I for one have never entered that dispute...Sometimes BLK and MAN are roughly the same, other times MAN is slightly cheaper.
A few pounds does not come into it when choosing BLK - People choose BLK over MAN because of ease of use.

People use airports for many different reasons - This summer I am flying to Alicante from MAN and flying back into BLK..

Reason is - I did not want the early flight from BLK, and I did not want the later flight back to MAN...
Well I am not an ex pat - So am losing out through flying from MAN - I have to pay for a taxi to Man and a taxi from BLK on return..Between £70 and £75.
Had I flown from BLK - I would have pain £20 ADF, but no taxi - so I would have saved about £50 flying from BLK.

So car parking could have mattered to ME..But I chose convenience of flight times and the convenience of flying back into BLK without the hassle of flying into MAN..
Your points are fair enough IB4138 as we all fly for different reasons - But with respect IB4138 - I would not quibble about a few pounds even in your situation and travel from MAN to Blackpool North, and then Blackpool North to MAN BY TRAIN - could not be bothered to be honest.
Reason flying back into MAN can be horrendous..and who wants to travel 60 miles by train, before and after a flight? - Not me!.

The point is Ernest, that between early November and late March, Mrs IB has no option but to travel via MAN. Also, when the flights do operate, apart from the last week in May to the third week in September, there are now only two flights per week on the route, as opposed to three during Jet2's perceived peak season for selling their "holidays". So once you get used to travelling via MAN why bother changing? Also, with Ryanair now operating MAN-AGP,there is now greater flexibility on flight times on the route, with more late afternoon/evening services, removing one of the few remaining benefits of a direct BLK flight.

As TSR2 points out, Jet2 are in all probability not interested in the expat flight only business and are aiming these flights for use by their Jet2 Holidays clients, as the dates of flying would indicate. The price differential now being seen, is possibly there to discourage flight only passengers such as my wife, something, which has recently been pointed out on the Thomson thread, that that airline are now doing. It would be interesting to know just what percentage of passengers on all BLK flights are Jet2 Holidays clients.

If so, it is not good for BLK Airport....but then the airport management are probably only to glad to have a minimal, part year service from Jet2.

Good points IB4138.

Forgetting my reasons for flying out of BLK WHEN possible or convenient...I remember posing on this thread a couple of years ago that it was my opinion that a good percentage of pax using the BLK AGP route and back were ex pats, or second home owners...I thought at that time this was good for BLK because it almost guaranteed there would always be pax wanting to use the airport..

That said - I have noticed in recent flights that nearing the end of the return flight - Jet2 made a special point of thanking those who booked through Jet2 Holidays..I can't say I remember the same announcements when using MAN, although I could be mistaken.

If Jets2 are trying to put off ex pat and second home owners, and people like me who book independently (and always will) - That is a huge mistake if they want to build or even remain at Blackpool, like they say they do.

A direct train service has got to be easy and it`s only going to get better as they electrify the line


Ian

Not sure where the train fares from Blackpool N to Manchester Airport are coming from.

The Nat Rail website shows the anytime return adult fare (ie any train) is £25.20 and the off peak return fare is £21.40. If you have senior railcard this reduces by 30% in both cases (£16.65/£14.15). Child Fares are £12.60/£10.70. These are "on the day" tickets and don't have to be bought in advance.

You may be able to get advance singles cheaper depending on day and time but these are only valid on specific trains - if you miss it eg flight is back late, you will have to pay again.

Suzeman

Transpennine Express allow for late flights even with train specific restricted tickets, as long as you show your flight details at the MAN ticket office within a certain time period of your booked train they will re accommodate you.

Thanks Ian for that snippet

Shows a degree of common sense and of course Manchester Airport station is run by TPE. Wonder whether Cross Country or Virgin would be so generous at BHX??

Suzeman

New Paris link for Blackpool Airport - Local - Blackpool Gazette

GREAT NEWS at last. thought for a min it was jet2 2 cdg but who are they and to where exactly is this place. almost misrepresentation to call in paris? i'll give it 3 months,,,,,,,,,,

It's about halfway between Calais and Paris, about 80 miles. Too far to coast in neutral !

It's about as far as Blackpool is from Manchester.

Excellent crystal ball gazing dada....it's only operating on selected dates from April to August...including when the Open Golf Championship is on at Royal Lytham.

If you count all April and all August that's only 5 months.

Only seems to be 2 flights every month, only allowing for 2 days away, with some flights arriving late (23:00) one evening and out mid afternoon 2 days later so more like a day and a bit.

As a ex employee of the airport and someone with airline experience, I think that this is yet another set of flights that will not operate.The Balkan flights were cancelled and the Maderia flights. Just who will want to travel on these flights?Mr Rankin and Mrs Kendrick are barking up the wrong tree yet again!Bring back Ibiza and extend the Malaga to a yearly service that would be a good start for the airport and Jet 2.:ugh:

Jet2 launched Albert fron Leeds two years ago but had to cancel it due to poor bookings. It is a very niche route mainly supported by school trips to Disney and school groups going to the French war graves. Potentially a good route from BLK.

blackpool to Albert
 

The route is about as useful as a Chocolate Poker

DAT are not exactly an international Airline with Mega connections from Albert

Wont work wont even start sorry Blackpool another Pie in the Sky for the Airport

when u have CDG X Man and LPL with Jets DAT with there Multi coulored ATR s flying to Albert People wont go this way###









:hmm:

I am wondering who is responsible for chartering this aircraft?

It's not one of Danish Air Transport's scheduled routes, it's a charter as far they are concerned, although they will be taking bookings (as well as Blackpool Airport's 'Travel Shop'). DAT is hardly a household name like Jet2, so the airport will have to heavily promote this route.

'Paris North Albert' - have the airport been taking lessons from Ryanair?

The 'twin town' link will provide some limited traffic, but hoards of French tourists coming to the Preston Guild? Hmmm....

A company called schools into europe were behind the Jet2 Leeds route, maybe they have something to do with it.

Following the extensive feedback i am happy to say i was wrong.............
i'll give it 3 weeks.

DAT to Paris
 

This does all look very odd - any chance they are just selling the extra capacity to the public on a set of flights where the bulk of the seats have already been committed?

Quite right! Why did Ibiza go?..BLK lost Ibiza and Menorca for Jersey, what a raw deal.
Worth trying any new route..Amsterdam, Prague and even Geneva went down bad though.
I see dada is in one of his more optimistic moods...Mind you I have peeped on here for ages and could not believe BLK was on page one and thank's to dada:ok:

I had a look on their website and I can't see anything. Although, the school trips/tours of the battlefields does certainly seem plausible. The pair of flights allow for a 3 day tour.

I am surprised that there is so little information (if any) on who is behind these flights. Normally, the charterers are named prominently (e.g. Balkan Holidays on the last set of ad-hoc flights that were announced - but then never ran).

People wouldn't be bothered about these ad-hoc operations at other airports, but this is the most exciting thing at BLK since Aer Arann arrived. :bored: