MUFC_fan,

No doubt the transfer with BA via T5 *can* be a positive alternative compared to JFK/PHL. But this is based upon the experience of facilities within the shiny new T5 building. The reason I avoid the LHR connection is the unreliable record of the connecting flights themselves, not the attractive ambience of the departure lounge. LHR's fully subscribed runways have no margin for reduced traffic rates. And when there is a forecast of weather issues, industrial action, or just about any other problem you can think of ... be assured that it will be the MAN-LHR Shuttles which get it in the neck.

Now I know that there are many apologists on here who will suggest that it is better to cancel MAN flights rather than those serving destinations further afield. Well, that argument has been done here before so I won't labour the issues. Suffice to say that if you are the customer whose cruise ship from Miami left without them, will it comfort you to be told that BA maintained the full schedule to XYZ instead of MAN? If you are the NW-based business executive who misses that vital contract meeting in HKG because the MAN Shuttle was scrubbed, will it comfort you to know that BA prioritized the connection of your continental competitor at your expense?

When cancellations hit, BA has demonstrated a policy of not sharing the pain around. To cancel some MAN shuttles is understandable ... to scrub the lot en bloc is unreasonable. The excuse that [the world's most expensive per mile] walk-up fares are available on the train via Euston doesn't cut it. Apart from the cost issue, your connecting flight is likely to be long gone by the time you reach LHR.

So no matter how nice T5's passenger facilities are, as long as the MAN Shuttle remains the first choice fallguy for LHR's widely-recognized runway capacity issues, it will be more reliable hubs for my bookings please. MAN customers pay just as much for reliable travel arrangements as everybody else. The importance of their journeys should be afforded equal recognition and respect.

Regards. SHED.

Shed-on-a-pole, I completely understand your view point as a customer. You cannot deny BA's logic however. It's undoubtedly an unpopular decision with MAN/Domestic pax but difficult decisions such as these are made by airlines (and business in general) on a regular basis. With some notice (which in some situations can be achieved) MAN pax can make alternative arrangements. Perhaps refunded by BA? I don't know.

The fact of the matter is whilst LHR is constricted and does have problems, these are only occasional. You, and others, make it sound like it is every other week that LHR faces meltdown. IMO, you are just as likely to be snowstorm bound in JFK or PHL in the Winter.

I personally don't think LHR is that bad from my experiences. Sure, it's not as slick as other airports but i've never found it horrifying. Perhaps some people on this board simply resent LHR for what it is and what MAN isn't? And that comes from a big supporter and "lover" of MAN.

I think Shed was indeed relating to his own experiences, which indeed are similar to my own. So I'd have to be pretty desperate to rely on a LHR shuttle.
To add insult to injury MAN pax usually pay a hefty premium to be first in line for the chop. I recently checked a MAN-LHR-SIN , HKG-LHR-MAN J class ticket with BA, it was almost £1,000 cheaper to originate the same trip with BA from AMS rather than MAN.

Everyone has a choice / personal preference. I'd hub anywhere from MAN rather than LHR. ZRH or MUC are my choices eastbound & ATL westbound.
Of course many people are now enjoying the DXB / AUH / DOH experiences. With almost more flights there than LHR anyway, the virtual demise of a BMI shuttle service, the LHR hub is becoming less and less relevant to Manchester anyway.

I kind of think this subject has been done to death & maybe any mention of LHR should be obliterated now from the Manchster thread ?:\

Actually that's pretty standard industry practice. AF CDG-LHR-LAX was packed full of US bound French passengers as it was sold WAY cheaper than the CDG-LAX service which involved two less aircraft to get you there. It's how the legacy / hub airlines sell outside of their home market. Other UK home markets are in the same boat and this is not specific to BA or MAN.

easyflyer83 -

I completely accept your point that any airport can suffer days of disruption due to weather and other issues, and tough decisions must be made by the carriers affected as a consequence. But the key consideration from the point of view of MAN customers is that if UAL / AWE / AAL etc cancel your flight you can be pretty sure that the bulk of their flying programme fell by the wayside first. At LHR - where runway capacity is a critical issue - MAN flights ARE (like it or not) always first in line for the chop. And the chop does happen too frequently for me as a customer to entrust my travel arrangements to the main carrier in question. If I thought that they would spread the pain around - eg. cancel half the MAN-LHR schedules and afew flights from elsewhere - then I might be more inclined to give them another chance. However, this does not appear to be the policy so I cannot book a journey connecting via LHR with confidence.

