Review: Executive By Escape, Manchester T2. Is it really worth it?

The most expensive lounge at Terminal 2, but is it the best?

The Executive by Escape lounge is now open, bringing to an end a very sorry saga. Go back a few months, and there was a lounge issue at Manchester’s T2: there simply weren’t enough. At one point, the airport had just three lounges, and one was so small it barely counted. The most premium was the 1903 Lounge, followed by (in order of luxury) the Escape and the Aspire. Both the 1903 and Escape are run by MAG, Manchester Airport’s parent company.

The lounge merry-go-round at Manchester’s T2

From feast to famine. We now have a brand new Emirates lounge, an Aspire, an oversized Escape lounge and The Executive. On top of that, another Aspire is opening up, and that promises to be both bigger and better than the original Aspire. That wouldn’t be difficult. The current Aspire lounge has a solid 3 out of five on Google, and even that feels suspiciously generous.

I’ve referred to the Escape Lounge as oversized because it now has the footprint of two lounges. The original, more elevated, 1903 closed, and that space was merged into the Escape. It is a huge lounge, but Manchester Airport will fill it.

At almost exactly the same time as the 1903 closed, the new Executive By Escape opened. The entrance is on the same corridor you take to reach the Escape.

Virgin was due to launch a lounge

The space that The Executive occupies has an interesting story. It was first (and quite seriously) proposed as being a Virgin lounge. Then it was floated that it could be a oneworld lounge.

Just prior to its current incarnation, there was talk of it being an airline and frequent flyer lounge run by the airport itself. MAG have had one of those lounges before. In T3, it briefly operated a lounge accessible only to those travelling in Business or those with airline status. It was a relatively nice space, but it was far too small for what was needed.

What we have ended up with is a mix of wins and losses. Given MAG’s track record, that’s not so bad. The loss is that The Executive lounge is open to anyone: travellers in business, those with status, and anyone who wants to pay. It is not as exclusive as originally expected. The win is that they have actually executed well on this lounge. It’s not quite Aether, but it’s certainly the second-best lounge experience that Manchester Airport have produced, and the second-best lounge in T2.

Where is The Executive By Escape?

The lounge is on the second floor of the terminal. When you pass through either of the security wings, and then have the obligatory enforced trek through duty-free, you’ll eventually end up by the escalators. Head up a floor, turn right and then turn left.

The entrance way is down the corridor on the left, just past the public bathrooms. You can’t miss it: it’s well signposted and has large, wrap-around signage.

Who can gain access?

We paid £127.98 for two of us to access the lounge, booking around a month before we visited. The entry prices may change based on the dates and times you choose, as MAG uses dynamic pricing for their lounges and car parking. The quoted “from” price is £56.99, but I haven’t been able to see any slots that cost that. If you pay at the door, it’s a flat £72.

If you’re flying with some premium airlines and you’re in business class, then you’ll get entry to this lounge. You can see a list of airlines that use this lounge on my dedicated page.

It’s notable that British Airways passengers cannot use The Executive By Escape. You’ll be sent to a roped-off area in the Escape lounge. It’s better than the old T3 Escape Lounge, if that helps.

Our experience of The Executive

It didn’t start great. We stood at reception for twenty seconds whilst the two staff members had a conversation. Eventually they looked up, and one of them scanned our boarding passes. They weren’t rude; they just seemed uninterested.

Things got better when we walked into the lounge. A friendly staff member asked if we had been to the lounge before (we had not) and then pointed us towards the different food areas. She did what you’d hope for in a premium lounge; she made you feel welcome.

The hot food station is on your left as soon as you enter. The seating around here was pretty busy, and I was surprised at how many people were in this lounge. We turned right and kept walking past the manned bar and beyond the sit-down dining area (“The Boll”). This space appears to be open, as there was one group sat at a table in there when we entered the lounge, but it’s not yet bookable online.

At the far end of the lounge is the barista coffee station, which also houses pastries and cakes. More on these later, but they were a definite highlight. Next to that is a healthier salad bar, and beyond that some cold breakfast options. This area was quieter, with a handful of people dotted around. We sat at the restaurant-style seating and went for a wander around the food stations.

What’s the lounge like inside?

It is a very attractive space, and MAG have done a great job with the decor. It was actually a little smaller than what I expected. That’s not to say that it’s a tiny lounge (a hat tip to the nearby Aspire, which feels cramped with ten people in it), but as some parts of it were busy, it didn’t feel huge.

There are hot spots in the lounge. Any seating by the windows was taken, apart from one table that hadn’t been cleared away. Seats around the hot food counter were busy throughout our time in the lounge.

That’s the closest seating to the entrance and the easiest place for people to park themselves. If you head to the far right of the lounge, you should find it to be a bit quieter.

There are lots of thoughtful design touches, and some of the colour scheme feels like a lighter, brighter version of the Cathay Pacific First lounge at Heathrow. There are pinks, golds, whites and dark greys, some dark wood and blues and beige. If that sounds like a lot, remember that there are a lot of different zones in this space. It absolutely works and looks stunning 

Food and drink inside The Executive By Escape

There are three different menus for this lounge, due to the branding of each food station. There’s The Humm, The Loom and Leaf & Loaf. It feels like branding overkill. Think of them as simply three counters to get food from. A sit-down restaurant in the middle of the lounge, called The Boll, appears to be open but isn’t bookable yet.

