British Airways returns to Manchester Terminal 3

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• Blair Waldorf Salad says:

  8 Mar8 March 04:53

  “ British Airways returns to Manchester T3” – some of us who had to walk to gate 142 would say they never left! With that airline line-up I can’t see where the footfall will come from to make re-opening the 1903 lounge viable.

  • davefl says:

    8 Mar8 March 05:37

    PMSL. Quite. They never actually left T3, they just basically lied to all PAX.

    It was even more dismal than usual in there in winter with the lights and heating off.

    • Mike says:

      8 Mar8 March 10:35

      Not quite true, I flew from MAN to LHR last week and it was from proper T1 rather than Gate 142, so yes they did leave T3 if only temporarily (it will be about one month).

  • Lady London says:

    8 Mar8 March 07:10

    So BA stayed in T3, and just stopped ALL ground services to passengers? Was this BA’s idea, or the airport’s?

    Seems odd that BA is reopening in MAN without providing lounge access.

    • davefl says:

      8 Mar8 March 07:51

      A fortnight ago the passengers disembarked at 142 in T3 but the luggage was delivered to the belts in T1. You can imagine what a debacle that was since there’s no way for normal people to get from T3 baggage claim to T1’s

      It’s been an utter shambles.

    • davefl says:

      8 Mar8 March 07:59

      No idea whose dumb idea it was to keep them as the only airline in T3 but knowing MAN they’ll probably make us check in at T3 and walk to T1’s Aspire for a lounge and back to T3 to board. It’s one way to waste an hour and get some exercise but not as much fun as the LHR T5 tunnel.

      Oh they kept the T3 car park open, so if you were savvy, you could get a quick getaway by using an unlit exit when you arrived and walking across the coned off entrance road to the spooky almost empty car park.

  • sigma421 says:

    8 Mar8 March 07:21

    More Ryanair passengers buy lounge access than I think people here might realise. Yes there’s a fair amount of Eastern European stag/Spanish beach stuff but there’s also quite a bit of rural France and the like that I imagine skews fairly middle class. In addition, outside of hubs Ryanair/easyJet/Jet2 are often the only option for a direct flight to a major European city from Manchester so most people will use it regardless.

    • Nick says:

      8 Mar8 March 10:22

      Yawn. BA was NOT alone in suffering difficulties as a result of the T3 closure, and it wasn’t their fault. In fact there were half a dozen airlines affected, just perhaps not ones commonly used by HfPers. The issue came about because T3 is the only terminal that can handle domestic arrivals. So airlines could either park in T1 but bus everyone to T3 arrivals (as BA did initially when T3 closed and some still do) or park at T3 and use the direct arrivals channel but funnel people back for departures (which they switched to as everyone whinged about the buses). If other terminals had domestic arrival facilities, they would have been used.

      • sigma421 says:

        8 Mar8 March 10:41

        T1 can handle domestic arrivals but only by bus. easyJet from BFS and Aer Lingus from BHD use T1. As far as I know, T2 has no such facilities but they were expected to be added as part of the next phase of the redevelopment – which is currently on hold.

• Chris says:

  8 Mar8 March 05:08

  Good news re Finnair to Singapore, a route I’ve used often. Works well.

• Gareth Oakley says:

  8 Mar8 March 05:56

  Shame about the T3 lounge – it was a nice space, but I never saw it busy given the only flights were to London/Billund. The Escape room on the other hand always seemed rammed, and I think would sometimes turn away PP holders. Better than nothing though – I hope BA start using it. With the BA lounge gone there’s room for expansion.

  • dougzz99 says:

    8 Mar8 March 07:26

    Probably the Escape room is too difficult so people are stuck there.

    • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

      8 Mar8 March 10:11

      I lol’d !

• NorthernLass says:

  8 Mar8 March 06:23

  I’m flying MAN-LHR-BOS on the 29th, first BA flight since Dec 2019. In F so hopefully the CCR will make up for whatever awaits us at MAN!

• Bibby says:

  8 Mar8 March 06:36

  Worth saying the Narita route is significantly increased and has been re-routed to avoid Russian airspace.

  The other routes you mentioned to Singapore, Delhi, Bangkok and Phuket have also been slightly adjusted to avoid Russia too as they had previously crossed its airspace early en route..

• Lawrence says:

  8 Mar8 March 06:55

  T3 at Manchester has always been a bit of a sad space in need of some love, but the physical location of the BA lounge really worked & was a nice space, if a little under used. But, I can’t see how The Escape would work as an alternative, 1903 is gorgeous but expensive, and so, yeah, I can’t see BA paying for use of it. So I am not sure what the option for business travellers could be.

  That physical lounge location that BA DID use, however, is ripe to have something else nice put in it. It would be nice to think that, if a few more legacy carriers move back to T3, it could be reopened as a third lounge option, that said carriers all buy into

  That’s probably a pipe dream though

  • sigma421 says:

    8 Mar8 March 07:19

    Air France/KLM paid for the 1903 Lounge. Whether that was because they are fundamentally more generous people or the airport prefers 1903 as the airline serving product, I’m not sure.

• Thegasman says:

  8 Mar8 March 07:19

  Escape Lounge is a dump, they actually do you a favour by invariably turning you away with a PP as it’s full of people trying to drink their body weight in cheap booze & feral kids given too much sugar & freedom whilst their parents indulge in the boozing.

  It’s exactly the experience I’d expect & prepare for at MAN.

  • Lawrence says:

    8 Mar8 March 07:37

    The first time I used it, it was quite nice, although it was early in the morning, so I suspect I struck lucky.

    T3 in general is just GRIM. You can only sit in the lounge / look at giant Toblerone in the duty free for so long before you get bored. And the other food / shopping options keep getting more and more limited.

• Geoggy says:

  8 Mar8 March 07:52

  I’ve got a LGW Caribbean flight in December but didn’t book the Man-LGW flight because there was a very short turnaround at LGW based on the time of arrival and didn’t want to miss the ANU flight.

  • NorthernLass says:

    8 Mar8 March 10:50

    I agree it would be a total PITA if you actually missed your connecting flight but at least BA would be on the hook to get you to your destination in the event of a delay at MAN.
    Are you driving down the day before then? Now OH and I have more flexibility I’m looking at LGW routes and also wondering if a slow drive to LGW with a couple of nice sight-seeing stops en route would be preferable to the stress of MAN at 5 am with the real chance of the domestic leg being delayed or cancelled!

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