Easiest car pickup: LPL, MAN or LBA?

LPL= Liverpool Airport
MAN = Manchester Airport
LBA = Leeds Bradford Airport
I had to look those up. just to say, it isn't common in Europe to refer to airports by their codes, not everybody knows them, people use the names.

For picking up or dropping off a car, anywhere is better then Heathrow. If your skills in driving on the "correct" side of the road are rusty, definitely avoid London and the whole of South-East England.

Manchester is has the most flights of these three, by a long way. Including transatlantic flights.
Leeds is on the wrong side of the Pennines for Wales, Liverpool and Manchester have easier access direct onto motorways. Leeds airport has no motorway access.
So I vote Manchester. Unless you are heading first to York, which is an argument for Leeds.

Thanks.

I have a few days between my time in London and when I want to loop through Wales down and back to LHR, so indeed one possibility is train to York, explore, then train/bus to LBA to pick up the car. And from Google Maps it looks like the airport car hire lot feeds onto a smaller road, and then onto an A road.

And just to reiterate: my question is easiest pickup for rusty drivers and gentle re-introduction to driving in the UK, (not easiest access to Wales). I'll putter around en route from where-ever.

Leeds Bradford Airport is not that great to get to by public transport.

Heathrow is actually very good for tentative drivers. Straight onto the M4 Wales bound and allowing the opportunity to stick to the inside lane and get used to the car without the pressures of more experienced drivers.

Yeah .... LBA is indeed NOT easy to get to from York by public transport. That will require some more thought.

I may end up doing the pickup and drop off at LHR -- it does have the reputation for being pretty easy for folks not used to the UK side. The interesting thing as I look at rental rates is that renting at LPL, LBA or MAN the rates are significantly lower than at LHR (and much lower than LGW). If I could get easily from York to LBA, that would be a no-brainer.

Rent the car in York? For the week I checked on AutoEurope, pick up in York for a week was $555, and at LBA was $177. OUCH!

I’ve picked up and dropped off rental cars in York, Manchester and Heathrow. I’d suggest Manchester. If you want to go to York anyway, there are frequent direct trains from York to Manchester Airport.

I found the route from the Manchester airport to North Wales very easy: The M56 has an exit right at the airport. You’ll be on your way before the Garmin knows where it is. :) Have a great road trip!

Thank you! That is EXACTLY the sort of information I was looking for. Manchester looks like it will be the winner for car pick-up for the Wales leg of my trip.