Miami Archives – London Air Travel

BA Club World London Heathrow – Miami

A review of British Airways Club World on the Boeing 747 from London Heathrow to Miami.

Miami South Beach (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

London Heathrow – Miami is a good illustration of the vagaries of flying BA.

BA operates three return flights a day, all now with a Boeing 747 so passengers should know with confidence to expect. Right? Well, not quite.

It’s perfectly feasible that three groups of passengers all taking different BA flights on the same day could each report different experiences.

The reason being that only some of the 52 Club World seat aircraft that serve this route have been fully refurbished with new in-flight entertainment systems. Some have had just a light interior refresh. Others have not been refurbished at all in ten years due to their imminent retirement. And you’ll only know what you’re getting once you’ve stepped on board the aircraft.

Let’s take a look at one early morning departure from London Heathrow Terminal 3:

Pre-departure

After a quick check-in at a reasonably busy Heathrow Terminal 3 for an early morning, it’s to the lounge.

It’s received wisdom that any passengers flying Oneworld from Terminal 3 with lounge access should head to either the Cathay Pacific or Qantas lounges.

However if you want to download reading material from PressReader at the airport you need to use the BA lounge WiFi. A couple of tips: you do need allow for a generous amount of space on your device and a good amount of time to download as it does take more than a few minutes.

To boarding, BA has for some time been using the grouping system for boarding aircraft. One weakness is that the relative numbers of passengers eligible for Group 1 boarding can vary widely by route. As Miami is an American Airlines stronghold, there are a lot of Oneworld Emerald cardholders eligible for Group 1 boarding on this route.

AA & BA Increase Heathrow – Miami To Five Times Daily

American Airlines and British Airways will operate five daily flights from London Heathrow to Miami from Sunday 27 October 2019.

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Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

American Airlines & British Airways will jointly operate up to five daily flights between London Heathrow and Miami from Sunday 27 October 2019 to Saturday 28 March 2020.

The increase has been achieved by American Airlines reinstating a second daily flight for the winter season and BA maintaining a third daily flight it added last year.

It’s a route where you can certainly adopt a “pick and mix” approach as far as aircraft are concerned.

At the time of writing, American Airlines timetables are showing a Boeing 777-300 on both of its outbound flights from London Heathrow, but a Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 on the inbound flights. However, this may change. We have recently reviewed American Airlines Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 business class.

BA will operate the Boeing 747 on two flights and one flight with the Airbus A380.

Flights are on sale now at aa.com and ba.com

Continue reading “AA & BA Increase Heathrow – Miami To Five Times Daily”

Norwegian launches Gatwick – Miami & San Francisco

Norwegian is to switch its routes from Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale and Oakland to Miami and San Francisco from Sunday 31 March 2019.

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Miami Design District (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

Norwegian continues to reshape its network at London Gatwick.

After suspending Singapore and launching Rio de Janeiro, it will switch its existing routes to Fort Lauderdale and Oakland to Miami and San Francisco International respectively.

The changes will take effect from Sunday 31 March 2019. Norwegian will fly to Miami daily and to San Francisco five times weekly.

Norwegian cites passenger demand and increased cargo capabilities for the decision. This is similar to low cost short-haul airlines who first started flying to secondary airports in Europe and then moved to primary airports as they reached maturity. Norwegian will continue to serve a number of cities in mainland Europe from Fort Lauderdale and Oakland.

This will leave Oakland with no direct service to London after BA suspended the route this year.

BA did also launch Fort Lauderdale after Norwegian. Its CEO Alex Cruz did say that serving Fort Lauderdale from Gatwick and Miami from Heathrow works well for passengers wanting a choice of Florida airports, so it looks like this will continue.

Flights are on sale now at Norwegian.

Flying Over The Florida Keys

London Air Travel » Miami

Sunset at the Florida Keys (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

The Florida Keys, as the southernmost point of the US, have long been a popular escape from winter in the Northern hemisphere for those seeking a more bohemian alternative to the crowds and overt self-confidence of Miami Beach. And it has better sunsets.

You can of course drive there, but there is also the option of flying. Many US airlines, through their regional affiliates, fly to Key West International Airport with varying degrees of frequency from their respective hubs. American Airlines from Dallas Fort Worth and Miami; Delta from Atlanta; and United from Chicago O’Hare and Newark.

You’ll also see a number of private plans on the airfield at Key West. Other than that it’s largely Silver Airways flights to the Florida region, an airline we don’t know enough about to comment on – though online reviews don’t instil confidence.

It’s flying between Miami and Key West over the Florida Keys on American Eagle that we’ll cover as it is the most likely route for visitors to Florida.

American serves the route many times a day, typically using Embraer E175 aircraft operated by Republic Airlines under the American Eagle livery.

American Eagle Embraer E175 aircraft at Key West airport (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

BA Miami & New York temporary lounge changes

Here are details of temporary lounge closures and facility changes in Miami and New York JFK Terminal 7 in July 2018.