I am aware that airlines must make difficult decisions from time to time and I sympathise with that. But customers have their own decisions to make too, and I also sympathise with those who prioritize their self-interest. In booking their travel arrangements with carriers which only cancel them 'in extremis' rather than at the first whiff of problems affecting their hub, customers can maximize their chances of enjoying a trouble-free trip. That is what I do.

Sadly, LHR's runway capacity is stuck in a time-warp, and however they improve the terminal facilities that remains an issue for pax originating at MAN. Because it is we who get cancelled first. And the notion that we would be refunded if all goes wrong is a red herring ... monies paid for a product which is not delivered belongs to the customer anyway. If you have committed your scarce and precious holiday entitlement to a major trip, a refund and two weeks at home is probably not what you had in mind? You may be refunded money which was already yours. You may receive some additional compensation (if you are lucky). But will you get replacement leave from work? Will you get an alternative vacation?

My recommendation to friends booking travel from MAN is to select the airline which offers the best prospect of providing a trouble-free trip. Or, when things do go wrong, a company which demonstrably does its utmost to get you there by other means. From the point of view of MAN customers, there is one well-known airline which consistently falls short based on those criteria. And worse, they still consider stitching up MAN pax to be their best possible option when problems arise, so the record is unlikely to improve. So sorry - no LHR transfers for me thanks!

Regards. SHED.

Not sure if this is where I should ask but I'm flying DUB-MAN-PFO with FR first and then EZ. I don't have any hold luggage. I'm just wondering can I transfer airside from T2 to T3 or do I have to clear customs in T2 and go thru security screening again at T3? Any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

You'll have to arrive landside into T2, and then walk to T3 (15 mins) for re-screening as it's not an interline connection.

No customs in T2 as you're arriving from the EU.

New MAN - BCN with Jet2 from March 28 2012. 4 weekly.

Lufthansa are reporting MAN pax up 20%+ for the year so far


Ian B

Where's this info from jamie? there's nothing showing in the booking system currently??

It was bookable yesterday, and its still bookable. Flight s start March 30.
Jubilee

EISNN, Enjoy your trip Paphos is a lovely place.

You can get personalised transfer information for your journey here:

Manchester Airport : MyAirport

But I would have thought that if you have only hand luggage as you state and have already checked in and have your boarding pass for the EZY flight you could follow the international to international airside transfer.

Pretty sure I saw a BA 777 going into MAN fri 13th evening around 6ish? Anything special, or had I had one too many?:eek:

It did the delayed man-lgw



A330etops

Lounges at Man and Websites
 

I don't want this to be a 'what plane is operating my flight?' thing, but I'm rather confused.

Unlike all you seasoned travellers on this site, I've never travelled Business Class before. But in a couple of weeks time, I'm travelling Swiss to Barcelona changing at Geneva, and I thought, what the hell!

I wondered if I could use a lounge at MAN. So I went on Swiss's website, which indeed confirmed I could use the Wilmslow lounge in T1. Now before you all rapaciously reach for your typing fingers, I realised my flight was operated by BMI from T3 - Swiss may indeed operate their own flights from T1.

The BMI website on lounges was not helpful and seemed to focus on what they offered at LHR. Perhaps I missed a link, but the fact I did either makes me thick or it wasn't well signed,

So I tried MAN's website and found a section on 'Lounges'. Lo and behold there was a 'bmi Executive lounge' in T3.

Whether to do some serious work or completely chill-out [sic], our world-beating selection of lounges are havens of peace and serenity before your flight.
Just click on a lounge to find out more and start relaxing

I did click and, of course, nothing happened.

So apart from being a personal query (which I'd be delighted to get an answer for, i.e. which lounge could I use and if so what are the facilities?), could MAN and the airlines' websites get their acts together to provide better information?

JC.

Is your routing correct, BMI fly to Basel(Basle), depending on how you like to spell it.
Not seen a BMI flight to Geneva.
Cheaper option could have been with Monarch direct,purchase the extra leg room seats at the front, and the £15 (or whatever they charge now) for lounge access.
J.

