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I don't think anyone's idea of an amazing time is an airport lounge, so your comparison is off the mark. Read the OP he's trying to make a special family trip just a little more memorable for folks who've probs not ever had the experience before, not actually swapping the safari for a comfy seat and free cup of over brewed coffee.
It wasn't in reply to the OP, it was a follow on to a point made by Dave:
Why would you possibly not want to find the enjoyment in everything you do?
Many years ago, the Virgin lounge at Heathrow was amazing. Air side so you had your own passport control/check in away from everyone else. Lounge was like a posh hotel, you could even get a shave and a haircut! The bar was fully stocked with loads of comfy seating. Even had arcade games from memory.
I was working (contracting) for Gillette and they used to fly us business class to Boston about once a month. So top deck on the re-furbed 747s and the fantastic chauffeur pick up and lounge experience.
Pretty much ruined air travel for me 🙂
Not been to leeds airport in years but the lounge there used to have a window so you could see all the other passengers milling around.
If it's any relevance to you / your party, I was on holiday just last week and part of our group (returning from Tenerife) discovered that the only access to the airport smoking area was via the VIP lounge. Want a fag, that'll be £30 please sir.
To my mind, the lounge only makes sense if you're planning on spending much time there and intend to batter the free shit. The last time I visited the US I bought a beer, a bourbon and a portion of fries in the regular section of the airport ahead of the trip home and it was North of forty quid. I could've spent less money to have the same experience without being surrounded by brash tourists, AND plugged my gorram phone in.
In your shoes, I'd consider "I'm going to stretch my legs, I'll meet back up with you in an hour or so" to be a worthwhile spend of £39. There's little point in Getting Away From It All if you're taking It All with you. 😁
(RBS Reward Black, its actually about £36 per month but we max out on the annual travel insurance part including extended trips so good value)
Did you typo "per year"? Annual travel insurance for the both of us recently came to £59. Dafuq are you spending over four hundred quid a year on? That's Netflix, Amazon Prime, Xbox Ultimate and Bus Fare Home. Probably.
Annual travel insurance for the both of us recently came to £59. Dafuq are you spending over four hundred quid a year on?
Travel insurance for us and two sons is around £600 per year. Guess it depends what you do on holiday ...
I was on holiday
in the summer, coming back from Paphos airport, I considered getting lounge access for the family, just to give my daughter some respite from the chaos, but when I got to the lounge to check it out it was rammed and looked like the waiting room at Coventry railway station, hard plastic seats and never worth an extra penny...
Only Manchester would make you
I'm sorry that you've clearly had a bad experience, but claiming "only Manchester" is something of a leap IMHO.
I've been through any number of airports and they're of varying degrees of shitness. Manchester Airport is far from perfect of course but it's often been a comparative breath of fresh air when I've escaped from elsewhere. There are certainly worse places to be flying to/from. The UK is pretty unique IME in that unlike literally every other country, we don't mandate that our planeside staff have their sense of humour surgically removed. Flying through the US 25+ years ago made me feel like a Death Row inmate and it's not exactly famed for its improved experience today.
Annual travel insurance for the both of us recently came to £59. Dafuq are you spending over four hundred quid a year on?
Travel insurance for us and two sons is around £600 per year. Guess it depends what you do on holiday ...
What are you doing on holiday that makes it so expensive? Our inclusive bank account (£170 a year) travel insurance covers Winter Sports, Scuba diving. We take per trip insurance for 'downhill mountain biking' when if we're doing uplifted riding.
[edit - though I notice the Co-op policy only covers you for 'mountain biking on tarmac', which is a pretty unusual sport]
worldwide (outside Europe) cover for dangerous sports - off piste snowboarding/DH mountain biking - is when it starts getting expensive.
Annual travel insurance for the both of us recently came to £59. Dafuq are you spending over four hundred quid a year on?
Travel insurance for us and two sons is around £600 per year. Guess it depends what you do on holiday ...
Red Bull rampage?? 😆
Flying with Qatar via Doha so not exactly budget, am tempted by the “special” thing, the trip is for my parents 70th birthdays as they’re not big travellers and will likely not go on Safari again.
Read the OP he's trying to make a special family trip just a little more memorable for folks who've probs not ever had the experience before
With all due respect, if you're journeying with ill-travelled Septuagenarians I'd go out on a limb and suggest that an overly expensive plastic table in an airport is unlikely to be the most memorable highlight of their excursion.
Get in, get out, have a holiday, redo from start.
Did you typo "per year"?
The monthly fee gets you significantly more than just travel insurance
I also have the same RBS account and from memory I have full uk and European breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, lounge access and a load of other stuff for the monthly fee
If your just sticking your details into a comparison site you might come to find your not really insured. Found out recently just how much you have to declare for travel insurance.
But anyway. Norwich is laughing at all the so called bad airports .
We're into a side discussion about travel insurance now, but got a quote today from a broker (our H/H was up for renewal). Generally if you're doing anything lift assisted it's classed as "Downhill" and is in a high risk category.
Weirdly their provider had just updated their terms and DH mtb was previously 'level 4' and had been downgraded to 'level 3'. But ANY form of winter mountain sports - even on piste skiing - was level 4.
Whereas our policy bundled with our bank (that excludes any form of cycling except on tarmac) includes enough winter sports cover for us. Adding winter sports made the annual policy above £522 for 2 people (an extra £100 on top of DH mountain biking level). Mad.
Finding a corner to sit before the gate opens is probably the least traumatic part of the whole grim experience.
That sounds like my experience waiting for a flight from Gatwick, IIRC, lying on the floor in an area under some stairs, next to my bike bag. I was afraid to go to sleep in case I missed the flight!
This was well before the days of fancy mobile phones with alarms.
Last flight from T5 had queues out the doors for the lounges. When everyone has access, think of the crush inside. Had a very convivial tea and breakfast at Fortnum & Masons instead. Was far superior. And no crowds.