British Airways Archives – Page 58 of 72

BA withdraws Skyflyer Solo service for unaccompanied minors

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

Withdrawal of Skyflyer Solo service from 31 January 2017

British Airways has announced it is to withdraw its Skyflyer Solo service for children travelling alone (often referred to as “unaccompanied minors”) from Tuesday 31 January 2017.

The airline has also closed its Skyflyer Solo service for future bookings with immediate effect. Therefore, no new bookings for the Skyflyer Solo service will be accepted, regardless of the date of travel.

The Skyflyer Solo service was a paid-for service whereby children travelling alone would be escorted and supervised at the airport by a dedicated airline representative. On arrival, the child would be met at the aircraft door and escorted through the arrivals process until handed over to a nominated adult.

BA will continue to allow children over the age of twelve to travel alone. Any children under the age of twelve must be accompanied by an adult over the age of sixteen.

The only reason given by BA for the withdrawal of the service is a decline in demand.

Whilst BA is at pains to emphasise that the decision has not been made lightly, there is bound to be a loss of goodwill amongst many of its frequent flyers. No doubt the first introduction to British Airways amongst many such frequent flyers was travelling alone as a child.

Alternative options for affected passengers

For parents & guardians looking for alternative services, airlines which provided dedicated services for unaccompanied minors include Virgin Atlantic, KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss. easyJet do not offer a dedicated unaccompanied minors service.

Somewhat ironically, Iberia and Iberia Express which are both owned by the same parent company as British Airways (International Airlines Group) will continue to provide an unaccompanied minors service, even for flights they operate from London Heathrow Terminal 5.

Jet Time to operate for BA to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Copenhagen

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways is to sub-contract the operation of selected flights from London Heathrow to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Copenhagen to Danish charter airline Jet Time from Sunday 27 March 2016 until the end of October.

Although no specific reason has been given for this move, it is likely to be due to the fact that BA has gained additional slots at London Heathrow following the closure of Virgin Atlantic Little Red.

Under slot usage rules, airlines are required to use their Heathrow slots for at least 80% of the time, or risk forfeiture of the slots.

Flights operated by Jet Time will be flown with Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

The sub-contracting arrangement is known as a “wet lease” which means that the flights will also be operated by pilots and cabin crew of Jet Time.

BA maintain that the in-flight service will be the same on all flights. Flight numbers are also unchanged.
Continue reading “Jet Time to operate for BA to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Copenhagen”

BA launches summer seasonal flights from London Stansted

British Airways is to operate summer seasonal flights from London Stansted to Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Palma Mallorca.

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

London Stansted (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways is to return to London Stansted airport after a long hiatus with the launch of weekly summer seasonal flights to four destinations: Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, and Palma de Mallorca.

Flights will operate to each destination once a week at weekends.

Flights will be operated using a single Embraer E190 jet, offering a Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy service.

Flights launch on the weekend of Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May 2016 and will run for the duration of the summer season.

Whilst not explicitly mentioned in the airline’s press release, the launch of the routes seems to be driven by a desire to use an aircraft that would otherwise be parked at London City airport.

The announcement is clearly good news for BA flyers who live close to London Stansted.

However, some of the flight times are not the most convenient.

The scheduling of flights also looks tight, with 45 minute turnarounds between most flights. Delays across the weekend could easily build up.

That said, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma Mallorca are all served by BA from London City, Gatwick and Heathrow (except Palma de Mallorca does not operate from Gatwick). It is of course possible to “mix and match” London departure & arrival airports in one booking.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com
Continue reading “BA launches summer seasonal flights from London Stansted”

BA returns to Tehran from Thursday 14 July 2016

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

British Airways Tailfin (Image Credit: Nick Morrish/British Airways)

British Airways has today announced that it is to return to Iran with the launch of a six times weekly direct flight from London Heathrow to Tehran (Imam Khomeini International Airport) from Thursday 14 July 2016.

Flights will depart from London Heathrow Terminal 5 and will be operated using a four class Boeing 777 aircraft (First Class, Club World business class, World Traveller Plus premium economy and World Traveller economy). The flight will not operate from London Heathrow on Sundays.

