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British Airways Opens Refurbished San Francisco Lounge

British Airways has opened its newly refurbished lounge at San Francisco International airport.

British Airways lounge, San Francisco International (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has reopened its lounge at San Francisco International airport following a six month refurbishment.

The lounge remains in its current location near Gates A4 and A6 on Concourse A, which benefits from floor to ceiling windows and good views of the airport apron.

The new lounge has combined the old Club and First lounges into one. Whilst First Class passengers and Gold Executive Club cardholders no longer have a separate lounge, First Class passengers do benefit from a new dedicated pre-flight dining area.

The lounge follows a similar design brief to BA lounges in Aberdeen, New York and Rome. The centrepiece of the lounge is granite topped bar.

You can also take a 360 degree tour of the lounge on a dedicated microsite.

Although the lounge has not increased in size, first impressions are that the new lounge is a significantly better use of the space and it has a much more open feel than the old lounge. There is also a vastly better range of seating choices.

Access to the lounge is available to British Airways First and Club World (business class) customers, British Airways Executive Gold and Silver members, and oneworld frequent flyers with Emerald and Sapphire status.

In terms of other BA lounge refurbishments, the Geneva and Johannesburg lounges are currently closed for refurbishment. Hopefully in the next few months, we will have a timescale for a refurbishment of the BA lounges at London Heathrow.

BA San Francisco Lounge Closes For Refurbishment

BA’s lounge at San Francisco will close for refurbishment on Wednesday 2 January 2019.

London Air Travel » San Francisco

British Airways Lounge San Francisco (Image Credit: Oneworld Alliance)

BA’s lounge at San Francisco International Airport is to close for refurbishment on Wednesday 2 January 2019.

This is a welcome move. Whilst the lounge has always offered impressive views of the aircraft apron, the style of the lounge dates back to the “Terraces” lounge format from the late 1990s. A refurbishment has been long overdue.

At the moment the lounge is separated into a Club lounge and a small First lounge.

The new lounge is expected to open in the summer. It is not clear yet whether the First lounge will become a “Concorde Bar” as per Dubai and Singapore airports, which means it would be only available for passengers ticketed in First Class, and not BA Executive Club Gold cardholders.

Whilst the lounge is closed the designated lounge for BA passengers is the China Airlines Dynasty lounge, which is located on the 2nd floor of the international terminal, after security.

According to the China Airlines website, this lounge is closed between 16:00 and 22:00. However, it is assumed that these hours will be extended for BA passengers.

Under Oneworld alliance lounge access rules eligible passengers are also entitled to use the relatively new Cathay Pacific lounge. There is also a Japan Airlines lounge. However, this closes at 14:55.

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.

London Air Travel » San Francisco

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.

Virgin Atlantic takes firsts steps to create Manchester hub

London Air Travel » San Francisco

Virgin Atlantic Logo (Image Credit: Virgin Atlantic)

Virgin Atlantic has today, 31 March 2016, announced that it is to launch new routes from Manchester to Boston & San Francisco from late March 2017.

Boston will initially operate twice weekly (Wednesdays & Saturdays) and San Francisco will initially operate thrice weekly (Tuesdays, Fridays, & Sundays).

Flights will be operated by Virgin Atlantic’s fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft with Upper Class (business), premium economy and economy seating.

Virgin Atlantic has of course long had a presence in Manchester. It flies to Orlando, Barbados, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. The latter being the hub of its transatlantic partner and minority shareholder, Delta Air Lines.

However, what is noteworthy about today’s announcement is that first these routes seemingly are geared to attracting business as well as leisure traffic.

Furthermore, Virgin will, for the first time we believe, offer a significant number of short-haul connections at Manchester with Flybe from a large number of airports in the UK and Europe such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Exeter, Southampton and Newquay.

As such, today’s announcement could presage the development of small, but growing, hub for Virgin Atlantic at Manchester.

It is also good to see Virgin Atlantic expanding after a period of contraction at London Heathrow with the closure of its “Little Red” domestic flights to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester, as well as the closure of a number of routes such as Cape Town, Mumbai, Tokyo and Vancouver.

It also points to a very growing and competitive transatlantic market in the UK. Indeed, Boston and San Francisco are two recently announced routes by Norwegian at London Gatwick.

In terms of competitive response from carriers in London, we don’t expect any immediate response from British Airways or its parent company IAG.

BA attracted considerable criticism many years ago for withdrawing its final non-London international route, Manchester – New York JFK. BA would no doubt point to its growing transatlantic network in London, its codeshare partner American Airlines flights from Manchester to New York JFK, Chicago and Philadelphia and its IAG sibling Aer Lingus flights to North America from Manchester via Dublin (with the benefit of pre-clearance). That said, we have no doubt today’s developments will be watched with interest.

Virgin’s flights from Manchester to Boston and San Francisco are on sale at Virgin Atlantic.

United Airlines to introduce free beer & wine on long-haul flights

London Air Travel » San Francisco

United Airlines at London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)

In a further sign of US airlines continuing to narrow the historical gap in service levels between their European rivals, United Airlines is to provide complimentary beer and wine in economy class on long-haul flights to and from London Heathrow from 1 June 2015.

This is part of a package of service improvements announced by United Airlines. The airline will continue to charge for spirits in economy. Passengers will also have the option to purchase additional snacks in flight.

This move does, if we’re not mistaken, put United Airlines broadly on a par with Delta and American Airlines. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic continue to offer a full bar service free of charge in economy.

Whilst in the grand scheme of things, this is a very modest change and, in truth, only a reversal of a previous cut, it’s perhaps less likely other airlines will start charging for alcoholic drinks in economy.

United Airlines flies from London Heathrow Terminal 2 to New York Newark, Chicago, Washington Dulles, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

San Francisco is the next route to be served by BA’s Airbus A380

London Air Travel » San Francisco

A British Airways Airbus A380 aircraft takes off at London Heathrow airport. — British Airways Airbus A380 at take off, London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)

British Airways has confirmed that its next new route for the Airbus A380 will be San Francisco.

This is the sixth BA destination to be served by the A380.

From April 2015, the A380 will operate on one of BA’s twice daily flights between London Heathrow and San Francisco, five days a week.

The A380 will operate as BA287 & BA286 to/from San Francisco to London on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The same flight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will continue to be operated by a Boeing 747, as will the second daily service, BA 285 & BA284.

BA currently operates the A380 on selected flights between London Heathrow and Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and Los Angeles. The A380 is also due to fly to Washington from 2 October and Singapore from Thursday 28 October.

Update January 2018:

BA currently flies the Airbus A380 from London Heathrow to San Francisco on one its daily flights (BA286 & BA287) on Monday, Thursday Saturday until Saturday 24 March 2018. The Airbus A380 operates daily from Sunday 25 March 2018 to Saturday 27 March 2018.

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 » San Francisco

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 » San Francisco

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.

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BA launches “Ungrounded” – An innovation lab in the sky

London Air Travel » San Francisco

British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

An 11 hour transatlantic flight from San Francisco to London in a passenger configured BA aircraft may not seem the most conducive environment for 100 thinkers to come up with solutions to the world’s problems, but BA thinks otherwise with the launch of Ungrounded.

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