Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

EXCLUSIVE: PremiAir at Manchester Airport is to reopen in the autumn

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

PremiAir at Manchester Airport is potentially the most impressive aviation experience in the UK. The fact that you could have this experience for under £100 at times, pre covid, was even more astonishing.

After a four year pandemic break, PremiAir is coming back. The PremiAir website is still saying that the terminal is closed for the forseeable future, but Manchester Airports Group is advertising for a General Manager. MAG would be no more specific than ‘Autumn’ when I asked about a date.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, let’s go back to square one.

PremiAir is the ‘pay to use’ VIP terminal at Manchester Airport.

ANYONE can use PremiAir if they are flying on a participating airline.  It isn’t just for the super-rich either.  Fees started at just £50 when it opened in 2019, which many people will find a modest price to pay to escape the nightmare that is the main terminal complex at Manchester. The full service, including food and drink, was often under £100.

Where is PremiAir?

The good news, for those keen to see as little of the main airport as possible, is that PremiAir is nowhere near the main terminal.  It was built next to the Runway Visitor Park, on a piece of land which was originally given over to plane spotters. 

Here is a picture from my pre-covid visit:

Review PremiAir VIP terminal Manchester Airport

I was the only person booked in that day.  I had the entire terminal to myself for the 90 minutes I was there, which was certainly a novelty.

There isn’t much to explain.  The very friendly reception team checked you off and confirmed that your ID is in order and that there was no reason, eg customs declarations, why you might need to go back to the main terminal.

As the main lounge is literally on the edge of an active taxiway, you had aircraft passing within 100 feet of the windows every couple of minutes.

It is a long thin space dominated by floor to ceiling windows on one side.

Review PremiAir VIP terminal Manchester Airport

This was very much ‘stealth wealth’ territory.  If you were looking for Cristal on tap then you were very much in the wrong place. Apart from a selection of pastries and cookies which are out on display, all food was cooked to order from a menu.

The transfer to my plane

This was the cool bit.  When my British Airways flight back to London was ready for boarding, PremiAir staff came over and took me to a car.

You go through a door where there is passport control and security screening.  It was the first time in my life that I have been greeted by name by a security screener!

I hopped into the car and off we went:

Review PremiAir VIP terminal Manchester Airport

Terminal 3 was a long way from PremiAir, which was great because I got a full drive around the airfield.  It seems that not all aircraft gates have easy access for car passengers from the apron.  In my case, we parked up at Gate 49 which was the most convenient.  The two PremiAir staff and I went into the terminal, up to Departures, and then did the 45 second walk across to Gate 135 which BA was using that day.

I was Group 1 boarding anyway, but the PremiAir staff took me to the front of the line and told the agents at the gate to let me go first.

Review PremiAir VIP terminal Manchester Airport

What does PremiAir cost?

Back in 2019 there were two options:

  • Priority Departures – for hand baggage only passengers, you coulf pay £50 per person and check in at PremiAir.  You clear immigration and are immediately driven across the airport to your departure gate in a shared vehicle.  You only need to arrive 60 minutes before departure.
  • Premium Departures (what I did) – for passengers with luggage and/or who want a private lounge, you can pay £100.  You will check in and clear immigration, and then be able to use the lounge in the terminal before being driven across the airport directly to the steps of your aircraft in a private vehicle.

There was also an arrivals service (£125) as well as the ability to book a private suite for your party on arrival or departure.

Conclusion

I was very impressed by PremiAir back in 2019.  Given how painful the main terminal at Manchester Airport can be, I hope it can properly find its feet after it reopens.

At £50-£100 per person pre-covid – and almost certainly more now – it clearly isn’t aimed at the family market – although there are plenty of people in the airport catchment area who will be happy to pay.  The main market is going to be corporate travellers (for whom paying £100 is a bargain if they can get more work done than they could do in the terminal) and the airlines.

What PremiAir never managed was to secure a scheduled airline to use it for its long haul passengers. If Qatar Airways, for example, was willing to use it for full fare Business Class passengers it would be a real talking point.

We’ll keep you in the loop if we hear any more about the reopening date. This is very positive news for aviation in Manchester.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 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, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) 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.

Category

General

Comments (60)

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

  • AL says:
    1 Feb1 February 05:14

    Hello from MAN T3. This has, after a particularly annoying yet entirely commonplace dealing with security this morning, made me pleased! They should offer subscriptions for those of unfortunate enough to have to traverse T3 regularly…

  • scatterbrainjoe says:
    1 Feb1 February 06:12

    I would be very surprised if this opens with more than just a couple of partner airlines because when I worked at the airport most of the airlines such as Jet2 don’t like relinquishing control of your luggage and boarding process.

