Where is British Airways flying in Europe in August? Now at 101 destinations

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• Tilly says:

  4 Aug4 August 07:13

  We have RFS booked in CE on a companion voucher to Santorini end of September, returning October. What’s the likelihood of the flights being cancelled? I’ve not added my 5 month old to the booking yet (booked our tickets whilst still pregnant) and haven’t even got round to sorting her passport out because of covid. No accommodation booked yet either as I waited until she was born, then at 5 weeks old we went into lockdown so I’ve been waiting to see what happens.

  In all honesty though I’m feeling too anxious about covid and exposing my infant to the risk to go so secretly going flights are cancelled and we get a full refund of voucher, points and £100. If it wasn’t for the little one I’d go on the holiday but I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to her.

  • Andrew says:

    4 Aug4 August 07:54

    Hi Tilly. First of all congratulations on your little bundle of joy.

    Tbh I’m not sure on cancellations – I know from experience that BA have gone through and cancelled lots of September flights out of LGW and rerouted some to LHR. Whether they’ve done the LHR/LCY cancellations, in unsure.

    An extra consideration is the current length of time HMPO are taking to process passport applications – can you get a passport issued for your daughter in time?

    I’m not sure how strict BA are on this point but their FTVs are available for travel due to be completed by 30 September. If you explained the situation (perhaps you couldn’t get a birth certificate issued due to Covid as Register Offices were closed and- because of that – couldn’t get a passport?) they may be more flexible as your outbound is before the deadline… if you want the voucher then it might be worth a go, not forgetting that the voucher combines your Avios/2-4-1 voucher (extended to 30 April 2020)/RFS fee.

    PS – if you have BA status don’t forget the maternity status extension, although not sure if it can be stacked with the Covid extensions already announced.

  • Leo says:

    4 Aug4 August 08:17

    Tilly my June LCY to Mykonos was cancelled (due to it being LCY) as were friends’ flights, and then so was my September flight but I was able to move that to LHR. I’ve got several friend who are currently in Greece having flown either EZ or BA. For reasons I won’t bore you with I’ve now cancelled September anyway taking a voucher which suited me. I wouldn’t bank on your flights being cancelled if things stay similar to how they are now. Greece seems to be holding it together TBH.

    • Alex Sm says:

      8 Aug8 August 09:57

      As for covid, Greece is doing much better than any country in Southern Europe, so the risk is much lower than in the UK. Just returned from a week there yesterday

  • Anna says:

    4 Aug4 August 10:46

    Re the passport, last month we panicked a bit and applied for a new one for my son for a possible trip in October and it arrived within a fortnight!

  • AJA says:

    4 Aug4 August 11:02

    Tilly, congrats on the baby. BA seem to be cancelling a month ahead so September flights should be cancelled imminently if they are going to be. Bear in mind that a change of airport from LGW to LHR counts as a cancellation too. Also notice Santorini is not listed in the flights in the article so I’d be surprised if it does appear for September.

    In your case is just wait and see if BA do cancel as you can still cancel and get everything back minus £70 up to 24 hours before departure though I wouldn’t wait until that deadline as it may take a few attempts to get through to BA on the phone which is the only way to cancel

    • Mark says:

      4 Aug4 August 11:14

      Santorini flights are operating – the airport is Thira

      • AJA says:

        4 Aug4 August 11:44

        Thanks! In which case I suggest Tilly should go for cancellation and pay £35 per passenger.

      • ankomonkey says:

        4 Aug4 August 13:14

        Scheduled to fly there next week with BA – flights not (yet) cancelled…

        • krys_k says:

          4 Aug4 August 13:32

          We’ve a (Currently) three month old and will travel abroad for a holiday to Greece and Separate visit to grandmother in September. Will be careful but don’t intend on self cancelling.

      • Alex Sm says:

        8 Aug8 August 09:58

        Thira is the Greek name for Santorini!

  • Tilly says:

    4 Aug4 August 18:23

    Thank you everyone. As always great advice here. I think based on what you’ve all posted I’ll get onto BA and cancel, I’d rather lose £70 than have an anxious time away. Such a shame, Covid has really scuppered my holiday plans during mat leave. I was looking forward to taking her away a few times before I returned to work. Oh well, first world problems.

