Date set for the new Aspire lounge at Manchester Airport Terminal 2

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• Toby says:

  19 Oct19 October 05:49

  Not only there’s no natural light in this lounge but the food is terrible! How this won worlds best independent lounge is a complete joke. There are far many better independent lounges out there than this one!!

• Henry Young says:

  19 Oct19 October 05:50

  I was in both the Plaza Premium Hong Kong lounges on Sunday 17 Oct 2021 (gate 1 & gate 35). I have never found these lounges to be at all impressive over the years, with the food options at the mid-field instance particularly poor, and each curiously different. The hidden gem at HKG, sadly now closed, used to be the HX lounge – never busy, tasty food options and a sleeping area. I did enjoy IGA Istanbul when I was there 9 months ago.

• ChrisC says:

  19 Oct19 October 06:19

  What’s the situation with earning BA tier points on EI operated flights under the BA code share?

  The BA tier point finder says “yes” for MAN-JFK and DUB-JFK but this article says ‘no’ –

  https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights

  The EI JFK-MAN has been appearing in flight options for BA Hols for a while now as part of some ex-EU searches but not earning TPs is the killer.

  Rob can you clarify?

  • Sam G says:

    19 Oct19 October 06:40

    If you book under BA code you’ll get them. EI code then you won’t (look under “codeshare” on your link)

    • ChrisC says:

      19 Oct19 October 06:56

      This was the link I meant to post

      https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/04/01/can-i-earn-avios-and-ba-tier-points-if-i-fly-with-aer-lingus-2/

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 08:21

    Codeshare is a different game. Definitely none if you have the EI flight code. Does a BA codeshare override this given the terms of the transatlantic JV?

    • Sam G says:

      19 Oct19 October 14:22

      I think so – can’t think of / see any reference to any BA coded flight / ticket that wouldn’t earn you TPs regardless of the metal

      The one that catches people out occasionally is a OW code on a non-partner flight (except Qantas) – Cathay code on Air New Zealand I think is one

• Dylan says:

  19 Oct19 October 06:45

  I worked in Manchester Airport T2 customer services until 1 week ago. There is no set airlines in the new pier (A gates) and the airlines all move across the stands for the whole terminal as it’s impossible to plan for a particular airline to just have flights going from 1 pier.

  The new Aspire lounge is actually on what will become the second pier but for now is just a short corridor leading to the lifts and escalators down to the B gates which is the bussing lounge. For the time being the Aspire lounge will have a view of the airfield towards terminal 1 and you might get glimpses of aircraft landing depending on your position in the lounge. You will see aircraft pushing back from the 200 gates of T2 and C pier of T1 though.

  Eventually though (in a few years when the airport regains it’s finances post covid) there will be a 3rd pier built out from T2 at the end closest to T1 which will block any runway view from Aspire.

  The lounge is one short escalator down from the main departure lounge and everyone departing from the old part of the terminal (201-211 gates) has to go down the escalator and past Aspire to get to their gate.

  • Dylan says:

    19 Oct19 October 06:46

    As a result of its location it’s very central in the terminal for any flight!

• Sandgrounder says:

  19 Oct19 October 07:10

  The Primeclass in Muscat was the last lounge I visited before Covid, Jan 2020. It was pretty nice, food was good, especially if you like sweets. I spent the time recovering from the short hop from AUH, we came in through some thunderclouds and it was a wild ride.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  19 Oct19 October 07:23

  The lounges in MAN T2 have been open for a while now. What are people’s real world experiences like, including access?

• Anna says:

  19 Oct19 October 07:51

  How many tier points would the EI flights from MAN earn?

  • Red Flyer says:

    19 Oct19 October 08:06

    Whatever they give, it won’t be enough to compensate for the MAN security experience!

    • Ian_H says:

      19 Oct19 October 12:29

      Have you actually tried the New T2 Security experience ?

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 08:18

    None.

    This will change when Aer Lingus finally joints the BA / AA / Iberia / Finnair transatlantic JV, due 2022, but until then – nil.

    • Anna says:

      19 Oct19 October 10:31

      Lol, I am doomed to the MAN experience regardless!
      I meant when via BA holidays though, definitely something to consider when we’ve used all our 241s.

    • ChrisC says:

      19 Oct19 October 11:22

      This is crux of the issue though Rob.

      When I checked – before making my earlier comment – the ‘how many TPs will I earn’ tool on BA com entering MAN-NYC and DUB-NYC and earning on BA it came up with the usual number of TATL TPs.

      Not risking a booking unless it’s 100% certain I’d get the TPs.

      • Sam G says:

        19 Oct19 October 15:12

        https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights ChrisC original link is clear about this in my opinion- BA codeshares earn in all scenarios.

        Do need to be careful though if it’s anything like UK-DUB routes – BA code are often more expensive

• Youllnever says:

  19 Oct19 October 08:12

  “ Votes were cast between September 2019 and July 2021…”

  Wait, voting period was nearly two years? 😮

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 08:15

    Yes, because they scrapped the awards last year and rolled over the votes so they weren’t wasted.

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