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easyJet and Jet2 snap up Thomas Cook take-off and landing slots at Gatwick and Bristol

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A batch of Thomas Cook slot sales were announced yesterday by the liquidator of the airline.

easyJet has paid £36m for a package of slots at London Gatwick and Bristol.  It acquired 12 Summer and eight Winter slots at Gatwick as well as six Summer and one Winter slot at Bristol.

Jet2 has also announced the acquisition of some Thomas Cook slots at Manchester, Stansted, and Birmingham Airports.  The price was not disclosed.

It is not clear if this represents all of the Gatwick and Manchester slots, which were the most valuable assets, or just the short-haul ones.

The official statement is not totally clear and Cook was originally reported to have 15 or 16 pairs of Gatwick Summer slots.

British Airways was known to be interested in a handful of well-timed slots at Gatwick whilst Virgin Atlantic was keen on some of the Manchester ones.

Comments (123)

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  • James A says:

    Rumour has it that Jet2 are planning to acquire another A330 and start Orlando from Manchester.

    Jet2 are very disciplined but I do feel They could make Orlando work, so long as they don’t get carried away with long haul.

    • Shoestring says:

      Jet2 have got £228 Glasgow-New York return last week in November

  • Harry T says:

    OT:
    If I wanted to book a 241 redemption that flew out of Inverness but came back to Newcastle, would I have to call BA to book?

    Trying to get First Class to Hong Kong but also save on taxes and charges.

    • Genghis says:

      Yes. My advice though is to book at t-355 and benefit from the lower taxes applied to the single leg back (call morning after booked to get some avios back).

      • Harry T says:

        @Genghis thanks. In that situation, do you need the Avios to pay for both legs for two people without applying the 241?

        Sort of off topic, but I’ve not been to Hong Kong before. Is it true that October/November is the best time to visit?

    • BJ says:

      Yes but if you wanted you could book the outbound online applying your voucher and then calling later to add the return. Just the same as when folks want to book both dates T-355.

      • Harry T says:

        Brilliant, thanks.

      • BJ says:

        Anytime is the best time to go to HK except … errr…these days!
        Did you see reply from Jill yesterday that the new Courtyard is actually at INV airport and will be open next year? Handy for the 7am departure otherwise best to stay in town.

        • TripRep says:

          #WhenHampton

          • BJ says:

            Thanks TripRep, fab news and a great location 🙂 Might just become my no. 1 use if Honors points. Hope they peg it at 20k but given hotel prices in Inverness I doubt it. With this and Courtyard the HIX magic money tree must be about over.

        • Harry T says:

          Yeah, might need to give it a while before visiting there to let things hopefully die down! That’s great news about the Courtyard, thanks for letting me know.

          So book the outbound from Inverness online and then call to add a return to Edinburgh? Form what Genghis is saying, could save even more tax by booking the return as a separate Avios booking (not 241) and then calling to add it to the 241 booking?

          • yorkieflyer says:

            Yes, it is priced as a one way from HKG and a separate booking and so the lower ex HKG taxes if booked online as a single using avios, then ring in following day and ask for the second half of the 241 to be applied.

          • BJ says:

            There is some confusion here I think. HarryT suggested at one point he might have insufficient avios to book 2 x one way return sectors from HKG-NCL online using avios. Hence I suggested calling to add the return leg using the 241 and hence half the avios (Which he obviously has) over the phone. It seems Harry gets what Genghis and Yorkie are suggesting, but given the way BA CSA are currently processing second legs of 241s with 2 PNR not mean that Harry will still benefit from low tax/fees if he has to call because he does not have enough avios to book for two online?

        • John says:

          Now is the best time it has ever been to go to Hong Kong in the past 15 years. Just get up early and don’t stay out late on weekends.

          • BJ says:

            Good point, hotels have never been better value. The downside though is if the s*** really does hit the fan during a visit.

            Btw, it got very confusing over the past week, multiple people now seem to be posting under ‘John’.

          • PaulC says:

            We are going in January, booked on the Swiss/Lufthansa 2-4-1 sale. We’ve been a couple of times and as long as your vigilant as you should be in new locations anyway I can’t see it being a problem. In fact I suspect local businesses will be fighting over your money and some great deals and bargains can be had in all aspects.

  • B says:

    OT: (Don’t often post but always read, so Hi :-))

    I’ve upgraded a premium economy Lufhansa (FRA-ICN) to business, ticket has changed from N to P (business basic). According to the Asiana website (where I collect *A) P will now earn 0% of miles, yet N earned 100% of miles?

    Is this likely to be the case or would I earn the pre-upgrade miles or even the business miles? Seems odd that upgrading with cash from a fare that earns 100% of miles would then earn 0%.

    Thanks in advance

    • Rhys says:

      Did you check the Asiana website for Lufthansa’s fare buckets? They vary from carrier to carrier. 0% might be Asiana’s own P, rather than Lufthansa P

      • B says:

        Yeah the Asiana website has a section for partner airlines. This is under the Lufthansa section. I’m hoping it’s out of date / inaccurate. All the listed business fares (C,D,J,Z) are all 125% miles. P is down the bottom in it’s own section of 0%.

  • Mike says:

    I can’t find the promised Monday article about being driven to the plane at Manchester – has it been published yet?

  • Roger S says:

    Hi, sorry if this has been asked before!
    I am flying to the US with my two grandchildren and have used my BA 2-4-1 vouchers to book my grandson and I (18years old) in Economy and my wife’s 2-4-1 to book her and my granddaughter (24 years old) in First. In all of my 50 odd years of flying I’ve never managed to bag a first class redemption. Question is can I swap my boarding pass with my Granddaughter or should I ask the Cabin Bursar on boarding the aircraft if that would be OK??. Note: we don’t intend changing seats again after take off.

    • Shoestring says:

      we (wife & I) regularly swap around Business & Economy seats in Europe short haul, probably best in terms of good relations with crew to tell the cabin crew that’s what you’re doing & I’m 100% sure they’ll be fine about it

      though I would probably just do it & only give my explanation if they ask

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