When it comes to the food, at least at breakfast, there were highs and lows. The highs were the sheer variety of foods, with probably the most pastry options that I’ve ever seen in a lounge. The double chocolate loaf cake was a real high.

There were four different cookie options (the chocolate chip one was excellent), plus a pile of croissants. The only negative review I’d give the pastries is that the cinnamon roll was a bit tasteless.

At the same Barista station, there were three juice options: orange, apple and strawberry. The latter was great, whilst the orange juice didn’t taste particularly premium but was perfectly passable. I ordered a flat white which was made in front of me in record time. It was to a coffee shop standard.

I opted for a croissant and the chocolate loaf cake, then went back for a cookie and

The real low for me was the hot breakfast options. The sausages were fine, neither bad nor good. I believe you can get toast somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. Bonus points for having bread rolls there so you can easily make a bacon or sausage sandwich. The real issue was the lack of options. It felt no bigger, or better, than the old 1903 Lounge.

Does anyone really want a Pork & Haggis patty? Would some regular hash browns be better than the weird ones that they have?

You do have some made-to-order egg based options: scrambled, fried and poached, but sadly no pancakes.

The array of healthier options and cold choices was strong, but those food stations seemed the least popular. I get the feeling that the hot food options are what people really came for.

Just in case you accidentally wander into the healthy zone and you feel unnerved, there’s helpfully a basket with more pastries.

Private dining at The Boll

The Boll is not yet bookable, but the space is usable by lounge guests. When we arrived, a small group were eating in there, while when we left, almost every table was being used. I am guessing that it is being used a spillover to give The Executve extra capacity.

The dining space is no more or less attractive than the rest of the lounge, but I do find the positioning odd. It sits in the middle of the lounge, surrounded by seating, passengers and noise.

If you think about the elevated parts of other lounges, like some of the Concorde dining spaces in BA outstations, they’re generally tucked away in a quieter place. Three of the four sides of this space are open, meaning it is not going to be quiet

Facilities at The Executive

This is not a lounge that has a lot beyond food and drink. There are screens with flight information, although some are turned off. There is wifi, but it’s extremely slow. I was getting less than 1mb/s when I connected. There are toilets, but no showers. I had heart that shower access could be arranged, but I checked with a staffer and this just isn’t possible.

What I can say about the bathrooms is that they were beautiful. Not only were they tastefully designed, but they also have artwork inside them. These were the nicest airport toilets that I have used outside of the Middle East.

The soap inside the bathrooms was provided by

When you’re heading into, or out of, the cubicle (which has full-height, floor-to-ceiling doors), then you’ll end up gripping a beautiful door handle. These feel similar to the ones used in Aether, and it does show the effort that was made with the design of this lounge.

There is even some attractive artwork in each of the cubicles.

The Verdict: Is The Executive worth it?

If you’re asking yourself, should I pay to access The Executive, that’s a difficult question for me to answer. It didn’t quite meet the standards I expected. The lukewarm welcome, the mid-range of hot food options. The general busyness of the lounge and the noise. Is this really worth over £60 per person for a maximum of two hours?

It was, however, better than the Escape and the now-closed 1903 Lounge. It is absolutely better than the current Aspire lounge, and will likely be better than the delayed second Aspire. If you are in the market for a lounge, and you aren’t flying Emirates (their new lounge has opened in T2), then this is the best option.

This is not exactly a quiet lounge. As I write this, trolleys are being noisily trundled around, and every few minutes a different type of beeping comes from somewhere near the food areas. Alert noises come over the sound system as if an announcement is going to be made, and sometimes one is. Other times, it’s just a sound that plays for no apparent reason.

And yet it is a well-designed space that is one of the most attractive spaces that MAG have built, second only to the Aether Private Terminal. The seating options are great: some private, some sit-down dining; it does a great job of catering to the many different types of guests that will be passing through. Take a look around and you can see the effort made with this lounge.

Is it really worth £64 each, and is it worth £17 more than the nearby Escape? Is the Escape even worth that? The reality is that you will have paid hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds for your holiday. Your car parking, or taxi, could well have reached into three figures. When you’re jetting off one, two or three times a year, what’s another £60-quid each to experience something a bit better than the busy restaurants.

Being hungry or thirsty at Manchester T2 in the morning isn’t great. The restaurants near the escalators, where everyone arrives into the body of the terminal, have queues outside the doors. The lounges might be busy, but they are less busy. It will be easier and faster to eat in a lounge.

As you leave the lounge, you’ll see some sort of automatic gifting machine. Turn the dial, and you get a small present, or at least you would if it was working. It’s fitting that the final thing you experience is broken, a reminder that no matter how hard Manchester Airport try, they just can’t avoid fumbling something.

Rating The Executive By Escape

Food & drink (I visited for Breakfast)

Decor

How busy the lounge is (I visited at 10am)

Facilities (Bathrooms, free wi-fi (but very slow))

Overall Rating