That BA is launching the service using a twin-aisle long haul aircraft six times a week is clearly a sign of confidence that there will be strong passenger and cargo demand.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com.

This route is also currently operated by Iran Air on a 3x weekly basis. The last British airline to serve Tehran was bmi British Midland which operated the route until October 2012. It was suspended following the acquisition of bmi by International Airlines Group. bmi was later merged into British Airways.

London Heathrow – Tehran

Flight BA153 Depart London Heathrow 21:10 – Arrive Tehran 06:25

Tehran – London Heathrow

Flight BA152 Depart Tehran 08:35 – Arrive London Heathrow 11:10

BA withdraws First Class from Vancouver from Thursday 21 January to Monday 29 February 2016

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

British Airways First Class Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways is to temporarily withdraw its First Class cabin from its daily flight from London Heathrow to Vancouver from Thursday 21 January to Monday 29 February 2016.

The airline will continue to operate the route with a Boeing 747. However, the First Class cabin will be closed.

The reason for this is that the route is being operated with a Boeing 747 that is not fitted with the latest First Class cabin

This is not the first time BA has done this. Readers may recall BA temporarily withdrew First Class from a number of routes including Cape Town, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Vancouver last year.

Affected passengers can either accept a downgrade to Club World business class or an alternative indirect routing to Vancouver via Seattle (with onward travel to Vancouver at the passenger’s expense) or another BA or American Airlines gateway in America (such as Dallas Fort Worth) with an onward connection on American Airlines.

Full refunds do not appear to be available.

BA & Iberia announce joint-business with LAN and TAM Airlines

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

International Airlines Group - Aer Lingus, BA, Iberia, Vueling — International Airlines Group – Aer Lingus, BA, Iberia, Vueling

The parent company of British Airways and Iberia, International Airlines Group, has today announced that British Airways and Iberia are to launch a joint-business with LAN and TAM Airlines on flights between Europe and South America.

LAN and TAM Airlines, which have hubs in Chile and São Paulo are owned by LATAM Airlines Group and are due to merge their operations under a single brand, LATAM.

The launch of the joint business will be subject to regulatory approval which, if granted, will allow the four airlines to co-ordinate routes, schedules, pricing and marketing of flights between Europe and South America.

Passengers will also benefit from reciprocal recognition of airline frequent flyer benefits (though that already happens to an extent as all airlines are members of the Oneworld alliance) and easier access to codeshare flights on the airlines’ respective local & regional networks.

The joint business is likely to operate on a similar basis as the current joint-venture between British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines on flights between Europe & North America.

Currently, the four airlines operate up to 45 flights a day between Europe and South America.

LAN & TAM currently have a small presence on London which TAM operating a flight to São Paulo.

However, the launch of the joint-business could prompt British Airways to extend its presence in South America beyond São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Lima.

We would speculate that the launch of a direct route from London Heathrow to Santiago is a good possibility after the launch of the joint-business.

LAN and TAM have a much larger presence in Europe at Madrid airport and more new routes from Madrid to secondary cities in South America are also a possibility.

Regulatory approval for the joint business is expected to take 12-18 months and the joint business should launch in stages shortly after regulatory approval is granted.

Cutrently, it is not proposed that fellow members of International Airlines Group, Aer Lingus and Vueling, will join the joint-venture.

Aer Lingus & BA now codesharing on transatlantic routes

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

Aer Lingus and British Airways continue to extend co-operation with each other under the umbrella of their parent company International Airlines Group.

The two airlines are now codesharing on each other’s transatlantic flights between London, Dublin, Shannon and the USA.

This means that Aer Lingus flights from Shannon to Boston and New York JFK and from Dublin to Boston, New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, Orlando and San Francisco can be booked under a BA flight number on ba.com

Codeshares can be booked whether connecting from London or starting your journey in Dublin or Shannon.

The main benefit of this arrangement is that members of the British Airways Executive Club can earn Avios points and Executuve Club tier points in the same manner as a British Airways flight.

All passengers also benefit from US Customs & Immigration pre-clearance in Dublin and Shannon and connections are available from London Gatwick for those who would prefer to avoid London Heathrow.