Swiss don't fly MAN-GVA and neither does BMI,
Go back to "start" I think.
Business class with any airline will give you lounge access.

Oops, yes Basel. I just got 'not Zurich' in my head. Thanks for info!

Why on earth anyone would fly to Barcelona with a connection is completely beyond me when there are a plethora of direct flights. Is business class really worth bothering with for the sake of having to change planes and add 2 hours to the trip?

Usually it's to do with frequent flyer programmes. Star in this case. Thousands do it everyday in Europe. In fact, in the US it's pretty standard!

What plethora? I thought there was a Monarch flight at 0800, and I didn't really want to get the middle-of-the-night train from Sheffield and preceding £30 taxi or go night before and stay in hotel. If any other airline operate direct MAN-BCN I didn't know - Jet2 next year apparently?

Johnnychips is right. there is only ONE flight direct to Barcelona, Monarch. Next year there will be Jet 2 on 4 days a week.
Many people connect to/from BCN because of flight timings. I use Monarch alot-but also use Swiss via ZRH, who can also often be cheaper than Monarch.
I Certainly would not pay for J class on a shorthaul flight.
But Johnnychips you can use the BMI lounge, but the lounge is situated near gate 18 & the BSL flight usuallly goes from gate 53 a fair distance away.
I have also traveled on the BMI BSL service, which had very poor loads both ways & there was not even a cabin divider between economy & business class, mind you there were no J class pax either way.

There is also twice daily (?) to BCN from LPL direct with EZY and that must be the main Northwest routing these days I guess. 14,000+ in Feb 2011 vs 2000+ from MAN. Scope for EZY here. C Class in Europe in my view not worth it, unless you get it as a perk on a connection to longhaul

The problem for locos to BCN is the fact that pax tend not to buy anything, many don't bother with hold bags. Net result higher ticket price as we all know that for locos its all about the extras.

I don't think MAN-BSL ever has had good loads - when Swiss operated it, it was often barely half-full. When they then pulled the RJ100 off LCY and MAN from BSL, I imagine it would have been easy to drop MAN if they'd wanted, and route the passengers via ZRH; therefore Lufthansa (owning both airlines, obviously) must have a reason for wanting to keep it going. I hope it does.

Anyone heard about SQ cancelling MAN-MUC?

SQ flies daily SIN-FRA-JFK with B744. From next winter this flight should be operated by an A380 and FRA-JFK (A380 is too big for this route) could be cancelled.
JFK could be tagged on the current SIN-MUC flight and so MUC-MAN won't operate anymore.
But still, it's just a rumour so far.

Seljuk22

What is your source for this 'rumour' if you have one - thanks...

MM

'Source':
Strecken-Gerchtekche: Slotantrge, Flurfunk etc. - airliners.de - Forum

Seljuk22

Thanks for the link - which is another forum in German.

We will have to wait and see......

SQ
 

Also read somewhere that SAS were to begin code sharing with SQ.

So could it be feasible that MANs SQ PAX start their journey on a 737 via scandinavia ???

SQ
 

Also read somewhere that SAS were to begin code sharing with SQ.

So could it be feasible that MANs SQ PAX start their journey on a 737 via scandinavia ???

More rubbing of hands by the ME carriers !!!

Could be quite interesting as there were 180 pax on Sunday

Ian B

MAN777

I dont think thats a possibility - loads are currently good
and cargo is crucial.

MM

When did good loads have anything to do with it ?

Good loads didnt stop QF, SAA, CX etc etc pulling out.

Commercial politics and best utilisation of an airframe is what matters.

I have heard that we will not be without a service
The cargo alone is worth a lot of money
Re SAA, CX and QF
SAA pulled because they short of aircraft to start the New York service after
aparthied
QF and CX something to do with BA

Ian B

nothing at all to do with BA.

MAN777

Calm yourself down.....all will be revealed.......

MM

Wasn't the CX pull out something to do with the pilots union there?

Perhaps SQ might be able to cash in the Thu and Sat evening slots used by their B744Fs and send Singapore Cargo to Manchester instead? Mind you the A380 into LHR has probably impacted their cargo uplift as well.

Skipness is correct the A380 does have an impact on cargo as it significantly reduces the amount that can be carried.