British Airways has announced a number of long-haul service cancellations for the Winter season, running from October 26th to March 29th 2015.
These cuts are in response to weakening demand – although, you may ask, if demand was so weak, why have Avios redemptions on these routes been so difficult to find recently?
BA generally takes its time to notify passengers of flight cancellations to avoid overwhelming their call centres. If you are flying on any of these routes you might want to check your booking and get on the phone before you are officially notified.
Cancellations from October 26th to March 29th:
London Heathrow to New York JFK:
BA181 outbound Monday to Saturdays cancelled
BA180 inbound Tuesday to Sundays cancelled
London Heathrow to New York Newark:
BA187/186 outbound and inbound on Mondays cancelled
London Heathrow to Accra:
BA079 outbound on Mon, Thu, Fri and Sun cancelled
BA080 inbound on Mon, Tue, Fri and Sat cancelled
London Heathrow to Montreal:
BA095/094 outbound and return on Tuesdays cancelled
London Gatwick to Las Vegas:
All services cancelled from December 2nd to March 2nd (Heathrow services are not affected)
About Head for Points
I would see it the other way round – limit Avios availability as seats will be needed when flights get cancelled and people need to be accommodated on other flights. Cheaper for BA!
Have BA actually cut any routes then? Just looks like rotations here and there that have been trimmed.
Yep, LGW-LAS has been cut
Theses cancellations would have been very carefully planned especially the LHR routes to protect the 80/20 slot rules. I would also agree that there would have been some further restriction on Avios availability but as it has been so bad for so long the impact is almost certainly small.
As I write this I am sitting on board AA51 en route to Dallas; a new 777-300 with direct aisle access in business. The crew are American but friendly and chatty. The food was simple but superbly cooked and well presented. The Ice cream sundae always a treat. in my limited experience of American Airlines, this is my 7th sector, they are consistent at delivering a very solid, high quality business product.
If BA are suffering from low loads it because people like me are moving to the likes of AA and CX wherever possible. Pre booking of entrees and big comfy seats, direct aisle access, complimented with simple, well cooked food means I am happy to let others use cramped, dated and uncomfortable Club World with surly crew and inconsistent service. Sure the admirals club in T3 is far from great and T3 is a dump that should be demolished, but for the 12-13 hours of total journey time almost 10 is spent on board and I rate on board experience ( for long haul at least) well above ground product any day.
Crew on this flight have just complemented me on the behaviour of my kids and given me a another miniature of cognac with out prompting. I simply could not ask for more, other that nan upgrade to First……but then my seat is on par with BA first and unlike my recent flight on the A380 in First, I have had my first choice of meal, the crew are polished and professional, not dishevelled, confused and lacking in experience..in short AA business on the 777-300 is on par with BA First and leaves club world for dead.
What’s amazing is that AA have not used the product to drive a huge price differential and so why anyone pays to fly BA when they could fly AA 777-300 for the same money, is quite beyond me
We’re booked in F for an LHR -JFK 241 redemption for my 40th in March and we were told a few weeks back that our BA flight was cancelled (none of these flight numbers) but we’re rebooked on a slightly later flight, same seats etc. I was a little bit miffed at first but it cost next to nothing so I’m sure we’ll get bumped again between now and then. But can’t complain really as all seats etc are sorted already.