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Excellent £99 deal for the aether private terminal at Manchester is now permanent

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aether, as regular readers may remember, is the ‘pay to use’ VIP terminal at Manchester Airport.

It originally opened in November 2019 as PremiAir. Little did we know that covid was around the corner, causing the terminal to shut before it could get established. After a closure of almost five years, the terminal re-opened its doors in November 2024 under a new name – aether.

The key thing to know is that ANYONE can use aether if they are flying on a participating airline. 

aether terminal

We ran a detailed review of aether here so we won’t repeat ourselves.

The key things to know are:

  • aether is nowhere near the main terminal and you cannot walk between them.  It was built next to the Runway Visitor Park, on land which was originally given over to plane spotters.
  • aether is located on the edge of the airfield facing the runway. It is astonishing how close you are to passing aircraft.
  • There are no shops, no takeaways and no long walks through busy crowds. You literally have your own private security and immigration channel, plus your own driver to take you to your gate.
  • aether has teamed up with Manchester chef Adam Reid to create its menus. All food is served a la carte and is cooked to order, and everything is included in your entry fee.

What is the aether £99 deal?

For the summer, aether introduced a VERY attractive £99 deal. It proved so popular that it is now a permanent part of the offering.

This is ONLY available to people travelling without checked baggage.

aether terminal manchester airport

For £99, you get:

  • Entry to aether from two hours prior to flight departure
  • One course from the Adam Reid menu
  • Two complimentary drinks
  • Private security
  • Chauffeur-driven car to your gate

You’re not getting unlimited alcohol and you’re not getting to choose from the full food and drink menu, but £99 is laughably good value – especially when compared to the standard Manchester Airport experience over in the main terminal ….

What other packages are available?

aether continues to offer its other two packages, which offer a more expansive food and drink offering and a longer stay, plus an arrivals package:

  • Inclusive with cabin baggage – for hand baggage only passengers. You pay from £179 and can arrive from three hours before departure. You have full access to the facilities including food and drink. You will clear immigration and security in aether and be driven across the airport to your gate 60 minutes before departure. 
  • Inclusive with checked baggage – as above, but your luggage is taken from you when you arrive and transferred separately to the main terminal. The cost is from £199.
  • Arrivals with cabin baggage – anyone arriving with only cabin baggage can be met at their gate and driven to aether from private immigration. The cost is £99.

You can find out more, and book, on this page of the aether website here. You’ll also find details on how you can combine it with valet parking if you are coming in your own vehicle.

Comments (79)

  • TimM says:

    Aether can only exist because the rest of the ‘Manchester Airport Experience’ is so terrible.

    Also, the transfers mentioned are not to the plane but to the gate where one has to join the normal queue.

    Of questionable value.

    • BJ says:

      The value is mostly to a subset of the population of a certain mindset.

    • Pete says:

      I’d happily pay this to avoid the Manchester airport experience..vowed never to fly from MAN again after being screamed yelled out for having wired earphones in my carry on 10+ years ago.

  • Mr IO says:

    As the comment above. I personally won’t use this as the vehicle is only to the gate where you then queue with everyone else. If they sorted this it would be a game changer.

    • Rob says:

      You are driven to the gate and the staff walk you up to the desk where your boarding pass needs to be scanned. It is then up to the airline if they let you board first / immediately or not. Reports are mixed.

      • Mr IO says:

        I am sure they could run up with your boarding pass and passport. Or there will be technology to enable it. If they can solve check in and security they can solve this. Put it another way, if it was the PM flying, he would not be stood at the gate with his boarding pass!

        • Rob says:

          Check in uses the standard multi-airline kiosk they use in the terminal. Security – they have a machine. Million times easier to solve than how you have a BA contractor verify your passport and scan your BP.

      • BJ says:

        In other words the same as everyone else whether they arrive at the gate on foot, by wheelchair, buggy etc. Once flying Etihad the gate staff at AUH figured it would be a great idea to keep all business passengers seated at the gate until the end so they wouldn’t get caught up in general boarding. I never experienced that before or since.

      • JimBurgessHill says:

        If it’s anything like using the AMS VIP centre (where you’re also driven to the aircraft) the driver parked at the foot of the jetty steps then walked us up the steps & asked us to wait a moment by the aircraft door. She then popped up to the gate desk to scan our boarding passes. Super simple and straight on to the plane before they started boarding from gate room.

