Mr Plane Guy 
Flight Reviews
Airport Lounges
& Travel Hacks.

Welcome aboard. Hello, plane people! What a week in the world of travel! I headed to World Travel Market in London, and it was absolutely amazing. It's one of the biggest events in the travel industry, bringing airlines, hotels and tourism brands together from around the world. Naturally, I made a beeline for the airline products.

At some UK airports, a single pre-booked lounge visit can now cost around the same as a budget flight and that is before you have even bought the flight, selected a seat, added a bag or paid £7 for an airport sandwich that appears to have gone through security three times. If you have already decided that Priority Pass could work for you, there is no reason to pay the full membership price without checking the latest offer first. This guide explains how the current Priority

New York from 6,000 points. Premium Economy from 10,500. Or perhaps you’d prefer ice skating and a little shopping? This Virgin Red joining offer deserves your attention.

My earlier visit was around 3pm on a Sunday during the Easter school holidays. I expected queues and a fight for a seat. Instead, I walked straight in and found plenty of space. I liked the decor, the natural light and those runway views. There was soup, salad, mac and cheese, curry, sandwiches and cakes. Staff were topping up the buffet, and I enjoyed what I ate. An Aperol Spritz helped things along nicely. I settled at a marble table, judging people as they walked past as

On the departure board: DragonPass’s £59 membership and how it compares with Priority Pass. Virgin Atlantic’s Phuket flights are now underway. BA’s new Sri Lanka route, with a little Hoppers hospitality. Sri Lanka inspiration for a luxury-for-less escape. London City’s first passenger lounge gets a name. Higher BA Silver and Gold thresholds from April 2027. An Avios shopping reminder for anyone considering NordVPN. Hilton’s up-to-50,000-point offer and Jack’s Flight Club

Buying a present for a man who loves travelling should be straightforward. Unfortunately, he has already booked the flights, developed strong opinions about cabin bags and bought himself the thing you were considering. Helpful.

British Airways is planning a new lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5’s C Gates, complete with airfield views, showers and a 17-metre bar. Apparently, the next stage of airport hospitality involves making the walk to your drink a small excursion. There is one detail to check before getting too excited: the new BA lounge at Terminal 5C is due to open at the end of 2028.

Manchester Airport drop-off charges start at £5.50 for five minutes outside the terminals. A quick goodbye, a suitcase wrestled out of the boot and suddenly the holiday spending has begun before anyone has reached check-in. But there is a free alternative. Manchester Airport’s free drop-off area at JetParks 1 lets passengers transfer to the terminal by shuttle bus, avoiding the terminal forecourt charge. The important part is knowing which area to use, how long you can s

I couldn’t get a seat in the bar. Dinner involved a two-hour wait. My room was small enough that packing required a little choreography, and noise outside the door disturbed me in the early hours. And yet, rather annoyingly for the direction this review appeared to be taking, I loved the feel of TRIBE Manchester Airport. This is an airport hotel with actual personality. Somewhere you can arrive the night before your flight and feel that the holiday has already started. It

£300 back on £700 of qualifying United Airlines spending for targeted Amex cardholders. £200 back on £2,000 with Air France, also targeted. Hilton’s up-to-50,000-point debit card offer, with instant Gold status. My verdict on Manchester’s new Aspire lounge. British Airways’ Heathrow makeover, including a rather ambitious bar.

Finding the best men’s carry-on bag sounds simple, until you realise every airline has a different baggage allowance, every brand measures capacity differently, and half the bags described as “cabin approved” are far too big to travel under the seat. After 15 years working as airline crew and a slightly unhealthy amount of time testing luggage, I’ve learned that the best travel bag is not necessarily the biggest one you can force into an overhead locker.

Aspire Lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 2 Review: Manchester’s Best Kept Airport Secret? By Mr Plane Guy | Travel Blogger, Airport Lounge Expert & Professional Prosecco Tester Disclosure: My visit to the new Aspire Lounge at Manchester Airport Terminal 2 was gifted by Aspire Lounges. As always, that doesn't buy a good review. No runway views and no espresso martinis? Believe me, we're going to talk about it. This article also contains affiliate links. If you book or buy thr

Booking flights to Istanbul? Before you get carried away choosing rooftop restaurants and hotels with Bosphorus views, check those three little letters on your flight booking. IST and SAW are two different airports. Both serve Istanbul, but they sit on opposite sides of a very large city. Getting that detail right makes planning your arrival considerably easier. I flew from London Gatwick to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) with Pegasus Airlines, and found the airport p

If you’re coming to London and want beige carpets, sensible artwork and a hotel room that could literally be anywhere in the world, you might want to look away now. Because nhow London has gone FULL London. Quirky, arty, funny and fabulously over the top, this four-star hotel celebrates London with bold British design, flashes of punk, royal references and enough eccentricity to remind you exactly which city you’ve landed in. And I absolutely loved it.

Turkey is one of those destinations I keep going back to. Whether I'm flying into Istanbul for a city break, heading to Dalaman for Marmaris, or planning my next adventure to Cappadocia, there's something about Turkey that keeps pulling me back. But after countless flights and holidays, I've also learnt something else... Most people start planning their Turkey holiday in completely the wrong order. They search for flights. Then hotels. Then transfers. Then luggage. Th

Istanbul is the sort of place where you set out for a quick coffee and return six hours later having eaten a fish sandwich, crossed between continents and somehow bought a lamp. I explored the city with my Turkish partner, Tansu. That made a difference: between the big-ticket sights, we stopped for tea, ducked into streets I might have walked past and remembered that the ferry is public transport as well as a rather wonderful way to see Istanbul. You don't need a luxury budg

A Wigan pie before a flight to Dubai? That wasn’t on my Emirates bingo card. The Emirates lounge at Manchester Airport is now open in Terminal 2. It’s the first UK location to receive the airline’s new lounge design, following a £10 million investment. Alongside the expected Champagne and polished interiors, Emirates has added live cooking, Manchester-inspired food and a Vimto cocktail. The headline feature, though, might be direct boarding from the lounge to the aircraft

After 15 years working as cabin crew, I’ve flown with rather a lot of airlines. Some have been fabulous. Some have been forgettable. And some have left me trapped at an airport for eight hours, questioning every life decision that led me to the departure board. Looking at you, Schiphol. So, when Pegasus Airlines invited me to experience its new direct flight from London Gatwick to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, I was genuinely curious. Would this be bargain brilliance or

Cappadocia had been sitting very comfortably on my travel bucket list for years. Then Pegasus Airlines invited me to try its new daily flight from London Gatwick to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, followed by a connecting flight to Kayseri. Suddenly, I was actually going.

Based on my experience, absolutely not. It was overcrowded, noisy and dirty, with no empty seats and some of the worst airport-lounge food I have encountered. I normally like Plaza Premium Lounges, which made this experience even more surprising. I paid £24 to enter and, quite honestly, I felt as though they should have paid me £24 to go inside. My advice? Save your money, find a restaurant in the terminal and avoid this lounge. Like, ever. I have visited plenty of disappoi