British Airways increases flights to six North American destinations

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• BJ says:

  14 Sep14 September 06:12

  BA used to feel like a very global airline but apart from its domestic and European network it now feels very Virginish, just on a bit bigger scale. All rather sad IMO, BA going backwards and Virgin unable to go forwards.

  • JDB says:

    14 Sep14 September 07:01

    BA is a very smart commercial operator, so what’s the point in being “very global” for the sake of it?

    • BJ says:

      14 Sep14 September 09:00

      @JDB as I’ve said before my perspective is that of a passenger, not a shareholder. I don’t care how they function as a company and whether their profit is £5 or £500M. As long as they properly value and reward their staff, and fly us passengers safely, comfortably, widely all at a price that works that’s good enough for me. There is no point arguing that the two are related because that’s only true to an extent as BA and many other airlines have managed to do that even during perios of heavy losses until markets changed or they themselves restructured. I am sure BA could substantially increase its network and remain profitable; that I think is what the majority of passengers would prefer to see. The media has long been heavy on news of failings in major companies in pursuit of profit so I’m far from convinced that what is best for the company is generally best for the consumer too.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        14 Sep14 September 09:20

        You should care how much profit BA makes.

        It needs to make that £500m to be able to pay for new planes and refurbishment of old ones and lounges etc etc.

        • BJ says:

          14 Sep14 September 10:46

          It survived and was a better airline at times of heavy losses.

        • Lady London says:

          14 Sep14 September 23:26

          I guess it’s about how much is sucked off to shareholders.

          BA’s vocation is not sounding like to provide a broad service to customers anymore and is clearly not aiming to provide luxury.

          Do we as consumers have any right to have this change and to indulge in any activity which does not appear to provide the best possible return to shareholders? ( and quietly, management bonuses?)

      • JDB says:

        14 Sep14 September 10:25

        @BJ – ultimately the interests of shareholders and passengers should be fairly closely aligned. When you don’t enjoy subsidies, you need a highly profitable airline in order to be able to fund the improvements you wish to see. IAG is only just about to restart dividends to shareholders and it won’t be much vs the money being invested in new aircraft, club suite, lounges etc. It really is madness for BA to fly routes on a vanity basis or so they can say my network is bigger than yours. It might suit a few passengers in the short term but that’s about it. Competitors will quickly fill any vacuums BA is perceived to have missed.

        • BJ says:

          14 Sep14 September 11:07

          In theory it should be but in practice it isn’t. The comments on HfP later in this article and over the entire existence of HfP generally show most readers think BA is a lesser airline than it used to be and that the direction of travel is backwards or at least one of losing ground to competitors.

        • JDB says:

          14 Sep14 September 11:59

          @BJ – BA may be a ‘lesser’ airline but so many of the comments relate purely to people’s personal route network wishes without thinking about the harsh realities of being a European legacy airline [with associated legacy costs and extreme European competition] and I think BA stacks up pretty well against the likes of LH, AF/KL and SK for example. Your mates AY have carved out a clever niche doing something BA can’t.

          The problem is that for being a ‘lesser’ airline it is a much more profitable one. There are lots of companies that have become ‘lesser’ like M&S or John Lewis or their retail counterparts in the US. Or all the airlines that have gone bust like TWA and Pan Am or in Europe the once supreme Swissair. BA is a stayer!

          I also think that one should look at BA in the round. I like Club Europe but really don’t like current Club World and F is pretty OK. But, BAEC and the OW opportunities it offers is by far the best around for most UK travellers and far better than other European or US loyalty programmes from an earning, burning and availability perspective.

          There is of course the issue that in many countries people seem to hate their flag carrier.

        • BJ says:

          14 Sep14 September 17:04

          @JDB, I don’t hate BA, qukte the contrary and I have iften defended it here including old Club World when others have been quick to trash it. As I’ve commented many times on HfP over the years I think most are lrone to exagerating differences in hard and sift products across airlines generally. I did not mean that BA was now a lesser airline with respect to the competition but rather with respect to its former self. I think itz best days are clearly behind it despite some recent efforts to raise their game. As I see it, if they are as financially astute and profitable as you claim tven I see no reason why tvey should not set the bar hugher, and demonstrate the investment and vision needed to achieve that. My first choice would be to fky BA and connect within tbe UK rather than a third country but BA is not currently enticing me to do so and I don’t see that changing anytime in the medium term. That’s despite them having a superb loyalty scheme which, ironically, offer me better value on their partners.

