There’s a surprisingly wide number of options
When you’re collecting Avios, you’ll naturally think about British Airways. If Manchester is your local airport, that means a single route down to London, which of course can connect you to hundreds of destinations. What you may find surprising is that there are many more options at MAN that you can use your Avios points on.
Using Avios in the North West
There’s a total of 17 destinations you can fly to directly from Manchester using Avios. What’s more, if you’re willing to connect, there are hundreds of destinations you can access.
When we started collecting Avios, we spent the first few years flying exclusively with BA. That meant a connection in London, which became an annoyance, and a reliance on seat availability with a single airline. We’ve expanded our horizons, and now we take most of our flights with other airlines. Qatar has become a favourite if we’re flying East, and we have our first Finnair long-haul later this year.
What we love, however, is a direct flight. Connections add time and stress to journeys. Living in Greater Manchester means that our destinations are more limited, but there are still some really interesting options.
Using points: currency vs partnership
It’s worth talking about the difference between an airline that uses Avios as its frequent flyer currency and those that partner with airlines that use Avios.
In the context of this article, it’s how we go from a handful of airlines that you can book using Avios to many more.
Some airlines have adopted Avios as their currency. When you fly with them on a cash ticket, you collect points, and when you want to fly using points, it’s just a question of doing a search and finding a flight.
Each of those airlines has partners: airlines that they’ve chosen to get close to because there’s a mutual benefit. A good example is British Airways and American Airlines. Whilst they compete on routes between the UK and the US, if you were to land in say New York on a BA flight then you can use AA’s regional or national flights to connect across the US. The same goes in reverse, when you land in London on an American Airlines flight, you can easily connect out to the UK and Europe on British Airways.
These partnerships are important because you can usually book partner flights using Avios.
Not all partnerships are equal
If an airline is part of an alliance, like oneworld, Star Alliance or SkyTeam, then their partners will be the other airlines in that alliance. However, each airline can choose to have its own unique partners outside of that.
For example, Qatar has a partnership with JetBlue, which no other oneworld airline has.
These partnerships are important because they unlock more flight options, although not every flight is bookable and often these orphaned partnerships are focused just on flights within the airline’s home country.
Which airlines use Avios at Manchester?
The list below includes all of the airlines that use Avios as their core currency and fly from Manchester. I wrote a longer article on which airlines you can book using Avios that you might find useful. All flights, in theory, are bookable using points, although of course that depends on availability.
- Aer Lingus
- British Airways
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Loganair
- Qatar
- Vueling
Which partner airlines fly to Manchester?
These are the airlines you could book using your Avios, but they don’t use Avios as their currency. You would book them via an airline that does use Avios
- Cathay Pacific (book via BA, Iberia, Qatar or Finnair)
- Royal Air Maroc (book via BA, Iberia, Qatar or Finnair)
- Royal Jordanian (book via BA, Iberia, Qatar or Finnair)
The destinations you can fly to
British Airways
At the time of writing, the only BA flights are to London. Historically, BA had a base at Manchester, and more recently, they ran occasional flights from Manchester to specific destinations on their CityFlyer subsidiary, though these were once per week and have now ceased.
BA fly narrow-bodies on this route, either an A319, A320 or A321 depending on the time of day and how busy they are. There is a Euro Business cabin on these flights, although the seats are the same as economy, with the middle seat blocked out. The food and drink in the Business cabin is better than in Economy, and despite cuts and changes, it’s still a pretty decent meal.
Qatar Airways
Qatar fly three or four times a day to Doha, and you easily transfer your Avios to Qatar, from British Airways. Those transfers are instant, making it really easy to use your points.
Flights are on wide-bodies with a mix of A350s and 777s meaning there’s a chance you get the Q-Suite. However, we flew recently, and it was on a 787, with an older generation (but perfectly fine) seat.
You cannot, at present, use a companion voucher with Qatar. You may also end up using significantly more points through Qatar’s Flexi Rewards functionality. That gives you access to more availability, but it comes at a cost.
Finnair
Finnair fly one or two times every day to Helsinki. Transfering your Avios from BA to Finnair is also easy and instant. It’s worth doing a dummy booking to see whether it’s more cost-effective to book a flight on BA or with Finnair. You can, of course, transfer Avios back from Finnair to BA if you need to.
You can’t use companion vouchers with Finnair, and if you’re flying business, they use the low-rated Aspire lounge at MAN.
Iberia
Right now, Iberia fly to Madrid sporadically. Until late June, it’s three times a week, on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Then the days switch to Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and finally, in September, the flights stop.
It doesn’t bode well for the future, but they may be switching to operate seasonally rather than year round. They compete on that route with both Easyjet and Ryanair.
The flights are on narrow-bodies, typically an A320, which feature Euro-business (economy seats with the middle seat blocked out).
