gold Track". There I noticed that most *A airlines have a designated contract lounge. So SAS is too cheap to do this? Ot what's going on? I didn't see UA or SQ either but maybe because they operate out of other terminals for longhaul.

NewbieRunner

The “Gold Track” is the main security next to check-in counters and you have to share it with anyone who has paid up to Ł5 to jump the queue. Less fortunate travellers are sent down to the dungeon at least the last few times I was there.

Your guess is right about lounge access when flying SAS but as I said you won’t be missing much.

UA and SQ use T2 at MAN.