  • HampshireHog says:

    My issue is getting to the private terminal, you presumably can’t get their by train or tram nor use the drop n go car park

    • TimM says:

      HampshireHog, no, if arriving by car, train or tram, you still need a taxi to get to the Aether terminal. The most sensible alternative would be a private transfer from home to the terminal.

      But what is the point? You are paying extra for less than an airport lounge provides in a remote location and still have to queue at the gate to board (unless you happen to be a writer of a famous airline travel site, such as HfP).

      As ever, Manchester Airport Group have totally mis-managed the offering. I do wonder if there are two brain cells between their ears.

      • Rob says:

        I don’t understand how you thing MAG could have got around this, given that the airline must scan the boarding pass.

        It’s not like the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt where the lounge is airline run and is staffed by their people and their tech.

      • Jake says:

        @TimM – But how is that a fair assessment. What about the lack of check-in queues? What about the lack of security queues? What about the lack of walking (potentially valuable for those who find it difficult). What about the ability to arrive later – important if you charge by the hour etc.

        Struggle to see how you have made a fair assessment.

        Not sure why this offering gets your goat!

        • a9504477 says:

          The £99 offer is for hand luggage only so you wouldn’t be queuing for check-in anyway.

        • Novice says:

          The vast majority of people who find it hard to walk use the wheelchair service at MAN. In fact, I sometimes think a lot of those wheelchair users are actually fit to walk but just want to get through security etc fast. Because you are usually breezed through on a wheelchair.

      • Corpt says:

        That’s very unfair. Having done it, I thought it worth every penny of the £99. You miss the MAN security mess, you get better food and drink than in the Aspire lounge (though maybe not if you want to binge on junk) and very discreet personal service. You avoid all the terminal “noise”, right up to the point of arriving at the boarding gate.
        There was only one other person in the lounge when I was there, who happened to be a local football manager, if that’s your thing.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      You can use drop and go, there is a booking page on the website.

  • gumshoe says:

    Presumably not selling very well then?

    • Rob says:

      London City couldn’t make such a concept work with a FAR wealthier catchment area and similar pricing, and LCY even offered to drive you the 30 seconds from the DLR station (or, if you came by taxi, you reached the private terminal before the main airport).

      • Novice says:

        I would use this if they drove me from MIA train station. Wouldn’t mind the last bit of gate queue if the getting to the terminal part was made easier as I usually travel with cabin baggage so don’t need the check in.

    • Andrew J says:

      Indeed. Give it a couple of years and it’ll be gone probably.

      • Dan Carey says:

        Good! They need to invest in the experience for everyone

        • Dubious says:

          Extra services like this have the potential to generate additional revenue for the airport (e.g. via concessionary fees), that it can then use to invest in other aspects of the airport. I’m not saying it will, but just because this service exists, does not mean it subtracts investment from other passenger services.

          • Ken says:

            Or on the other hand, not long after investing in this, they took the decision to switch the Skylink moving walkways off to say on the operating costs and stopped maintenance on them as they were due to be replaced in FOUR years.

        • Novice says:

          This. And open decent lounges. Atm, Man lounges are crap.

  • Paul says:

    Its probably worth it under certain circumstances, just to avoid MAN. But i normally travel with luggage and my wife and kid in J class. I can’t justify 600 + taxi just to avoid the main terminal and the awful aspire lounge experience

  • Luke says:

    A classic example of a business proposition with some powerful USPs but also containing fatal flaws that render it valueless.

    • Rob says:

      It’s bizarre how everyone who had used aether raves about it and those who haven’t complain.

      • Throwawayname says:

        It’s not bizarre, just goes to show that it’s a niche service. As someone who only ever goes to MAN by train and aims to be among the last to board, this is a complete non-starter to me.

        The value proposition would be very different for someone who always goes to the airport by taxi and wants to be at the gate in time for the priority boarding call for titanium elite überfirst class passengers.

        • JDB says:

          Of course it’s a niche service. It wouldn’t work otherwise.

          The critics seem to latch on to very minor issues when what they really mean is they either can’t afford or are too tight to pay for a premium airport experience. Just like the critics of the Concorde experience.

          • Luke says:

            Not at all. There is always a demand for niche services but that doesn’t mean that they can be delivered in a way that is profitable.

