WestCoast
Established Member
You mean at Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield (Finningley) International Airport?
I must say it has a surprising amount of services to Eastern Europe with the infamous Wizz Air...
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Manchester Airport overtakes London Stansted to become the UK's 3rd busiest airport
- Thread starter WestCoast
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You mean at Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield (Finningley) International Airport?
I must say it has a surprising amount of services to Eastern Europe with the infamous Wizz Air...
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Badger
Member
London Bickenhall has a nice ring to it.
Ivo
Established Member
What is wrong with the name "London Birmingham"?
WestCoast
Established Member
What is wrong with the name "London Birmingham"?
I can see everyone being very happy with that...
I flew from Manchester in November, as Manchester to Athens was £97 return in comparison to lgw to ath being £300,
In the process I discovered that Manchester is only 20 mins or so longer drive from cornwall than lgw!
With my future flights I will consider manchester
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In the process I discovered that Manchester is only 20 mins or so longer drive from cornwall than lgw!
With my future flights I will consider manchester
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Nym
Established Member
Was that with Viking Helleas Airlines by any chance through Terminal Two?
That flight provides connections for Baghdad
That flight provides connections for Baghdad
WestCoast
Established Member
Was that with Viking Helleas Airlines by any chance through Terminal Two?
That flight provides connections for Baghdad
Are they still going? Almost every airline that those owners have set up has failed; Excel Airways, Viking UK, Viking Sweden and most recently Tor Air. They are messing with people's lives.
Nym
Established Member
Viking Airlines went when I was still there, I think Viking Helleas cut back to 3fpw when I left, no idea if the're still going
WestCoast
Established Member
It appears Viking Hellas went bankrupt last month. What a surprise.
The latest in a long line of bankruptcies for the same airline owners/investors.
Nym
Established Member
Was a laugh when GSM (Fly GlobeSpan) went bankrupt, they owed MAG a shed tonne of money so they impounded one of GSM's aircraft until it was paid... (Yes, really!)
Not as much fun (morbid fun) as when XL went bust, their check in was right next to my shop the morning they went bust... *sniggers*
Asking me for advice like, "Will the flight run?", and "What would you do?"
My answer usually being, "Go home..."
Not as much fun (morbid fun) as when XL went bust, their check in was right next to my shop the morning they went bust... *sniggers*
Asking me for advice like, "Will the flight run?", and "What would you do?"
My answer usually being, "Go home..."
Was that with Viking Helleas Airlines by any chance through Terminal Two?
That flight provides connections for Baghdad
Nope easyjet. Only other option I found in Nov was aegean and ba at considerable expense.
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Nym
Established Member
Don't EZY have a number of flights from Bristol?
WestCoast
Established Member
I got a good deal with Aegean a few years ago when they first came to the UK. I couldn't praise them highly enough; 5 free drinks rounds on a 3 hour flight, Greek goddess-like staff, a brand new A321 and full 3-course hot lunch. Unheard of even on BA! This was for about £70 return to Athens. Obviously, they've put their prices up accordingly now they're established!!
Nym
Established Member
Better than the DC-9 / MD80 that Viking used then
WestCoast
Established Member
Not to Athens they don't. Greece used to terrible for cheap flights, but EZY and Ryanair have now moved in.
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Better than the DC-9 / MD80 that Viking used then
Olympic Holidays had a spat with Monarch to provide their package holidays flights, so they apparently switched to using Viking Hellas, Jet2 and Aegean. Unfortunately, Viking Hellas ended up doing all the Manchester flights.
Viking were still probably better than the infamous Onur Air. There was someone on another forum they I am member of who used to clean their planes at Manchester and had some stories to tell!
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Nym
Established Member
I worked in the OnurAir terminal, yeah, I know what it was like...
Not as bad as cleaning PIA and Air Blue aircraft though...
Not as bad as cleaning PIA and Air Blue aircraft though...
WestCoast
Established Member
I have flown with Onur Air, lets just say it wasn't the best experience (safety demo was incomprehensible), but luckily I didn't have a captain refusing to fly the plane like what happened in Bristol. Pretty unnerving after their A300s were banned from 3 EU countries, but not the UK.
I appreciate what Ryanair offer now. At least they meet safety standards, that's all.
Nym
Established Member
You'd be surprised how many legacy carriers push the safety laws, happens a lot in the US where all their planes are too big for the domestic routes they work.
