Manchester terminal 2 eateries

MortgageMamma

I'm flying from T2 in August at 20.30 and plan to get there early to feed my kids as there are no inflight meals. As we live at least 90 minutes away from Airport and have to go on 3 different motorways I planned to leave at 3.30 - is this a bit soon considering we want to eat before flight?


I've not flown since 2001 so my questions are


1. How soon before your flight can you go through security and check bags in?


2. Where is good to eat on a budget once through security?


I've looked on the airports website and it doesn't give this information.


Thanks in advance for any help

MM

DomRavioli

MortgageMamma wrote: »

I'm flying from T2 in August at 20.30 and plan to get there early to feed my kids as there are no inflight meals. As we live at least 90 minutes away from Airport and have to go on 3 different motorways I planned to leave at 3.30 - is this a bit soon considering we want to eat before flight? Where are you coming from?


I've not flown since 2001 so my questions are


1. How soon before your flight can you go through security and check bags in? I don't think there's a limit as in hours, but T2 security can get mentally busy. I'd try and get through security maybe around 5pm-6pm, it may take an hour.


2. Where is good to eat on a budget once through security? My faves are Brodericks Coffee (great sandwiches, good coffee and surprisingly cheap, at around £2 for a standard coffee and £2.50 for a sandwich - paninis are a little more expensive but around the £3 mark), and Burger King - you can't go wrong with a burger and chips!


I've looked on the airports website and it doesn't give this information. It does. Linkie - http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/at-the-airport/terminal-2/ - its about 2/3rds the way down the page. Most of the places you can click on and they have menus and prices.


Thanks in advance for any help

MM

Hi,

Please see above. Where are you travelling from? (nearest town/city)

leylandsunaddict

I think I'd be setting off sooner. A 90 min journey puts you arriving at 5pm, which means you'll be hitting the rush hour traffic, so unlikely to take 90 mins.

Once you've arrived you've to got either check in or drop bags (unless you've done OLCI and are hand luggage only). Queues can be long, and security queues can be horrendous sometimes. Then you need to time to wait for meal, eat it and be at the gate around 30 mins prior to departure (or could be earlier depending on where you're flying to).

pollypenny

If you go to the Manchester Airport website you can book Fast Track security for about £3.50.

We used to love Brodericks, but the last twice we flew from T2 it was smelled of old fat. That was two years ago, though. We started breakfasting at Frankie & Bennie.

US Airways is now AA and flies from T3. Not much room there at all.

pattycake

We just get a meal deal from Boots plus some extra water for the flight. I bring some snacks from home too. I prefer to save my cash to spend once on my hols.

But then I am very money saving!

ACG

Nothing is cheap at the airport. Cant you get a Subway or something and put it in your hand luggage?

Probably not ideal but there is also a KFC/Maccies at Wythenshawe civic centre which is about 5 minutes from the airport, you just come off one junction earlier.

MortgageMamma

DomRavioli wrote: »

Hi,

Please see above. Where are you travelling from? (nearest town/city)

Hi DomRavioli


I'm in a town called Colne which is between Burnley & Skipton. Due to the traffic problems here it takes half an hour to get 3.5 miles to the motorway, I go down the M65 come off on the A56 then onto the M66 then the M60 past the Trafford centre etc then onto M56. Quite a trek - considered driving and leaving my car at airport but as I'm away 2 weeks it works out cheaper to get an airport transfer minibus locally.

As for cheap food, I could live with Burger King if I had to, I wouldn't want to travel out of the airport for tea as we have quite a long journey as it is


Does anyone know if its worthwhile fast tracking? it seems awfully cheap but it could be a good solution for my 5 year old who can't do queues without 5 trips to the loo...how quick would you get through on a fast track?

MortgageMamma

ACG wrote: »

Nothing is cheap at the airport. Cant you get a Subway or something and put it in your hand luggage?

Probably not ideal but there is also a KFC/Maccies at Wythenshawe civic centre which is about 5 minutes from the airport, you just come off one junction earlier.

Hello Mate,


thanks for the advice. You off anywhere nice this summer?

lea2012

We're not far from you and usually fly from Manchester too. We usually go the other way on the ring road and go past Stockport to get to the airport but at that time of night it will take just as long.

I would probably leave at 3.30 too. We have started to use the Manchester Airport Meet and Greet parking service as it's not much more than the other car parks and generally does save us time. You pull up at the car park at T2, park your car drop your keys off and walk straight into the airport. They then bring the car back for you when you return home.

We've used Fast Track several times too as our daughter is 9 and hates queues! It's been hit and miss, sometimes it's meant that we went straight through and skipped queues, other times it was quiet anyway so wouldn't have waited long and once we went and even the fast track had a reasonable queue! When flying from T1 or T2 I would always go for it though, if nothing else it's peace of mind for me to know that the queues will never be that bad!

There is a Greggs at T2, if you go in to the arrivals door it's right there. You can then take the lift upstairs to departures. (If you come in to departures door, just take the lift down to arrivals). It's before security but you could arrive and check in for your flight and drop your suitcases off and then go down and eat or grab and go if you wanted too.

Once through security we have found that taking a seat in the Observatory Bar by the window kept our little one happy for a while, you can watch the planes taking off and landing. We've only ever had bacon sandwiches there and to be honest they were pretty rubbish but coffees and beers are ok, and we then grab a sandwich for on the plane from Boots or WHSmiths. We've eaten and Frankie and Bennys too and it was OK, but I think it's a bit pricey on the whole for what you get.

This was also great for my daughter: http://mag-umbraco-media-live.s3.amazonaws.com/1009/awarenessplusbookletplust2.pdf It's aimed at children on the autism spectrum but she loved it anyway and enjoyed filling it in and ticking off boxes etc and it passed a bit of time too.

MortgageMamma

lea2012 wrote: »

This was also great for my daughter: http://mag-umbraco-media-live.s3.amazonaws.com/1009/awarenessplusbookletplust2.pdf It's aimed at children on the autism spectrum but she loved it anyway and enjoyed filling it in and ticking off boxes etc and it passed a bit of time too.

Thanks so much for this, my son has aspergers and dyspraxia and panics in unfamiliar situations so this will be perfect


We've decided to go by taxi as it was only £140 return but we booked it for 2.45 as I want to avoid any delays - I don't mind spending a few hours watching the planes. It also says there is a childrens play area in T2 have you been to it? I was wondering if its any good or if it gets really busy (DD/DS can't tolerate overly crowded noisy places)

DomRavioli

MortgageMamma wrote: »

Thanks so much for this, my son has aspergers and dyspraxia and panics in unfamiliar situations so this will be perfect


We've decided to go by taxi as it was only £140 return but we booked it for 2.45 as I want to avoid any delays - I don't mind spending a few hours watching the planes. It also says there is a childrens play area in T2 have you been to it? I was wondering if its any good or if it gets really busy (DD/DS can't tolerate overly crowded noisy places)

It can get mentally busy - but it depends on the day and time.

It is next to gate 213 in departures after security. You can always have a walk down there (its a pretty wide corridor) and if its too busy have a walk back.

And as an aside, if your child has a diagnosis on the ASD, call your airline and tell them you want special assistance. You must do this ASAP so it can be arranged, but it means no queueing. You get fast tracked through security, and they can also provide a quiet room if it all goes baps up!