    Andrew, thanks for the reminder about the maternity extension to status, I got that sorted a couple of months ago, had to provide a copy of the birth certificate (registered her 2 weeks before lockdown) to do it so can’t use that as an excuse not to travel. She even has her own BAEC membership with 1k welcome avios already.

    Thanks again all!

    • SimonW says:

      4 Aug4 August 18:46

      Treat yourselves to a few nights at the Four Seasons in Hampshire. Great with kids there, superb service, and a lovely indoor swimming pool. Good luck !

      • Tilly says:

        4 Aug4 August 20:21

        Now that is a great idea. I’ve been meaning to go for years but never got around to it.

        • Rob says:

          4 Aug4 August 22:31

          Emyr can sort you out there. His extra benefits (free breakfast, £75 credit etc) are valid on ANY rate, even heavily discounted ones on the FS website.

        • Tilly says:

          5 Aug5 August 06:13

          Thanks for the reminder Rob.

• Troll Basher says:

  4 Aug4 August 07:58

  Still scant regard for domestic connections.
  One a day, in the middle of the day, just doesn’t cut it; the whole morning bank of departures are lost to people trying to connect and I’m not adding an extra night and a hotel layover each way just to remain loyal to BA; makes the bonus Avios offer an unobtainable taunt.
  KLM and Lufthansa have both been packed this past month, with many faces I recognise prevIously from BA flights down to LHR.
  Covid has changed the world, including loyalties.

  • Anna says:

    4 Aug4 August 10:48

    Which airport are you referring to?!

    • Troll Basher says:

      4 Aug4 August 21:52

      MAN

• Paul says:

  4 Aug4 August 08:01

  I am really keen to travel and currently away however if you have concerns about your health think very very carefully about flying BA especially at weekends. The queues on Sunday (and most weekends it seems) we’re utterly shameful! There is no attempt to social distance, very few staff from the airport authority, few operation sanitisers, many unmanned Check-in desks, no bag tag printers and procedures that cause the queues and cause arguments between staff and passengers.

  For example, you are supposed to stay away from the terminal more than 2 hours before departure, this bunches passengers who then queue but others get called to the front causing frustration and delays for those who were on time. I waited in a club queue of hundreds with no social distancing and several belligerent non mask wearers whom BA did nothing about, for 75 mins from 07:30 to 07:45 for a 09:45 departure. This was longer than my flight.

  The queues affected every single zone of T5, even first wing. It was hideous! As bad as any day of disruption!
  Security by the time I had checked in was clear, the galleries north empty and service good.

  Boarding was well handled and the flight uneventful. Don’t get excited by club catering. It’s very poor!

  However as we disembarked we were instructed that it would be by seat row and that we had to keep 2m apart!!!! This was just stupid! You have sat cheek by jowl with hundreds of people and at least a dozen around you. At Check-in you have been deliberately penned in with thousands of others In the terminal before the flight and with no attempt to social distance.

  It will be no surprise if there is a serious spike in infections that can be traced to BA and Heathrow airport.

  Buyer beware

  • James says:

    4 Aug4 August 08:22

    This probably isn’t much help (Depending on your destination) but try to book a flight departing around lunchtime. Everything was fine at LHR. No queues except for boarding the plane. Just waited back and boarded last as lying CE in row 3.

  • Rob says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:16

    The problem is the passengers. Huge numbers are being denied boarding because they have not filled in the correct pre-departure form (so the incoming airport has banned them from travelling) or cannot show the required paperwork, eg covid test certificate, at check-in.

    Worth noting that online check-in is suspended, I believe, for countries which require specific documentation to enter which clearly creates more queues.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      4 Aug4 August 09:30

      “The problem is the passengers.”

