British Airways London Gatwick Archives

BA Gatwick 10 abreast economy Boeing 777 Update

BA is progressively the number of economy seats on Boeing 777 aircraft at Gatwick from 9 to 10 seats a row. Here is an update on the progress of the refurbishment.

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BA World Traveller cabin on LGW based Boeing 777 aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways is now more than a third of its way through the refurbishment of its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft at London Gatwick.

The refurbishment programme includes new seats in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus, new in-flight entertainment systems and cabin interiors. Most importantly of all, the seats in World Traveller are increased from 9 to 10 a row.

Please see here for images of the first refurbished aircraft which were unveiled on Monday 5 March 2018.

At the moment only three class Boeing 777-200 aircraft have been refurbished. As at Saturday 16 June 2018, three Boeing 777-200 aircraft (registrations G-VIIR, G-VIIX, G-VIIO) have been refurbished. A fourth aircraft (registration G-VIIP) was sent to Singapore for refurbishment on 9 June 2018. Each refurbishment takes around a month.

It is expected that the refurbishment of three class Boeing 777-200 aircraft will be complete by late October 2018. The refurbishment of four class Boeing 777-200 aircraft should be complete by late March 2019. Once the Gatwick fleet is complete, BA will then refurbish some Heathrow aircraft.

Seating Plans Of Refurbished Aircraft

BA has updated the seat maps on its website to include the new cabin configuration.

If you are flying on a 9 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:

Club World – Rows 1 – 11 (40 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 12 – 14 (24 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 16 – 40 (3-3-3 configuration)

If you are flying on a 10 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:

Club World – Rows 1 – 4 (32 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 10 – 16 (52 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 20 – 46 (3-4-3 configuration)
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British Airways London Gatwick Winter Schedule

Here are details of BA’s London Gatwick winter schedule from Sunday 28 October 2018 with details of returning seasonal winter routes.

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British Airways "The hub without the hubbub" TV ad 1993 — British Airways “The hub without the hubbub” TV ad 1993

British Airways is starting to piece together its schedules for the Winter 2018 season which officially begins on Saturday 28 October 2018.

An extensive list of changes for London Heathrow has been published.

Here are known changes at London Gatwick so far. Note this is very much work in progress. Further changes, particularly to short-haul, are expected to be announced. Also, it is expected that significant changes will be announced for Summer 2019 as BA beds in the extra slots it has acquired from Monarch.

Flights at London Gatwick can be booked now at ba.com

Long-Haul Changes

Cape Town resumes for the winter, three times weekly, from Monday 12 November 2018 to Saturday 30 March 2019.

Las Vegas will now operate year round.

Lima is suspended for the winter from Friday 26 October 2018 until Sunday 31 March 2019.

Male resumes for the winter from Sunday 28 October 2018 to Friday 29 March 2019.

Oakland is suspended from Monday 22 October 2018. It was planned to resume on Monday 1 April 2019, but the route now appears to be permanently suspended.

Toronto is suspended for the winter from Friday 19 October 2018 until Friday 3 May 2019.
Continue reading “British Airways London Gatwick Winter Schedule”

BA suspends London Gatwick – Oakland

British Airways has suspended its route from London Gatwick to Oakland from Monday 22 October 2018.

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British Airways Boeing 777 at London Gatwick

British Airways has confirmed it has suspended its route from London Gatwick to Oakland, California from Monday 22 October 2018.

The last flight will operate on Saturday 20 October 2018. The route launched in March 2017. Like the launch of Fort Lauderdale and New York JFK, it was a clear competitive response to the growth of Norwegian at London Gatwick. Norwegian will continue to fly to Oakland at Gatwick.

BA has not yet published any official guidance in response to the cancellation. However, if your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund. Passengers are also likely to be offered the opportunity to change their flight to one of BA’s twice daily services from London Heathrow to San Francisco. Note that in this instance any consequential costs such as additional ground transportation would be at your own expense.

BA appears to be using the spare capacity arising from the suspension to make its summer seasonal route to Las Vegas year round.

Affected passengers should contact either BA or their travel agent.

Update: BA has since stated that the route will resume in Summer 2019 and the route is currently showing as scheduled to resume on Monday 1 April 2019.

Update (2): This route will now not resume in 2019.

BA unveils its “densified” London Gatwick Boeing 777

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British Airways has today, Monday 5 March 2018, unveiled images of its refurbished Boeing 777s which will operate on selected long-haul routes at London Gatwick from the summer of 2018.

