Qatar Airways launches Gatwick flights alongside a week long ‘book early’ sale

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• Nick says:

  24 May24 May 05:10

  OT bit… Virgin Money has launched a £25 bonus offer for EXISTING customers who add a new product, including the new VS credit cards. This appears to be in addition to the bonus points. As they had a market-leading regular saver for a while, there may well be other HfP readers who are eligible too 🙂

  • Jimmy Mac says:

    24 May24 May 08:57

    I had the same email. Have the 0% for 39 months CC, not sure what of the other products Virgin flog I’d be interested in for the £25 if I’m brutally frank.

    • the real harry1 says:

      24 May24 May 09:04

      Is it still 8000 miles for a new Virgin ISA? (no repeats if you already did this). That wouldn’t be too bad, ie 8000 miles + £25.

      Not as good as my Orbis ISA, invest minimum £100 for a year, matched with another £100 🙂

      Offer now ended but it does seem on past history they’ll repeat it a couple of times in the ISA year.

• Paul says:

  24 May24 May 06:29

  Wow, domestic flight reductions to Newcastle, Aberdeen and Glasgow……….now watch faresvrise.
  If this country had any form of decent regulator for aviation they would be acting on BAs abuse of a monopoly, note no change to EDI where there is some competition.

  • Jamesay says:

    24 May24 May 06:47

    Absolutely correct. Prices on the Monopoly route of GLA to LHR are astronomical!

  • Brian says:

    24 May24 May 07:13

    I fly from NCL. That’s a big devaluation from BA.

    This comes at a great time for me moving my business from SkyTeam to BA. Perfect…..not

    • Mr. Brown Ale says:

      24 May24 May 09:41

      Not really a devaluation – just a drop of one flight per day. And if the 321s are sent up more frequently instead of the 319s – and with all the extra seats – in terms of numbers of seats not a huge loss. Plus: if you need to get to LCY or LGW, it’s quicker to go via Edinburgh – especially if you are north of Newcastle. As for KLM/AF – good luck with that! AF strike every time the wind blows in a different direction, and frequency to AMS is less than reduced frequency LHR > NCL. And on planes with far fewer seats…

      • Lumma says:

        24 May24 May 10:51

        I’m from the north east originally. In five years living in London I’ve flown once. The airports are too far out of town and the fares are too expensive to make it worthwhile. If they flew to London City I’d do it more often.

        Crossrail might make it more worthwhile however.

  • TripRep says:

    24 May24 May 07:42

    Paul – FlyBE operate on ABZ-LHR

    But yes less flights = less cheap seat availability

  • Anna says:

    24 May24 May 08:36

    Yes, some Manchester flights have been cut as well. This is all going to have an impact on those of us who need connecting flights for redemption bookings. I can see the end of the avios-free add on for long-haul redemptions.

  • Andrew says:

    24 May24 May 09:17

    At the same time, with Flybe operating on the ABZ-LHR route, it might improve their loadings and profitability – which can only be a good thing.

    Do Flybe’s Embraer aircraft ever turn up on the Heathrow diagrams?

  • Callum says:

    24 May24 May 10:56

    In what way could a regulator feasibly act in such a scenario that isn’t unfair to BA?

    It’s not like they’ve become a monopoly through shady business practices – it’s because demand is low.

• Simon says:

  24 May24 May 06:31

  I fly from terminal three for the first time Saturday morning, club Europe. Assume the BA lounge is my best option even though I have priority pass access?

  • Tony says:

    24 May24 May 06:43

    I’d suggest that BA is the weakest of the offerings are T3. You definitely want to try out the Cathay Pacific and Qantas lounges.

  • Darren says:

    24 May24 May 07:01

    No, no and thrice no.

    +1 what Tony said.

  • Rob says:

    24 May24 May 07:16

    No, worst. Qantas first, Cathay 2nd, AA 3rd, BA 4th.

    • Simon says:

      24 May24 May 08:20

      But I only have priority pass which is aspire or number 1 or BA due to flying business!

      • Rob says:

        24 May24 May 08:42

        I would rank them, on a Business ticket, Qantas, Cathay, Club Aspire, No 1, American, BA on that basis. Partly depends on time of day and whether you love BA bacon rolls for breakfast or not. You can visit them all of course.

        BA Gold or F passengers should prioritise Cathay First.

