Hi Darren, Thanks but the thing is APH are a broker and they do about 5 different car parks? Thats what I have found with most of these companies: that they are brokers and just give you a choice of a few car parks, leading to more confusion. Do you know exactly which car park it was that you used through them?

Hi Twinkletoes,

I have also used APH, albeit three years ago and found them very professional. Many of the comparison / broker sites will give you a price for APH as well as others, look for "APH manchester". Try - http://www.aph.com/parking/manchester_airport_parking.htm
The last two years I have had a hotel and parking package with Bewleys.
This year I'm thinking of Airparks gold which is supposed to be the nearest off site parking and they advertise that you park your own car and keep your keys. They are cheaper than APH if you book early enough.
The Travel lodge is only 5 minutes from the airport and easy to find. You can get a good view of all car parks and the hotels using Google earth.
This year we get back at about 2am and have decided to get on the road and drive the 3 hours home.
Let us know who you choose.
All the best
gc

Hi Thanks for that gc, I have also looked at airparks gold advance as yes they do seem to be the cheapest and nearest off site car park but the only thing holding me back is the fact that they don't allow any cancellations or amendments (this is why the price is so cheap) and as our flight has already been changed by 12hours I am a bit hesitant to book with these, though they do seem the best so far, difficult to decide, it's a case of deciding what are the chances of flight times changing again????

Twinkletoes,

APH isn't a broker, they operate their own secure parking facilities. Location details are on their website. It's just off the M56 J4 I think it is.

Darren

Ah yes Darren, now I see, I am so muddled I have looked at that many But APH do seem quite expensive, they want £76 for the 16days we will be leaving the car and advance gold only charge £53 but as I said above it is non refundable or amendable so if we have a flight change then they won't alter it for us, so I guess it is a case of is it worth the gamble? Alot of these car parks also seem quite a distance away from the airport, do they all drop off at the interchange? Is this far from terminal 2?

If you book through Holiday Extras you can pay £1 I think it is and you won't lose your deposit if you need to change the booking.

luci

Twinkletoes,

I can't comment for the others, but APH drop you off / pick up at the Terminal entrance / exit, or as close as the current security restrictions allow.

Darren

Thanks Darren and everyone else for your help; we have finally made a decision and booked with APH through purple parking who gave a discount of a few pounds if you join their membership, not a big deal but we also did it through quidco who will give us 10% back, so price has gone down from £76 to £63, not too bad!

Lucie, I checked the terms and conditions of booking Airparks advance gold through Holiday Extras regarding paying the extra £1 but it dosn't cover the advance purchase, this is definitely not amendable, didn't want to risk it as our flights have already changed by 12 hours.

Thought I would throw some info in for those of us that have a long drive to Manchester and need a room for a night and parking. Last year we stayed at the Cresta Court for 1 night with 7 days parking, very cheap and hotel was fine for the night and transfer to the airport was ok although the wait for the shuttle and time taken to get to the airport is worth considering. Car park wise, we parked at the hotela and that is where the car stayed for a week, a dwarf wall seperated our car from the pavement which worried as but what can you do at that point.
Returning back to Manchester we arrived at 1:30am as we informed the hotel we would, called the hotel and were told as we were the only guests returning that night a taxi would pick us up. You can imagine the warm glowing feeling you get inside as you watch everybody from your flight getting picked up while you wait for you taxi. At almost 3am and 3 phone calls to complain our chariot arrived, the driver informed me that we had to pay the £1.80 to get out of the car park. I informed him that all cash machines at Manchester airport were down when we left and as we were relying on them for English currency we had no UK money to pay the £1.80 and as we had booked room/transfers and parking he should take it up with the hotel. Night porter told him I was responsible for the charge but as I only had 20p I offered him euros or egyption pounds which met with a negative response. He the threatened to park across the back of my car to stop us leaving until I payed the £1.80 I didn't have, it wasn't until I pointed out I had been up for 21 hours and could do with a good 8 hours sleep that he decided to throw some choice language my way and deposit some of his tyres in the car park, we drove away at 3:30am which was 2 hours after exiting the terminal.
This year we are booked into the Radisson where they park your car and have it waiting for your return plus you walk for a few minutes to check in with no need to get up early and wait for a shuttle bus, it costs more but after last year I'm looking forward to a little luxury and no hastle.

Barry.

Can anyone advise on the Escape Lounge is it worth the extra over the Serviceair one.

We have used both, found the escape lounge better, it had sandwiches etc whilst serviceair one didn't. It seemed smaller and quieter than serviceair one. They seemed to have a bigger selection of drinks in escape lounge - don't remember it having a TV though whilst serviceair one did. Denny

Does anyone know what time the bars open at Terminal 1? Don't want to sound desperate but we do like to sit a chill with a beer, feeling like we are on holiday already while waiting to leave. If the bars are not open then I guess we will try going back to the Radisson for breakfast if we get checked in quick enough.

Barry.

I've never seen them closed!!

Sounds good, a nice cool beer to wash down the cornflakes.

How much time do you get after clearing security, last year was such a rush after problems with checkin(even arrived 15 minutes before checkin opened), took forever to get through security then ran round duty free before sitting for 5 minutes then boarding started. Checking in earlier this year at 6am so will hopefully have time to browse and relax with something to eat before boarding starts.

Barry.

Barry72,

The airport will be quiet at that time of morning. It normally starts getting busy from 7am. Bar des Voyageurs (airside) opens at 6am and close at 1800, the Donkey Stone Pub (landside) opens at 11am until the last flight and the Echo Music Bar open 'daily'

Darren

Thanks for the info, don't think I would of been really comfortable going back to the Radisson for breakfast, I like to check in as soon as possible get through security and sort out any last minute shopping then sit down and wait for boarding time while relaxing with something to eat and a beer.........the holiday has begun

Bmibaby adds Manchester routes

Barcelona, Lisbon and Madrid have been added as routes by bmibaby from Manchester.

The airline is also raising frequency to Knock in Ireland.

Madrid will be served four times a week from Jun 16 with fares starting at £24.99 includes taxes and charges.

Flights to Lisbon will run twice a week on Tuesdays and Sundays from June 17 with fares starting at £24.99 one way including taxes and charges.

Barcelona will be served four times a week from September 8 with fares leading in at £24.99.

A daily service to Knock will be expanded with an additional Sunday flight.

The airline's managing director Crawford Rix said: "Bmibaby is continually looking to offer even more attractive destinations from Manchester airport to add to the existing 14 places currently fly to. Plus we are committed to offering low fares."

With permission from Travelmole

Good Afternoon
We are flying from Manchester to Dom Rep on 20th June. Last 2 years we have stayed at Bewleys but felt it wasn't worth the money last year.

We are wondering about going back to the Travel Inn at Cheadle and using the Carminder place or does anyone have any up to date recommendations for a 1 night stay and 14 days parking?

We are flying from Terminal 1 by the way.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I'm renting a car to drive to Manchester Airport.

Could anyone please tell me where the car rental drop-off location is?

For all the car rental companies, online it just says Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Which is fine if you're picking up from there. But presumably you can't drop a rental car off directly at the terminal, and I'm thinking there must be a drop-off place somewhere.

Any information would be appreciated.