BA took delivery of its first refurbished aircraft last week. It features an entirely new World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabin. The first routes to operate the new cabin are Punta Cana, Cancun and Kingston. Please see here for full details of the expected routes for 2018.

When BA first announced the plan to densify its Boeing 777 fleet it said that 12 aircraft would be refurbished. BA has said today that 6 aircraft will be refurbished by the end of October this year. The refurbishment will continue in 2019.
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BA adds new routes and frequencies at London Gatwick

British Airways has increased frequencies on routes from Gatwick to Alicante, Faro, Lanzarote, Madeira, Malaga and Tenerife for summer 2018. It has also added new routes at Gatwick to Gibraltar, Mahon Menorca, and Palma Mallorca.

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BA has started to firm up its new schedules at London Gatwick after the acquisition of more than 20 daily pairs of slots from the former airline Monarch. This is equivalent to an extra 150 flights a week.

BA has had to move quickly as it is required to use the slots 80% of the time or risk forfeiting them.

In terms of immediate actions, BA has added extra frequencies on winter ski routes like Grenoble and Turin in February and March as well as Tenerife South in the February half-term. It has also chartered aircraft and crews from Germania and Titan Airways to operate certain flights. These are now showing as “Operated by ST” or “Operated by ZT” in timetables on ba.com If you have an existing booking it should be clear in the Manage My Booking tool which airline is operating your flight.

Frequency increases on existing Gatwick routes:

In the peak summer schedule (late May to late September), BA has increased frequencies on a number of existing Gatwick routes compared to the previous year:

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BA’s 10 abreast economy Boeing 777 at Gatwick in 2018

In 2018, BA will increase the number of economy seats on some Boeing 777 aircraft at London Gatwick from 9 to 10 seats a row. Here are details of the routes on which the reconfigured Boeing 777s will operate in 2018.

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A little over 12 months ago BA announced that it would, to use its lexicon, “densify” a select number of its Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

In short, this means that the number of seats in the World Traveller economy cabin would increase from 9 to 10 a row.

At the same time, BA will also increase the number of World Traveller Plus premium economy seats and decrease the number of Club World business class seats. The refurbished Boeing 777s are expected to enter operation at London Gatwick in 2018.

BA's initial plan to reconfigure London Gatwick Boeing 777s - November 2016 (Image Credit: International Airlines Group) — BA’s initial plan to reconfigure London Gatwick Boeing 777s – November 2016 (Image Credit: International Airlines Group)

Initially, up to 25 Boeing 777s will be subject to “densification”. However, you can be confident that the financial performance of refurbished aircraft and customer feedback scores will be monitored very closely.

How do I know if I will be flying on a “densified” Boeing 777?

BA has not yet updated its general guidance seat maps on its website to include the reconfigured Boeing 777s.

Update: BA has not now updated seat maps on its website.

Update: Please see here for images of the refurbished aircraft which was unveiled on Monday 5 March 2018.

However, if you are flying on a 9 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:

Club World – Rows 1 – 11 (40 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 12 – 14 (24 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 16 – 40 (3-3-3 configuration)

If you are flying on a 10 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:

Club World – Rows 1 – 4 (32 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 10 – 16 (52 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 20 – 46 (3-4-3 configuration)
Continue reading “BA’s 10 abreast economy Boeing 777 at Gatwick in 2018”

BA adds Las Vegas and Toronto at London Gatwick

BA is to fly from London Gatwick to Las Vegas and Toronto from summer 2018.

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Toronto, Canada — Toronto (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has today announced it is to launch a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Toronto and reinstate its London Gatwick – Las Vegas route next summer.

BA will fly to Las Vegas three times a week from Tuesday 27 March 2018 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday until Friday 26 October 2018. BA will fly to Toronto three times a week from Tuesday 1 May 2018, also on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday until Friday 26 October 2018.

Both Las Vegas and Toronto are served by BA at London Heathrow up to twice daily. BA has previously flown from Gatwick to Las Vegas. However, the service was suspended last year.

Toronto is BA’s first route from London Gatwick to Canada. It is something of a surprise to see BA launch the Toronto from Gatwick, as it is not one of the stronger Heathrow routes due to a lack of presence by the Oneworld alliance in Canada.

However, there can be absolutely no doubt this is a move to take on the growth of low lost long-haul at Gatwick. Las Vegas is served by Norwegian. Toronto is also served by both WestJet and Air Canada Rouge.

