The new Aspire lounge in Manchester Airport Terminal 2 is finally opening

The new Aspire lounge in the new pier at Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 is gearing up for opening.

The Aspire website shows that you can book in from Tuesday 1st February, and this date has also been promoted on social media. It was meant to open in late October but got pushed back due to the drop off in travel.

The new Aspire lounge should be accessible via Priority Pass. We are hoping to review it during March.

There are two other new airport-run lounges at Terminal 2 which we have already covered. You can read our review of the Escape lounge at Manchester Airport Terminal 2 here and our review of the premium 1903 Lounge at Manchester Airport Terminal 2 here.

There will also be a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in due course, although the opening has been delayed until later this year when flights and premium passenger numbers have ramped up.

According to the airport website, the following airlines are currently operating from the new Terminal 2:

• Aegean Airlines
• Aer Lingus (transatlantic only)
• Air France
• airBaltic
• Brussels Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad
• Eurowings
• Jet2
• KLM
• Norwegian
• Pakistan International Airlines
• Pegasus
• Qatar Airways
• Singapore Airlines
• Tui
• Virgin Atlantic

All other flights are operating from Terminal 1.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2023)

As a reminder, here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit card:

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.