quick... how late can you arrive at the airport?

[Otispunkmeyer]

For long haul at Manchester?

My OH is stuck on the M6. Flight is 1:40pm, she should be there now if the 3 hour guide is followed. But what is the absolute latest you could rock up?

Checked in, but of course has baggage to check and must get through security and to the gate. The person shes getting a lift in was adamant they could leave at 8:30 this morning. I left the house at 830 and she was still waiting for pick up. Manchester Airport is a good 2 hours from our house on a traffic free day. So the literally left zero buffer in it! which has to be the biggest mistake ever when the M6 is involved. Especially on a Friday.

[FurtiveFreddy]

Usually 1 hour is the limit for bag drop on long haul. Just tell her to find an airline agent when she gets there rather than waste time queuing to check in etc. They will help her to skip the lines or send her through the priority channel.
She'll be OK, but if she's anything like mine I know what you'll be going through now...

Edited by FurtiveFreddy on Friday 23 June 11:01

[R8Steve]

You can usually get away with 2 hours, maybe an hour and a half if you're really pushing it.

[MinuteMan]

Otispunkmeyer said:

For long haul at Manchester?

My OH is stuck on the M6. Flight is 1:40pm, she should be there now if the 3 hour guide is followed. But what is the absolute latest you could rock up?

Checked in, but of course has baggage to check and must get through security and to the gate. The person shes getting a lift in was adamant they could leave at 8:30 this morning. I left the house at 830 and she was still waiting for pick up. Manchester Airport is a good 2 hours from our house on a traffic free day. So the literally left zero buffer in it! which has to be the biggest mistake ever when the M6 is involved. Especially on a Friday.

As above, bag drop has to be done at least an hour before the flight time.

Getting through security is not a problem any more, as they have vastly improved the system. If she is running late they will put her into a priority queue, but in my experience I would say you can get through security and to your gate in no more than 30 minutes, that's in the busiest of queues. Usually it's more like 10 minutes (I fly out of Manchester every week)

[Super Slo Mo]

The 3 hour thing is nonsense in my experience. I usually aim for a loose 2 hours regardless of where I'm going. She has a good hour yet before needing to be worried I'd say.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ok they've managed to tweet virgin

70 mins absolute latest, so half 12. Apparently some Virgin people are going to meet them at the door and sort them out!

so fingers crossed. The M6 is a right mess. its peppered with crashes. The main culprit seems to be one under J18, south bound. But they'd closed the motorway. I hope it wasn't a jumper...

She said they are moving now, slowly. But not stationary. Google maps was saying 90 minutes from Sandbach to the airport (and that was at half 10, so they'd be there for 12.)

I rang Virgin as well and they were very clear to mention that if they think they wont make it, tell them, otherwise you go down as no show and you have to buy a new ticket.

[R8Steve]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Ok they've managed to tweet virgin

70 mins absolute latest, so half 12. Apparently some Virgin people are going to meet them at the door and sort them out!

so fingers crossed. The M6 is a right mess. its peppered with crashes. The main culprit seems to be one under J18, south bound. But they'd closed the motorway. I hope it wasn't a jumper...

Slightly off topic but why do people now tweet companies for the world to see instead of just phoning them?

[MinuteMan]

I'm driving up North today on the M6, instead of flying, just my luck

Is it a regular flight? Usually they are able to put you on the next available flight if there's space, and you only have to pay the difference

[CAPP0]

R8Steve said:

Slightly off topic but why do people now tweet companies for the world to see instead of just phoning them?

Simply, because it gets a response.

[Vaud]

R8Steve said:

Slightly off topic but why do people now tweet companies for the world to see instead of just phoning them?

Often a faster response...

[Otispunkmeyer]

CAPP0 said:

R8Steve said:

Slightly off topic but why do people now tweet companies for the world to see instead of just phoning them?

Simply, because it gets a response.

This. I normally ring and you often get shunted along and stuck with some drone who doesn't care. Get on twitter though and they can't be more helpful. In fact when we were with NPower I think I pretty much exclusively sorted stuff out with them over twitter because the customer service level was literally night and day! Amazing what they can do when everyone else can see them doing it.

Anyway, thanks for the input folks! They're now making decent progress so should squeak in ok!

[FurtiveFreddy]

Virgin are usually very good about this. One time in Florida I was flying with some equipment which meant I had to go to the customs office at the U.S. end with a Carnet and it was in a different terminal to the one we were flying from and we were a bit late

A very helpful young lady from Virgin took us from one place to the next, jumping to the front of every line and using her pass to get us through various checkpoints, running all the way.

We eventually got to the customs office but they were working at their usual pedestrian pace and if you try and hurry them they go slower, so we'd lost all hope of making the flight...

Just then, an announcement came over the PA to say there had been lightning strikes within 5 miles of the airport, so all flights were grounded. We made it onto our flight in the end, but that Virgin rep. really helped.

[anonymous-user]

Sandbach to the airport should be less than 30 mins without traffic.

If Virgin are aware and have said they will help then they can get you through in minutes. I was once met at the door and driven in a cart to the plane I was so late.

If they won't help I think it is 40 minutes before take off.

Be prepared for an epic car park bill as you may need to park car in the "drop off only" zone.

[FurtiveFreddy]

desolate said:

Sandbach to the airport should be less than 30 mins without traffic.

If Virgin are aware and have said they will help then they can get you through in minutes. I was once met at the door and driven in a cart to the plane I was so late.

If they won't help I think it is 40 minutes before take off.

Be prepared for an epic car park bill as you may need to park car in the "drop off only" zone.

Yes, 40 minutes is the absolute deadline for Virgin from Heathrow at least. If you book in Upper class they actually invite you to check in at the UC wing 50 minutes before flight time.

[anonymous-user]

FurtiveFreddy said:

Yes, 40 minutes is the absolute deadline for Virgin from Heathrow at least. If you book in Upper class they actually invite you to check in at the UC wing 50 minutes before flight time.

if really late, tell her to put her bikini in her hand bag and leave the case in the car.

[silobass]

Did she make it?

[Otispunkmeyer]

silobass said:

Did she make it?

Yeah they did. Someone must have put their foot down once they'd cleared the M6. But essentially they arrived, got through security and arrived at the gate few minutes after they started boarding. They're right at the back so first on (If Virgin still call up blocks of seats on long haul?). So not super tight, but still it just adds unnecessary stress to proceedings.

[GCH]

Glad she made it.

Unofficially, if they want to, the absolute latest Virgin can push check in to is T-35mins with a checked bag. Officially it is higher.

I know this due to an incident resulting in getting to the desk at t-35mins and 45 seconds, thanks to a very delayed delta inbound...
That was as a gold, in upper class, on the last flight of the night, and the bag didn't go anywhere near the belt - it was taken behind the scenes by hand by a staff member (JFK if interested).

[brickwall]

It's the checked bag that stuffs you. I've arrived at Terminal 5 under 40 mins before take-off for a flight to JFK, and still made it.

Wouldn't recommend cutting it that fine though.

[audidoody]

R8Steve said:

Slightly off topic but why do people now tweet companies for the world to see instead of just phoning them?

It's the only way you can get a coherent fairly quick response. Probably because Twitter is public and they will want to minimise any bad PR