You want to go where?

I will be arriving at T3 in Manchester and have a relatively short transfer to the train. I will need to collect a pre-purchased ticket there. I have never done this before and need advice as to both getting from T3, and then picking up a long-distance rail ticket which I have purchased in advance (to get the cheap fare!)

Grateful if any Mancunians or others familiar with the airport could help.

Many thanks.

Jumbodriver

Its either a short bus from outside t3 (roughly every 10 mins if i recall, although it seemed unreliable) or 10 min walk well signposted through an enclosed walkway.

bcmatt

You can easily walk from T3 to the station via T1. More maps than you could ever need for MAN here: http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/m...f/Content/Maps

The station has self-service machines to collect tickets, assuming you have ordered them online and have a booking code.

You want to go where?

Thanks, folks!

tt7

It must be said that it can be somewhat confusing, even to those of us who have done it a few times. It used to be easy before they re-developed the terminal ...

If you look at this map from the link that bcmatt provided, you'll see T3 - you want to go outside (where the little car is) and head diagonally off to the left to T1. It is signposted, though not terribly well. At T1, you need to negotiate your way to the correct level, to pick up the skylink walkway that's in this map that takes you through (an enclosed walkway) in the car park to the station. Unless you have a lot of luggage, I wouldn't bother with the bus, unless it happens to come along when you're exiting T3.

You want to go where?

tt7,

Thanks for the extra help.

Regards,

Gowhere

You want to go where?

Oops! Forgot to ask one question (well, two). Will the self-service machine require a credit card as well as the booking code to collect them or can I prepay on the internet. Also, does the self-service machine accept American credit cards (no chip) if they are, in fact, required.

Thanks.

Markie

My experience is that the machine will need the credit card you used to book. I cannot answer the second question I am afraid.

stut

Yes, they do need the credit card you booked with.

And no, they don't need a chip, as the card is for identification only, rather than payment.

If all else fails, you can still pick the tickets up from the ticket office.

NewbieRunner

As tt7 pointed out it isn't at all straightforward since the never-ending construction work started more than a year ago. I don't even know if T1 and T3 are going to be joined again as they used to.

Signposting from T3 to the Station is poor as they expect everyone to take the bus. If you insist on walking the best option would be to walk around to the front of T1 under the skylink walkway, ignoring the ground level check-in entrance, don't go into the terminal building but take the lift to the left of the main entrance of the T1 arrival level. This should take you directly up to the skylink walkway level (signposted "The Station" and T2).

You want to go where?

Thanks, stut and NewbieRunner.

Yet another question. About how long should I allow from scheduled touchdown to train departure? I will have checked luggage.

NewbieRunner

Where are you flying from?

You want to go where?

Duh. [smacking head] Of course, it would be helpful if I let you know that it is a domestic flight (LHR) arriving on a Sunday around Noon.

phillipas

Always difficult to advise on this sort of thing as it depends how much risk you're prepared to build into the connection.

Given your unfamiliarity with the place I'd say 70 minutes - 30-35 minutes for 'normal', 5-10 minutes for your unfamilarity, 30 minutes contingency.

Where are you travelling onwards to? If it's a transpennine express (their lack of capitals, not mine!) service then your Advance ticket will almost certainly be an Airport Advance ticket which does actually allow a bit of flexibility:

http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/train-tic...-explained.htm

It might be the same for other operators, or if your journey invooves a connection to another operator. Or it might not given the 'integrated' state of the rail network!

As to how those Airport Advance tickets work in practice I'm not sure. Whilst I've done plenty of plane-train connections at MAN I've never done it on those tickets. Note the bit about 'Should your flight be delayed, please ensure that you obtain documentation from your airline that this is the case'.

You want to go where?

Thanks, Phillipas.

It is indeed the transpennine express and I had noticed the Airport Advance Ticket benefits (and conditions), so I am primarily concerned about my own failings rather than BA's. If anything, I tend to be extra-conservative about connections, so I appreciate your breaking down your estimate into its component parts. I think that is the best way to advise in this situation, because it puts the ball back in my court as for as my risk tolerance is concerned.