        • Fennec says:

          17 Sep17 September 21:51

          The only good thing is the extra GB wide capacity pushes down prices across the board as I can think of nothing more hellish than immigration etc at LHR

          If you don’t live near the M25 then BA offers you practically nothing. US/Canadian carriers directly to North America, EL from Ireland with US pre-clearance and Middle Eastern carriers to anywhere east

    • AJA says:

      14 Sep14 September 09:00

      Or is it influenced by the fact that Qatar Airways is a shareholder in IAG?

      It seems to me that BA is increasingly flying transatlantic routes, and going east or Australia / NZ they are funneling everyone on to Qatar via DOH.

      Which is fine if that’s what passengers want to do. But it requires a stop in DOH (great for TPs, for now) but it just adds to journey times.

      And not so great for customer choice nor indeed EC261 / UK261 protection. Maybe there should be an extension to the rules that if BA only offers you flights on QR (or any OW airline) it must have a BA flight number attached and therefore UK inbound flights are covered. And that BA will pay the compensation even if it’s QR’s fault. BA can then claim the compensation back from QR or any other OW airline at its convenience.

      It’s also not great for the cost of fares since there is now a distinct lack of competition unless you want to choose between the ME3.

      I always thought these global airline alliances aren’t good in the long term. They’re great for revenue sharing for the airlines but they are slowly removing choice from consumers.

      It used to be great that you could choose to fly from London to a lot of places on BA metal but that choice is disappearing.

      You used to also be able to fly to Cape Town and Johannesburg on Iberia but that’s disappeared too. Airfares to SA are

      • AJA says:

        14 Sep14 September 09:04

        That last sentence meant to say Airfares to SA are incredibly expensive because there is little choice.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        14 Sep14 September 09:27

        Yes QR owns part of IAG but the individual subsidiaries have a high degree of autonomy within IAG.

        The IAG board isn’t discussing individual route closures and openings. It isn’t approving BA adding an extra LHR-EDI or ending LGW- AMS. It is discussing plane orders and strategic direction and approving major expenses and plans (such as the £7bn BA investment programme)

        And whilst QR nominates 2 directors to the IAG board (the proprietary directors) neither of them has any connection to QR itself – they aren’t QR employees for example – their bios are on the IAG website.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          14 Sep14 September 09:40

          It would still seem fanciful to suggest that there is no influence whatsoever- QR didn’t invest in IAG just to sit back and take a dividend from routes it competes with

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          14 Sep14 September 10:15

          I didn’t say QR had no influence but that influence is at the strategic level.

          As I said the IAG board isn’t deciding on individual route starting / ending / additional or reduced flights.

      • BJ says:

        14 Sep14 September 11:18

        I absolutely believe that Qatar Airways is influencing IAG and BA in particular. Being EDI-based that is not of much concern to me but I think rgose based in London and SE should be very concerned about the impact on their direct routes. While I recognise the advantages of alliances and joint ventures I believe that these are to much in favour of the airlines at the expense iof customers.

        • Nick says:

          14 Sep14 September 12:04

          Influence can be subtle as well as direct. “We’ll use a light-touch board approach for now but reserve the right to change this if we don’t like your strategy in future”

      • JDB says:

        14 Sep14 September 12:07

        @AJA – you can in many circumstances get EC261 on third carriers returning from third countries (and claims under the Montreal Convention) and many airlines not subject to 261 are better at rerouting and accommodation provision than those subject to the rules. People are voluntarily giving up UK261 when doing ex-Europe flights (but have EC261 instead) and where the airline doesn’t offer ADR, that makes for quite a complicated MCOL claim.

        • AJA says:

          14 Sep14 September 12:46

          @JDB Remind me again what you’ve said in the past about dealing with IB and EC261? And how readily QR will pay UK261 compensation on a flight from AKL via DOH to LHR?

          My point is that if BA is only offering connecting flights to the far east via DOH on Qatar Airways you should be able fly the entire PNR on BA flight numbers even on QR metal. You should also be able to claim directly from BA as if BA was operating the flight. You should not be fobbed off and sent off to deal with QR. Or be told that the AKL-DOH sector is outside the scope of UK261.

        • JDB says:

          14 Sep14 September 18:24

          @AJA – you can fly on BA flight numbers but that in itself doesn’t help your 261 claim if the flight is operated by another airline. You can also claim against the ticketing / booking airline – see CS and Others v České aerolinie. I never said it was easy, but it can be difficult claiming vs BA or Virgin or any European airline. There are essentially more protections and routes to claiming than you suggest, even if they require a fair bit of work.

