British Airways launches flights from Southampton Airport – 11 routes bookable

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• TimM says:

  9 Dec9 December 11:21

  Great (not), the last bit of value of Avios for those in the North has been rudely removed. My flight Palma-Manchester for September, only booked days ago, was cancelled yesterday without explanation. BA sure knows how to please their customers.

  • Barry cutters says:

    9 Dec9 December 11:34

    I never buy the ‘ba doesn’t support the north’ argument.
    Ba is using simple economics , London and the Home Counties has a population of 20m . They are based at Heathrow , why would they want to start uneconomical hubs in the north .
    I mean I’m sure they are really sorry that you can’t use Avios to get a free flight anymore from Manchester – but essentially they do know ‘how to please their customers’ it’s just you aren’t one of their customers.

    Ps – I live 8 miles from Scotland.

    • Anna says:

      9 Dec9 December 12:22

      The direct flights from MAN were very popular, I can’t really understand what’s going on here either.

      • Nick says:

        9 Dec9 December 12:57

        Anna, ‘popular’ does not equal ‘profitable’. If the northern routes yielded more, they would continue. (And yes, that does mean people should pay more for it.)

        • Karl says:

          9 Dec9 December 14:07

          However flight delays on the return flight make advance tickets risky. A conductor will likely have little sympathy that you are on the next train to the one you booked due to your flight being delayed. You’ll get whacked with a hefty onboard fare.

        • Karl says:

          9 Dec9 December 14:11

          There’s more than ten million people an hour or so train ride from Manchester Airport. More than the population of many European countries. Surely with a bit of will that makes for a potentially profitable market.

        • Anna says:

          9 Dec9 December 14:43

          Prices were identical to the competing LCCs.

        • Lady London says:

          9 Dec9 December 21:58

          @Karl quite a lot of rail tickets can be bought with a return that can be used, say, within a month of the outgoing

    • paul says:

      9 Dec9 December 13:48

      They don’t and their behavior on domestic routes is scandalous. You can tell they ave a monopoly. In February there is no flight north from London after 4pm I mean that is just mad.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        9 Dec9 December 13:50

        Trains leave for the north every few minutes…

      • Andrew says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:02

        Times are a bit eratic, but there’s a flight to Edinburgh most days in February from LHR after 16:00.

      • Lady London says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:04

        seems quite a low provision for those incoming to T5 needing to connect to domestic destinations, if last flight out is 4pm.

  • will says:

    9 Dec9 December 12:36

    If the government are serious about a “Northern Powerhouse” then they should develop a good international airport in the North, ideally right on that fancy new train line with fast links to all substantial northern cities. An airport is surely a drop in the ocean compared to HS2?

    • Paul says:

      9 Dec9 December 13:53

      I agree it is the lack of a coherent plan that makes HS2 so ludicrous.
      There are few things PM Johnson thinks that I agree with, but a new estuary super hub airport is spot on. Build it, link it to high speed rail across the UK and help Glasgow/Edinburgh have direct links to Europe and further a field.
      We are spending billions on HS2 yet you can get to LHR from anywhere other than central LHR. Compare that Airports in Europe, particularly Germany

      • Andrew says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:24

        In normal times, can fly to:-

        New York
        Toronto
        Halifax
        Boston
        Chicago
        Philadelphia
        Washington
        Orlando
        Dubai
        Reykjavík

        And plenty of European Cities direct from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

        Why would anyone want to sit on a train for 3 hours, before flying back over there house 7 hours after they left it that morning?

        On the other hand, wouldn’t it be far more ethical if London people took a High Speed electric train to Prestwick before boarding a transatlantic flight? Think of the fuel savings!

        • The real John says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:32

          I wouldn’t mind a sleeper train from Old Oak Common direct to Prestwick to join a flight… provided that prices are competitive with a flight from LHR

      • Matthew says:

        9 Dec9 December 17:00

        And watch every plane have a birdstrike on departure…

• VINZ says:

  9 Dec9 December 12:06

  That’s good but I seem to miss the advantage of flying from Southampton if you live in London. It takes 1:15hr to get there from Waterloo (not too bad if you live South East as it would take pretty much the same time to get to LHR) but a return train ticket costs £90+. Are the savings that big to justify the train ticket cost?

  • Rob says:

    9 Dec9 December 12:31

    It’s £90 now with all cheap tickets pulled to keep numbers down during Covid. Normally it is cheap. You think all those commuters pay £90 per day?

