V-Flyer

Booked flights for August from Manchester to Vegas in PE, was looking to book the 1903 lounge, but it showed no availability.

Seen a couple of places mention that they only open bookings 3 months out? Can anyone confirm - and is it on a rolling basis?

We're booked in for 12th November in 1903 so no 3 month period

The 1903 lounge has always been notoriously difficult to book for paid entry as numbers are extremely limited each day.

I may be a little wary though booking the 1903 lounge as paid entry going forwards as aren’t the rumours that the 1903 lounge brand is going and it will end up merging into the Escape lounge once this new so-called premium airline lounge opens at some point in the future?

We've used this lounge when it has been complimentary but have declined to even try and pay for it when it isn't. It's not the worst we've experienced, but it's not great either and we've always had nice service in the restaurants at MAN.

Whilst I realise the OP is asking about August, expect the 1903 Lounge to be extremely hard to book (or indeed impossible) until late March / early April. Emirates are using is as the "premium" lounge for their Business / First Class / Skywards "status" passengers until their own lounge is completed.

The morning 2 class A380 has 58 Business Class seats, so Emirates are sending 60+ passengers to 1903 (when you allow for Skywards with status). Add onto this the J class passengers from Virgin, Qatar, Singapore, Cathay etc... the lounge will get very busy in the mornings. It would not surprise me if MAN have blocked out all "pay entry" bookings for 1903 in the morning rush time.

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

As Kraken says, I suspect they have closed off public bookings in the mornings, as I'm able to make a booking for later in the day on the same date.

Never used Manchester before.

This has come from FT. Details about the new Executive by Escape lounge at MAN T2 are now on the MAN airport website for pre-booking 'from July 2026'.

It's not 100% given that VS will be using this lounge but looking at the map, this lounge is located in what was going to be the VS Clubhouse space.

Did VS used to have a lounge at MAN? Long before I started flying regularly with them so unsure.

Is the current 1903 lounge decent? I've got a trip next month in UC but heard mixed reviews, I usually go to San Carlo when in EC and like it in there

RodneyMckay wrote:Did VS used to have a lounge at MAN? Long before I started flying regularly with them so unsure.

Is the current 1903 lounge decent? I've got a trip next month in UC but heard mixed reviews, I usually go to San Carlo when in EC and like it in there

No, VS have never had their own lounge at MAN. In the old section of T2, VS always used the Escape lounge. The nearest VS ever got to a lounge was the now defunct Virgin Holidays V:Room; which wasn’t actually a decent lounge. It just didn’t have much of a view as it only overlooked the inside of the departure terminal.

The 1903 lounge is a reasonable lounge with pretty decent drink and good albeit mostly self-service food with pretty good views. Much better than the old T2 Escape lounge which didn’t have windows or even washrooms.

mitchja wrote:

RodneyMckay wrote:Did VS used to have a lounge at MAN? Long before I started flying regularly with them so unsure.

Is the current 1903 lounge decent? I've got a trip next month in UC but heard mixed reviews, I usually go to San Carlo when in EC and like it in there

No, VS have never had their own lounge at MAN. In the old section of T2, VS always used the Escape lounge. The nearest VS ever got to a lounge was the now defunct Virgin Holidays V:Room; which wasn’t actually a decent lounge. It just didn’t have much of a view as it only overlooked the inside of the departure terminal.

The 1903 lounge is a reasonable lounge with pretty decent drink and good albeit mostly self-service food with pretty good views. Much better than the old T2 Escape lounge which didn’t have windows or even washrooms.

Thankyou, I shall give it a try!

It's just been announced Manchester Airport will open the executive lounge on July 1st. This will occupy the space left by VS not building the proposed clubhouse. The 1903 lounge will close and an expanded escape lounge will replace it. I'm travelling on July 3rd with VS so will let everyone know what it's like.

Joshl257 wrote:It's just been announced Manchester Airport will open the executive lounge on July 1st. This will occupy the space left by VS not building the proposed clubhouse. The 1903 lounge will close and an expanded escape lounge will replace it. I'm travelling on July 3rd with VS so will let everyone know what it's like.

We are flying to Barbados in November so we booked the 1903 lounge as we're not UC this time. Received an email today stating that we've been automatically 'upgraded' to The Executive so we'll see!!

We are flying out in a couple of weeks, We are sating at the Tribe hotel the night before. How long before the flight can you access the 1903 ?

Thanks,

Steve

SDFLYER wrote:We are flying out in a couple of weeks, We are sating at the Tribe hotel the night before. How long before the flight can you access the 1903 ?

Thanks,

Steve

As with all VS lounges / Clubhouses, 3Hrs before your scheduled departure time.