Bits: Bremen scrapped, bonus Heathrow Rewards points, Aer Lingus to Newquay (and Vegas?)

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• Sandgrounder says:

  11 Feb11 February 06:19

  Ryanair have dropped Bremen from Manchester too, but it is still pretty cheap from STN. On the Tuesday after the BA cancellation you can still get a same day return for £26. Not quite as convenient of course, and with the early morning departure from deepest darkest Essex you might need to take a taxi.

• pauldb says:

  11 Feb11 February 06:34

  Bear in mind that to avoid compensation, BA must inform you of the change more than 14 days out, not just cancel it and change your booking.
  They must also reroute you to BRE under EU261, whatever the notice period, not just offer you HAM, but they seem to try pretty hard to duck this responsibility in similar situations.

• the real harry1 says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:27

  We’ve got real hopes for Newquay which is undergoing fast expansion in passenger numbers, albeit from a low base. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/newquay-britains-fastest-growing-airport-departure-tax-axed-domestic-uk-routes-a7561936.html
  ‘Remarkably, the number of domestic routes from Newquay offered this summer exceeds the total of UK services from Heathrow and Gatwick combined.’

  Yeah, right – but still not that helpful if you are trying to connect with LHR flights…you never know, though. An awful lot of people want to avoid the 4-5 hrs road trip down to Cornwall in peak holiday time & those planes need to get back up to London…fingers crossed 🙂

  The bit about Newquay being easier to get to from Plymouth than Exeter airport is just silly – there would only be a couple of minutes in it so not really a consideration. But the £5 levy did annoy Ryanair, who used it as an excuse to drop certain routes a few years ago, I think they just planned to use the planes elsewhere – but might be tempted back on a couple of routes I’d have thought.

  As an airport it’s just like Bristol 20 years ago, in that you can just park and walk to the terminal in 5 minutes – but unlike Bristol 20 years ago, has modern facilities whereas Bristol was more of a big shed in a field! So very pleasant & easy to use, though I confess I’ve only dropped off/ picked up passengers.

  • Tilly71 says:

    11 Feb11 February 12:23

    Newquay airport is very small but does all that’s needed. However, it does have a few disruptions to flights, I was delayed by five hours on my first use of Newquay to Gat on Flybe.
    Aer Lingus to DUB is a great addition for positioning ex uk flight connections reducing those terrible uk airport taxes.

  • Alan says:

    12 Feb12 February 08:22

    Newquay would be a good option for me. We live in South Devon but I have family in the St Austell area for a pre-flight overnight stay.

    I remember using NQY back at the turn of the century and you got your luggage directly off the trailer that was towed by a tractor – brilliant? Then they went all modern by making that hole in the wall of the terminal building and having some guy push your luggage through it.

    Adding Aer Lingus to Dublin would be a bonus especially for linking up to USA flights.

    And don’t forge the Spaceport!!

• BA Sucks says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:29

  It is the 14 day notice period. Call me cynical, but this is the sort of thing that Vueling does….

  • ADS says:

    11 Feb11 February 10:10

    is this the shortest notice that BA have cancelled a route in recent times ?

    it feels like the actions of a banana republic type of airline !

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      11 Feb11 February 12:04

      It wasn’t BA cancelling the route, it’s operated by EZ so they’ll have made the call.

• Anna says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:34

  I’ve had 3 flights from Manchester to Bremen cancelled, 2 avios and 1 cash booking. It certainly is galling as all 3 of the trips I have booked to travel with BA this year have now been changed or cancelled! I was really looking forward to a Christmas shopping trip to Germany on the Dornier jet with refreshments included, but will now presumably have the inconvenience of flying via Heathrow with BOB.

  If we now re-book, will we have to pay extra avios and/or cash for the Man-Heathrow sector?

  • the real harry1 says:

    11 Feb11 February 07:42

    no extra Avios (with an onward RFS connection) but you have to pay cash for the taxes/ fees – which can be pretty close to a cheap cash fare so you might not exactly be making much of a saving

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 07:52

      What I’m asking is – I’ve paid 16,000 avios plus £70 fees for the 2 RFS from Man-Bremen, but now I have to connect via Heathrow, will BA make me pay this again for the Man-Heathrow leg, even though they’ve forced me to make the change? On a short-haul booking via Heathrow you pay for both sectors anyway now, but this originally was a direct flight from Man so only one set of avios/fees were charged.

      Man-Heathrow is around £150 return – BA is the only airline to fly this route so there’s no competition to drive down prices.

      • pauldb says:

        11 Feb11 February 08:06

        No they wouldn’t make you pay any extra.
        But the issue is that BA don’t fly Heathrow-Bremen. They will try to fob you off with an alternative of Hannover or Hamburg but they must reroute you to BRE.

        • Anna says:

          11 Feb11 February 08:34

          It doesn’t have to be Bremen – in brief the trip was a Christmas treat for 2 bereaved family members. What I didn’t want was to have to drag them through Heathrow and be charged for an M & S butty on board! Any German city would be acceptable.

    • Alan says:

      11 Feb11 February 08:51

      Yes there is an extra cost – for RFS you now pay Avios and taxes for each leg in the same way as separate bookings. It’s only for longhaul connections where there is no extra Avios cost, but still extra taxes/fees.

      • the real harry1 says:

        11 Feb11 February 08:58

        oh yeah, LH only these days

• Anna says:

  11 Feb11 February 08:07

  Would I be within my rights to request Man-Billund-Dusseldorf as an alternative on Sun Air? This would avoid Heathrow and allow to fly on the Dornier.

  • Rob says:

    11 Feb11 February 08:21

    Probably not. BA issues guidelines to agents and this is not listed as an option.

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 08:35

      So what do they propose? Are they going to provide train tickets to Bremen?

      • pauldb says:

        11 Feb11 February 09:12

        Like I said they’ll probably want to put you to HAJ/HAM and no further. In some circumstances they allow alternatives with a limit of 200mi of BRE but I don’t know exactly when. EU261 is clear they need to reroute you to BRE which I believe is intended to mean on another carrier (via PAR/AMS/BRU) but I think BA will resist this and it will be a fight, shamefully. If nothing else they are dodging they’d be dodging their duty to inform you of your rights, which include the reroute option.

        • Anna says:

          11 Feb11 February 14:41

          Does “comparable transport conditions” just mean they have to fly us there, or would it also cover the fact that on the original flights we would have been provided with food and drink and a certain baggage allowance?

        • Anna says:

          13 Feb13 February 10:01

          See the most recent post for the start of my saga trying to get BA/SUN AIR to rectify this!

• Nate1309 says:

  11 Feb11 February 08:40

  I miss the NQY-CWL-MAN flight

• Sam wardill says:

  11 Feb11 February 08:43

  Surely they’ll be stung for some compensation for people with return tickets?

  Regardless this seems like a cynical and unnecessary strategy.

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