Manchester Thomas Cook Routes

[Jacksc5294]

Will another carrier be taking over the Thomas Cook routes to Orlando? Seems crazy to just have virgin operating out of there.

[Nimbus]

It's not Thomas Cook's routes (as such) that are now available, it's their slots at the airports. Those slots can be used to fly anywhere. An airline could use TC's slots at Manchester to fly short haul, if that's what it deemed was the best use of those slots.

By the way, TUI also fly from Manchester to Orlando (well, Sanford at the moment). So Virgin aren't the only ones.

Whether another airline decides to fly direct from Manchester to Orlando remains to be seen. It depends on whether the airline thinks it can make a profit on that route. It would be nice to have more choice.

[MariaLynda]

We desperately need more choice from Manchester...

[PPM]

Jet2 bought the Manchester slots early November

This article shows all TC slots have been bought by EasyJet and Jet2
bbc/news/business-50350531

[Jacksc5294]

Yeah, TUI prices are a bit cheaper but not being able to get the magical express just wipes out any cost saving unfortunately!

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by PPM

Jet2 bought the Manchester slots early November

This article shows all TC slots have been bought by EasyJet and Jet2
bbc/news/business-50350531

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Interesting. Thanks for that. I hadn't seen what had happened to the slots.

I suspect Jet2 will be mostly using the Manchester slots for short haul flights.

Originally Posted by Jacksc5294

Yeah, TUI prices are a bit cheaper but not being able to get the magical express just wipes out any cost saving unfortunately!

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I found that TUI were more expensive than Virgin for our holiday next year. Plus TUI flights tend to be more restrictive (i.e. they only fly on certain days). Therefore, we're flying with Virgin. The price isn't that much more than our original Thomas Cook flights.

[itsmeGAV]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

I suspect Jet2 will be mostly using the Manchester slots for short haul flights.

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I believe Jet2 want to look into expanding their long-haul possibilities at they actually fly into Newark.

We can only see how they utilize these slots come 2020!

[pluto99]

Jet2 have no plans for long haul

[Jacksc5294]

I'm comparing prices to September 2018 when it was £490 including luggage. Not getting anywhere near that so far...

Originally Posted by Nimbus

Interesting. Thanks for that. I hadn't seen what had happened to the slots.

I suspect Jet2 will be mostly using the Manchester slots for short haul flights.



I found that TUI were more expensive than Virgin for our holiday next year. Plus TUI flights tend to be more restrictive (i.e. they only fly on certain days). Therefore, we're flying with Virgin. The price isn't that much more than our original Thomas Cook flights.

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[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Jacksc5294

I'm comparing prices to September 2018 when it was £490 including luggage. Not getting anywhere near that so far...

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We're going at the end of August next year and returning mid-September. Direct flights with Virgin from Manchester were around £550 including luggage. Before our TC flights were cancelled, they cost around £450. So only £100pp more. (Our in-laws have since paid to upgrade us to PE).

Of course, I'd expect prices to be >5% more than in 2018 due to 2 years of inflation.

Last time we went was in 2016. We paid around £800pp for flights back then with Thomas Cook. It was in the Easter hols though. So I was happy with anything less than that.