Manchester v Gatwick v Heathrow

[Guest]

Waiting for the flights to be release for Aug 14 but seeing on here the amount of people that fly from Manchester got me thinking about it? We live in Swindon so in order of distance, Heathrow closest, then Gatwick and the Manchester but if the deal was good, i'd fly from anywhere but not flown from Manchester before. How does it compare? I.e. Parking/hotel parking, getting to the airport etc. Is there any difference in flight prices between the 3? Assuming VA, direct or not but prefer direct?

[billbarbara229]

Originally Posted by hunter.england

Waiting for the flights to be release for Aug 14 but seeing on here the amount of people that fly from Manchester got me thinking about it? We live in Swindon so in order of distance, Heathrow closest, then Gatwick and the Manchester but if the deal was good, i'd fly from anywhere but not flown from Manchester before. How does it compare? I.e. Parking/hotel parking, getting to the airport etc. Is there any difference in flight prices between the 3? Assuming VA, direct or not but prefer direct?

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My friend who lives in Calne always gets the bus to Heathrow as its easier than parking, Gatwick is round the M25 carpark , can you easily get to Manchester? and drive back jet lagged ! these are more important than a cheaper flight, to us Manchester is always more expensive than Gatwick but we don't want a long drive as its the time and fuel costs IMHO

[Basset]

Manchester is a good airport - parking tends to be a lot cheaper than the times.

VA Fly Direct and probably some of the charters.

One word of warning is that BA don't fly MAN-LGW anymore :angry: so flying to MCO or TPA is hard work.

Ironically it can be cheaper to MAN-LHR-MIA than LHR-MIA so don't rule it out. Even a short flight to MCO or TPA from MIA can work out cheaper.

Several american airlines fly indirect from MAN.

[james weir]

If you are using Miami and going to fly up to Orlando you will need at least 2 hours to
clear immigration & customs,Miami is one of the worst US airports due to the large
number of South American flights

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by hunter.england

Waiting for the flights to be released for Aug 14 but seeing on here the amount of people that fly from Manchester got me thinking about it? We live in Swindon so in order of distance, Heathrow closest, then Gatwick and the Manchester but if the deal was good, i'd fly from anywhere but not flown from Manchester before. How does it compare? I.e. Parking/hotel parking, getting to the airport etc. Is there any difference in flight prices between the 3? Assuming VA, direct or not but prefer direct?

See more...

Purely out of interest I took a peek yesterday at LGW to MCO vs Man to MCO prices for our trip in November and Gatwick was more expensive. Manchester's VA flight departs at 11.15am and the Gatwick one at 11.40am - barring delays, the Man flight is the first one to arrive into MCO immigration. There is plenty of parking and hotels at Manchester at very reasonable prices. A big plus is the easy arrival back into Manchester. In April it took us 30 minutes from landing to standing on the railway platform. We have driven to Manchester twice, but being so tired made it an awful drive home to Durham and won't ever do it again, letting the train take the strain certainly works for us

It's all down to personal preference, but I absolutely detest the hassle that definitely goes with Heathrow, and to a slightly lesser extent, Gatwick. We used to connect to London from Newcastle airport but found we got sickly sitting around waiting for the flight home after a tiring in-direct transatlantic journey from Fort Myers.

[Guest]

Only trouble is that there is currently no twilight with virgin at Man, we did the costs and checks as mileage and time wise from where we are there is no difference between Gatwick and Man. And the Virgin Flights were cheaper from Man, but the lack of twilight check in put us off. So it is the horrible drive to Gatwick again next yr. Last yr we tried the Gatwick Flyer Train not so bad on way up complete knightmare on way home train jammed packed no space for our luggage will stick to driving from now on.

[lawe]

I have started looking at the options and while it's 20 mins extra time to the journey to MAN it is the twilight check in, as it stands, at LGW that wins at the moment.

I would love to try MAN and will be going to the Aviation park soon for other htings
So will scout about and see if it would be suitable for us.

[Guest]

Whenever I book I always compare LGW & MCO. For me I always book MAN if the price is similar to LGW as it is SO MUCH better only having a 1hr drive rather than a 4hr drive after a night flight. Hotels are in abundance and lots of choice. Our favourite for value for money and quality is Bewleys. It is just across the rd from the Terminal but offers free shuttle so you don't have to trek your cases across the rd.
Twilight check in at LGW is definitely a bonus to get rid of your bags but not enough to sway us, especially as we do OLCI anyway.

I have booked LGW in the past and will again but it has to be significantly cheaper for me to do so. I take into account parking costs or taxi costs, overnight hotel and the distance to travel feeling tired after the flight.

[DIBBadmin]

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