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.
Flybe today, Sunday 26 March 2017, launches new direct flights from London Heathrow to Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
The first Flybe flight to depart London will be BE2122 to Aberdeen at 09:45.
Flybe will fly to Aberdeen & Edinburgh up to 3 & 4 times daily on weekdays. Flights will operate with reduced frequencies on Saturdays and Sundays. Flights will operate from London Heathrow Terminal 2.
At launch, Flybe will codeshare with Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. Flybe also has interline agreements in place with United Airlines, Delta, Qantas, and TAP.
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.
Air Traffic Controllers in Italy are due to take industrial action over a period of four hours from 12:00 to 16:00 GMT on Monday 20 March 2017.
This is likely to cause disruption with delays and cancellations. As a consequence the following airlines have issued guidance for affected passengers.
It is also understand the certain unions represent airport workers are also taking industrial action on Monday. As such, there may be disruption to some airport ground services.
Please note that this page does not provide live flight information so any cancellations listed are proactive cancellations made in advance, and do not necessarily include any delays/cancellations made on the day.
After months of speculation, International Airlines Group (“IAG”) which is the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, has today confirmed is to launch a new low cost long-haul airline.
The airline is called “Level”. This is the first new airline launched by IAG in its six year history.
The airline will initially be based in Barcelona. It will launch on 1 June 2017 and its inaugural route will be Barcelona – Los Angeles which operate twice weekly.
Routes from Barcelona to Oakland California (three times weekly) will follow on 2 June 2017. Barcelona – Punta Cana (twice weeky) on 10 June 2017. Barcelona – Buenos Aires on 17 June 2017 (three times weekly).
The airline will intially operate with two brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 239 seats in economy in a 2-4-2 configuration and 21 seats across three rows in premium economy in a 2-3-2 configuration.
In economy a seat pitch of 30″ will be offered with a 9″ personal entertainment screen. Checked baggage, extra leg room seats and hot meals can be purchased in advance. Food and drink, duty free goods, in flight comfort amenities such as blankets and pillows can be purchased on board.
In premium economy, a seat pitch of 37″ will be offered with a 12″ personal entertainment screen and noise-cancelling headphones.
Checked luggage (in addition to a free cabin bag), hot meals drinks and snacks, priority boarding, and in flight entertainment will be complimentary for customers flying in premium economy.
High speed internet connectivity will also be available for a charge for all passengers.
The availability of refunds and flight changes and seat selection will depend on the type of fare purchase in both cabins.
IAG promises one way fares economy from €99 and one way premium economy fares from €599.
Connections will be available from Vueling’s short-haul network at Barcelona which, of course, operates from London Gatwick and Heathrow and a number of UK regional airports. However, flights with connections need to be booked via Iberia.com
Members of the Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn Avios on all flights operated by Level.
The launch of Level is a clear competitive response by IAG to Norwegian which is launching new routes from a number of IAG markets in Europe. We have already seen a number of moves such as the launch by BA of routes from Gatwick to New York JFK, Fort Lauderdale and Oakland. BA is also planning to “densify” (that’s add more seats) some of its Boeing 777s to compete against Norwegian. We are likely to see further moves such as the launch of “unbundled” long-haul economy fares by Aer Lingus and BA.
As IAG have adopted a trans-national brand name, the airline will no doubt explore more routes from other European cities where connections from Vueling are available, such as Rome and Paris. Looking at the branding and marketing materials, IAG is actively pitching this airline at a younger market than many of its existing airlines. It will of course be interesting to see how this develops and whether it launches any routes from the UK.
“Storm Stella” is expected to cause very severe disruption across the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday 14 March 2017.
As a consequence, a large number of transatlantic flights from London’s airports are cancelled on Tuesday 14 March. Flights to New York, Boston and Philadelphia are most affected with widespread cancellations. There are delays and cancellations to Baltimore and Washington as well.
Airlines have also implemented flexible rebooking policies for those who are due to travel to the East Coast of the USA this week.
If your flight is cancelled you should be entitled to a full refund or a rebooking to an alternative date.
Here is the latest information from airlines operating transatlantic flights from London on Tuesday 14 March.
As at 23:00 GMT Tuesday 14 March, transatlantic operations from London’s airports should return to normal on Wednesday 15 March.
