Big Pete

Good news

Anyone like me living in the South east of England or anyone living in Spain mainland or Mallorca has now a new option of a UK Airport ..

Manston airport in Kent ,
Is operational once more on a small scale .

Flying to and from

Algarve

Benidorm

Costa Brava

Mallorca
Just booked online at a cost of £ 79 each return to Mallorca
Car park is like 50 yards from terminal and costs just £ 30 for the week

Imagine the following ;

NO Coach transfers from car park to terminal
NO Walking for 2 miles to reach the Check in and then que for ages just to get rid of your cases
NO Waitting for 1 hour in a 1/2 mile long line having your shoes xrayed etc.
NO 3 mile walk to your boarding gate .

The Manston way
2 Boeing 737 planes a day carrying 108 passengers ,
= 100 cars in car park , car park is 50 yards away from entrance , the check ins are 20 yards away from door .
small cafe snack room overlooking the runways which are 50 yards away from the boarding room and then 50 yards to walk onto the plane ..

Pure Paradise ..




www.kentescapes.com



ps another of there group websites http://www.seguroholidays.com seems like they fly from Prestwick also !!

sunnydee

Shame they don't fly to Malaga. Where abouts in the SE are you?

Big Pete

Just Outside Canterbury and you ?

sunnydee

Rainham. It would be so much easier to go from Manston. I hate the drive to Luton.

Big Pete

Well Gatwick is where i usually go from and i hate it !!
Was a time when it was part of the trip , spend a while looking in duty free shops having breakfast and chilling out ..

Last few times its been lines of people queing for this and that and a real pain in the bum ... time i got through customs clearance had like 15 minutes and as the gate i always get is gates 121 etc.. it takes 15 minutes to get there as well

Manston is like easy peasy i drove up did a reccie well impressed
modern clean small and no crowds
my kind of airport ...

check the site i dont know what airports they go to all i saw was as stated above , which is puzzling i agree ..
also keep checking as the young pretty dark haired girl i spoke to up there said will be new destinations added if they get the support

Fuzzlepop

Blackpool airport with jet2.com is very cheap to, airport is small to never have to wait there.

tednsharon

Sounds like Coventry airport. People diss it because of it's size and lack of choice of shops/bars/restaurants but I love it ... all the features you say about Manston, plus last check in time only 40 minutes prior to departure and then only two gates to choose from - A or B!

Beats Gatwick (or Birmingham Int) hands down for short haul flights in my opinion.

Sharon

onlineamiga

I flew to Malaga from Doncaster airport for the first time. 10 miles from where i live. Its a nice little airport. No problems at all, and very close to home. They even do long haul flights from there, weekly ones to florida and dominican republic in the summer. And they have daily flights to malaga, Certinately beats the long drive to manchester airport over the penines. Though i do like manchester airport too

poollounger

Sounds like bliss!!!!!!!!!!!! How do I persuade them to fly to Jerez?? We are so used to being processed before we get on a flight. I used a sea plane a few years back to get to an atoll in the Maldives. Just us two on the plane, two pilots and a steward.The pilots were in shorts and barefoot.

The London man

Hi Pete
i am not far from you i live in Folkeston did you fill the Quake

jeanc

We use doncaster airport whenever we can. luv it! last time we used it, landed @ 1.45 was in the car @ 10 past 2 and in our house @ 25past! We used it in August 2 days after the liquid bomb scare and did not even have to wait.. Have to use eastmidlands though for cheaper flights cos i find thompsonfly expensive

Big Pete

Nope not a thing ,

Big Pete

Back from my week long trip

Update on Manston airport ;

OUTWARD TO PALMA

arrived at 11.00am for the 12.55pm flight as they required , parked the car in car park opposite and was inside 3 minutes later

Lined up at check in for 20 minutes to get rid of cases to then be advised delays of plane coming in of 2 hours apparently Palma had problems but heard rumours they had to borrow a plane as they sent there plane on a new flight

Anyways nice small airport so had a bacon butty and a coke and kept popping out for a smoke (something you cant do anywhere else )

Watched the AIR SLOVAKIA plane land which did confirm the rumours , 30 minutes later we are walking across the tarmac to the plane and away we go ..

Lovely flight real budget job with the meal consisting of a prepacked cheese and ham sarnie chucked at you by a Slovakien lady ...No drink supplied unless you pay which did suprise me but then it is budget so what the heck ..

Plane landed some 1 hr and 55 minutes later at Palma ..


HOMEWARD FLIGHT BACK TO MANSTON

Arrived at Palma at 10.00am for the flight check in and some 1 hour later !!! eventually get checked in some 30 Euros worse off as 4 kgs excess baggage !! NOT IMPRESSED .. Carrying no hand luggage at all ? All in the case and they still charged the silly Spanish lady said " You can take some out and put it in hand luggage if you want ?" Knowing full well a/ have no hand case and b/ no time due to the speed they checked in at

Then proceed to security which went quite quick and then onto boarding which we made with about 3 minutes to spare !!

To a coach which took us to the plane on the far tarmac , the plane this time the correct SKYWINGS plane .. Which is a ex Russian or Slovakien thing i think judging by all the Russian type of writing on everything..
Plane was comfortable enough and had a good flight back took 1hr 50 minutes back was fed with a bacon Banini and a free coffee this time ... landed at Manston walked from plane to customs who just looked at passports . waitted 10 minutes for baggage picked them up walked out the doors and to the car in less than 15 minutes from plane to car in total

Lovely Jubbly ..

will report on the entire trip on seperate post but figure the flight info should be posted here ..

skippernicky

Have you tried Leeds Bradford? This has got to be one of the easiest airports to fly out of/into. Long stay car park less than 2 mins away from check in (Its so near you couldn't use a transfer bus if they had one).
Check in is right in front of the main entrance.
Nice duty free/ waiting area. You can sit and have a beer or coffee while watching your gate, just finish your drink and walk 10 yards to gate when called.
And jet2 do 2 flights a day to Malaga (9.45am - 3.15pm) at great prices.
Manchester......who needs it??

jonsol

[QUOTE=tednsharon;4769523]Sounds like Coventry airport. People diss it because of it's size and lack of choice of shops/bars/restaurants but I love it ... all the features you say about Manston, plus last check in time only 40 minutes prior to departure and then only two gates to choose from - A or B!

Beats Gatwick (or Birmingham Int) hands down for short haul flights in my opinion.

Sharon[/QUOTE

Fully agree with you about Coventry, staff who really look as if they mean it when they smile at you. Car p[ark just a couple of minutes from the terminal, etc ...!