    • Paul says:

      14 Sep14 September 17:11

      No, they are a very protected airline with JV west and East, meanwhile Qatar don’t want them flying east to allow them to charge more. There is nothing clever about exploiting their highly protected position.
      Nor is it clever to have their eggs in the USA basket. One event could turn off US traffic in a moment and there is then no where else to go. Doesn’t seem all that clever but I just fly, I don’t run an airline!!

• HampshireHog says:

  14 Sep14 September 06:44

  Perhaps a rebranding to British Airways Atlantic is in order?

  • MF176 says:

    14 Sep14 September 08:54

    London Atlantic would be more fitting

    • Definitas says:

      14 Sep14 September 09:21

      Or perhaps Spanish Atlantic Consortium

  • Danny says:

    14 Sep14 September 12:51

    British Airways could just rebrand to British American… And still be called BA

• Amy C says:

  14 Sep14 September 06:53

  I must be in the minority. Despite having visited America quite a few times I have zero desire to return in the near future. I’d much rather explore other continents, particularly Africa where BA have reduced flights significantly over the last 8 years or so. 😞

  • JDB says:

    14 Sep14 September 07:11

    @AmyC – I think quite a lot of people feel the same as you but the ex-US market is very strong for BA currently, VFR, general tourism and business traffic as well. The BA name is probably more popular there than it is with some here.

    • ukpolak says:

      14 Sep14 September 07:32

      +1 – relatives of ours visiting us from the States insist on flying “British” when they come. Interesting isn’t it.

  • RK1 says:

    14 Sep14 September 08:47

    Totally agree. After many trips to America, it’s way over-priced and over-rated. I prefer Asia destinations.

  • AJA says:

    14 Sep14 September 09:06

    You’re not alone Amy.

  • BJ says:

    14 Sep14 September 09:10

    I share your views. I travelled extensively in the States and the rest if the Americas when I was in my teens through my 30s but the appeal if tge USA and Canada over the last two decades has sharply diminished. The appeal of their geography and nature will always endure but we get that elsewhere too with the added bonus of much more diverse cultures and contemporary life to experience too

    • John says:

      14 Sep14 September 10:43

      Well clearly you are all in the minority as ba will fly where the demand is. Clearly the demand is not in Asia.

      • G says:

        14 Sep14 September 11:19

        BA will fly where the demand is, and where operating costs are lower. There is ample demand for HND, and others, just the operating costs are significantly higher.

      • BJ says:

        14 Sep14 September 11:36

        It’s nit that, or vanity routes, it’s competition. BA cannot compete with the ME3. Many passengers around Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh who would in the 20C have defaulted to BA via LHR or LGW now prefer to connect elsewhere flying Emirates, Qatar, and various European carriers or in many cases fly direct. The reason tbey cannot compete is pursuit of profit at the expense of passenger experience. And it’s all going to get a whole lot worse given ambitions of Turkish Airlines and Air India, and possibly even RIA.

      • Paul says:

        14 Sep14 September 17:15

        That’s not what 6 QR flights a day, plus EK EY, CX,SQ MH JL ANA KE CI and others would suggest.

• G says:

  14 Sep14 September 07:02

  And still no ICN, ITM, BKK (ex-LHR), MEL, CMB,

  • Nick Pike says:

    14 Sep14 September 07:29

    See my recent comment on BA’s direction of travel- not much chance of many of those atm.

  • Andrew. says:

    14 Sep14 September 07:31

    Perhaps it’s London as a destination that’s generating the transatlantic growth?

    BA need to get a grip on things at Heathrow though. I was on BA1446 to EDI yesterday, due off at 12:25, it departed at 14:00 due to short staffing of baggage handlers. But, what was really irritating was the sudden change of “Delayed” on the screen to “Boarding at B44”. It’s a long way from the Business lounge to the B gates. As you can probably guess, after scurrying down to the transit, missing a train because it was short-formed and rammed, and running up the escalator at the other end, we were 15 minutes before boarding commenced.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      14 Sep14 September 07:52

      T5B lounge is the best business lounge…would’ve made for a much shorter dash and it’s also why they give a long warning for boarding.

      But agree punctuality is really bad at the moment.

      Re above on routes the closure of Russian airspace means profitable routes going east basically aren’t going to happen.

      • Andrew. says:

        14 Sep14 September 09:00

        In the 15 years I’ve been flying to EDI from T5, approximately 10 times a year, this is the first time it’s departed from a B gate. I suppose it must happen occasionally, just I haven’t had the pleasure.

