# Manchester Airport and customs?



## bailey (Sep 22, 2010)

We are flying British Airlines from LAX to London and then on to Manchester.  We arrive at 2:35pm.  We are then catching an Easy Jet flight at 4:15pm.  We arrive and depart in the same terminal (3) in Manchester.  Is this going to be enough time?


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## helenbarnett1963 (Sep 23, 2010)

do you change planes in London?  if you do you will probably have to do immigration etc there, which will save tiem at MAN.
if not, you will be doing immigration in MAN, and having to collect yuor baggage and then check in again with Easyjet, so I think you will be tight for time in MAN even if you arrive on time.  
T3 at MAN is small by US standards, but can be very busy, and not very easy to navigate.  The Manchester airport website should have a map/plan of the terminal layout so you can see in advance where you need to go. The Easyjet checkin area is likley to be very congested and chaotic. 

Also, Easyjet are very strict about check in and boarding times, they will not allow you to check in late or arrive late at the gate.  They will make no allowance for your inbound flight being late and they will not be helpful in accomodating you on a subsequent flight if you miss yours. They are also very strict on the baggage rules...if your checked bag is overwieght you WILL be charged a lot of money per kilo extra.


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

Yes we change plans in London so I guess we do immigration in London, customs in Manchester?  
We are arriving on Tuesday.  There is not another flight from Manchester to Crete until Thursday, so if we miss that flight we are screwed.  Yikes.


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## helenbarnett1963 (Sep 23, 2010)

doing immigration in London will help!
how long is your transfer time in London?  I assume you are on BA from LON to MAN?  if so, make sure your baggage is checked right though to MAN, not sure if you will need to collect your bags and do customs in LON - check with BA about the procedure - but if they are already chcked it makes the process smoother.
Your LON to MAN flight will be "domestic" so hopefully you won't need to do customs in MAN - again check the procedure with BA as all airports seem to do things differently!

good luck with your connection at MAN - if you do miss your connection to Crete the Radisson hotel is a very nice place to spend a couple of days!


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

We arrive in London at 11:45 am and our flight to Manchester is at 13:30.  It is all on BA so we are checking our bags all the way through.  

I really didn't think it would be a problem but now I'm worried.  All flights from London end up in Athens and then the flight to Crete doesn't leave until the next day.  That meant a wasted day of our vacation, getting to Athens late at night, hotel expense....taxi fare to hotel...and then the morning spent getting back to the airport, etc.


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## helenbarnett1963 (Sep 23, 2010)

yoy should be fine, you've got plenty of time in LON to make your connection to MAN - at least in theory. are you flying into LHR or LGW and do you need to change terminals there??

assuming you get to MAN more or less on time, and your bags come through fairly promptly you should be fine...just make sure you know where you need to go in the terminal to check in with Easyjet and what thier latest check-in time is.  if you are short of time be prepared to "push" your way to the front of the check in queue and the security queue. 
if possible check in on line before you leave home then you just need to collect your boarding cards and drop off your baggage.

and when all goes smoothly and you have 1/2 hour to spare, just take a seat in the airside bar and enjoy a well-earned drink!


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

We fly into London Heathrow - we don't have to change terminals.  Both arriving and departing flights are in Terminal 5.  

We arrive in Manchester in Terminal 3.  Easy Jet is also in Terminal 3.  

I "think" I checked in online already.  Website says you can check in online 60 days prior to departure?  I'm able to print a boarding pass...does that mean I'm checked in?


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

Their "check-in" closing time is 15:35 ...exactly one hour from my arrival time.


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## Laurie (Sep 23, 2010)

bailey said:


> Yes we change plans in London so I guess we do immigration in London, customs in Manchester?
> We are arriving on Tuesday.  There is not another flight from Manchester to Crete until Thursday, so if we miss that flight we are screwed.  Yikes.


Have you checked stats on % of times your specific flights arrive late?

I personally would be nervous with those connection times, especially with 2 separate tickets.  Over 50% of the flights we have taken in the last few years, both domestic and international, have arrived slightly, to somewhat, to extremely late...  so much so, that I don't even like to book any flight that's the last one in the day, if I can avoid it. 

And I no longer book same-day flights on different tickets (airlines), unless it's a really long connection time. 

You can always hope that if your flight into Manchester is late, your EasyJet flight will also be late departing. 

But I'd make a plan B before departure, so if you miss it, you can still enjoy yourself and not think of it as lost vacation days. Have you been to the Lake District? It's pretty spectacular, and not too far a drive from Manchester.


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## Laurie (Sep 23, 2010)

One other thought: is there any way you can do this trip without checking luggage on the way there? 

If so, you can possibly shave off some time that could be the difference between making and missing that flight.


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

Laurie,
I tried googling the stats on late flights but couldn't find anything...do you have a website to search this information?