Similarly, the Aer Lingus code has been placed on all BA transatlantic flights from London Heathrow and Gatwick, giving Aer Lingus passengers access to a more extensive route network.

It’s also worth noting that codesharing does not apply to BA routes to Canada and Central & South America.

Furthermore, a date has not yet been set for Aer Lingus to join the transatlantic joint-venture with American Airlines which is subject to commercial negotiation and regulatory approval.

Nor has a date been set for Aer Lingus to rejoin the Oneworld alliance.

BA launches London Heathrow – Kalamata & Chania

British Airways has added new summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Chania and Kalamata for the summer of 2016.

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

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

British Airways continues its successful strategy of operating summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow with the launch of a further two new routes to Greece.

BA is to fly twice weekly to both Kalamata in Peloponnese, the Southern peninsula of Greece (from London Heathrow Terminal 5) and Chania on the island of Crete (from London Terminal 3) from 30 April 2016.

Flights will operate with a two class Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy class service.

BA will also return to Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos from London Heathrow for the summer season. Flights to Corfu will increase from four to six weekly, and flights to Santorini will increase from three to four weekly.

Flights are now on sale at ba.com
Continue reading “BA launches London Heathrow – Kalamata & Chania”

BA to reconfigure selected Boeing 777s at Heathrow and Gatwick

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

British Airways Boeing 777 at London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has today announced, at the annual Capital Markets Day of its parent company International Airlines Group, that is to reconfigure selected Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft at both its bases at London Gatwick and London Heathrow.

At London Gatwick, on five Boeing 777-200 aircraft the size of the Club World business class cabin will be reduced in size from 48 seats to increase overall seating capacity on the aircraft by 10%.

IAG has not yet specified how many Club World seats will be removed and how many additional World Traveller Plus premium economy seats and World Traveller economy seats will be added.

However, it seems that BA has ruled out increasing the density of the World Traveller economy cabin from 9 seats to 10 seats per row. IAG has not stated whether it will also make any other changes to these aircraft, such as upgrading aircraft interiors and in flight entertainment systems.

At London Heathrow, nine four class Boeing 777-200ER aircraft will be converted to three class aircraft. The first class cabin will be removed to increase the overall number of seats by 25%. Again, IAG has not yet specified how many seats will be added to each of the other three cabins. Nor has IAG stated which London Heathrow routes will have first class removed.
Continue reading “BA to reconfigure selected Boeing 777s at Heathrow and Gatwick”

BA, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling to roll-out in flight WiFi

London Air Travel » British Airways » Page 58

International Airlines Group has today confirmed that WiFi will be rolled out across the short-haul and long-haul aircraft of its airlines: Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

To date, IAG airlines have adopted a piecemeal approach to WiFi. BA has WiFi on just one Boeing 747. Aer Lingus has WiFi on its transatlantic Airbus A330s. Iberia and Vueling also have WiFi on some aircraft.

On short-haul aircraft IAG is expected to adopt an Inmarsat “Air To Ground” system which should deliver fast internet access speeds. The first aircraft will be in service by 2017.

On long-haul aircraft, new deliveries of Airbus A330 (to Aer Lingus & Iberia), Airbus A350 (to British Airways and Iberia) and Boeing 787-10 (to British Airways) are expected to be fitted with WiFi.

IAG will also aim to retrofit 100 long-haul aircraft (primarily British Airways aircraft) with WiFi. IAG will target rolling out WiFi to 90% of long-haul aircraft by 2019.

The fit-out of WiFi on long-haul aircraft is likely to be subject to IAG being satisfied that the technology is sufficiently robust for the global long-haul networks of BA and Iberia and the cost of retrofitting aircraft makes the investment worthwhile

IAG has not yet indicated what pricing model it will adopt for WiFi, which is likely to vary by airline.

As well as providing passengers with in flight internet access and the opportunity for new In Flight Entertainment services, it will be interesting to see what customer service initiatives will arise as consequence of equipping cabin crews will in flight internet access.

Image courtesy of International Airlines Group