TAP joins Ryanair / PremiAir Manchester/ MAN (£50)
 

TAP has joined RYANAIR and some other carriers in offering passengers the use of Manchester's new "premium" terminal. Passengers opting for this channel, pay the steep cost of facilitated departure processes (£50 a pop), with lounge access a further £50.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...assengers.html

Manchester's widely recognised as one of the most unpleasant to use in the UK. But the airport sees this sadness as an opportunity to make more revenue from it's new facility, rather than improve the existing three terminals.

TAP compounded the misery of its Manchester passengers by withdrawing from the agreement to provide lounge facilities to those travelling in business class and or holding status with the airline, or with Star Alliance partners.

Are there really enough people passing through Manchester who will pay £50 to expedite security and be driven to the plane - no lounge, no check in bags, literally just that?

I guess Manchester's super-enlightened management has worked out that if they let the decline in service quality continue, demand for a premium alternative can only increase.

TAP may have joined a few other carriers but as far as I can see Ryanair hasn’t (yet). ;)

I was pretty sure I saw FR on the initial list, but who knows - or perhaps I believed a report in the papers :)

I'm about to leave for MAN, recklessly depending again on the last FRA service to make a sub-1 hour connection, this time to Kyev. But this time I'm armed with the assurance that while the phone centre folk can't/won't/shouldn't make reroutings on other carriers, the service desks can/will/should do it: I'm prepared to be charming.

Bus gate (inevitable) to B-something will be easier than my brave-but-pointless dash for the Buenos Aires flight a couple of weeks back.



At MAN yesterday the good news to report is that the travelators/walkways and escalators linking the station to the terminals are now boxed off (rather than simply not moving), and the stairs/sections are being dismantled. The HOPE is that this is the the looooong overdue repair or replacement, rather than a prelude to selling the junk off as scrap...