    • Sam G says:

      9 Dec9 December 12:48

      The flights are mainly at the weekend when it isn’t 90 quid anyway – 48.50 for an open off-peak return or less if you fix times once advance fares are on sale – not much more than Gatwick (25-35 quid)

      • Nick says:

        9 Dec9 December 13:05

        Vinz is either a Daily Mail journalist or a reader of said rag… they’re the only people in the world who think normal people actually pay full anytime return train tickets. In reality it’s only business people on expenses… everyone else gets either Advance or off-peak ones.

        And most people in London itself would probably still go from another airport. But don’t forget that the SWR route to Southampton covers most of the stockbroker belt… at which point it may well be easier to get a train west instead.

        • The real John says:

          9 Dec9 December 13:33

          Or drive…. parking at Shawford and Chandler’s Ford stations is free and the ticket is £4-ish

        • David P says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:55

          Most of the stockbroker belt get taxis to LHR. Or drive. Cost doesn’t come into it for them.

          Leaving that aside, the fast trains to Airport Parkway only stop at Woking, Basingstoke and Winchester, and there’s a regular, direct railair link from Woking to LHR which drops you at the entrance to departures. Even the slower SWR trains don’t call at many more stations than those three; normally Woking is the first stop after Clapham/Waterloo. Given the layout of the SWR network, if you don’t live in one of those towns on the mainline then you’ve got to change trains at least once to get to Airport Parkway. SOU is really not a convenient location for most people on the SWR network.

        • Callum says:

          9 Dec9 December 23:40

          They’re nowhere near the only people saying that – I can’t think of a single media outlet that doesn’t. Not to mention almost every single person whining about British trains does the same.

          I rarely pay more than £5 to get to/from London/Southampton (all be it on the slow train which doesn’t go to the airport). Advance tickets have been around for years (decades?) yet are always conveniently ignored when comparing to other countries!

        • David S says:

          10 Dec10 December 09:48

          The Cross Country Train network stops at Southampton Airport. Look at their map and you will see tons of connections in the U.K. The train I used to get from Southampton Central was the direct service to York for instance. There isn’t much Hotel Accomodation at the Airport though but I’m sure Rob can arrange a sleepover to check the options out

    • The real John says:

      9 Dec9 December 13:25

      You can’t compare the price of a season ticket to a walk-up though.

    • Tom says:

      9 Dec9 December 14:39

      More relaxed, comfortable ride down to Southampton too even from Clapham/Wimbledon area, versus taking the tube across town, packed in on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow and standing most of the way with suitcases everywhere (in normal times). Advance tickets in January looking like £9 (nine) each way, before any railcard discounts.

      • The real John says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:33

        But risky on the return unless SWR lets you take a later train if your flight is delayed.

    • VinZ says:

      10 Dec10 December 09:57

      Thanks, I didn’t know it would cost less if bought much in advance. Although you have to factor in likely flight delays on the way back which is a bit risky if you buy an advance ticket for a specific train and then miss it. Anyway, thanks all for the tips – except Nick who’s a know-it-all and apparently knows me very well.

• Voldemort says:

  9 Dec9 December 12:34

  Don’t assume BA has a contract for the lounge…. When they had the seasonal flights from BRS a few years ago they only let CE customers in and not those flying in Euro Traveller with status!

  • 1ATL says:

    9 Dec9 December 12:43

    Given the size/capacity of the lounge at SOU and the very concentrated days/times flights will be operating, I can easily see the lounge contract not being taken up full stop.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:08

    can BA do that technically when by they promise lounge access with status ? seems very mean.

    • 1ATL says:

      9 Dec9 December 17:56

      * where available
      This seems to be the usual caveat. Plenty of places on the network where there is a lounge but BA choose not to subscribe.

      • Lady London says:

        9 Dec9 December 18:39

        If BA is providing access to CE pax that proves a lounge is available. I’d consider sending them a bill for my food and drink provision in the terminal if turned away from a lounge with status. If I’m really annoyed they can pay for me to buy a SIM to get wifi too.

        They need to know people are “calling” them on it.

        • Josh says:

          9 Dec9 December 23:04

          I guess they could provide lounge for CE and vouchers for ET on Status if capacity was a concern

• ADS says:

  9 Dec9 December 12:35

  With a journey time of only 75 minutes from Waterloo, rail pricing can be pretty cheeky. Looking to travel at short notice – that will be 46 quid single! Network Railcard can bring it down – but 30 quid still isn’t cheap.

  If you manage to snag a cheap advance fare, it’s more like 15 quid.

  • Karl says:

    9 Dec9 December 14:05

    However flight delays on the return flight make advance tickets risky. A conductor will likely have little sympathy that you are on the next train to the one you booked due to your flight being delayed. You’ll get whacked with a hefty onboard fare.

