London Air Travel

Virgin Atlantic suspends London Heathrow – Chicago O’Hare

Virgin Atlantic will not reinstate its summer seasonal service from London Heathrow to Chicago.

Virgin Atlantic aircraft at London Heathrow

Virgin Atlantic has announced it is suspending its summer seasonal route from London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare airport from summer 2017.

The seasonal route had been due to return in 2017 from May to October. However, the route has now been suspended permanently.

It is something of understatement to say that the Chicago route has something of a chequered history at Virgin Atlantic.

The route has been launched and suspended on more than one occasion and most recently has operated on a summer seasonal basis only. It is highly unlikely that the route will now ever return.

Whilst no reason has been given for the cancellation, it is likely that United and British Airways & American Airlines offering significantly higher frequencies (some six joint daily flights in the case of AA & BA) has put Virgin Atlantic at a competitive disadvantage.

Affected passengers should contact either Virgin Atlantic or their travel agent to arrange re-routing via Delta and Virgin Atlantic services to other North American gateways such as New York JFK and Detroit.

When is United’s “Polaris” coming to London Heathrow?

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United Polaris Business Class Cabin (Image Credit: United)

If you’ve travelled on the London Underground Waterloo & City line between London Waterloo and Bank stations recently, you could not fail to have noticed extensive advertising for United Airlines’ new “Polaris” business class.

“Polaris” is the new brand name for United Airlines’ new business class. It has been designed with the assistance of London based design agency PriestmanGoode. Polaris officially launched this week, on 1 December 2016.

Continue reading “When is United’s “Polaris” coming to London Heathrow?”

Cathay Pacific opens its new lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 3

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Cathay Pacific has today, Monday 28 November 2016, opened its new first and business class lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 3.

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BA prepares for move to Gatwick’s South Terminal with trial flights

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British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

In 2017, there will be a significant reorganisation at London Gatwick. easyJet will consolidate its operations into a single terminal at the airport, with all flights operating from the North Terminal.

In order to facilitate this move, British Airways from the North Terminal to the South Terminal. Virgin Atlantic will move from the South Terminal to the North Terminal. BA will move to the South Terminal on Wednesday 25 January 2017.

BA has of course learned the hard way that terminal moves can be fraught with difficulty. It is for this reason the airline has already begun trial flights from the South Terminal.

In advance of the full move the following routes will move to the South Terminal on a permanent basis in January 2017:

London Gatwick – New York JFK

Flight BA2273 London Gatwick – New York JFK (from Wednesday 11 January 2017)
Flight BA2272 New York JFK – London Gatwick (from Thursday 12 January 2017)

London Gatwick – Naples

Flight BA2612 London Gatwick – Naples (from Thursday 19 January 2017)
Flight BA2613 Naples – London (from Thursday 19 January 2017)
Continue reading “BA prepares for move to Gatwick’s South Terminal with trial flights”

BA launches seasonal London Gatwick – Limoges from May 2017

British Airways will fly from London Gatwick to Limoges up to four times weekly from May 2017.

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

British Airways has launched a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Limoges, France from May 2017.

Officially, the route from London Gatwick to Limoges (Limoges Airport) launches on 28 May 2017. However, we have found flights operating earlier in May.

The route will operate up to four times weekly with flights on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

As is par the course for BA short-haul routes from London Gatwick, the timing of the flights varies widely by day with departure times ranging from very early in the morning to late evening.

The route is scheduled to operate until early September 2017. It will then resume on Friday 25 May 2018 and operate until Sunday 2 September 2017.

The frequency and duration of this route may be varied at short notice depending on its commercial performance. Again, this is par the course for BA at Gatwick.

This route addition does join a growing list of seasonal BA routes to France including seasonal flights from Heathrow to Biaritz, Montpellier and Nantes.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

Do you have a bmi Diamond Club account? Your miles expire on 30 November 2016!

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It’s nearly five years since the parent company of British Airways, International Airlines Group, acquired bmi British Midland from Lufthansa.

The bmi name was long disappeared from London Heathrow. Its regional arm bmi regional is still flying having been acquired by independent investors.

However, bmi’s frequent flyer programme Diamond Club has remained in operation.

Whilst it hasn’t been possible earn Diamond Club miles from flights, it was possible to earn miles through Diamond Club credit cards issued by MBNA Ltd until 30 September of this year.

Any remaining miles in all Diamond Club accounts will expire in perpetuity on Wednesday 30 November 2016.

However, it is possible to transfer any remaining miles in your account on a 1:1 basis to Avios in a British Airways Executive Club frequent flyer account. This must be done before 30 November 2016.