      Hmmm…. Lots of businesses are having to do extra restrictions, extra checks and all sorts of other measures in response to Covid and as a result the experience of using them is quite different and can be confusing to many. This obviously includes BA. Most of us spent a lot of extra time (and money – even though times were tough already!) on communication AND increased customer-facing staff at all points, for exactly this reason; and then still only put through as many customers as we knew we could deal with safely and effectively. What we didn’t do is operate and staff as normal or with token increases, then just blame the customer for not navigating everything themselves…

    • TGLoyalty says:

      4 Aug4 August 09:52

      Is BA helping by making it clear what documents they need for their destination ?

    • GeorgeJ says:

      4 Aug4 August 10:37

      Not sure that is the case Rob. I went out two weeks ago and had the same situation as Paul, que for first wing back to the doors at 5.45am and passengers being called forward as time ran out. At no point going out or back did BA look at my arrival paperwork so that wasn’t the reason for the chaos. To cap it off, it was the first day they had used the C gates and they couldn’t get a single luggage container lift to work! Sat on the stand for almost an hour while they brought one from elsewhere at 5mph. Broken Britain at its worst. That lack of inspection was confirmed by the number of passengers at passport control on the way back having to complete their forms before Immigration would let them through.
      The whole experience was so bad that I am in no hurry to repeat it and have cancelled my flight for a fortnights time, I am still going but I will drive in the expectation that it will be safer and more pleasant.

    • mvcvz says:

      4 Aug4 August 11:04

      So the passengers are responsible for operating LHR now? Ludicrous comment.

      Am I also responsible for the roadworks on the M^ which haven’t progressed since mid-March?

    • Lady London says:

      4 Aug4 August 12:21

      If the luggage label printers are not working then does this mean you cant check in online any more and just go to self-bag drop?

      If thats the case then many people will miss their flights just because the queues are not being processed quickly enough.

    • Paul says:

      4 Aug4 August 19:49

      Rob am sorry but passengers don’t determine processes and procedures BA does. Many airports zone flights according to routes of destinations and T5 is big enough that domestic flights could check in at specific desks, Euro non visa non doc flights including the same long haul could go in another and then more complex flights elsewhere. There should also be separate problem solving desks for those without the right docs, though god knows why anyone flying now would not have checked, the first wing can continue to be exclusive but zoning would also give polls a choice ( something ba crow a lot about)
      The bottom line is they don’t have enough staff. They are cheating out a every stage. Check-in, abandoning fast track, on board experience ( club catering is appalling)
      Compare this to hotels. Currently in a Hilton, you must wear a mask but F&B while limited is excellent and served properly. It can be done it just needs a will and bA just don’t care. They have fortress Heathrow, they have limited competition and there are too many apologists for the company

• Jordan D says:

  4 Aug4 August 08:59

  Amazed that they are shifting so many passengers to Portuguese destinations which haven’t made the UK ‘exempt from advise against travel’ list. Either people are happy to travel without holiday insurance or they have very good providers who are letting them.

  (And I say this as someone who wants to head to Portugal… But isn’t wanting to take a no insurance risk)

  • Colin says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:13

    Generally, over half of people don’t have travel insurance (based on a lot of survey data). I’m sure that’s gone up but I’d be surprised if the 18-30 holiday types, for example, are bothering with travel insurance, even now.

    • J says:

      4 Aug4 August 10:02

      Is there much of a reason to have travel insurance for a non expensive trip inside the EU if you have an EHIC? I have it myself, but can’t imagine a situation where I would be able to claim anything.

      • Paul74 says:

        4 Aug4 August 10:20

        Indeed.

      • Anna says:

        4 Aug4 August 10:53

        Mercifully uncommon but there have been cases of people being seriously injured, e.g. broken neck, and EHIC doesn’t cover repatriation so you would effectively be stuck in a foreign hospital without your family unless they could pay for extra hotel accommodation and take time of work to be with you. In countries like Spain the family was traditionally expected to assist with tasks like feeding and washing patients, although I don’t know if this is still the case.

        • Lady London says:

          4 Aug4 August 12:25

          EHIC does not get you free treatment it gets you the same cost of treatment as a local. In some countries you’d have to pay, say, 30-40% of treatment costs as this is the charge to locals.

          So travel insurance, provided the small print covers you, is really a good idea to have. Not every accident is your fault.

