Manchester Airport Question
 

I have roughly one hour to get from a British Air arrival in terminal 3 to a FlyThomasCook departure in terminal 1.

I checked out the maps and it looks easy. Is it?

Getting between terminals is not the issue, as it isn't too far. The problem you may have have is that Thomas Cook are a charter airline, so I assume you will not be able to book your luggage through. So collecting your bags and re-checking in could take a while. Charter airlines usually expect a couple of hours check in (though it isn't always strictly necessary) and getting though security can sometimes take time. If you can allow longrer, I'd recommend it.

Manchester's Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 are effectively in the same building; come out of Arrivals in T3, walk about 200 yards along a corridor and up a floor or two and you're in T1 departures; the walk will take 5 mins tops. As Maria_H has said, the bigger issue is likely to be with a) waiting for and b) checking in any luggage (bearing in mind that retrieving luggage from the BA flight may take you a while - Manchester's baggage handling is painfully slow). If at all possible, take carry-on rather than check your bags onto the BA flight. Also, check when the Thomas Cook check-in closes; I think charter airlines tend to close their check-ins earlier than scheduled airlines...

Well, it's actually even worse than Maria H says.

FlyThomasCook closes checkin an hour before departure. And if you're calling the other airline British Air, you must be coming from somewhere foreign. So you've got to go through immigration, wait for your bags to arrive then take them through customs, change terminals then get to the front of the queue by 60 mins prior.

&quot;<i>I checked out the maps and it looks easy. Is it?</i>&quot; Yes. But not w/ only an hour.

Who booked this mess? If you booked things separately - then you'll have to change something. If a travel agent did it - turn it over to him/her to fix.

(BTW - where are you flying in from? If it is a domestic flight of some sort then you have a chance. But I'm assuming it is a transatlantic flight)

Thanks for all of the valuable information. Here's the rest of the story:

I arrive at London Gatwick at 18:25 from Dubrovnik via BA. I then am booked on a BA 21:00 flight to Manchester.

I will be carrying my baggage and I assume that I will go through customs at London Gatwick. I wonder if all of this increases my chances in Manchester of making the next flight?

Also, I notice that BA has a Gatwick to Manchester flight that leaves Gatwick at 19:15. Perhaps I could catch this earlier flight instead of waiting for the 21:00 flight.

Advice?

What time's the flight booked out of Manchester, and where are you heading? The connection at MAN looks so tight that you really run the risk of not making it (I'm sorry to say that it looks almost impossible from what you've told us). From looking at the FlyThomasCook site, it seems that their check-in will close at least one hour before departure- that's for one of their own aircraft, for any other aircraft it says they close two hours before.
The earlier flight from LGW to MAN doesn't seem to help you much; whilst both BA flights (inbound and outbound) operate from Gatwick's North terminal, you'd only have 50 minutes leeway, and I think that's a big risk too... you could speak to BA and ask them if they think it's feasible (you'd already be checked in, I guess, and would just have hand baggage, so you'd only need to leg it to the gate)... but it's a very tight schedule, with next to no margin for inbound delays. It's not a risk I'd buy, personally...

It may be tough to consider, but I'd suggest you look into how you can avoid the flight up to Manchester; is there any way you can get to your next destination without going from LGW to MAN? Either by flying from LGW itself, or perhaps from LHR?

This has certainly been a live and learn experience - even for a seasoned traveler. But there is good news.

I checked the FlyThomasCook web site and discovered that they have a flight out of Gatwick to my destination that leaves at roughly the same time their flight out of Manchester leaves. And the good news is that there are 4 hours between my inbound flight and my outbound flight.

Now I have to call Thomas Cook to get my ticket changed. Since they changed the times of the Manchester flight departure after I bought the ticket, and since I am still wanting to fly on their airline, I am hoping that I can swap flights. Wish me luck.

Sounds like it'll be a good solution - good luck!

That's great. Now I notice you said you'd have carry-on only. Just a heads up in case you didn't know. On flights out of the UK you are limited to ONE item of carry on through security. Not a carry-on plus a personal item. One item only. So plan accordingly - if you are carrying 2 pieces, make sure one fits inside the other at least for going through security/screening.

janisj: Thanks for the warning.

Since the flight out of England is a non-stop charter, I will probably check the bigger bag that I normally carry on and only carry my camera bag.