I'm trying to figure out how to get everything I need into a carry on as I write this!!  Wish me luck on that one.  

Can you take a small suitcase and a small backpack as carryon?  One being your carry on and the other your personal item?  I know some airlines allow this.  Not so sure about Easy Jet.


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## Laurie (Sep 23, 2010)

Every airline's website has details on what you're allowed for carry-on. Transatlantic flights are usually more liberal, most allowing a roll-on plus a personal item like a backpack, and BA's website should also tell you allowances for your London-Manchester flight. If you have an electronic ticket, it should also spell it out there.

EasyJet may be the most restrictive, but if you make your check-in time there, you can check the suitcase and carry on the personal item. You'll already have saved the time waiting at the luggage carousels. (Maybe you paid in advance to check a bag on EasyJet, it's probably cheaper to do it in advance.)

I don't mean to cause panic, hopefully your flights will be on time. But on our recent trip to Europe this past June, everything was delayed - we arrived 5 hours late across the pond (and our luggage took another 5 days to catch up with us)... and then later in the same trip, our low-cost-carrier flight into Manchester arrived so late, all the auto rental desks in our terminal were closed. For some moments, we thought we missed getting a car entirely, but finally found a rental desk open in another terminal.  At last ... ONE flight on our return home was 1/2 hr early - we were thrilled! We then lost our half-hour advantage circling Newark for 30 minutes. 

Sometimes when shopping for flights on sites such as Orbitz or Travelocity, you'll see little "i" information things you can click on which give percentages of ontime arrivals. Maybe airline sites themselves have those - can't recall exactly where I've seen them - but I've been surprised at how low some of the ontime arrival percentages have been. The later in the day, the fewer ontime arrivals.

I just checked Travelocity - put in your search and then click on "Flight details" and you'll see something like this:

Flight Details - Total travel time: 12hrs 15min
Mon, Oct 4 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to
London, Great Britain (LHR)
Flight Time: 10hrs 5min 4:00pm to
10:05am  British Airways
Flight 278
Boeing 747-400 On-time: 83% 
Flights used to calculate performance: 60 
Cancellations in last 60 days: 1 
Average delay: 21.0 min 

1 Stop - Change planes in London, Great Britain (LHR)Scheduled Layover time: 1hr 10minLayover time if delayed: 49min Tue, Oct 5 London, Great Britain (LHR) to
Manchester, Great Britain (MAN)
Flight Time: 1hr 11:15am to
12:15pm 
Next day arrival British Airways
Flight 1388
Airbus A320-100/200 On-time: 84% 
Flights used to calculate performance: 62 
Cancellations in last 60 days: 1 
Average delay: 14.0 min


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## Laurie (Sep 23, 2010)

*Baggage allowances*

BA:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagcabin/public/en_us

EasyJet:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Planning/baggage.html


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## bailey (Sep 23, 2010)

Well the stats aren't looking so good:  LAX to LHR 69% on time
LHR to MAN 75% on time and then MAN to Crete - 100% on time.  So if the flight is delayed 15 minutes we could be in big trouble.  I'm still hopeful though.

Looking at other options...may take a later flight from London and use that time to go see Windsor Castle.  I'm reading you can take the bus there from LHR.  

I'm going to talk AGAIN to British Airways tomorrow and see if there is ANY possible way we can get an earlier flight....sometimes if you get lucky enough to get the right person on the phone, it becomes a possibility.


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## w879jr1 (Sep 25, 2010)

*Earlier BA flight (LAX-LHR)*

The timings you have show you are booked on BA282 with its connection at London reaching MAN at 2:35 pm.

There is an earlier BA flight (BA278), leaving LAX at 4pm whose connection at London arrives in MAN at 12:10 pm. Check if you can change to that.

This would give sufficient time before the Easyjet departure.


BA's Oneworld alliance partner  American's website shows departures from LAX much earlier in the day which get you into Manchester in the morning well before your departure for Crete. On these a plane change is made at JFK, EWR or ORD and you fly directly to Manchester and avoid the chaos that is Heathrow.


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## welshhope (Sep 25, 2010)

You are getting some good info here - but your times are very tight - easy jet are strict about carry ons  it is one item and your purse also has to fit inside and the sizes are much smaller than would be allowed on most american flights check their web site closely.  
all airlines now are very strict about checking in baggage times - I recently  arrived with one minute to spare for an AA flight but they did not have enough staff to check in our bags (4) so refiused  put us on stand by -it took 29 hours and many $$$$$ to do what should have been a 16 hour journey!  my bags were routed a completely different way on 9/11 - its put me off flying to the states again any airline that bumps ff's who turn up 3 hours early in front of a famiy who was late to the airport because of a road accident and has an internatiional connection is unbeleivable - even easy jet would not do that!!!!!!
Have you considered flying to crete the next day from London Gatwick and having a night in London - maybe see a show or take that trip to Windsor?


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