How much do you need to save to make the drive to Manchester/Liverpool worth it?

[stashthishere]

The holiday we've been looking at is £200 pp cheaper from Manchester on the same date.

We are 20 mins from Glasgow airport though. Is £400 worth the additional journey time?

That's something only you can decide.

We used to regularly save £1000 going from Manchester/Liverpool but there are 5 of us. It also depends on flight times - a very early start from and English airport might mean a night in a hotel, and if you need 2 weeks' parking, that's going to wipe out some savings too. And fuel's hardly cheap.

Depends on time of the flight. Morning flight you will have to travel night before. Plus there's traffic stress.

The train could be cheaper if you book early (trainline.com) and then you wouldn't need to pay for parking either.

So what you need to decide is: are you prepared to spend 7 hours driving to save £340?

Honestly I don't know! The Manchester flights depart at 7pm and arrive at 3 in the afternoon, so probably ideal in that way.

I don't think I'd mind on the way down, but the way back up...

I veer between 'only' £400, but that is really quite a bit of spending money.

Manchester Airport is horrific at the moment, queue after queue after queue. www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-60859993

While management blame staff shortage and covid, it's been like this for a number of years now and you can't predict if you're going to be unlucky.

I would avoid if possible or factor in lots of extra time.

Oh now that has swayed me again!

Have you compared the prices for parking, are they also comparable? Would you need a car park in Glasgow?
Will You have children moaning?
How about factoring in the petrol Costs?

I think we'd get the train. A quick look on the trainline is giving me suspiciously cheap prices. Only adults to moan

given the recent issues at Manchester I would be very hesitant to choose it as an option over Glasgow. If you fly from Glasgow you're looking at a 20min taxi ride to the airport each way. Fly from Manchester and you're talking taxi/train/bus into Glasgow, train to MAN, at least 4 hours of travel and then you've got to allow time for any disruption on the trains so if all goes well you could end up hanging around at the airport for hours (although that may be no bad thing!).....and repeat on the way home.
If you do use the train then book direct with TPExpress, not the trainline. If you book advance tickets with TPExpress from the airport then they are valid on the next available train if your inbound flight is delayed. Normally these fares are only valid on the booked train.

The last time we got the train to a further away airport our return flight was horrifically delayed and it cost us a fortune to buy new train tickets (having factored in time for a substantial delay initially). Our train then broke down and we only just managed to get a train home instead of having to book a hotel for the night. Never again.