mitchja wrote:That would explain why when I was looking for FLL flights for New Year again recently, nothing was coming up from MAN (either via JFK or ATL) as with the later arrival times (which are already loaded on the website) means onward connections become very difficult.
Whilst JFK is more a point to point route (fewer onward connections) that may work even with a 19:05 arrival into JFK.
I think even from a point-to-point perspective, the 7.05pm arrival into JFK isn't great if you're a leisure traveller. In the past when I've done that route with DL and VS I've been lucky to have a morning departure from MAN which means an early-afternoon arrival into JFK meaning a mid-afternoon-ish arrival into Manhattan, so depending how tired you were you still had late-afternoon/evening to do things. Now, you probably wouldn't get into Manhattan until about 9pm-ish which means you've also lost your evening (unless of course you're a night owl).
It's different if you're a business traveller heading to New York as it gives you morning and early-afternoon in Manchester before you need to go to the airport, whereas currently you've practically lost a whole working day.
Is it a slot issue at JFK or part of wider diagramming of aircraft?
The eastbound flight is fine. A 9.35pm departure gives you most of the day before its time to head to JFK and probably works for those connecting onto the VS128. It's a similar time to a flight I took with DL to MAN a few years ago.
In comparison, the United alternative leaves MAN at 9am and gets you into EWR for 12pm which works a lot better for both O&D and connecting traffic, though admittedly I don't know what the connection opportunities are at EWR after midday.
