What time would you arrive at Manchester Airport for a 6.10am flight?

[Mildredthehubble]

Flying from Manchester to Spain on Sunday at 6.10am 😴
We live about 40 minutes drive away

We're travelling with hand luggage only. Getting dropped off

What time would you get to the airport?

At that early hour, I feel every 5 minutes in bed counts.

I know it used to be 2 hours. I do travel a lot but always find myself with ages to spare and that's normally in school hols.

Would arriving at 5.10 be sufficient?

It might be, depending on security.
Take it you’ve checked in online and have your boarding passes on your phone.

4.30 feels better.

4am. Minimum

Better to be early and at a loose end than running late and delayed somewhere

I wouldn’t leave less than 2 hours - you never know what security queues are going to be like and you normally need to be at the gate 40 mins before

4am

4am at the latest

Check for any overnight motorway closures.

4.30 for me but I dont Dilly Dally

There’s many cheap hotels at the airport- I
would stay there the night before and get some sleep.

I must be in the minority here because I’d want to be there for 3.30! I’d probably want to set off by 3 at the absolute latest. We do usually have lots of time but once we were there 2.5 hours early and only just made it! I find it much more relaxing to chill with a drink for an hour than rush the whole time

I’d be happy to arrive at about 5, but DH would have us there for about 3am!!!

I'd do 4.30, which gives a buffer if there's any delays at security.

Agree! And last time we went, we found it was a much longer walk than we expected (closing of a terminal, I think). If anyone in your group has any mobility issues, this could be a problem.

Also leave time for traffic delays, roads should be clear at that time in the morning but if there's an accident or road closures you need time.

4am as I do enjoy an early glass of fizz in Spoons before my flight ......

4am latest.

Airline worker here. 0330 at the latest. It’s very busy at that time. 10 past 5 is way too late.

3.30am - Manchester is utter chaos at the moment, they've totally closed T1 and most of T3 and as a result T2 is taking the vast majority of passengers. It was hellish last time we went through. I would strongly advise you get fast track security passes too. The normal line was like a load of cattle pens!

MAN is always mental first thing in a morning, you may be ok with 2 hours if you have fast track. I always try for lunchtime flights now and use the 1903 lounge, it’s worth every penny.
If you are getting picked up after your return, the pick up are is now bottom level of the multistory car park and is not well signposted at all, DD drove round twice looking for it. Try not to land at the same time as the massive Saudi flights, although it can be highly entertaining at the carousels and pick up point! 😳

4am, which would be a compromise between me and my husband with me preferring nearer to 3am and his preference being 5am! (4am being when I’d want to be in the building, so a little earlier for parking etc)

4.15am for me. I dont know Manchester Airport, but my local one has so many flights between 6-7am it seems like the busiest time of day.

I would also aim for 3 hours before for your flight home from Spain if you have a British passport. The ESS system is causing complete chaos and at busy times passengers are missing flights despite being at the airport in time.

check what time security opens, at our local airport it doesn't open overnight and earliest you can go through is about 4am so no point arriving any earlier with handluggage.

She’s only 40 minutes away!

Yes this!! I always get fast track now, couldn’t be bothered with the queuing! It’s so much easier and less stressful.

I’d get to the airport at 4:10

I flew from T2 a few weeks ago. There are some road closures around the airport itself that can cause delays getting off the motorway - really depends, as we were fine but a month prior it added 30 mins to me dropping my husband off.

Plus - aren't there new European regulations being introduced around biometric checks that are causing delays? Might be worth checking. I wasn't going to Europe when I flew so can't report on that but recall reading that in some European airports it was causing huge delays/missed flights.

All that said, T2 is now loads better than it used to be, and passport control coming home was a breeze (it used to be a nightmare). So that's something!