Manchester airport has launched a new service for its passengers, one that comes with a hefty price tag.

Prices are advertised as:

-Arrivals service £40 (for up to 4 people)
-Departures service £50 (for up to 4 people)
-Transfers £60 (for up to 4 people)
-Additional people may be added to bookings at a supplementary cost of £5 per person, up to a maximum group size of 6.

And what do you get for this? This is what they say:

Departing
-We’ll meet you kerbside at the drop-off point, at the Meet & Greet reception or even collect you from the train station depending on your preferred method of transport to the airport.
-Need a trolley? We’ll have one ready for your arrival.
-Your personal guide will escort you to your check-in desk and wait for you until you’ve completed the check-in process.
-You’ll then be ushered through the fast lane at security and escorted in to the departure lounge.
-We’ll guide you through departures and assist with any shopping you might want to do before your flight.
-Friendly Guide will see you all the way to your boarding gate and if you wish, we’ll even let a friend or relative know when you’re boarding.

Arriving
-Friendly Guide will meet you at your gate, escort you through immigration and in to the baggage reclaim hall.
-If you’ve got bags to collect we’ll provide you with a trolley and guide you through in to arrivals.
-We’ll make sure that you link up with the person meeting you or to your onward means of transport.
-If you’re booking for a friend, relative or visitor, we can let you know when they have met their onward means of transport to give you that extra peace of mind.

Transferring
Are you transferring in Manchester between two separately booked flights?
If you have a landside transfer i.e. the passenger has two separate itineraries, two separate tickets and the passenger’s luggage is not through-checked but checked in by the passenger for the second flight, Friendly Guide is here to help.

Availability
Initially Friendly Guide is only available to book for passengers traveling through Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport. For the time being Friendly Guide is available to book for travel between the 3rd and 20th June 2013

Based on the dates above it seems like a bit of an experiment to see how it goes down.  The full terms and conditions are here.

Quite interesting to read what you’re NOT getting for your £50:

3.13 The Service:
• is not a porterage service; We will not carry or push cabin or hand baggage;
• is not a PRM service – please see paragraph 5 below;
• does not include pre-assigned aircraft seating, priority boarding and express check-in;
• does not include Escape Lounge and car parking. These products can be added at an additional cost;
• is provided subject to satisfactory completion of security, immigration and customs screening.

Is it me or does their logo look as if two fingers are being used?