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1903 Lounge at BA’s Manchester Airport T3 now exclusively for Priority Pass etc holders

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Well, this is a turn up for the books.

The uber-premium 1903 Lounge in Manchester Airport’s Terminal 3 is no more.

It has been rebranded as an ‘Escape’ lounge. My understanding is that it will be used exclusively for Priority Pass, LoungeKey and other lounge club cardholders, which is a great result.

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Opened in 2017, Manchester Airport spent £1.6m to get the ‘adults only’ 1903 Lounge up and running. The photos in this article are from the review I did at the time.

Priced at £35, this was very much a premium priced lounge. It is a sign of the times that £40 is now seen as standard for ‘pay on the door’ entry to some average London airport lounges.

1903, by the way, references the year that the Wright brothers made their first flight.

Where is the new Escape Lounge (ex 1903 Lounge)?

The new Escape Lounge is in Terminal 3 at Manchester Airport, used by British Airways and many other scheduled airlines.

It is on the same level as, and only a few paces from, the empty shell of the old British Airways Terraces lounge and the other Escape lounge (reviewed here).

Your initial approach to the new Escape Lounge is not hugely promising, down a slightly depressing corridor.  The airport has done the best it can to lighten it up, however, with this impressive image:

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

These pictures are from 2017:

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Are fish finger sandwiches still on offer?!

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

My view back in 2017 was that considerably more money had been spent on food than was strictly necessary. It was a noticeable step up from anything you found in a mainstream lounge. This may no longer be the case of course.

Here is the bar, as of 2017:

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Decor was done well:

Review new Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Other smart touches included this fascinating coffee maker, the like of which I had never seen before.

You have probably seen ‘hot taps’ which can dispense boiling water for tea or instant coffee.  This system had an entire coffee machine hidden out of sight!  There was a tap built into the table top and an iPad alongside showing different drink types.  You tap the iPad display button for, say, a cappuccino and it is dispensed from the tap!  I found this strangely impressive.

Review 1903 lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

The view is very impressive.

The main wall comprises floor to ceiling glass windows.  Aircraft gates are directly below you, but you are also looking directly out onto the main runway.  Every time an aircraft lands it will taxi past you on the way to its stand.   I’m not a plane spotter in the slightest – I can’t even tell the difference between Boeing and Airbus short-haul planes – but it was still pretty cool to watch.

Review 1903 lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Conclusion

I was impressed by this lounge back in 2017. In my original review, I even suggested that BA passengers travelling for a special occasion should pay for the 1903 Lounge rather than go into the BA lounge for free.

If this new Escape Lounge is now exclusively a Priority Pass / DragonPass / LoungeKey lounge, with paying customers stuck in the poorer original Escape Lounge, then this is a good result.

According to the Priority Pass website, opening hours are 4am to 4pm daily, except for Friday (closes at 7pm) and Saturday (closes at 1pm).

If you passing through Manchester Terminal 3 this weekend and are able to pop in, please post below about what you find.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (November 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK 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 1,500 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

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

You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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 £24.  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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £290 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card, which has a lower fee and also comes with Radison Rewards VIP status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

30,000 points (TO 9TH DECEMBER) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

Comments (55)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • TimM says:

    The piece shies away from mentioning that Ryanair is the biggest user of MAN T3!

    “I’m not a plane spotter in the slightest – I can’t even tell the difference between Boeing and Airbus short-haul planes”. I used to be a plane spotter as a boy and could recognise the type even in the sky. A DC10 vs a Tristar was the biggest challenge. Now, decades of optimisation mean short haul planes mostly only vary by length.

    Is there any word on the 1903 lounges in T1 & T2?

    • Rhys says:

      The 1903 lounge in the T2 extension was never on Priority Pass as it was the main lounge used by airlines such as Aer Lingus etc.

    • RussellH says:

      I would have thought that the difference between a DC-10 and a Tristar was pretty obvious, but then I grew up under the main approach path to LHR where they were low enough to tell the difference with the naked eye.
      This was long before DC-10 and Tristars, though. Lockheed Constellations seemed to be the main long haul machines, some Stratocruisers and the BOAC Britannia.
      Vivid memories of the early jets, Comet 4, Caravelle, B707, TU104 too.
      But I lost interest in that ny the beginning of the 1960s, and by the time I first got onto a plane, Dec 1971, it was a 737, a type I had never heard of.

    • Red Flyer says:

      I thought that Boeing have round exhausts and Airbus are slotted, so that was an easy way to distinguish?

    • 1ATL says:

      From a distance:
      Boeing single wing strobe flash
      Airbus double wing strobe flash

  • Bob says:

    The space from the former BA lounge is not empty – they are (or at least were on my last visit) using it as overflow seating.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    That’s a premium decor?! Looks like an IKEA showroom to me

    • Andrew J says:

      With blankets over the sofa like you might cover up an old sofa in a rented flat.

  • Mike Hunt says:

    Great a Northern article – a balanced contribution to Levelling Up.

  • Richard says:

    I visited this lounge on Thursday. It’s not quite the same as before, there’s no hot food. Basic continental breakfast and then sandwiches for lunch. There’s now a normal coffee machine and alcoholic drinks are self serve including Prosecco.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      We knew from the way T2 1903 has gone that the food would take a tumble downwards. There was that brief period where 1903 were using Irish sausages in the hot breakfast buffet but they’ve been replaced now with English ones 🙁

  • Paul says:

    They will turn it into a lounge like aspire in T1. Poor quality everything.

    I’ve got to the point where I prefer to sit in a resturaunt and pay for items in MAN than use Aspire lounge.

    I had access a few weeks ago with my Finnair flight. I opted for a coffee and left after 5 minutes. Better to sit in Pret and pay for a salad and a glass of wine

  • Dirtyneedlebluesky says:

    Horses for courses. I was in Aspire T1 mid-August but found it a very pleasant experience. Nice view over the apron, hot breakfast more than acceptable (but won’t win any awards). Not too busy (even at 8-10AM). Could enter with PP.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      Yes agreed, and I find Aspire staff genuinely want to serve you. Popping backstage to check if they have alternatives, etc.

  • riku says:

    >>Lounge at BA’s Manchester Airport T3
    Has the UK become like the USA in that airlines build their own terminals?
    BA USE terminal T3 but it’s Manchester airport’s T3 not BA’s.

    • Rob says:

      Brevity over clarity with headlines ….

      • Nick says:

        Funnily enough MAN T3 was actually built as the ‘BA terminal’, and it’s still called that in many of the lifts and on some signage if you know where to look. But of course it’s long since stopped actually being it.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      As Tim refers to, anyone who has had the displeasure of using T3 recently will be in no doubt it’s Ryanair’s T3. It really has been a zoo down on the crowded main terminal floor this year.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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