British Airways Lounge – London Gatwick South Terminal (Credit: British Airways)
BA held a press event yesterday for a select number of travel journalists and bloggers (though someone at The Daily Telegraph clearly did not get an invitation).
Under the curious title of “#BAInvesting4U” journalists were ferried from London Gatwick to London Heathrow via a three and a half four flight on a brand new Boeing 787-900.
The whole event was something of a rearguard action in response to negative press coverage and a narrative of cut backs and service failures.
In truth much of what was announced today is known already: BA has opened new lounges at Gatwick, a new security channel for First Class passengers and BA Executive Club Gold Cardholders at London Heathrow, it’s adding WiFi and revamping its Club World service with a new seat to come with the Airbus A350 in 2019.
You can read BA’s take on yesterday’s announcements at ba.com
One point that did catch our attention is BA’s new lounge refurbishment programme.
Any one who has flown British Airways’ Club World long-haul business class on more than a handful of occasions will be more than familiar with the in-flight service.
It begins with the offer of pre-take off drinks of champagne, orange juice and water. The hot towels, amenity kits and bottles of water are dispatched. There is a bar and main meal service, with one choice of coffee to follow. A widely varying offer of snacks are available in the self-service Club Kitchen. Before landing there is a second meal service, typically Afternoon Tea or a light breakfast, depending on the direction of travel.
Over the years the catering budget has gone up and down, depending on external and internal financial pressures. There have been small initiatives, such as the Heston Blumenthal inspired “Height Cuisine”, changes to the presentation of meals and the ability to pre-order a main course. The Club Kitchen gets periodically gutted and restocked. The quantity of sandwiches and cake for Afternoon Tea has been forever tweaked with. However, the service has fundamentally remained the same.
Today, BA has unveiled planned changes to its Club World business class with specific changes to catering and the in-flight service. This was first announced at its parent company’s (IAG) Capital Markets Day late last year.
We receive a lot of enquiries regarding BA’s plans to replace and refurbish its short and long-haul fleet.
We suspect this is, in part, due to the wide variation in the condition of many of its long-haul aircraft in particular!
BA has a conservative approach to fleet expansion and refurbishment. This is unlikely to ever change. Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:
British Airways Club World Boeing 747 (Picture by: Stuart Bailey / British Airways)
Poor Alex Cruz, CEO of British Airways, is having a hard time of late.
Barely a week goes by without a negative news article or comment piece in the British press lamenting service cut backs on British Airways. The latest being from Victoria Coren-Mitchell in Sunday’s Observer.
Alex Cruz, who arrived at the airline last year from Barcelona based low cost carrier Vueling, has become a lightening rod for criticism that the airline is hell bent on becoming no different to Ryanair.
The catalyst for this was the introduction of Buy on Board catering (with significant teething problems) on short-haul flights earlier this year.
This was one of the first decisions made by Alex Cruz. Though it had been considered many times before his arrival. After grumblings online a number of newspapers have picked up on other service cut backs and there is now a clear PR narrative of cut backs and decline.
On long-haul it’s also been criticised for service cut backs, such as the offer of a single solitary chocolate bar as the second meal service on long-haul economy and premium economy flights to the East Coast of the USA. It is doggedly sticking to its 2006 Club World business class seat whilst other airlines which were once light years behind BA, notably American Airlines, Delta and United whose products former BA CEO Willie Walsh once dismissed as “frankly crap”, have leapfrogged BA. The airline is also due to switch from 9 to 10 across seating in economy on many of its Boeing 777s.
This isn’t the first time BA has made cut backs to its service. After the events of 11 September 2001 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers which triggered the global financial crisis, BA reduced cabin crew numbers on flights and made substantial cut backs to in flight catering and amenities.
But BA is not losing money. It’s profitable. Last year it made a record operating profit in excess of £1.4bn. It’s also expanding, carrying 44.5m passengers last year.
British Airways Club Europe Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)
Regular passengers in British Airways short-haul business class “Club Europe” have not had a great time of late.
After the “densification” (IAG & BA lexicon for adding more seats) of its Airbus short-haul fleet of aircraft the leg room in Club Europe is no different to EuroTraveller economy. More seats on aircraft also means more competition for space for hand baggage in the overhead lockers.
On the ground, BA has closed some business class lounges in Europe in locations such as Dusseldorf. Fast track ground facilities such as access to priority security lanes are not guaranteed for BA passengers at many European airports.
