Manchester to Heathrow - The 9am Shuttle

[diver]

Manchester to Heathrow - The 9am Shuttle

Having a 3 nighter over in The Village in June with wife and children. Train tickets from my local station, direct to Eusless are extortionate, even with a railcard. Ive tried Virgin, Red Spotted and the Trainline and all are about the same. This is partly due to the fact that I want to arrive at my hotel at City Road on or around 12pm where we have an early check in, giving us an extra "day" for stuff. Journey home doesnt seem to be that bad, albeit the actual prices are not available til this Saturday.

However,

to fly from Manchester to Heathrow is only £30 each, at least half the price. My jourmey to Man Airport is about 25mins tops, even at rush hour. Journey to local rail station is about 15 mins. Flight times from Man to Heathrow is published at 1 hour but have heard it is much less in reality (40mins). Train time is 2hrs.

How much time should I factor in either side to get to into the city, with security, onward tube travel etc compared with rolling in at Eusless? and What would you advise in the train v plane debate for this scenario?Ive no real experince of getting domestic flights

Cheers P

 

[jjinit]

I recently went the opposite way with the missus and 2 kids for £87, including a commute from kent to Euston & Back. with family railcard

Left kent at 11 and was in Gods own country by 2.30, are those extra couple of hours worth all the aggro/expense??

 

[diver]

I recently went the opposite way with the missus and 2 kids for £87, including a commute from kent to Euston & Back. with family railcard

Left kent at 11 and was in Gods own country by 2.30, are those extra couple of hours worth all the aggro/expense??

Well, yeah I think so?

Cheaper tix on the Freda are getting me in about 4/5pm so an afternoon lost, i'm only there for 3 nights.

 

[WeLuvIbiza]

I have done Manchester - Heathrow a few times, the flight is deffo < 1 hour and in / out of the new terminal which seems really speedy. The tube has been my preferred choice of travel which takes around an hour into the centre. I think there is an express train which is much more expensive. The only downside is going home, you have to leave an extra hour (at least) for getting back to Heathrow for contingency.

The last couple of journeys I have gone on the train from Leeds, the novelty of the plane journey wore thin after a never ending tube journey to Heathrow one year.

The plane option is definitely workable if you are organised for the return journey. Outward I would guess two hours (being optimistic) from plane touching down to getting to your hotel, factoring getting children in tow etc etc.

 

[diver]

I have done Manchester - Heathrow a few times, the flight is deffo < 1 hour and in / out of the new terminal which seems really speedy. The tube has been my preferred choice of travel which takes around an hour into the centre. I think there is an express train which is much more expensive. The only downside is going home, you have to leave an extra hour (at least) for getting back to Heathrow for contingency.

The last couple of journeys I have gone on the train from Leeds, the novelty of the plane journey wore thin after a never ending tube journey to Heathrow one year.

The plane option is definitely workable if you are organised for the return journey. Outward I would guess two hours (being optimistic) from plane touching down to getting to your hotel, factoring getting children in tow etc etc.

Hells teeth! An hour on the Oxo?

I was planning on getting the Freda on my return.

 

[grego]

trains are defo handy for the mere fact you can hop on a minute before the depart time and don't need to factor much else in other than to be there latest 5/10 before. (more if you're a worrier).

obvs in ibiza we don't have much choice so i have to do the equivalent domestic flight to bcn and madrid quite a lot. luckily i don't have to factor in anything other than a 10 min drive to the airport beforehand, but even so, for an 8:40am flight, I've left my house at 8am before and made it to the boarding gate before boarding has even begun. in theory, i could leave 20-25 mins before the flight left, but even that's a bit close for my nerves. (gonna try it next week!)

that said, trains are a much nicer way to travel if the time difference doesn't add up too much. think i'd prefer to travel like that if i could