V-Flyer

Just a heads-up anyone flying in Upper Class or are FC AU from MAN, the T2 Escape lounge is closing for approx 15 weeks for refurbishment on 10th Jan and with no other lounge offering, VS will providing food vouchers:

We need to let you know that from the 10 January 2016 Manchester Airport Group will be refurbishing their ‘Escape Lounge’ which we would normally invite customers to use before their flight.

The refurbishment is due to last 15 weeks and unfortunately, during this time we are not able to offer lounge access for passengers travelling on Virgin Atlantic flights departing Manchester.

During this period our airport team will provide customers with a voucher to use at a selection of restaurants and bars in the terminal.

We hope we’ll be able to invite customers back to the updated lounge soon.

The only alternative is if you are booked with Virgin Holidays, is to book the V:Room, which is a very pleasant area to relax in.

This is a bit of a poor show from Virgin IMO. Given that there are only 14 Upper Class seats on the 747's & 33 on the A330's, they could have made the V-Room available - especially in the quieter periods outside of UK school holidays.

Of course, you have to add on a few extra passengers for Gold card holders+guests. There are 2 Escape Lounges upstairs by gate 209 (the left & right hand sides ones). What has happened to the old Delta Escape lounge down the corridor next to the V-Room? Delta used to use this exclusively for their Atlanta flight before Virgin took the route over. I was travelling to MCO on one occasion & was taken to this lounge as both of the "normal" Escape ones were full. It was exactly the same as the other Escape lounges, but emptied out 100% when the Atlanta flight boarding was called.

Another example of the miss treatment of us Northerners!
I have always resented paying the same premium for flying UC from MAN and getting such an inferior offering regarding the lounge facilities. The one in T3 was ok when Little Red was operating but T2 frankly was second class compared with the Clubhouses at Heathrow or Gatwick.
Now transferred my allegiance to BA , much more consistent and routing via AMS have had some great deals.
Will still be using VS untill I have used up my miles though!

hazban wrote:Another example of the miss treatment of us Northerners!
I have always resented paying the same premium for flying UC from MAN and getting such an inferior offering regarding the lounge facilities. The one in T3 was ok when Little Red was operating but T2 frankly was second class compared with the Clubhouses at Heathrow or Gatwick.
Now transferred my allegiance to BA , much more consistent and routing via AMS have had some great deals.
Will still be using VS untill I have used up my miles though!

Hopefully it means that the MAN offering will be much better when the escape lounge reopens.

Not sure I understand the moving to BA bit? Surely that means you have to go via LHR/LGW if you're travelling long haul? Just the same as going down there and flying with VS.

This is welcome news IMO though disappointing that the V-Room hasn't been made available for the period concerned.

For the last few months, flying the VS109 I have always been directed to the 'Escape 2' on the left when reaching the stairs. This lounge does need some long-overdue TLC as the furniture (partially) is from when the lounge use to the Air France lounge.

Great that MAG are investing in the Escape concept at T2 which seriously lagged behind the offer in T1 and T3 which was always a favourite of mine when flying with Little Red.

I'd be interested to see the voucher amount too!

Jon

I did get an email yesterday stating it would be closed and you would get vouchers, but alas, it was open this morning and yes, in drastic need of a refurb.

David

This is very poor, and must have been known about for some time, yet only just announced, as far as I am aware.
To have no lounge access at all for the fares charged in Upper is not good, and will harm the product for the paying passengers for those 15 weeks.

I'm on the VS75 in UC on 5th Feb and have not had any communication from VS about this. :(

Well - thats a very poor show indeed.
A 'voucher for food' would be extremely poor compensation.

There are three of us travelling at end of Feb and not one of us ever eats anything when using the lounge.
Its purpose from our perspectives is a refuge from the noise/crush at the gate areas/wi-fi use.

As has been said already, this isnt the LHR clubhouse by a long chalk, so we have always been treated badly in comparison, but surely some alternative could be found.
And 15 weeks!- Its not much bigger than our house. When its finished It had better be comparable with LHR!

James -Did this come from Virgin Atlantic or Manchester Airport Authority?
We three PAX have two seperate bookings and neither has had a notification.

Anyone know the cost of a 'purchased entry' to the Escape lounge?

If we had known this earlier, the bookings may well have been made in PE. Hmmmph!

NorthernLad wrote:Anyone know the cost of a 'purchased entry' to the Escape lounge?

I just got a quote for the T2 Escape Lounge for Saturday afternoon via the Manchester Airport website & it was £18.49 per adult for admission. The walk-up rate (if there is capacity) is probably slightly higher than the pre-booked rate.

Even so, if the pre-booked rate is £18.49, then Virgin are getting it cheaper due to the amount of custom they give the lounge. I bet Virgin pay under £15 per passenger.

I got the email from VS trade, supposed to be for travel agents, but anyone can access the VS trade website and subscribe to email updates.

Kraken wrote:
Even so, if the pre-booked rate is £18.49, then Virgin are getting it cheaper due to the amount of custom they give the lounge. I bet Virgin pay under £15 per passenger.

