We will be arriving at the Manchester Airport in July and we will go to the London central area immediately. I have tried to price the fare from Manchester Airport to London Victoria station at:

1.nationalrail.co.uk, £59.20 per person
2.nationalexpress.com, £42.00 per person (non-funfare price)

Interestingly, if I use the "funfare" feature of national express going from Manchester Central(not airport) to London Victoria. The price is only £2 for each person!!

Now I have a one question. Since the bus will stop at Manchester Central before Manchester Airport. Can I still purchase the funfare ticket, but boarding at the airport instead? Does anyone has experience with that before?

Or if that is not doable, can someone suggest me an inexpensive route to travel from Manchester Airport to the London central area? Thanks in advance.

I think I would take whatever method from the airport to the Manchester central area (e.g. National Express), and then proceed from there on the 2-pound fares. Even if it's the same bus, you can't expect the 2-pound fare to apply from Manchester airport to London, when the price is for Manchester central to London. In other words, buy two separate tickets.

Note that the cheap price is probably due to competition from Megabus - http://www.megabus.com .

The tricky part will be deciding which time to buy the tickets for, as I wouldn't expect any leeway on departure time with 2-pound fares.

Dear DaDa

If you check the rail fare on the site for Virgin rail directly:

Virgin trains

the prices are somewhat different to the National rail enquiry centre. At the moment they are showing a single value fare of £12.50. The time of travel is critical, anything after 11am is safest. The coach journey down the M6 could be bettered by a postillion and horses on some days, but the rail network has its moments as well. Early booking is critical with the cheap Virgin fares, it can also be done over the phone.

Have a good trip.

Julie

Thanks for the info.

Did what WillTravel suggested, and bought the combination of 2 national express coach tix, cost is less than 8 pounds each person (with a promotional code for 15% off non-funfare tix, just google it), and the trip duration is about 6 hours . But the fare is unbeatable!

I have checked the Virgin train fare at its site directly right after JulieC suggested. I guess I am too late, the only available fares are Saver Single 23.5 pp, Standard Open Single 55 pp, and First Open Single 77.75 pp.

Again thanks for all your suggestions.