Impressive new ‘Escape’ lounge at East Midlands Airport opens

I have been impressed by the ‘Escape’ lounge at Manchester Airport’s Terminal 3 on the two occasions that I have used it.  I was pleased to hear that a new ‘Escape’ lounge has opened at East Midlands Airport, which is also owned by Manchester Airports Group.

You can book your entry in advance, to guarantee admission, on the airport website here.

The new East Midlands facility is four times the size of the existing lounge.   Here are a few pictures provided by their press office:

You can pay for access to the lounge at £22.50 per person (£3.50 discount for online booking, discounts for children under 12).  This is a pretty chunky fee, especially as most passengers will be flying budget airlines on cheap tickets to Europe, so I would expect a decent amount of food and drink for the money.

The good news is that you can access the lounge for free.  It is part of Lounge Club so you will receive two free passes if you apply for an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card (full review here).  It is also part of Priority Pass.  You receive two free Priority Pass cards – each admitting two people, so four people are covered – with the American Express Platinum card.  My full review of that card is here.

(You also receive 20,000 Avios with Amex Gold and 30,000 Avios with Amex Platinum as a sign-up bonus if you convert the Membership Rewards points!)

For a one-off visit, you can pay for admission via the airport website here.  This guarantees that you won’t be refused admission due to overcrowding.

Next week I will take a comprehensive look at the UK lounge coverage offered by Lounge Club and Priority Pass.