        It just wouldn’t make sense to go out to the B gates to have to walk back to A.

    • Magic Mike says:

      14 Sep14 September 07:54

      This is by design – for B/C gate flights the “boarding” call goes up in A gates much earlier than actual boarding to get people to head over to B/C gates. You needn’t have broken a sweat 🙂

      • Andrew. says:

        14 Sep14 September 09:01

        There wasn’t a “Go To Gate” though. Straight to boarding.

        • Magic Mike says:

          14 Sep14 September 16:09

          The screens in A say “boarding”. The screens in B say “go to gate”. As far as I know, that’s by design.

    • JDB says:

      14 Sep14 September 08:26

      @Andrew. – it’s partly London as a destination in itself although there’s lots of connecting traffic but more generally, Americans find Europe incredibly cheap not only for holidays but also buying businesses. My perception is also that richer Americans have got far more adventurous/keener on foreign travel. In more obscure / less popular places we increasingly notice French and American tourists, not so many Brits.

      • BJ says:

        14 Sep14 September 11:39

        Yes, seeing lots mire Americans travelling than I did 30-40 years ago.

    • BJ says:

      14 Sep14 September 09:16

      T5 really is a shambles of a terminal/operation, I much preferred the old days before it was built and that’s saying something as it was bad then.

      • JDB says:

        14 Sep14 September 10:16

        T5 is very operationally efficient even if it doesn’t suit you @ BJ! I fear you will like it even less once T5 expansion starts.

        • BJ says:

          14 Sep14 September 11:47

          It’s just barmy from a design perspective. It’s nit a total disaster if starting or ending your journey there there but it is for connecting pax. To be fair though the main European competition is also poor.

    • Paul says:

      14 Sep14 September 17:18

      I flew to EDI on Thu and back today! Just awful on every level. It blessedly short but thoroughly unpleasant.

      And don’t get me started on the S…hole that is EDI. Disembarkation at gate 10 directly into a cafe and boarding not much better.

      • CJD says:

        14 Sep14 September 19:00

        Edinburgh’s problem is that the number of flights has expanded way beyond what the terminal can handle.

  • citygourmande says:

    14 Sep14 September 14:48

    Itami has been a domestic airport since the 90s.

• Matt says:

  14 Sep14 September 07:02

  What’s a Banksia restaurant and bar? Just curious really, as the article makes it seem like I should have heard of Banksia like it’s some chain? Google tells me it a plant.

• PeterK says:

  14 Sep14 September 07:03

  DFW capacity on BA will reduce further, currently on an A380, it moved to a 777-300 for the winter season and a 777-200 for the summer 2025 season. Timings have also changed to a 1455 departure ex LHR and 2115 ex DFW. With it now connecting to the last wave of AA departures it’s going to have to be very punctual (something it hasn’t been whilst operating on an A380). Furthermore no chance anymore of switching to the last AA departure if there’s a last minute delay ex LHR.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    14 Sep14 September 09:46

    Anecdotally, the BA A380 service has been a long way short of full in recent times – per colleagues who report full rows to themselves. I take the earlier AA service (s) and they’re consistently pretty full

• Mark says:

  14 Sep14 September 07:10

  Enjoying the mild HfP sarcasm here but these routes require over six aircraft to resource these Summer 25 routes.

  Beijing offers one, Hong Kong going daily vice twice offers up another two and an extra 787-10 arrives. But where are the rest coming from? What else is being dropping from the network – also slots are needed?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    14 Sep14 September 08:17

    BA has no shortage of slots at LHR.

    It has a good number leased to other airlines which it can soon reclaim (back subject to the lease terms).

    As to aircraft I’ve not checked the schedules but many long routes may actually require 2 planes to meet a regularly timed daily schedule not one due to th flight distances.

• Tim says:

  14 Sep14 September 07:12

  The announcement in Business Traveller Magazine about the new Hotel Indigo in Leeds also mentions an existing 252-room hotel in West London which is set to reopen as the Hotel Indigo London K West Shepherd’s Bush next year.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Sep14 September 07:49

    It’s the K west hotel. Another refurb project.

    Owned by same company as the Landmark and Royal Lancaster Hotels.

    • Tariq says:

      14 Sep14 September 11:32

      Looks like there’s an Indigo opening in Clerkenwell too; no dates loaded for reservation yet.

  • David says:

    15 Sep15 September 00:46

    Sound proofing better be good for Leeds. Very noisy area on a Friday and Saturday night.

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