WestCoast
Established Member
I am sure they do and I have heard about what happens at the US regional airlines (the fines for violations e.t.c), but to be quite honest it seems like nothing compared to the likes of Onur, who seem to push the laws so far. The Netherlands were so concerned about some of their practices, they banned them. They have an incident record to show for it.
Anyway, this is somewhat unrelated to the thread title...
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Nym
Established Member
Compared to what the likes of Turkish Airlines did with their UltraSonic GDI Devices? Causing a landing 1mi short of the runway at AMS, or Adam Air's gyros never working, ATR42 and ATR72 fuel gauges being incorrectly fitted, indicating wrong fuel levels, RR's Fuel Oil Heat Exchanger problems (causing major issues for BA038), the DC-10 door problems, christ, I could go on for a very long time...
WestCoast
Established Member
Errr, New York has between two and four flights per day from Manchester
Missed this - I meant 21 a day between Heathrow and New York area airports.
They are maintenance/engineering issues, which are very serious but Onur is only a small airline, they were doing things wrong visibly to passengers. Things could well have been going wrong with the maintenance side, which was enough to warrant the ban.
I think they have cleaned up their act, along with taking less cheap contracts from tour operators!
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I'm pleased that Manchester has regained their position; Stansted is in the middle of nowhere although I did fly from there once to Tallinn with EasyJet as my son lived in the area and could take me to the airport. Reading the in-flight magazine about the cost of getting from the airport to the city centre in various destinations made me ashamed to be British as Stansted-London by train cost at least ten times what you would pay in any comparable European destination. Easyjet have clearly got fed up with their customers being defrauded once they land in the UK and as I joined this thread an advert for their Stansted EasyBus service costing from £2 was flagged up; this actually used the words "train robbery" in the text. About time too.
Manchester Airport benefits from being within the PTE area so reasonable fares ensue - to be fair Heathrow has reasonable cost options into London but IMO this is a horrid airport which I avoid, and Gatwick, like Stansted, is way out in rip-off land. So customers from not only Greater Manchester but a whole swathe of the North and Midlands and maybe even the South use Manchester as it's also a compact and pleasant layout. I feel sorry for those poor folk who write into TripAdvisor wondering how to make connections between Heathrow and Stansted, Gatwick or Luton! A very expensive way of making some of the crappest journeys in the country!
For the few destinations for which I cannot fly direct from Manchester I always seek an alternative international hub to London, but like WestCoast I have my prejudices and would never use an American airport either - we've flown twice from Manchester to Trinidad via a local link in Barbados which was amazingly friendly and stress-free. And from Manchester to Namibia via Paris and Johannesburg.
I've found all the Middle East airlines to be excellent in service and their airports at least adequate but from a staff point of view if you take a job with one you need to think very carefully and beyond the money aspect. One captain my son knows went to one of the airlines mentioned, realised he'd made a bad mistake and had to surreptitiously flee the country as they wanted to impound his passport; he's back flying from the UK as a first officer on reduced terms.
As an aside, Ryanair and Easyjet may be budget airlines and try to make money back with little schemes regarding booking, luggage, etc but they're never had a serious accident despite the huge number of takeoff and landings they perform every day. I'd have no safety concerns whatsoever.
Manchester Airport benefits from being within the PTE area so reasonable fares ensue - to be fair Heathrow has reasonable cost options into London but IMO this is a horrid airport which I avoid, and Gatwick, like Stansted, is way out in rip-off land. So customers from not only Greater Manchester but a whole swathe of the North and Midlands and maybe even the South use Manchester as it's also a compact and pleasant layout. I feel sorry for those poor folk who write into TripAdvisor wondering how to make connections between Heathrow and Stansted, Gatwick or Luton! A very expensive way of making some of the crappest journeys in the country!
For the few destinations for which I cannot fly direct from Manchester I always seek an alternative international hub to London, but like WestCoast I have my prejudices and would never use an American airport either - we've flown twice from Manchester to Trinidad via a local link in Barbados which was amazingly friendly and stress-free. And from Manchester to Namibia via Paris and Johannesburg.
I've found all the Middle East airlines to be excellent in service and their airports at least adequate but from a staff point of view if you take a job with one you need to think very carefully and beyond the money aspect. One captain my son knows went to one of the airlines mentioned, realised he'd made a bad mistake and had to surreptitiously flee the country as they wanted to impound his passport; he's back flying from the UK as a first officer on reduced terms.
As an aside, Ryanair and Easyjet may be budget airlines and try to make money back with little schemes regarding booking, luggage, etc but they're never had a serious accident despite the huge number of takeoff and landings they perform every day. I'd have no safety concerns whatsoever.