    • Simon says:

      24 May24 May 11:47

      Am I being thick then Rob in not realising I can access Qantas and Cathay lounges on a BA club Europe ticket?

      • Sam G says:

        24 May24 May 11:55

        Yes…. 😉 – any Oneworld is OK on a biz ticket even without status

      • Simon says:

        24 May24 May 12:58

        qantas opens later than cathay (8am vs 0530) so bear that in mind

    • Anthony Dunn says:

      24 May24 May 11:51

      The QF and CX/AY lounges in T3 are extremely agreeable. The bar at the top of the stairs in the QF lounge serves some very quaffable Oz wines and good catering whereas the CX/AY lounge has excellent catering.

    • John says:

      24 May24 May 14:00

      Tried QF for breakfast last Sat morning, they didn’t have any substantial food until 0930, by which time I had decamped to CX.

  • MattyS says:

    24 May24 May 13:57

    Is there an unaccompanied age limit for the lounges ?

    Promised my lad and his friend (both 17) I would use my BA miles to get them a flight in the summer. Irritatingly the timings mean they have to fly out CE from T3. I read that the BA lounge does not accept unaccompanied U18’s but couldn’t find anything one way or the other for the other ones.

    • Rob says:

      24 May24 May 14:08

      The availability of unsupervised alcohol is the issue. Qantas has all its booze behind the bar – perhaps they are more relaxd?

    • the real harry1 says:

      24 May24 May 14:09

      No chance in Club Aspire (see Lounge Facilities 4) https://www.executivelounges.com/terms

      I guess the free-flowing alcohol means this will be a common limitation.

    • MattyS says:

      24 May24 May 14:24

      Thanks Rob, Harry. I read that self-serve booze was the issue for the BA lounge, so they may be okay to get in the other ones if it is a proper bar. They have assured me they wouldn’t drink though………

      • Lumma says:

        24 May24 May 17:42

        Cathay Pacific has a pour yourself Carlsberg tap near the entrance so that might be not an option either

• Jamesay says:

  24 May24 May 06:46

  Question. What is BA Gold Guest List please?
  I’m BAEC Gold Card holder and haven’t heard of Gold Guedt List? Do I have to apply or is it invite by BA only?
  Thanks in advance!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 May24 May 06:50

    Earn 5000 TP which is roughly 11 return 1st class flights a year

• Ian says:

  24 May24 May 07:17

  OT – I’m BA Silver. My company’s just booked me in WTP to New York through their corporate travel agency.

  I can see the bulkhead seats available on ExpertFlyer, and on the BA website if I do a dummy cash booking.

  But in my account, I can’t choose the bulkhead seats in the work booking (but I can choose all other available seats). Could this be because it was booked through an agency? Might a call to BA sort it?

  Thanks!

  • Rob says:

    24 May24 May 07:21

    Odd. If your number is in the booking it should show.

    • Ian says:

      24 May24 May 07:22

      Thanks Rob. Yes, it appeared in my account before the Agent even confirmed my ticket yesterday evening.

      • Mike says:

        24 May24 May 07:32

        Isn’t this because the bulkhead seats are bassinet seats? So they are held back until close to the flight in case somebody needs to travel with an infant?

        At least ISTR seeing a message to that effect when I tried to select a bulkhead seat on my last WTP flight…

      • the real harry1 says:

        24 May24 May 08:23

        Yep that’s right – ISTR they are kept in reserve for parents travelling with infants (who can book them free of charge at time of booking, or later under MMB) until T-72 hrs. Then they are opened up to other passengers.

      • Ian says:

        24 May24 May 08:43

        Thanks Mike and Harry. That doesn’t seem to fully be the case.

        If I make a new booking on ba.com for the same flights, going as far as I can without paying – the seat selection option while logged in as Silver lets me book any of the 8 front row seats.

        For whatever reason I can’t select them in my actual booking.

      • the real harry1 says:

        24 May24 May 08:48

        Lots of threads here on FT explain it, ie you can see the bilkhead seats but can’t book them
        https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&q=flyertalk+bassinet+seats&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

      • Ian says:

        24 May24 May 09:30

        Ah – thanks Harry. Makes sense now. At 6″5 I’ll be monitoring obsessively until I fly :-).

      • the real harry1 says:

        24 May24 May 09:37

        Did you see the tip that whilst @ T-72 hrs you can’t get it via MMB but have to phone, OTOH you can go to the Royal Jordanian site and do it online via their version of MMB?

