241 from ‘Up North’

FlightConnections.com says Manchester to LHR/LGW plus some limited flights to Cambridge and Billund, Denmark. Edinburgh is a little better but now much in that it’s UK and mainland Europe and then not many flights.

You basically have to get to London though there have been a fair few cases recently where people flying redemptions have been bumped onto flights with a result of a very long layover.

Depending upon how far north you are, I’d be tempted to drive, especially for LHR.

@Scott and OP – it’s only on long haul where you don’t pay any avios for the domestic connection. On short haul (RFS) you pay the full fare for both legs, making it poor value for a redemption as well as a lot of hassle compared to a direct flight, even on a LCC!

The best value IMO is to use the 241 to go somewhere there simply isn’t a direct option for from your local airport, so you’d have to go via London or another European city anyway. This is relatively easy from MAN, which has no direct flights to a huge number of destinations including a lot of US cities! So my most recent redemptions have been to GCM, BOS, IAD and LAS. But MRU, MIA, LAX and MLE are other options.

We’ve only ever driven to LHR once, due to time constraints (the prospect of driving home after an overnight long haul then going to work the next day would be soul-destroying!) but would definitely consider it now we have more leisure time, and also to LGW as even though there is now a MAN-LGW shuttle I think it’s once a day at 7 am!