I flew onwards on arrival in Athens to chania, with aegean and in the 35 min flight I received a free hot drink and pack of dry roasted peanuts.
Olympic holidays were on verge of bankruptcy about 18months back, never heard no more after that so assuming they survived
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newbie babs
Member
This does not surprise me at all. Its always clean, great friendly staff and you can get to take some great pictures from the roof car park.
Most of my students come to Manchester rather than London, I collected some last weekend that had come from Dubai.
We get to have an area we set up as hospitality just for the students, where they can get something to eat and drink until we collect all the students for the return to Sheffield.
Most of my students come to Manchester rather than London, I collected some last weekend that had come from Dubai.
We get to have an area we set up as hospitality just for the students, where they can get something to eat and drink until we collect all the students for the return to Sheffield.
WestCoast
Established Member
I don't have anything against Heathrow, but the cross-terminal transfer process is not as smooth as it should be. Plus, the airport is so very congested and constrained meaning that delays are more likely. If you fly with BA you transfer through the very pleasant T5. However, T1-T4 are not impressive at all. Despite this, Heathrow does have its fans (they are present on another forum I frequent), and they don't like criticism - I suspect they work there. Also, south of the capital from watching 'Inside Gatwick' it appears that Gatwick's new owners are trying hard to rejuvenate that airport.
I fly them a lot. They're safe and sound. What they lack in customer service, is made up for in the final price you pay. Yes, I know they have extras, but if the final price is good, then who cares? I don't need luggage for short hops and will pay using the cheapest method of payment, I've always been happy.
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Certainly, plus TPE offer "airport advances" which are good value and offer protection against flight delays when returning home. Manchester Airport's long-term off-airport parking is quite cheap too (I've seen it as low as £20 for a week) if you have a look on the comparison websites. However the public transport is very good and meets the standards of any airport in mainland Europe (which many other UK airports don't meet).
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martinsh
Established Member
Not sure that fact has any effect on the number of passengers using the airport !
PS I think Manchester is a bl**dy awful airport
WestCoast
Established Member
It's not Zurich Kloten or Singapore Changi, but compared to some of the shacks and mad houses I've seen that manage to pass for airports, I don't find it too bad. At least it has good transport links and enough capacity for current usage.
Visit somewhere like Rome Fiumicino and you'll see what an awful airport looks like; chaotic and downright dingy being the best description.
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Phil6219
Member
Viking UK was not founded by the guys who were behind Excel (XL), I know this because I flew for XLA up until they went bump one night, while we were loosing our houses the CEO bought himself a nice new mansion with effectively our wages.
Viking began operations around 2003 and had a fairly cordial relationship with Excel, operating some flights which we simply couldn't do due to lack of aircraft (or not wanting to open a base for a handful of flights per week). They operated an MD-80 (-82-83 whatever) and this continued until 2008, when we went bump on the Thursday night/Friday morning Viking announced a "partnership" with "Kiss Air" which surprisingly sprung up overnight. Kiss happened to be founded by the former XL CEO... They even took a load of our aircraft and stuck them on the SE- register.
Anyway, back to the topic I think it is great that MAN is back in 3rd place. Manchester was a really great airport but the new terminal redevelopments have ruined it, it is no longer possible to sit and have a drink or a burger with relatives before they go through security and that I believe is the biggest downfall of the airport now. Even LGW offers that ability
Phil
WestCoast
Established Member
Anyway, back to the topic I think it is great that MAN is back in 3rd place. Manchester was a really great airport but the new terminal redevelopments have ruined it, it is no longer possible to sit and have a drink or a burger with relatives before they go through security and that I believe is the biggest downfall of the airport now. Even LGW offers that ability
There's a coffee shop/cafe before security at Terminal 3, but I think that's about it.
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Wasn't this the same CEO who cried on live television when the Excel Leisure Group collapsed?
So, he got involved with Viking, which then collapsed, and then he did it AGAIN with Tor Air, which also collapsed last month when the Swedish aviation authority revoked their license due to lack of financial assets. Two former respectable Swedish charter airlines. Tor Air had started selling flights direct to the public and to small tour operators (like Kiss Flights did).
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Phil6219
Member
That sounds about right, there just isn't anything there anymore in comparison to the myriad of stores and food and drink vendors that there used to be, remember the bug windows in the food court area of Terminal 1? A great chance to sit there and watch planes in the warm and dry as well as have a bite to eat...
Yes, the very same one.
Phil
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