Looks like an ark.

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net...39&oe=5D33D4C4

Best place to get picked up at MAN to avoid the pick up tax? Arriving as a passenger with Oman Air

I used to walk to the train station or the garage nearby. Is this still possible? or any other suggestions.

Regards

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easyjet add MAN-JER from 1 July

LFC22, splendid observation!

MANFOD, certainly not 1st Year, I believe I can see Mortice and Tenon jointing, which comes later in the syllabus.

What is interesting is how small it is, and also, does its wooden construction point to it being a temporary structure?

I have just experienced the misery of MAN for the first time in a couple of years. For the uninitiated, following the signs off the M56 for Term 3 Departures can lead to temporary insanity and a breakdown for the driver. We were not the only car to find itself in the 'Meet & Greet' area. Eventually the nice man on the intercom (took him 3 minutes to answer!) raised the barrier and gave us good directions on how to get to where we wanted to be. Once inside the Terminal, I looked at the departure board for my flight and it was not there. I asked a young lady who seemed to be hanging around to answer passengers' questions how I could discover where my flight was departing from. "Oh well, it probably won't appear on that. You need to go through Security and to the gates to discover which gate you are boarding at". That was really useful: "How do I find which gate I need?" "Go to the gate to find out!. Smashing!
The security screening was painless in procedure but painfully slow. Two lines of people were queuing to be screened by 2 people who moved the trays back and forth. I asked the cheerful, very helpful bloke who was fronting the operation, cracking jokes, telling people what to do with their Colgate, Kindles etc if the airport was skint. He asked why would I think that and I pointed out the complete screening stations that were sat there idle, all powered up and nobody to screen. I wondered if the airport had spent all its pocket money on a few hundred grand's worth of nice shiny kit but now didn't have the funds to pay the staff to operate it!
Once through the X-Ray thing, I was approached by the manual screener. In my hand, I was clutching a copy of my boarding pass, as it had come from my printer, on a sheet of A4 paper. Pointing to the paper he asked "What's that"? I resisted the temptation to answer "A railway carriage" and instead answered "Paper". "Oh OK".
Then, when once more dressed, I set off to find my gate but my flight was not to be seen. I then noticed an Etihad flight which just happened to be going to the same place at the same time as me (Knock). I watched the board recycle, update etc a few times to see if it would confirm this was a code share flight and the word "Flybe" would soon appear. It never did. So, instead of flying on BE663, I flew EY6066.
On the return flight all was well as we all boarded a bus to take us from the aircraft to the terminal. And then computer said "No" when the bus driver tried to get the doors to open. He waved 2 different ID cards at the card reader. No joy. He spoke to some via the intercom. No joy. He pushed a selection of buttons (presumably an access code) and computer still said no. Eventually, after more words with the intercom the doors opened.
Overall, nice terminal building with handfuls of money spent on the new parking facilities but as an overall experience, I would rate it as "a shed"!

the garage no longer exists, and it's a £100 fine to pick up at the rail station.

If you look at the mock-ups, it doesn't really come across as a large luxurious facility. More like a small lounge with a mix of modern/contemporary design.

If you get as far as the railway station, then a five-minute train ride to Heald Green might be a possibility. The train fare will be less than the airport access charge and there is plenty of waiting space. The drawback is that the appropriate trains only run once an hour.

thanks - keep them coming.

Please share your hot tips.

I am coming from Bangkok where it is the opposite, pull up, drop off, drive on, it works, the airport is 10x better. Good old blighty!

My hot tip: Avoid Manchester!

What a truly awful airport for passengers. Some recent experiences.

A few days ago my partner was flying out on KLM. Her frequent flier status entitles her to 3 bags - and she had shopped to take full advantage of it!. The check-in agent (non KLM, but that dreadful ground service company they use) absolutely refused to believe that she was entitled to the 3rd bag and demanded that she pay 100s of $ for the extra bag. When my partner insisted, and showed her a screen grab from the KLM website, the check-in witch literally stood up and screamed abuse into her face. She was kept for 20 minutes at the checkin desk and abused. The woman's fellow check-in staff were telling her to calm down - but not actually helping. Eventually a KLM supervisor appeared, asked what the problem was, looked at the boarding pass and immediately confirmed her entitlement. Subsequently KLM staff were extremely apologetic and actually seemed to be encouraging her to raise a formal complaint, which she will do.

A few days later, I was told I was not entitled to use the fast track lane through security by a bloke at the entrance who refused to believe that I was entitled to it despite EK checkin staff (unlike KLM, EK use their own staff) reiterating that I was. This can make a huge difference in MAN, so I stuck to my guns, I was quite prepared to go back to the EK desk and ask them to explain to this bloke. Eventually he let me through. Subsequent automatic scanning detects entitlement, so what was the purpose of an ill-informed bloke at the start of the line?

And for some reason, every-time I go through at MAN I am pounced on by security and all my stuff gone through and handled and then they finally say 'I don't know why that was selected for search'. I really don't understand, those very same bags have been screened at dozens of airports in the last few weeks but only MAN consistently wants to hand check my smalls.

MAN77. I admire your support for MAN staff. But I must say that I also fly extensively in Europe, USA and Africa, maybe I have been unlucky, but my experience with MAN has been consistently problematic compared with even small chaotic African airports. It does seem strange, the airport itself looks clean and efficient and the infrastructure works well, but the staff seem disastrous. My pilot colleagues who fly out of MAN are constantly complaining about the unhelpful security screening. And why is it only MAN that insists that I lug my soft bags to a separate belt after check-in?

So the issue was really with KLM from what I am reading!

Just the opposite. KLM were super helpful when they finally got involved.

But, and this is the important part, it was KLM's appointed handling agent that was causing the problem. It seems that the airport gets blamed, and tarred with the same brush, for many things that are outside of its control. Your comments with regards to security are however totally valid as this is wholly staffed by MAG.

Then it is KLM as they employ the handling agent not MAG, perhaps if the airlines paid better money you would get
better handling as those guys are paid peanuts.
As for security I would rather be stopped every time than allowed to walk on/off with a weapon and get through, again wages
are crap so you know the saying about peanuts. I would expect the same security at every airport as if one is lax it won`t take long for
that to be found out by terrorists, perhaps security should be run by a central agency like border control as they are equally as important

That's true. Emirates appear to use their own staff with much better service as a result.

Try Jet2 they are self handling as well and are great