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus fly to Dublin and Belfast from Manchester. They did fly to New York, Orlando and Barbados, but while flights were announced as ceasing at the end of March 2026, they are no longer bookable.
The MAN to Dublin flights operate multiple times a day. Some are on the Aer Lingus A320 or A321, whilst others are via Emerald Airlines on an ATR 72. All of the MAN to Belfast flights are via Emerald Airlines, on their ATR 72.
Loganair
You can fly to many destinations across the UK with Loganair.
- Aberdeen
- Exeter
- Inverness
- Isle of Man
- Kirkwall
- Newquay
- Southampton
- Sumburgh
Lognair operate a fleet of smaller aircraft, including an Embraer (which flies to Aberdeen, Exeter, Inverness) and two ATR aircraft (Isle of Man,
Vueling
Vueling flies to Barcelona daily. There are two flights per day during peak season, and one a day off-peak.
They use a single aisle A320 or A321, which does not have any form of business class. You can
Cathay Pacific
Cathay fly daily to Hong Kong. Usually, they use an A350 or a 777, which features business, premium economy and economy. The Business seat is fully lay-flat, akin to the premium cabin on BA or Qatar.
Royal Air Maroc
RAM fly direct to Casablanca from Manchester. They operate three to seven flights a week, with the daily service starting in December 2026 and running into mid-January. They fly a single-aisle 737 with a two-class layout.
Royal Jordanian
RJ flies from Manchester to Amman. There are three flights a week throughout the year, on a Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Despite the reasonable flight time (5.5 hours) they use an A320. They do, however, offer business class (Crown Class) with proper (not Euro business) seats. These are wider, with two seats taking up the width of three economy seats.
What’s the experience like at Manchester Airport for Avios travellers?
All airlines, apart from Ryanair, depart from the new Terminal 2. This is bright, modern, and has only recently been fully completed. The terminal can, however, get extremely busy during peak periods.
Checking in and security
There will be priority check-in desks for passengers with status or who are flying in Business for most of the airlines. Vueling is one example that does not have this; Qatar, BA, Finnair, and Iberia do. You should also get access to the fast-track security if you’re in a premium cabin, although the fast-track is only available at one of the two security wings. The experience for fast track in T2 is much better than T1/T3.
Premium Lounges at T2
If you’re travelling in Business or you have status, then the current lounge situation is poor. There is no dedicated airline lounge, so passengers are sent to one of the three paid-entry lounges. Two of those lounges are run by the airport (The 1903 and the Escape Lounge), and there’s a third-party Aspire lounge.
It is highly likely that a new “premium” lounge will be launching. This will not be affiliated with any airline, but it’s expected to be invite-only, meaning only premium passengers. There is no deadline on the launch of this lounge, but my best guess is at some point later in 2026. The opening of that lounge will allow the airport to close its 1903 Lounge, and create a “mega” Escape lounge.
I created a list of all the airlines at MAN and which lounges they use. If you are going to be sent to the Aspire lounge, I’d suggest you consider eating in a restaurant rather than this lounge. It’s not a great space, and is widely regarded as the worst lounge at the airport.
The 1903 lounge is perfectly passable. It is, right now, the best lounge at the airport. The new premium lounge is expected to be better, and the upcoming Emirates lounge should surpass both of them.
Onboard – which airlines have a “proper” business class?
Qatar, Cathay, Royal Jordanian and Royal Air Maroc all offer business class seats that are better than economy. Qatar and Cathay, being long-haul, have the best options: fully lie-flat seats in an enclosed suite. Royal Jordanian and Royal Air Maroc have an elevated business class seat that reclines and has a greater seat width than economy.
BA, Iberia, Finnair and Aer Lingus (on their A320/A321) have Euro Business, so standard economy seats in business, but the middle seat is blocked. You will get an elevated food and drink service.
Finally, Loganair and Vueling do not sell Business Class tickets.
How easy is it to be an Avios collector outside of London?
The reality is that if you live next door to Heathrow, then you’ll have access to significantly more direct flights.
If you consider the extra time it takes to connect from a regional airport to LHR, then living within two hours of Heathrow means you’re better off than those further away. It is much easier to take a direct flight than to connect, especially when you consider flight delays.
That doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get some great usage out of your points outside of London, but being close to Manchester airport gives you the best options.
- In the North East you have a more limited set of options: Aer Lingus and BA from Newcastle.
- The cessation of the Leeds Bradford connecting flights to London has left just Aer Lingus.
- At Birmingham, you have Aer Lingus, Loganair, Qatar and Vueling. Perhaps an AA flight in the future.
- Edinburgh gives you a decent amount of options: Aer Lingus, American Airlines (booked via BA), British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Loganair, Qatar and Vueling.
- Glasgow plays second fiddle to Edinburgh, but still has options: Aer Lingus, BA and Loganair.
- Finally, Belfast (City Airport) has Aer Lingus, British Airways and Loganair.
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