In order to do this you will need to be able to access your Diamond Club account online (to retrieve your membership number and miles balance) and have an active British Airways Executive Club account.

BA has a dedicated tool on its website called Combine My Avios. You can use this to transfer however many Diamond Club miles you have to your Executive Club account.

A transfer of miles should only take a few minutes to do and should then appear in your Executive Club account shortly afterwards.

On a related note, here’s our analysis, albeit superseded by recent events, of what happened shortly after the merger of bmi into BA.

Update

The Diamond Club website has now closed and it is no longer possible to access Diamond Club accounts. Any mileage balances that have not been transferred or used are now forfeited.

Christmas Greetings from the world’s airlines & airports for 2016

The world’s airline and airports release their annual Christmas films to mark the festive season for 2016.

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Heathrow Airport Christmas 2016 (Image Credit: Heathrow Airport)

The release of an annual Christmas film from the world’s major airlines and airports is now a regular fixture in the calendar. In previous years some videos and PR stunts have attracted audiences in the hundreds of millions worldwide on social media.

Here is our collection of films released by the world’s airlines and airports for 2016.

As ever, these films are a timely reminder as to what air travel is really about: bring people together.

Heathrow Airport: Coming Home For Christmas

BA promises a $60million revamp of New York JFK Terminal 7

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British Airways, New York JFK Terminal 7, May 2008

On 21 May 2008, British Airways held a press conference at Terminal 7 of New York JFK airport. The then Chief Executive of the airline Willie Walsh outlined ambitious plans for a $30 million revamp of the terminal. The plans included a “drive through” check-in for First Class class passengers and Gold Executive Club card holders, revamped check-in and security zones, and refurbished lounges and travel spa.

What happened to the global financial system and the world economy shortly afterwards is well documented. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and state bail-outs of banks such as RBS and HBOS led to a dramatic fall in business and first class traffic, particularly from passengers who buy highly profitable flexible fares.

The plans for a revamp were put on hold and have remained on the drawing board ever since.

That is until today when British Airways CEO Alex Cruz announced a $60 million revamp of New York JFK Terminal 7 and a refurbishment of lounges in Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Houston and Seattle over the next five years.
Continue reading “BA promises a $60million revamp of New York JFK Terminal 7”

BA to codeshare with Alaska Airlines on flights in North America

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British Airways is to begin codesharing with Alaska Airlines on selected flights from the West Coast of the USA (Seattle, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco) to destinations in North America with effect from 23 November 2016.

Whilst BA already has an extensive codeshare agreement with American Airlines across North America, these additional codeshares do provide additional one-stop options, especially where American Airlines has a relatively small presence.

The routes covered by the codeshare are as follows:

San Diego

San Diego to Portland and Salt Lake City.

San Francisco

San Francisco to Anchorage, Portland and Salt Lake City.

San Jose

San Jose to Portland, Santa Ana;

Seattle

Seattle to Honolulu, Kona, Kahului in Hawaii; Portland, Salt Lake City, Boise, Fairbanks and Spokane.

Note that due to regulatory restrictions, these codeshare flights can only be booked when connecting from a British Airways operated flight to and from London. They cannot be booked individually.

Further codeshare routes may be announced in due course, particularly in light of the fact that Alaska Airlines is in the process of merging with Virgin America, and codeshare flights are on sale now at ba.com

Aer Lingus launches Dublin – Miami from 1 September 2017

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South Beach, Miami (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

Aer Lingus has confirmed it is to launch a new route from Dublin to Miami.

The airline will fly to Miami three times a week from Friday 1 September 2017.

The route will operate using an A330 aircraft in a two class, economy and business, configuration.

Whilst Miami is served by a number of airlines direct from London Heathrow, this news is of particular interest as Dublin offers US Customs & Immigration pre-clearance and passengers can avoid long immigration queues at Miami airport.

The route will be codeshared with British Airways and by the time the route is operating Aer Lingus should be a member of the Oneworld alliance so members of Oneworld member airline frequent flyer programmes should be able to earn miles and asssociated benefits on these flights.

Separately, Aer Lingus has also announced more flights to Los Angeles, Orlando and Chicago for the summer of 2017. Flights will operate daily to Los Angeles, 4 times weekly to Orlando and twice daily to Chicago.

The airline has also announced new short haul routes to Porto in Portugal and Split in Croatia.

In terms of what hasn’t been announced, there is still no date for Aer Lingus rejoining Oneworld or a date for the start of co-operation between Aer Lingus and American Airlines.

Flights are on sale now at Aer Lingus.

Dublin – Miami

Flight EI141 Depart Dublin 15:00 – Arrive Miami 19:15 (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
Flight EI140 Depart Miami 21:10 – Arrive Dublin 10:35 (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)