Executive By Escape Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 2, a new class of airport lounge

WARNING: This lounge will change your airport visits!
When I first read about this lounge I was taken in by various posts who obviously hadn't really read the press releases. It's not at all what I expected. I booked with low expectations and left the lounge desperate to fly again and experience this lounge. Here's what happened!

Terminal 2's newest and fanciest lounge for all travellers

When I booked this trip, early March, I booked us into the Escape Lounge too at £91.98 for the two of us. Reading about the new lounge mid April, but being unsure, I cancelled for a refund and instead booked the two of us into this lounge for £127.98. A comparable price for the old 1903 Lounge, which we used to love but decided the Escape Lounge was cheaper and we could go without the self pour champagne (and the cinema style ice cream tubs). But for £ 36 extra I wanted to see what was on offer.

Entering the Executive by Escape Lounges

On the day we walked through a very busy Manchester Terminal 2 (early school holidays has started, there was hardly a seat to be seen when we arrived mid afternoon) and headed straight to the lounges. I thought this was a rebranded 1903 Lounge so headed to the usual checkin desk, and as we approached we were asked to show tickets as they were fully booked. A quick glance at our ticket and we were allowed to pass - big mistake.

We stood in the queue for 5 minutes, already late (for us) as traffic had been a nightmare, then got to the front of the queue. Our name, boarding cards, pass in the Apple Wallet etc all didn't get us in. The recepionist was puzzled, then asked to see the email whilst asking how much we paid. Instantly she smiled and said that we were upgraded - to the Executive Lounge. She pointed to this huge, Emirates Lounge style doorway that we had marched straight past as we were too busy with the queue of people being turned around.

Back track a few yards and enter the new lounge with just 1 receptionist dealing with a customer who had some sort of booking issue. Really annoying after already queuing because we'd missed the entrance, especially as a second receptionist then appeared, tried to process our booking, then moved us to another computer and tried there. Although she could find our booking she needed to see page 3 of the booking confirmation. No idea why but, of course, I'd not printed that and it only showed Tamp;Cs so pointles. But eventually we were given our card allowing us 2 hours entry to the lounge, but as the 1903 Lounge used to do being late it was back dated to the booking time not the entrance time. Really annoying when we could see our flight already showing as slightly late.

The Executive By Escape Lounges layout

We then walked into the lounge where we were met by a greeter. The lady in the queue behind us had had a much smoother experience and the greeter was just starting to welcome here, saw us and stopped to give just the one talk to proudly explain the layout of the new lounge.

That's a good point to descibe the lounge. In one word 'massive'. It occupies the entire space from the end of the restaurants to the start of the Escape Lounge. I was told that it was originally earmarked as the new Emirates lounge, so it is huge. But they wanted even more space and direct access to the airbridge so this space has been vacant until now.

The views of the airport from the Executive Lounge

The views out are the best of any lounge in the airport. Whereas Escape is slightly north west of Pier C (away from the runway) the Executive by Escape is over Pier C and to the other side. This means you can see the entire apron and a lot of the airfield. With the Emirates A380 parked right outside of the window, a few A320s / B737 and a Dreamliner arriving, there was lots to see. When we were there incoming flights were landing on 05L (this happens about 25% of the time) so we could see the queue of aircraft coming in to land plus land movements. If you want to watch aircraft before you fly this is where to go!

The Executive By Escape Lounge Areas

The lounge is split into areas. There are multiple seating areas with different vibes - by the window it's very sit down with your coffee and cake, a little back it's tables for a meal and elsewhere it's quieter for relaxing or working. Plus there's a seated dining area in the middle.

Off towards the exit there's a coffee bar area with cakes etc. Very much the coffee cafe vibe. It wouldn't look out of place in any shopping center if you were grabbing a coffee and cake on the move. Next to this area is the salad bar, aka first course if eating a full meal. This felt very continental and prepared me for the holiday.

Next to the entrance is a large bar serving alcoholic drinks, although we didn't get to use that. The other side of the entrance is their, what they claim to be unique, cavery option. Get your meat, select veg and you are off. But this is another impressive part of the lounge - I have frequently complained that after paying a lot for entry all that is available for desserts is the old chocolate muffin. These, and more, were available in the coffee bar but in the carvery area was also bread and butter pudding and apple crumble, with loads of hot custard.

Self service hot drinks machines were scattered around the lounge if you wanted a quick drink rather than the barista style serving and there are also open bottles of champagne to help yourself to.

Who uses this lounge

Unlike the 1903 Lounge this lounge does allow anyone to book with children. It is stated that groups of more than 6 are not allowed, but whilst we were there 6 adults and as many children turned up in a single party. Maybe they were booked through an airline, which are subject to different rules.

There are, of course, screens around the lounge showing departure boards and the decor is as good as any lounge I've seen, except the Dubai's Emirates lounge. I just couldn't get over the size and attention to detail in this lounge. It has been created to compete with the best of the airline lounges. It's not cheap at (when I booked) around £64 each, but it is a class above anything else.

Is this Executive lounge worth the cost?

Is it worth it? My first lounge booking was the Virgin V-Room in T2 back in December 2018. I paid £20 each and that was a lot less than we paid on any other visit for food and drink. Stepping up the price through the lounge options to over trebble that does push the boundaries of 'worth it', but this is not just financial. The terminal was clogged with passengers trying to find space, every restaurant had a massive queue and we could relax, eat as much as we wanted (knowing that we'd arrive in out hotel about 23:00) and watch the aircraft. It's worth it enough for my wife to be expecting that lounge next time we travel so yes, it's worth it!