Over the past fifteen years or so, the catering offer has also been steadily reduced. One of the most notable changes was the replacement of hot meals with a cold breakfast plate on mid-morning flights and the introduction of Afternoon Tea. (Although Afternoon Tea has some fans, we think BA has a frankly absurd obsession with serving it on the ground and in the air, not least because nobody in the UK actually eats Afternoon Tea.)
By its own admission, BA has looked at withdrawing Club Europe altogether, at least at London Gatwick. However, the cabin has soldiered on. Indeed, BA is adding Club Europe to its UK domestic routes from 1 April 2017.
In one of the most significant changes we can recall in recent years, BA has now substantially redesigned the catering routines for all Club Europe flights to and from London Gatwick and Heathrow. Continue reading “BA introduces new Club Europe catering”
British Airways Boeing 777 at London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
This weekend sees the start of the new summer timetable at London Heathrow. There are a few changes including the launch of scheduled services by BA to New Orleans, Virgin Atlantic taking over Seattle from Delta, Flybe launching Aberdeen and Edinburgh and BA launching summer seasonal routes to Murcia, Nantes and Tallin with many more routes to follow later in the summer.
One other change is that BA is now flying a Boeing 777 daily between London Heathrow and Madrid, a route exclusively operated by BA and Iberia.
Shortly after the merger of BA and Iberia under the umbrella of International Airlines Group in 2011 the two airlines put wide body aircraft on the route. BA operates a Boeing 767 on flights BA456 and BA457. Iberia operates its Airbus A340 on flights BA522 and IB3166/BA7058. The principal reason for this is not necessarily passenger demand, but the cargo capacity in the belly of the aircraft.
From today, Sunday 26 March 2017, BA will also operate a Boeing 777 on this route. Flight BA458 which departs London Heathrow at 07:20 and flight BA459 which departs Madrid at 12:20 will be operated by a Boeing 777.
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.
British Airways Club Europe Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to introduce its “Club Europe” business class cabin on all of its UK domestic routes from Friday 31 March 2017.
Currently, all UK domestic routes operate with a single class configuration on board. From Friday 31 March 2017, all UK domestic flights will operate in a two class, Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy configuration.
(Note, BA’s official guidance says that Club Europe launches on Saturday 1 April, but ba.com is showing it as available from Friday 31 March.)
The merry go round of route changes at London City and BA’s gradual increase of weekend services at London Stansted continues with the launch of new year-round services to Milan, Italy from these two London airports in April.
The new routes to Milan’s Linate Airport will start from London City Airport on Monday 24 April 2017 and from Stansted Airport on Saturday 29 April 2017.
There will be two flights a day on week days and one a day at weekends from London City and two a week from Stansted.
Flights will be operated using Embraer aircraft in a two class Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy configuration. Note that at some point in the summer, BA will introduce its Buy On Board “M&S On Board” catering service on these flights.
BA also flies to Milan Linate (as well as Malpensa airport) from London Heathrow up to six times a day and it is possible to “mix and match” flights if convenient.
The addition of this route at London Stansted means BA now serves nine routes at this airport: Berlin, Faro, Florence, Geneva, Ibiza, Malaga, Nice, and Palma.
British Airways has cancelled all direct flights between London Heathrow and Abuja route from Wednesday 8 March to Tuesday 18 April 2017.
The reason for this is that the airport’s runway will be closed for emergency repairs.
According to press reports, the Nigerian Government had instructed airlines to operate flights to an alternative airport in Kaduna (some 200km north of Abuja) with onward road transport to Abuja. However, these contingency plans has clearly not been implemented by BA.
The affected BA flight numbers are BA083 and BA082.
Affected passengers have the option of a full refund, rebooking on an alternative British Airways operated flight between London Heathrow and Abuja outside of the runway closure (up to Friday 19 May 2017), or rebooking on an alternative British Airways operated flight between Accra or Nigeria and London Heathrow within 7 days of the date of your original booking.
However, if you choose the later option any additional costs such as ground transportation and hotels will be at your own expense and will not be reimbursed by the airline.
BA is the only airline to fly non-stop between London and Abuja. In terms of the response from other European airlines, Air France and Lufthansa fly from their respective hubs in Paris Charles de Gualle and Frankfurt to Abuja. Both airlines appear to have cancelled all flights during the period of the runway closure.
Affected BA passengers should contact either BA or their travel agent.
