IHG running a special UK offer for solo travellers

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• Nick says:

  11 Sep11 September 13:09

  Assuming they haven’t changed it last minute, AA’s plan for XLRs is very exciting and should allow for very sensible growth for them. UA will just use them to replace their knackered 757s – so EDI will see a fair few.

  To put the aircraft in context, when BA assessed their potential, the use case was for routes such as YVR to be converted and new US cities to be added (ABQ was one – would have been a loooong flight!) The economics didn’t work in the end, through a combination of LHR being too constrained and union agreements on crew rest requirements being so much more restrictive than industry/legal standards.

  MAN T2 will be horrific with pax volume once all those airlines move across, the main hall is claustrophobic enough as it is.

  • chris w says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:35

    ABQ?!? I don’t think so.

    LHR-ABQ is 4,991 miles, longer than the maximum range of this aircraft (4,700 miles).

    With Heathrow being so slot-constrained, BA would be mad to choose a narrow-body aircraft for mid/long-haul flights versus 787s and A350s.

    • Alex G says:

      11 Sep11 September 14:12

      ABQ to LHR is 4340 Nautical Miles, and is within range.

  • LD27 says:

    11 Sep11 September 23:31

    If only there was one airline which flew directly to Burque from UK. It’s such a pain changing in DFW or driving along I40 from Denver.

• Colin_Thames says:

  11 Sep11 September 13:54

  This is all very interesting but how does this relate to points earning?
  Wizz Air were the worst scoring airline in Which? magazine. Leaving passengers in the lurch with no warning or help. Couple that with no EU261 for cancelled flights and you’ve got a (admittedly cheaper) recipe for disaster.

  Fair enough if this story is really about proper airlines that might adopt the A321 XLR.

  • Rob says:

    11 Sep11 September 14:01

    I think you answered your own question – ‘This is all very interesting’.

    Sometime soon you’ll be looking at redeeming on an A321XLR and you’ll know all about them ….

• memesweeper says:

  11 Sep11 September 14:10

  Any clue on the seat pitch Wizz have opted for? Is it the same as their short haul fleet?

  • Londonsteve says:

    11 Sep11 September 14:28

    Without a doubt. These airframes will also be used for shorter sectors filling in the gaps in between the longer flights. In fact, this is part of the business case for these aircraft as they can stay aloft earning money at times of the night when there would be little demand for flights within Europe. At these fare levels all you’ll get is a seat with the legal minimum pitch which I understand is 28 inches on Wizz. No different however to BA aft of the exit rows which are already used on flights to Cyprus and Egypt.

• Robert says:

  11 Sep11 September 14:13

  Looking forward to the PHPV review!

• jannis says:

  11 Sep11 September 17:15

  quite a bummer offer for people with diamond already.

  • Paul says:

    11 Sep11 September 19:14

    Yes not a great deal for Diamonds But their whole reward structure is a bit like BAPP. I am diamond and on 38 nights but my stay this weekend is at a Hilton. I want the lounge perks to start in January and therefore cannot trigger the benefit outwith 90 days of January 1st. I can’t hit 70 nights therefore the extract maximum value have to stay with other chains.

• Bernard says:

  11 Sep11 September 19:13

  Market has spoken. Wizz shares below £12 today. Down 47% this year, and down 67% over 5 years. BA/IAG up 24% this year.
  Free market saying Wizz isn’t that great perhaps?

  • Londonsteve says:

    11 Sep11 September 21:20

    They’ve been hit hard by engine troubles with the Neos knocking out a lot of capacity. Their reputation also took a heavy hit last summer with the whirlwind of late notice cancellations and the very public battles affected passengers had to fight in order to get compensated causing the CAA to get involved. The underlying business model is sound and competition on the routes these new XLRs will cover will be comparatively expensive legacy airlines so I anticipate major growth (and profitability) ahead.

    • Bernard says:

      12 Sep12 September 08:38

      ‘Sound’ lol. Thats not what the shares say- and share buyers look through the short term stuff you listed. The shares are saying that Wizzy is in deep trouble.
      This is definitely where you use a credit card with points to book – in case they’re not around to honour the booking.

      • Londonsteve says:

        12 Sep12 September 13:04

        Rob recently addressed concerns about Wizz’s liquidity a couple of weeks ago in a chat thread and concluded that they aren’t about to fall off the face of the earth. Wizz stock was arguably overvalued and there has been a market correction. If the market thought it was about to go bankrupt it would be trading for pence.

        • Rob says:

          12 Sep12 September 15:31

          Not sure I did!

      • Oleksandr says:

        12 Sep12 September 20:57

        Share prices are not always a good indicator, there are some engine problems and lower-than-predicted earnings, but still decent earnings. The main issue in my opinion is bad publicity, people fight hard to get refunds, and EU261 compensations with CAA and Hungarian regulators involved, issuing fines and reopening cases. Core models still looks solid, in many places in eastern Europe like Hungary, Romania they don’t have any real competition.

        • Bernard says:

          12 Sep12 September 21:39

          Share prices tend to be far better than individuals at assessing the future.
          If you do your research at look at what Barclays and some of the hedge funds have said you’ll find there are concerns that Wizz is hiding the true levels of its debts by using customer cash paid before travel to make their debt look lower. There are also other speculations about using accounting profits on sake and leasebacks to flatter their profitability.
          Both if true are bothered flags: hiding debt and overstating profits aren’t a good look.

• Paula says:

  12 Sep12 September 09:42

  Has anyone successfully booked the IHG ‘Night On My Own’ promotion? I keep getting an error message on payment (website and app) and even IHG help could not finish the booking.

• acewoking says:

  14 Sep14 September 08:26

  For a weekday later in October, I have the amazing NOMO choice in London of £200 at HIX (breakfast free anyway), £400 at the Fitzroy, and only £50 more than that at IC Park Lane. I suppose I could schlep out to Brentwood for a sub-£100 bargain at the Holiday Inn.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.