I began my journey back home by waking up way too early so I hit the gym at the Aloft before I packed up and left for my 8:02am train to Manchester Airport. It was cold and drizzly, but thankfully, we did not have the snow that was blanketing parts of the UK and causing travel chaos.

I reached Manchester Airport station around 9:30am and made the long trek from the station on the walkway to Terminal 1 and then continued outside on the well-marked path to Terminal 3. I’ve flown in and out of all three Manchester terminals and in my experience, Terminal 3 is the worst (although Terminal 1 isn’t great either).

I had checked in online and had boarding passes on my phone so I bypassed check-in and went right through security, which wasn’t too bad at that hour on a Monday. I found the elevator to the Escape Lounge and when I arrived, there was no line to enter. My business/first class ticket on British Airways gave me access.

Some of the tables were reserved and it was tough to find a decent place to sit. I started at a high-top bar seat and after an hour or so, moved over to a small table with a wall outlet to charge my phone. My flight to London was showing on-time when I arrived at the lounge, but soon started showing rolling delays.

When I arrived there was a decent breakfast spread including a full English breakfast, pastries, coffee/tea and a staffed bar.

My delay kept getting longer and I was a bit concerned about my connection. Apparently, there was a mechanical issue and they used a replacement aircraft. The lounge remained crowded and was frankly, not all that great. It was still better than waiting at the gate or the main terminal area though.

They put out the lunch spread before I left and again, it was fairly decent. This lounge generally has good food and drinks and friendly staff but is very old and much in need of refurbishment (as is all of Terminal 3 to be honest).

My aircraft finally arrived and I left the lounge to go to the gate area, which was already packed. As we had a new aircraft, there was no catering in Club Europe, which I wasn’t that bothered about as I just wanted to make my connection at Heathrow.

We ended up leaving about 80 minutes late and arrived about 64 minutes late, which just about left me enough time to make the connection, but I was unable to visit the Terminal 3 BA F lounge or Cathay lounge as planned.

I found the Flight Connections bus area at Terminal 5 fairly quickly, but of course we had to wait about 15 minutes for a bus. Once I got to Terminal 3, the security line was short, but I apparently chose a scanner with someone on their first day as it took 15 minutes to get my stuff scanned. I half-ran, half-walked to the gate, which of course was about the furthest possible gate from security. In the end, my flight was not yet boarding when I got to the gate, sweaty and out of breath.

Up Next: British Airways LHR-ATL First Class Review

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