    • Lady London says:

      9 Dec9 December 22:05

      @Karl ways round this as I posted above. I switched to this mode of doing it with Gatwick which removed a lot of stress.

• Nick says:

  9 Dec9 December 12:43

  The SOU lounge isn’t bad, particularly given the poor state of the shed (sorry, ‘terminal’), but it could be unpleasantly busy if a few of these flights leave around the same time.

  Not just the Waterloo route either, there’s a direct train from Oxford and Reading, with decent and easy connections to other local routes (e.g. Paddington line), plus services from all along the south coast. Will be interesting to see if these make more money than the MAN/BHX ones did.

  • 1ATL says:

    9 Dec9 December 12:48

    If you think the current terminal’s a shed, you clearly were never a visitor to the old terminal …. which was.

    • Mikeact says:

      10 Dec10 December 07:54

      Those were the days!

• Sam G says:

  9 Dec9 December 12:43

  I imagine partly they got a good deal for this and partly it’s about aiming for a better yield than competing with Ryanair Easyjet Jet2 etc at Manchester / Stansted. The flybe flights could be pretty pricey !

  Similar sort of operating pattern they had at Stansted and Manchester with I believe five aircraft rotating through. Two aircraft come from Edinburgh and Berlin on Friday night until Sunday. Three other aircraft come in from Mykonos, Palma and Malaga on Saturday after operating outbounds from LCY and then return there on Sunday to operate afternoon/evening flights back to LCY. Doesn’t look like all these flights are loaded yet as the schedules look unbalanced.

  Tuesday Bergerac is a “W” from London City

  I’m actually surprised they didn’t go the whole hog and base 1-2 aircraft there all week, with business travel likely to be depressed all of next year you’d think a schedule of summer sun, regional France, domestics and some well timed euro flights to Amsterdam, Dublin etc would be a good bet. Rotate crews and aircraft through a couple of nights at a time by swapping at outstations

• Tim says:

  9 Dec9 December 13:01

  Can’t seem to find this route on avios booking in the app or on the website. Will it appear soon do you think?

  • Jane says:

    9 Dec9 December 13:06

    I found some routes, bit of a shame they are only releasing 2 x Economy on each flight and since no business we can’t even do 2 in each to get the four of us out. I was hoping to book something for May half term from my local airport.

    • 1ATL says:

      9 Dec9 December 13:30

      There’s really no need to pay for Club on these routes – the aircraft operate 2-2 in Club and Economy (no middle seat in Club), food and drink is provided to Economy (no buy on board). The only thing you’d get for your additional spend/Avios outlay is a slightly increased baggage allowance, an orange priority tag on your checked bags and possibly lounge access (there’s no certainty you’d even get this anyway).

      • Jane says:

        9 Dec9 December 13:35

        not that I want Club necessarily but often they release 2 x Economy and 2 x CE Avios seats which is a good way to get a family of four booked – then all that remains is to argue which Adult gets which child and gets to sit in club 🙂

      • TimM says:

        9 Dec9 December 14:54

        The difference is, as I found out, is if they cancel your direct CityFlyer flight on a little Embraer and the offered alternative is to travel, with a change and hence layover, in economy on larger A320s instead – without lounge access or included in-flight food and drink. Booking business on CityFlyer is insurance against this.If it goes as planned, at least you can drink the extra Avios in champagne.

    • Rhys says:

      9 Dec9 December 14:27

      Should be 4x economy tickets

      • Jane says:

        9 Dec9 December 14:30

        only seeing 2 on many dates for this one, but yes, you’re right. normally 4.

      • Matthew says:

        9 Dec9 December 17:03

        Cityflyer flights have always been 2 economy avios seats on release. Often more are released later but never adhered to the 4 like normal economy BA flights.

• competeriot says:

  9 Dec9 December 13:26

  Despite living 7 minutes from SOU, I’ll have to choose the slog to LGW or LHR. With a family of 4, the current prices are hugely unattractive (i.e. often more than twice of those from London).

  • Rhys says:

    9 Dec9 December 13:51

    This is what Avios come in handy for!

    • competeriot says:

      9 Dec9 December 20:39

      Thanks Rhys but as others mentioned upthread, there’s only 2 redemption seats showing on all the flights that I checked.

  • Mikeact says:

    10 Dec10 December 08:00

    This has always been the problem with SOU. I can remember writing to them a few years ago…pricing was totally out of sync with LHR or LGW, and they were literally telling me to drive up to London for substantial savings.

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