Manchester Airport tries again to reopen Terminal 3, with British Airways moving back

Manchester Airport has confirmed that Terminal 3 will reopen on 22nd April. Regular readers will know that the opening was originally planned for 27th March, before being pulled at the last minute after the airport realised that it did not have enough staff available.

According to the airport website, the airlines moving across on the first day are:

• Aurigny
• British Airways
• Eastern Airways
• Flybe
• Iberia Express
• Loganair
• Ryanair
• Vueling

This is a slightly different list from the one published before the original reopening. Blue Islands appears to be remaining in Terminal 1 for now but Iberia Express and Vueling are now moving.

With the British Airways lounge in Terminal 3 – image above – being permanently closed, it isn’t clear what facilities will be available.

Here is our last review of the Escape lounge in Manchester Terminal 3 which is underwhelming, although certainly not the worst Escape lounge. It is the only Priority Pass option, with Aspire not being present in Terminal 3.

There is a 0% chance that British Airways will pay for its customers to use the premium 1903 lounge, reviewed here although you may want to pay if it is a special occasion.

Details of the lounges can be found on the airport website here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.