I think you were unfortunate to have had a two hour journey from Halifax to the airport unless your Tomtom isn't all that good.
I regularly travel from near LBA in Yeadon to Manchester and it normally takes around 45 to 55 minutes except in peek rush hour between 0730 and 0900 and 1630 and 1800 when it takes around 80 minutes. In all honesty, even if I lived near the M62 in say Leeds, it would still take me the about 80 minutes in rush hour to get to Manchester airport because of congestion on the M62. So the Motorway theory is floored as far as I am concerned.