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Here are details of two temporary lounge changes affecting BA passengers flying out of Miami and New York JFK in July 2018:

Miami

BA’s designated lounge at Miami airport is the Premium Lounge which it shares with other Oneworld alliance members such as Iberia, Finnair and Qatar Airways.

This is located on the fifth floor of Concourse E in the Central Terminal. This lounge is temporarily closed for repairs from Monday 2 July 2018 for approximately five weeks.

If you’ve ever visited the lounge you would know that whilst it is certainly spacious, the decor does scream “1980s office lobby”. I was told well over a year ago by a member of staff that the lounge was due to be refurbished, but there seems to be no sign of this happening yet.

Whilst the lounge is closed, BA passengers can use the American Airlines Flagship® lounge near Gate 30 of Concourse D in the North Terminal.

This is a relatively new lounge. By any measure, it will be a significant improvement with much more modern decor and a better choice of food and beverage more suited to pre-departure on an international flight. Like the Premium Lounge, it does have showers. Under Oneworld alliance lounge access rules, eligible BA passengers have access to this lounge in any event.

Whilst Concourses D and E are interlinked, it will be much longer walk from the lounge to the BA departure gates. Note that if the BA flight is departing from Gates E20-E33 there is a train to these gates on level four of Concourse E, as per this official map.

(From experience of flying into and out of Miami many times over the years, the only thing that can be said with any certainty is that each time it’s different so the best advice is just be prepared for it not to be the same as before.)

New York JFK Terminal 7

BA is also in the the process of refurbishing New York JFK Terminal 7.

As part of this, the Elemis travel spa and showers in the Galleries Club lounge are closed from Saturday 7 July 2018 to Monday 30 July 2018 for refurbishment, so there will be no pre-flight showers available.

The Galleries First lounge appears to be still closed for refurbishment and there are no showers in the remaining BA lounge at JFK Terminal 7, the Concorde Room, which is for First Class passengers and Concorde Room cardholders only.

Aer Lingus launches Dublin – Miami from 1 September 2017

London Air Travel » Miami

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)

BA to fly the Airbus A380 to Miami from Sunday 25 October 2015

London Air Travel » Miami

British Airways has confirmed that its London Heathrow – Miami route will be served exclusively by the Airbus A380 from Sunday 25 October 2015.

The A380 will operate twice daily, replacing up to three daily Boeing 747/777 flights.

The A380 currently operates on selected flights to Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Singapore, Washington, and, from April 2015, San Francisco.

There’s more information on BA’s A380 operations at ba.com. As this announcement has been made nearly a year in advance, we should sound a note of caution that further changes could be announced in the interim.

BA flights from London Heathrow to Miami are also due to move from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to 3 from 14 October 2015.

Update January 2018:

BA now operates one of two daily flights to Miami (BA208 / BA209) with the Airbus A380 in the winter season until Monday 30 April 2018. The route then operates with a Boeing 747 twice daily until Saturday 27 October 2018. The A380 then returns on Sunday 28 October 2018.

BA to restore long-haul flights at London Heathrow Terminal 3

London Air Travel » Miami

British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

As part of a wider set of terminal moves at London Heathrow and the consolidation of BA’s operations into Terminals 3 and 5, a number of long-haul BA flights are to move from Terminal 5 to 3 from Wednesday 14 October 2015.

These flights are Accra, Cape Town, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Nairobi, Phoenix and Vancouver.

Continue reading “BA to restore long-haul flights at London Heathrow Terminal 3”

Virgin Atlantic suspends Cape Town, Mumbai, Tokyo and Vancouver

Virgin Atlantic has announced a significant over-haul of its network, suspending a number of non-US routes. Mumbai & Tokyo are suspended from 31 January 2015. Seasonal flights to Vancouver & Cape Town are suspended from 11 October 2014 and 26 April 2015.

London Air Travel » Miami

Virgin Atlantic aircraft at London Heathrow

Virgin Atlantic has today announced a major over-haul of its long-haul network, in what is arguably the single biggest chance to its network since the events of 11 September 2001.

Virgin’s year-round services from London Heathrow to Mumbai and Tokyo Narita will be suspended from 31 January 2015.

Virgin’s seasonal flights from London Heathrow to Vancouver and Cape Town will be suspended permanently from 11 October 2014 and 26 April 2015 respectively.

Delta & Virgin Atlantic to start codesharing on transatlantic flights

London Air Travel » Miami

Virgin Atlantic & Delta Air Lines Aircraft (Image Credit: Delta Air Lines)

Delta and Virgin Atlantic have announced the start of codeshares on each other’s transatlantic flights between the UK and North America for bookings made from 29 June 2013 for travel from 3 July 2013.

Continue reading “Delta & Virgin Atlantic to start codesharing on transatlantic flights”