Yes, you should give yourself extra time, the trains are not reliable and there are many cancellations, especially those operated by TransPennine Express.
These appear daily on the departures screen in our Manchester office, and I have always thought they are 'turning short' at Piccadilly if crew or train is running late.
Appears to be due to a trespass related incident in the Lostock area
Is it possible to get the tram from Manchester Piccadilly instead?
It's excruciatingly slow and requires a change (I think) also. Better to go for a train 30 minutes early.
Makes sense. This is admittedly for a day trip to Dublin I’m not too fussed about though so worst comes to worst I just get to spend another day in Manchester
oh, okay - so it won’t be an issue tomorrow, I assume?
No the tram runs from Manchester Victoria to the Airport.
Well I just checked the Metro website and it said that there was a tram from Victoria in seven minutes. You change at Cornbrook for Trafford Park.
The tram runs from Victoria via Market Street.
That's interesting to know thank you
It’s worse for passengers coming across from Yorkshire as their service would be turned short at Victoria
Walk? Interchange at Salford Crescent? Catch the Metrolink tram? Or maybe get the No. 2 free bus?
Would there be ticket acceptance on the tram in such a situation?
I used to get the c.0540 from Doncaster, jump in a preordered taxi at Stockport and arrive at the airport at 0715, which was fine for any morning flights leaving after 0845. Never let me down.
Maybe, maybe not. Tickets from rail stations in the North of Greater Manchester usually have route "Manchester CTLZ" on them, to facilitate the cross Manchester transfer without any further charge. Otherwise it's a £1.40 single needed.
Unlikely, but the tram is included in the price of tickets issued for travel wholly within Greater Manchester; it's often cheaper to split at the boundary anyway! (where this is the case, the forum's site will offer this automatically)
www.brfares.com
ADULT | | £17.50 |
From | WALSDEN | | |
To | MANCHESTER AIRPT | | |
Route | VIA MANCHESTER |
www.brfares.com
ADULT | | £7.40 |
From | LITTLEBOROUGH | | |
To | MANCHESTER AIRPT | | |
Route | METROLINK CTLZ |
How long are you allowing? My understanding is that you should allow 2 hours to be covered by insurance (in practice, that is a bit overkill if you are hand baggage only) however I would advise allowing longer if possible.
Dodgy as that does not allow the recommended 2 hrs minimum, but acceptable if you can afford to miss the flight on the basis that you'd make it on the vast majority of occasions.
Personally I walk; if I am in a rush I will jog it; I have made it from platform to platform in under 10 mins. But for most people you'd be wanting to allow more like 25 minutes, assuming you know where you are going and walk at a reasonable speed.
Jogging may well be somewhat less than practical for anyone travelling to the Airport with more than the very smallest amount of accompanying luggage. Doesn't help either that Victoria to Piccadilly is ever so slightly uphill.
I've heard that TPE chuck airport passengers off at Huddersfield for them to join the stopper to Piccadilly, and change there for the frequent airport services.
This isn't relevant for a journey to the airport
The best thing to do is to book the earliest practicable departure; if that service is cancelled or significantly delayed you would then be entitled to take the train before or after.
Of course, that's assuming you have enough notice of your booked train being cancelled to be able to catch an earlier train. Personally, I'd prefer the safer* option of booking the earlier train (*unless, of course, consecutive services are cancelled, in which case you'd be screwed either way).