    • Novice says:
      1 Feb1 February 10:42

      Jet2 passengers aren’t the market tho.

      I would happily pay up to £250 just to not have to go to the Man main terminal.

      • scatterbrainjoe says:
        1 Feb1 February 12:42

        Jet2 was one example (and one of the biggest airlines at Manchester) but majority of airlines don’t like it. Thomas Cook passengers were Premiair’s biggest users so it is leisure passengers who use it the most.

        • Rob says:
          1 Feb1 February 14:19

          Given how many employees can’t expense £5 for a G&T on a flight, imagine how many can expense £100+ for this. Despite what I wrote, it’s not a no-brainer that your boss would just sign it off willy nilly because you can’t be arsed to queue an hour for security (even though it’s in work time so technically you’re being paid to queue!).

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        1 Feb1 February 13:44

        Interesting generalisation on Jet2 passengers :D. Especially in the regions, many people on LCCs are on them because that is by far the quickest, and likelyy the only direct, way to their chosen destination; which could just as easily be their £5 million second property as a budget all-inclusive…

        • Rob says:
          1 Feb1 February 14:14

          My old line manager in my banking days, who would have been on around £5m per year, used to fly everywhere on easyJet because he lived in Hampstead and Luton was easiest to reach from his house. (This is 15 years ago when easyJet was still a big force at Luton.)

          • TooPoorToBeHere says:
            1 Feb1 February 20:27

            Similar story with a family member; board director of a household name, mostly used LTN because…it was near his house.

  • HertsSam says:
    1 Feb1 February 06:23

    £50 for this service seems low especially considering the costs for the staff, vehicles, fixed and other variable costs.
    2 people to escort you to the gate?!
    Wouldn’t be surprised if the price heads up to Windsor suite territory, or something close to that figure.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      1 Feb1 February 07:42

      That – as Rob wrote – pre Covid.

      He also wrote “and almost certainly more now”

    • Chris W says:
      1 Feb1 February 08:45

      I would expect prices to at least double from pre-covid.

      • Rob says:
        1 Feb1 February 08:54

        Those old prices were also ‘launch’ offers – I doubt it had even been open for 6 months when covid hit.

        The building is a sunk cost now though which takes some pressure off the maths.

      • HertsSam says:
        1 Feb1 February 10:32

        I too know nowt about these things. I would expect it to be in the mid 100’s .
        It can’t be a premium experience if everyone can afford it?

  • TimM says:
    1 Feb1 February 06:24

    T2 is newly extended and re-designed and is still a nightmare. The plot seems to be to make the airport experience as unpleasant as possible so that a certain proportion of passengers pay extra for the airport experience of old, in Premiair, much as premium cabin is the old economy.

    • Novice says:
      1 Feb1 February 10:45

      I don’t know why but I honestly feel like the redesign is worse. I just can’t understand the layout anymore. Doesn’t seem to make sense anymore.

  • His Holyness says:
    1 Feb1 February 06:45

    What’s the use to bring it back missing summer (which we can expect to be another MAN CF)? Better shift it to 2025.

    Reminds me of BA failing to take advantage of the current low season to revamp the clapped out T5 lounges.

    • No longer Entitled says:
      1 Feb1 February 07:03

      They want, and should get, a HfP award next January which they would miss by waiting until 2025.

      • His Holyness says:
        1 Feb1 February 07:28

        HfP award is definitely meaningful. I respect it infinitely more than sole-trader Edward M Plaisted’s trading as SkyTrax “awards”.

        • DF says:
          1 Feb1 February 10:37

          “Sole trader” is a bit unfair for SkyTrax – Edward’s son James also works there

          • His Holyness says:
            1 Feb1 February 10:44

            Ha ha ha…I noticed its “Skytrax” too, which would be the boomer way to write it after all.

      • daveinitalia says:
        1 Feb1 February 09:51

        When are this years awards announced? Perhaps HfP should do a Skytrax and give an award to MAN based on the potential of what it will be when launched

        • Rob says:
          1 Feb1 February 10:10

          The Daily Mail ran it yesterday as an exclusive. When our heads clear we’ll write it up on here 🙂

          • daveinitalia says:
            1 Feb1 February 12:58

            Now I’m confused, how can Virgin joining an alliance be called an innovation. BA did it years ago (as did bmi). Virgin just had the attitude for too many years (like the middle east carriers) that they were too special to need an alliance. If they’d bought bmi and joined them in Star Alliance it would have been a much bigger game changer.