        • Anna says:

          4 Aug4 August 14:41

          I’ve read of a couple of really nasty cases where someone’s been badly injured or seriously ill in Turkey (some people who don’t think they need travel insurance clearly don’t know that EHIC doesn’t cover Turkey!) and been prevented from leaving the country until they found thousands of £s to pay the hospital bill.

      • Brian says:

        4 Aug4 August 22:51

        How many people have an EHIC though? (I don’t know the answer by the way)

    • Alastair says:

      4 Aug4 August 19:19

      I must have spent hundreds, maybe thousands over my lifetime (which hasn’t been that long) on travel insurance and twice I’ve been close to claiming (COVID and HK protests) it was immediately made clear that it’s not covered. So frankly I don’t think it’s worth the paper it’s written on. I’d make an exception for winter sports but I’m not going to bother at all now on for travels in Europe.

  • Qwertyknowsbest says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:32

    Nationwide packaged insurance covers medical.

• Spaghetti Town says:

  4 Aug4 August 09:37

  Surprised Jersey is getting more weekly flights than Glasgow.

  • Rhys says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:40

    More tourists I imagine 🙂

    • Spaghetti Town says:

      4 Aug4 August 11:16

      Yeah, that’s the after thought. Can’t go to the US, or the far east, or even Spain, Jersey has the best weather and is domestic.

  • Rob says:

    4 Aug4 August 10:29

    That’s the power of HFP reviews!

    • Stanley says:

      4 Aug4 August 12:29

      Have booked 5 nights there with the family as a result of your review. Do you have any restaurant recco’s ? Cant face the hotel restaurant every night……

      • Spaghetti Town says:

        4 Aug4 August 12:45

        Very true – must be quite isolated over there at times. As main-landers can just drive anywhere in the UK whenever

      • Rob says:

        4 Aug4 August 13:12

        There are two beachside ones below the hotel – El Tico is a no-bookings place, very well regarded, and La Breye is more of a general brasserie. Breye is fine, couldn’t get into El Tico despite lack of tourists, which says something.

        • Stanley says:

          4 Aug4 August 13:56

          Thanks. Both look ideal for us. Just noticed Jersey isnt part of the Eat Out scheme. They do what they like over there…..

        • Rob says:

          4 Aug4 August 17:03

          Shop Small works!

  • planeconcorde says:

    4 Aug4 August 11:54

    Remember that Island residents have desires to travel as well. We don’t have a lot of choice, either fly or get the ferry.

• John T says:

  4 Aug4 August 09:53

  5 flights a day to Athens?! Why??

  • Rhys says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:59

    Clearly people want to go to Greece!

  • Spaghetti Town says:

    4 Aug4 August 11:16

    Greece is a very safe country in terms of infections, Athens has plenty of history, plus Greek expats in the UK probably going back and forth and vis versa?

    • Lady London says:

      4 Aug4 August 12:28

      Cargo will underpin that?

      • Spaghetti Town says:

        4 Aug4 August 17:01

        Not sure if they take much Cargo in the Airbuses. Not like a widebody anyway.

    • Alex Sm says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:29

      Just returned from a week holiday in Greece – it was perfect holiday, with almost no crowds, lots of hospitality, accessible sights and restos, general feeling of safety as Greece only had about 5,000 cases of covid since March, the govt did a lot to keep the country safe AND going. Highly recommended (but we flew with Aegean – got an upgrade to biz both ways due to my partner’s gold status, amazing service as usual)

  • Alex Sm says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:30

    I hope you mean why so few! Compared to 33 flights to Nice, Athens is clearly underserved

• Pete says:

  4 Aug4 August 11:46

  Gothenburg is only 3 weekly, the Wednesday flights were cancelled in July

• Ba-Flyer says:

  4 Aug4 August 12:11

  My LCY – PMI flights later this month were cancelled yesterday. When I tried to re-book, I didn’t see much evidence of it being 7 weekly.

  • Paul says:

    4 Aug4 August 19:52

    Easy jet with 6 a day including £13 departure to PMI on the 16th. Wish they’d cancel

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