            Only two people paying 99 quid in a lounge suggests that it isn’t.

            Probably a better idea to turn it into a cafe for the plane spotters.

          • Ken says:

            It’s clearly going to be a much more pleasant experience. It clearly great value compared with paying for a lounge.

            However you can spin it how you like, but being taken to gate 60 mins before flight, with no guarantee that you don’t just then have to hang around for 20 mins before boarding is a flaw.

          • Throwawayname says:

            @JDB, the reasons why I won’t be using the service have nothing to do with affordability.

            If the airline gave me a choice between going there and the Aspire lounge, I would still go to the Aspire lounge because that works better for my use case. On the other hand, someone travelling with an autistic child that struggles with crowded spaces might be happy to pay aether a lot more than the current price for the peace of mind.

          • JDB says:

            @Throwawayname – I guess the question is whether if you tried aether you would still feel the same. I don’t know either Aspire MAN or aether but comments re Aspire make it sound incredibly grotty and having had the opportunity to use a number of private terminals over the years, I can’t think of any that would be less preferable than the ‘regular’ experience.

          • Throwawayname says:

            @JDB I haven’t tried aether, but I have been to the Aspire lounge and it’s definitely underwhelming- though I wouldn’t use the word ‘grotty’ as it’s been cleaner than the BA ones I have visited at LHR and definitely didn’t seem to have a rodent infestation like the KLM ones at AMS.

            The issue is that Aspire’s in the same building as the gate and that allows me to stay in my armchair until 20-25 minutes before departure- which means I can avoid the need for milling around with crying toddlers etc and I can get on the plane when it’s actually ready to go.

          • HampshireHog says:

            Getting to the remote location and being dumped in a corridor queue are hardly minor issues in my opinion.

  • Dan Carey says:

    “ It proved so popular that it is now a permanent part of the offering.”

    Pull the other one. That’s PR spin for no one is using it.

    • Throwawayname says:

      I read it to mean ‘nobody is buying at full price, but they did manage to find a few people willing to pay £100 to avoid the dreadful experience of having to use the airport’s public areas during peak season’.

  • Dirtyneedlebluesky says:

    I feel we need to start revaluating some of critiscm MAN so richly deserved once.

    The refurbished T2 is finally making a noticeable difference esp at security.

    Lounge capacity will grow (aspire moving away from their temp home and the in-house offerings combining).

    The one downside being a very long walk from the main terminal area to the gates.

    • BlairWaldorfSalad says:

      What has your typical T2 security experience been like in 2025? I no longer live there so have only done it once – midday on a Tuesday in early June. The fast track line was about 6-8 tensabarrier turns deep. Then 5-person deep lines at every place along the security tray conveyor belt. My experience was a lack of available trays, staff hollering to not push your own trays onto the belt (but people doing it anyway), and the whole thing taking far too long to be considered fast or indeed premium. I am though on record as being of the view that a fast track lane should be a pay-the-airport service; meanwhile a priority lane should be for J and F passengers.

      • HampshireHog says:

        A big part of the MAN fast track experience is the families and special assistance folk being pushed in front of us daft beggars who paid.

        • BlairWaldorfSalad says:

          This has always been my view of why typical fast tracks don’t work. They’re combining the savvy regular traveller with the anxious and bewildered. Far better for both parties to be separated.

        • Novice says:

          I mentioned this earlier. To me, it always looks like a lot of wheelchair users are completely healthy people. And some people (asians and east European) always seem to have at least one person using a wheelchair and then everyone in their group tries to get in those lanes. They should have a system where people should be providing some proof why they need assistance because if you genuinely are disabled or have some illness then you already have those letters from doctors or various organisations.

      • Novice says:

        I think the main problem with security is that the vast majority of people who use MAN don’t seem to know what to do. They take up time. Getting bottles out, moving things from various places to a transparent bag, they just don’t seem prepared. Once I am at the belt, it takes me 5 minutes and even then it’s usually because the staff are crap and start trying to open everything up. Everyone acts clueless in MAN security section so everything ends up taking 4 times the amount of time it should.

        • TJones says:

          MAN T2 has the new scanners and everything stays in the bag.

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

            I’ve been at several airports with the new scanners and it still doesn’t stop people from taking stuff out of bags – even with numeous signs saying not to !

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