Dread to think how much the LHR/LGW Clubhouse cost per passenger. The North is missing out yet again, and now for 15 weeks, there is no lounge access at all.

I was at the Hilton a few weeks ago with someone from Virgin and Crawley towers. We had a good chat about the lack of clubhouse at Manchester and lack of flights to the west coast. Just think Virgin and BA both throw their eggs in one basket with Heathrow and the passenger experience. Fact is Manchester is the biggest growth market in the UK by far given it has two runways. Just wish Virgin would buy the escape lounge and have done with it to be honest.

Joshl257 wrote:I was at the Hilton a few weeks ago with someone from Virgin and Crawley towers. We had a good chat about the lack of clubhouse at Manchester and lack of flights to the west coast. Just think Virgin and BA both throw their eggs in one basket with Heathrow and the passenger experience. Fact is Manchester is the biggest growth market in the UK by far given it has two runways. Just wish Virgin would buy the escape lounge and have done with it to be honest.

You have forgotten that both BA and VS have large operations at LGW.

At least VS offer TATL routes from MAN which is more than can be said for BA.

And airlines do the sums before starting new routes and know from their existing data what routes will likely work and which won't. If VS saw in their data that they had enough passengers from the north that they could fill up planes on more routes from MAN (but that wouldn't damage LHR or LGW ops) then they would but the numbers just don't add up.

tontybear wrote:

Joshl257 wrote:I was at the Hilton a few weeks ago with someone from Virgin and Crawley towers. We had a good chat about the lack of clubhouse at Manchester and lack of flights to the west coast. Just think Virgin and BA both throw their eggs in one basket with Heathrow and the passenger experience. Fact is Manchester is the biggest growth market in the UK by far given it has two runways. Just wish Virgin would buy the escape lounge and have done with it to be honest.

You have forgotten that both BA and VS have large operations at LGW.

At least VS offer TATL routes from MAN which is more than can be said for BA.

And airlines do the sums before starting new routes and know from their existing data what routes will likely work and which won't. If VS saw in their data that they had enough passengers from the north that they could fill up planes on more routes from MAN (but that wouldn't damage LHR or LGW ops) then they would but the numbers just don't add up.

That's my point I have flown to ATL for many years with Delta. Now the route is Virgin the service has improved. But given that Manchester unlike London Gatwick has a Delta flight to JFK I feel it justifies having a Virgin / Delta lounge. Not to mention the MCO LAS and BGI routes.
But I'm interested to see what they do at Manchester in the future. I'm flying VS110 tomorrow so might do a trip report if I get time when I get back to the UK.

joshl257- Since you are likely to be one of the first to experience the non-availability of the T2 Escape lounge, I am sure we will all be interested in the suitability of the compensatory voucher that is said to being offered because of the closure.

tontybear wrote:You have forgotten that both BA and VS have large operations at LGW.

At least VS offer TATL routes from MAN which is more than can be said for BA.

And airlines do the sums before starting new routes and know from their existing data what routes will likely work and which won't. If VS saw in their data that they had enough passengers from the north that they could fill up planes on more routes from MAN (but that wouldn't damage LHR or LGW ops) then they would but the numbers just don't add up.

Something to point out for the way the BA/IB/AA/AY joint transatlantic business works, the routes to/from non-hub airports like Manchester are cheaper for AA to fly from their hubs, and BA/IB/AA/AY all get a set cut of all transatlantic traffic.

Does anybody know if this is the lounge that SQ use for J pax also?

Thanks
Lx

Going back a couple of years, SQ certainly used to use the Escape lounge for their premium cabin passengers. As of late, I cannot remember seeing anyone remotely Singaporean in the lounge when on the VS75, so I guess they have taken their business elsewhere.

According the the SQ website, they still use the Escape lounge at MAN.

If my old grey cell is still working, Escape Too used to be the AirFrance lounge and was open to Delta business class passengers and looked very worn. All the Lounges in T2 are very busy and I have been refused entry on quite a few occasions when using my Priority Pass card.

NorthernLad wrote:joshl257- Since you are likely to be one of the first to experience the non-availability of the T2 Escape lounge, I am sure we will all be interested in the suitability of the compensatory voucher that is said to being offered because of the closure.

Well I have just flown back on VS110 this Wednesday just gone. I'm not flying Virgin now until June. So by that time it should be refurbished I'm also hoping they have refitted the A330 by then as the IFE was playing up on both of my flights. I think they did something similar when Little Red was still running with costa coffee vouchers. But I'm going to evaluate upper class and the lounge at manchester nearer the time.

We fly out of T2 at MAN next Friday, so I'll report back on what sort of vouchers are on offer. Actually, will we be eligible? We're both Au but flying in PE, not UC. We then also fly out of MAN in July, so hopefully there's something available by then.

I was on the VS75 today, as a GOLD in UC I was offered the vouchers or V-Room, needless to say I opted for the V-Room

Hi guys
im sure I remember reading that the escape lounge at man is closing for refurb ... just wondering if it has closed and reopened yet .. an if so what is it like ?

Lisa x