      • Ian says:

        24 May24 May 10:04

        The Royal Jordanian site allows me to do it now alright. Should I worry about that causing issues with BA later on? Great tip (as always), Harry!

      • the real harry1 says:

        24 May24 May 10:18

        I would just do it now 🙂

        You might get kicked out, off course, but just watch it carefully every now and then and you can still move to another decent seat via RJ.

  • TripRep says:

    24 May24 May 21:25

    WTP seats are also reserved for CW downgradees, speaking from experience…. 😛

• Joe says:

  24 May24 May 07:28

  Does the dropping direct flights to Luanda, in addition to cessation of other long haul routes that BA couldn’t make work (Chengdu etc) suggest the case for a third LHR runway remains overstated? The argument that a third runway is needed to enable access to new/emerging markets is false if there is clearly no [viable] demand for such destinations. Instead we see BA increasing mostly short haul EU and leisure destinations, which tbh the low cost carriers do better at Gatwick and Stansted. Just some musings on a Thursday morning…

  • Rob says:

    24 May24 May 07:32

    That was already clear when BA launched a pile of China and India routes 5 years ago and had to close them.

    • Jordan D says:

      24 May24 May 09:34

      “A pile of China & India routes” – other than Chengdu what have they cancelled? Calcutta hasn’t been served for years (and definitely not in the last 5) …

      • Rob says:

        24 May24 May 10:00

        Perhaps more than 5 years, but there was a raft of Indian routes at one point. Chengdu is the only dropped China route, agreed.

  • Will says:

    24 May24 May 12:43

    Having flown out of and returned into stansted last weekend I was extremely impressed with the airports ability to process people.

    It was very busy, had staff directing passengers to queues very clearly and informing people to prepare liquids/remove laptops and also very clear instructions being repeated on how to use e gates on return incl removing glasses and headphones.

    Sounds obvious but very different to how BHX operate.

    • Will says:

      24 May24 May 12:46

      And just to clarify it meant large queues were moving very quickly on both sides of the airport.

      Contrast that to BHX where they have 1 queue to feed the e gates instead of airing people behind each gate which results in huge latency between a green e gate entry and a passenger actually getting into the gate. The staff at bhx were also more interested in chatting than instructing the queue on e gate compliance.

  • @alastairtravel says:

    24 May24 May 17:41

    LAD has a lot of local Angola related challenges – this is likely contributory – perhaps more trouble than it’s worth.

• J kelly says:

  24 May24 May 07:35

  I was on the cancelled BA FLIGHT TO Palermo Sun 28 Octand there are very few options to rebook onto other airlines so had to cancel trip. Called BA said they had cancelled due to not enough passengers despite it also being offered as a BAholiday. I fruit sting as I feel BA is selling this route in bad faith. They will have years of historical data regarding this route-so why offer the dates when they must know in all likelihood they are going to cancel the flights for the ‘winter schedule’ and why making those changes when the whole of U.K. is on 1/2 term-a busy time of travel.
  When called to complain-the whole process took 40mins which seems to defeat the purpose of customer service-I am a gold member, increasingly wonder why I bother.

• the real harry1 says:

  24 May24 May 08:02

  For reference (as as noted yesterday), BA are obliged in law (EC261) to offer you either refund or re-routing to same or similar destination at a date you choose. So, for example, you might have insisted on easy Jet Gatwick-Palermo on 27th (or from Luton) – or got a flight with 1 change to get you to Palermo on the 28th. I accept this may not have been acceptable to you in terms of inconvenience or hassle if BA at first did not accept your re-routing suggestion on a competitor airline/s. Others on FT have often suggested that provided you do the research, find an alternative route then put this to BA on the phone and explain you know your rights to re-routing under EC261, BA is fairly agreeable to arranging the ticketing for you. That is your choice (ie to insist on re-routing or not.) But BA have no choice and must pay up – even if they are difficult & you have to pay for the ticket yourself then claim back the cost on MCOL – BA would fold & pay up in short order as it is very black and white.

  • vlcnc says:

    26 May26 May 00:31

    I find reality this is really hard to get BA to do – many people like my partner just can’t be done with the hassle – as BA are generally quite twatty about it. Maybe we should say Cruzey about it? Sort of like Jeremy Hunt is another word for…

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