There’s a new way to get access to Aether
Hold on to your hats. This isn’t a cheaper way to access Aether, but instead is a way to secure future visits at a discount. That requires both a sizeable initial outlay and a lot of visits through the private terminal to make your money back.
What is Aether?
Aether is the private terminal at Manchester Airport. I visited it not long after it opened, and it is an exceptional way to fly. You can depart from, or arrive into, a building that is wholly separate from the main airport. The only time you have to experience MAN is when you need to board the plane and are driven from Aether to the terminal, and then walked to the gate.
In the travel sector, few things are as good as they claim to be. We’re bombarded with adjectives like “luxury” and “elevated” all the time, and the actual offering is often closer to bargain basement. Aether is not in that category, and it’s hard to put into words how much better it makes the experience of travelling.
As you can imagine, it’s not cheap, although there are often offers on. At the time of writing, there’s 20% off select packages. Even with that, it’s not exactly cheap, but at the same time not outrageously expensive.
What has Aether announced?
There are three annual memberships that will give you access to Aether as well as the potential to use its private suite. Memberships start at £3,500/year, followed by a mid-tier at £8,000 a year and a top-tier £20,000 per annum.
What they get you is a set number of visits, complimentary parking, and more.
- Tier 1 is £3,500 a year
- You get 24 one-way Express (no hold baggage) credits for use by the member.
- An additional 8 one-way full-package credits (hold baggage included) usable by the member and their guests
- Free parking for round trips that are up to seven days.
- Private suite upgrades (where available)
- Tier 2 is £8,000 a year
- You get unlimited Express (no hold baggage) trips, used by the member only
- 24 one-way full-package credits, usable by the member and guests. That’s 4x more than Tier 1
- The free parking from Tier 1 remains, fixed at seven-day trips.
- When available, you will be offered a private suite upgrade
- Tier 3 is £20,000 a year and is the most expensive package
- You get unlimited express credits for the member, and twenty for use by guests. Each one is one-way.
- 80 one-way full package credits, for use by the member and guests.
- Free parking for all Aether visits, with no limitations on the trip length
- Private suite upgrades, where it is available
- Use of the Aether meeting spaces
There’s no doubt these prices are eye-watering and aimed at a very specific group of travellers. The value offered is interesting.
Assuming that you use every available credit, I would value the credits as follows:
Tier 1 (£3.5k/year)
The 24 Express visits are worth £2,376 (£99 each). The 8x full package credits are worth £1,592 (£199 each). That’s a total value of £3,968 not taking into account the free parking. A typical seven-day car parking stay costs £74, so there is real value there but it’s hard to quantify.
Firstly, the package does represent a saving, but you may argue that it’s not a big enough one in order to pay for the package. If you aren’t going to utilise every credit, then you may be better off paying for the trips direct.
The best, clear case, is that you save £468 a year.
Tier 2 (£8k/year)
This tier is harder to quantify, as the express visits are unlimited. Assuming that you fly every other week on business from MAN, that’s 26 trips a year which would require 52 credits. That is valued at £5,148.
The 24 credits for the full Aether package are worth £4,776. That gives a total value of £9,924. That’s a near £2k saving versus booking direct, and it doesn’t take into account the free car parking. That is better, but you have to travel 32 times over the year to reach that, assuming that you use your express credits for solo travel, and the 24 credits for the full package for you and a guest, on both the outbound and return leg.
The numbers make sense, but you would have to be an extreme traveller to get real value from them
Tier 3 (£20k/year)
You get the unlimited express trips, which I’ll use the same methodology for in terms of value: 52 credits, valued at £5,148. Remember that MAG’s T&Cs state that unlimited means “reasonable personal use”.
The 80 full-package credits are 20 trips a year, return, for two people. That’s nearly £16k of value, giving you a total of £21k. You have unlimited parking, which will be a real saving. Assuming that you take those 72 trips, that’s worth roughly £5,328, assuming your trips are an average of seven days. The parking costs can change as MAG uses dynamic pricing.
That gives you a potential saving of just over £6k.
Who would pay for an Aether membership?
There are two real users of Aether: regular consumers who want to experience it once in a while (I include myself in this; we used it inbound and outbound on a trip nearly two years ago, and haven’t used it since) and then the real market, which is high net worth individuals who travel a lot. For the latter, the idea of spending £3.5k or even £20k may not be an issue.
What I loved about Aether is how much easier it makes travel. There is no doubt that if you travel a lot, then it will save you time, and for some people, time is absolutely money. It’s stress-free, which is valuable, and it’s far more private.
I personally wouldn’t pay £3.5k for membership, but that’s because I just don’t travel that much from MAN. When I do, it’s usually for trips of over two weeks, and then there’s the small matter of not having £3.5k. However, there will be individuals across Greater Manchester and into Cheshire who could potentially get value from the membership.
The real, real value may come from just being a member. All packages come with “Dedicated concierge service for bookings”, which I would guess is someone at Aether who organises your credits. This could be a lot easier than the frustrating booking process, although that concierge is only open during Aether opening hours (4am to 10pm).
What is the Aether Private Suite?
One of the listed perks is (when available) getting access to the Private Suite. The private terminal is already very private, at least in my experience, but you might want even more privacy. There is at least one suite that you could use if you were a credible VIP. You can now book the suite (or suites) for cash, although you have to speak to Aether. You cannot do this online.
Little is known about the room, but a single picture exists on the Aether website. The look is similar to the main room, and you still get views across the airport.
It’s not an unattractive space; in fact, the whole terminal is well designed. It just doesn’t look any better than the rest of the lounge. The primary advantage is the privacy.
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