I was in the MAN lounge on Sunday (June 2010) and noticed that a temporary partition had been reected, cutting the smaller BA lounge in half again (i.e. in addition to the FlyBe portion). The pcs and a coffee machine have been moved out of the area now closed off and relocated in the remaining area. When I asked what was happening, the reception desk said they thought BA were handing back half the lounge to the airport.

For those who remember when the terraces first opened after the building of T3 you will recall that the area now closed off was never part of the original BA lounge, it was just empty shelled space that BA only took over when they expanded at Manchester through the purchase of the BRAL Group.

I had hoped the lounge was being refurbished since there is still a fair number of flights from Manchester to LHR, LGW and the two AA flights to ORD and JFK (who use the lounge). However my guess is that there are few full fare or Exec card holders using the routes (many colleagues have stopped using the air service since the significant cut backs to/from LHR, opting for rail) and therefore there is reduced usage.

Are other UK lounges outside LHR likely to suffer the same fate? LGW has already been halved; NCL next?