Originally Posted by
baggageinhall
JonTY1, how much does your wife know/care about flying in a premium cabin? (This feels like the bit in the Shawshank Redemption where Andy asks a guard if he trusts his wife and the guard puts him up against a wall...) I ask not to be rude, but because if the answer is 'not much' you can probably hide this by telling a small lie. You could for example, tell her that you are flying WT+ which could explain away the lounge access if she doesn't know the intricacies of lounge access rules.
In fact if you had a paid WT+ ticket the domestic would book into the J bucket and so you'd get access at MAN.
Alternatively, (heretical for this site) you could skip the MAN lounge altogether which won't give the game away, hopefully, until you get to the CCR.
As the OP hasn't visited a lounge himself yet, he'd probably want to see the MAN lounge as well. Also I think after being in a regular outstation business class lounge the CCR will seem all the more special. If the CCR is the first lounge she visits then she might think they're all like that!
One thing to note if you're returning in F you'll get access to the CCR at JFK and at LHR for your flight to Manchester. Make sure you keep your inbound boarding pass.
You're lucky that your destination is the only other airport with a CCR. Some people also say the one at JFK is the best one.
Lastly and of course this depends from person to person, you could tell her on the night before / the morning that you leave. She may enjoy the anticipating of flying F almost as much as the cabin itself. I know that Mrs Baggageinhall is a lot calmer about the whole travel experience if we are flying F or J rather than Y knowing that she can relax in the lounge, not worry about having to buy extra bottles of water to drink in-flight, having more space etc.
They do water in F? Surprised there's room with all the champagne
On my first trip in F I was amazed how attentive the service was. My glass wasn't allowed to go empty until I said no more and it was cleared away so quickly after finishing. I went for a nap and when I woke up someone asked whether I wanted anything. I never had to press the call bell or go and look for someone.
Your experience may vary, but hopefully you'll have a good crew who'll make the trip memorable in their own way.
To the crew on here: is there a way to get a note onto the iPad to alert the crew this is a special occasion (e.g. by sending a message to YouFirst)? The iPad should already note it's your first time flying F so the crew might come over and offer extra assistance with the seat, explain the service style, etc if they check their iPad at an appropriate time.