            The other results I pretty much agree with, although can’t comment on the best new hotel one as I’ve not seen them except in pictures.

          • Rob says:
            1 Feb1 February 14:16

            Rhys and I had a debate about this one – I wanted to give the award to something else – but he talked me round on the basis that we’d been writing articles saying that VS should do it for a decade so it should be recognised when they finally did!

    • AndyGWP says:
      1 Feb1 February 08:45

      I know nowt about these sorts of things, but I assume the General Manager would need relevant security clearance (which takes time), as well as there being a requirement to recruit staff into post and perform clearance etc

      It would probably be a costly reputational mistake to take risks on those timescales and also have to manage summer throughput / high capacity

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      1 Feb1 February 08:55

      “Low season” is relative.

      The BA flights I’ve done in the last couple of months have been rammed.

      And given the coordination needed to do anything airside they can’t always chose when things – other than simple things like switching furniture – get done.

      • His Holyness says:
        1 Feb1 February 09:21

        The schedule this winter is thinned out, that’s just a fact and is the case across all European airlines. The time to do the refurbishment was now.

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
          1 Feb1 February 11:18

          As I said it’s not as easy as you seem to think it is to arrange for work to be done airside.

          Everything going in has to be security cleared.

          All tools etc have to be signed in and out everyday.

          It also has to be coordinated with whatever works are happening at the airport. HAL may not want other projects happening whilst the security scanners are being replaced for example.

          And that’s before you even get in to the issue of actual availability of getting contractors in to do the work.

          • His Holyness says:
            1 Feb1 February 12:25

            Come on LOL. Somehow they manage to refurbish airside airport lounges all across the world in a timely manner and for example, don’t have showers in the disgraceful state that BA has. The refurbishment is years and years overdue.

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
            1 Feb1 February 14:44

            The Aspire lounge at AMS has been closed for almost a year for its refurb.

            The “my lounge” at Luton is taking 6 months as per this article where @Rob also wrote about the difficulties of working airside

            “You can never underestimate the difficulties in building inside an airport, however, where every hammer, knife etc has to be signed in and out each day and where all of the contractors and all of the building materials need to be screened”

            https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/11/14/luton-airport-no1-lounge-opening-date/

            Perhaps it’s you who needs to “come on” and get real on how long these things take.

            ,

          • His Holyness says:
            1 Feb1 February 15:36

            They all have one thing in common… they planned it and are carrying it out or have executed it. BA have done nothing. The showers are as they were when the lounges first opened.

            Look at the chillers in the First Lounge, they’ve been broken for years, perhaps it’s a bit you said, the parts are still stuck at security waiting on a secondary screening…

            Thank goodness the slurry troughs are unaffected.

      • Mike says:
        1 Feb1 February 10:30

        In my experience the LHR-MAN & MAN-LHR flights are always rammed. I assume if it was just economics that more flights would be laid on but the constraint is probably LHR slots and not wanting to ‘waste’ them on a short domestic flights. Personally I think the government needs to step in and ‘reserve’ more slots for domestic interconnects. Though I doubt there’s any appetite due to muh climate change bad pressure.

        • Novice says:
          1 Feb1 February 10:55

          Well I don’t see the government being bothered about climate change pressure when they use helicopters for really short routes and going everywhere in private jets themselves.

          There should be more domestic flights between all airports in the country for an option and then it is the customers who should choose what they want to use.

  • Anna says:
    1 Feb1 February 07:31

    If post-pandemic airport hotel and parking prices are anything to go by, it’s going to be a lot more expensive now!
    IIRC, it only served quite a limited number of airlines, even by MAN standards. I seem to recall you couldn’t use it if you were flying EJ (which of course huge numbers of MAN pax will be).

  • AC says:
    1 Feb1 February 08:35

    This feels a bit like a case of making the actual airport as miserable as possible so as to make people who can fork up the small price to get what would be a slightly better than normal service at any other airport

  • Nick says:
    1 Feb1 February 08:45

    If you have to clear immigration on departure then this route has an additional faff that doesn’t exist in the main terminal. Not entirely clear why you have to do that only in the private terminal.

    • NorthernLass says:
      1 Feb1 February 10:50

      I think this just refers to the passport check you get before entering security, not immigration per se.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!