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BA launches winter seasonal London Gatwick – Nuremberg

BA is to launch a winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Nuremberg from 30 November 2017

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British Airways Short Haul Economy Cabin (Credit: British Airways)

BA has launched a new winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Nuremberg.

The flight from Gatwick to Nuremberg airport will operate for just five weeks from Thursday 30 November 2017 to Sunday 7 January 2018. The route is then scheduled to resume on Thursday 29 November 2018.

Flights operate four times weekly on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday by an Airbus A319 aircraft in a two class (Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy) configuration.

As is often the case for BA short-haul flights at Gatwick, the precise flight times vary by both day and week.

However, flights typically leave London Gatwick at around 4-5pm and return from Nuremberg at around 8-9pm. The flight numbers are BA2660 for the outbound and BA2661 for the inbound.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

BA suspends London Gatwick – Lima from Sunday 29 October 2017

BA has suspended its direct route to Lima from Sunday 29 October 2017. It resumes on Sunday 25 March 2018.

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London Gatwick Airfield (Image Credit: London Gatwick Airport)

British Airways is to suspend its London Gatwick – Lima route for the winter season from Sunday 29 October 2017. The route is expected to resume from late March 2018.

BA launched its route from London Gatwick to Lima in May 2016. No specific reason has been given for the seasonal cancellation. However, it is assumed the cause of cancellation is unsatisfactory commercial performance. The affected BA flight numbers are BA2239 and BA2238.

If your flight is cancelled you will be reaccommodated on Iberia’s daily service to Lima via Madrid from either London Gatwick or London Heathrow. However, do note that Iberia does not always operate its premium economy cabin between Madrid and Lima. Therefore, if you have booked to fly in World Traveller Plus on BA you may be downgraded to economy on Iberia. Iberia’s daily flight from Madrid to Lima (Flight IB6651 departs Madrid at 12:50pm and arrives in Lima at 17:35. Therefore, connections at Madrid should not be onerous.

Alternatively, you can be accommodated on American Airlines’ services to Lima via either Dallas Fort Worth or Miami.

Further options with partner airlines may become available in the coming weeks.

If you prefer you should be able to move your flight to a date when BA is operating the route. Alternatively, you are entitled to a refund.

Affected passengers should contact either BA or their travel agent.

Update: The route is scheduled to resume on Sunday 25 March 2018, operating three times weekly on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

The delayed BA lounges at Gatwick are now open

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British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)

There has been a lot of interest in the planned new British Airways lounges at London Gatwick’s South Terminal which, from today, is BA’s new home at Gatwick.

The lounges were planned to open today, Wednesday 25 January 2017. However, this has been delayed.

It is understood that construction work is complete and the official line from BA is that it is hoped that the lounges will open “soon”.

In the interim, passengers travelling in First Class on any flight and Gold Executive Club cardholders can use the third party operated No 1 Clubrooms.

In addition, all passengers travelling to Jersey, New York JFK and Bermuda who are eligible for lounge access can use this lounge. However, this will be subject to capacity constraints.

All other passengers who are eligible to access lounges (e.g. Club Europe, Club World and Silver Executive Club cardholders) can use a temporary “Speedbird” lounge operated by BA.

If you are flying BA from Gatwick you should be handed a letter at check-in explaining these options.

It is obviously disappointing that the new lounges are not open today. However, the problems associated with its opening do not seem insurmountable.

Update 7 February 2017

It is understood that the new lounges have undergone a “soft” opening ahead of a formal launch. However, not all facilities may be available at all times.

The new Club lounge is open from 05:15 until the last flight has departed. Passengers travelling in Club World on any long-haul flight and Club Europe to Jersey, and all British Airways Executive Club Silver cardholders travelling on long-haul flights or to Jersey are eligible to use the lounge.

The new First lounge is open from 07:00 until 20:00 and all passengers travelling in First Class and all British Airways Executive Club Gold cardholders are eligible to use the lounge. If there capacity constraints passengers will be invited to use the No 1 Club rooms.

All other passengers, e.g. those travelling in Club Europe to other than Jersey and on Business U.K. tickets and British Airways Executive Club Silver cardholders travelling on short-haul flights other than Jersey will be invited to use the temporary Speedbird lounge.

Update 20 February 2017

It is understood that the new lounges are now fully operational and all other temporary lounge arrangements have been withdrawn.