V-Flyer

As vflyers will know that I'm a regular through MAN taking VS flights to ATL, I'm usually through at least once a month.

I was through last week on my latest trip and though I won't be putting together a TR as the flight was uneventful, we did have two FSMs working in UC who were simply excellent from start to finish and a great team spirit was on display amongst the five crew working in UC.



However, a bit of change in the Escape lounge. We've had a dedicated VS representative for about three months now (though the staff member had phoned in sick on the day I visited and no replacement would be found at short notice) but I was told to settle in and enjoy the fully all-inclusive menu when showing my boarding card and the above card when ordering. I was told it was a new service for December so if up and running before I wasn't advised about it...

So all food was complimentary for travelling in UC. This included the full English, pancakes, Eggs Benedict and so on. Also included were the premium shelf alcohol (though sadly not Champagne..) even though I stuck to coffee and water fighting off a heavy cold and a cough.

So up until this month the food offer has been restricted to Bacon or sausage rolls, toast, pastries, fruit, yogurts, continental meats and cheese, breads and sweet treats.

So good to see this expansion to UC passengers and I quite enjoyed the pancakes with crispy bacon and maple syrup.

Sadly the lounge was really busy when I visited due to the large number of flights leaving around the same time though the team were directing all prebooked guests to the smaller Escape lounge back along the corridor to try and help.

Thought regular MAN travellers might appreciate the heads up.

Jon

Hi Jon

Good to see that VS are cranking up the offering in the Escape Lounge at MAN T2 - the "full menu" being on offer to UC pax for free is a good improvement - although the bacon & sausage cobs were always good. Maybe that comment I put on the questionnaire back in November of "bring a Clubhouse to MAN" helped!

There are a few VS crew based at MAN who are expecting children - so are grounded. So expect the VS "Rep" in the Escape Lounge to be around for a few months yet.

I need to plan my next Orlando trip now!

James

Kraken wrote:Hi Jon

Good to see that VS are cranking up the offering in the Escape Lounge at MAN T2 - the "full menu" being on offer to UC pax for free is a good improvement - although the bacon & sausage cobs were always good. Maybe that comment I put on the questionnaire back in November of "bring a Clubhouse to MAN" helped!

There are a few VS crew based at MAN who are expecting children - so are grounded. So expect the VS "Rep" in the Escape Lounge to be around for a few months yet.

I need to plan my next Orlando trip now!

James

Every little helps James! We'll have a dedicated space in the lounge before long with table service, free flowing champagne and cocktails....

Hopefully a CH will come along in 2018... Fingers crossed in the first phase of the T2 re-development assuming that remains on track!

Happy booking!

Jon

Thanks Jon , hopefully VS are realising Man as a good hub

jfenney wrote:Thanks Jon , hopefully VS are realising Man as a good hub

You can only hope so! British, sorry, London Airways only see two and a bit runways in the UK (LHRx2 & LGW). Whilst BA may rule the roost at LHR, LGW's biggest customer is now orange & low-cost.

BA have abandoned the regions in favour of London for all direct long-haul flights, so Virgin have MAN expansion handed to them on a plate if they want it. Thankfully for those of us who live "up North" it looks like VS are taking the MAN expansion carrot.

As above, just hope they go the whole-hog and install a Clubhouse - one has got to be on the cards pretty soon as the MAN base will soon have a better route network than the LGW base the way things are going. More significantly, a lot of the routes coming to MAN are not leisure-centric, so the lounge offering will matter more to passengers whose companies pay full fare J.

This is excellent news! I am flying UC to ATL from MAN on 23/12 and I am surprising my OH with the upgrade so she will be delighted with the improved offering (particularly the pancakes and crispy bacon!) as she was rather let down last time we booked the Escape lounge at MAN due to the limited choice on offer.

As it's our first UC experience I am a little disappointed I didn't book to go via LHR to experience the club house so at least this moves towards a better offering at MAN before getting on the flight!

Happy to hear there have been improvements in this area. If anyone could post pictures of the food offerings & review, that would be very helpful. I don't have any MAN hops planned at the moment.

As I've never been that taken with the Escape Lounge, I'm happy to hear that there are improvements, too. We moved most of our travel departures, bar one flight, from LHR to MAN this year due to the ATL route making it easy to connect to different US destinations. Next year we already have a minimum of five trips from MAN planned with VS and only one from LHR. We'll be making use of the SFO, LAS, ATL, MCO and JFK routes out of MAN. Now, if only they'd add a MAN-LAX route!