British Airways drops flights from Southampton for Summer 2025

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• David S says:

  21 Sep21 September 10:11

  I think the issue for many is not the amount or ability to get compensation but the fact that BA has published its flight schedule for an airport for a season, has been selling tickets and then suddenly cuts the whole lot . What’s different today versus the date they made the business decision to offer these flights.

  • Lady London says:

    22 Sep22 September 00:09

    I think the difference is BA has simply run out of aircraft to the extent they have had to proctively cancel.some routes that were proditable in favour of others that are more profitable.

    So I think it’s got so extreme that we are now seeing proactive route cancellations instead of reactive flight cancellations.

    The cancellation this far ahead also tells us there is no short term resolution of not enough aircraft to run flights they can sell.

• RussellH says:

  21 Sep21 September 10:28

  I can easily see both sides of this question. Also, I do not pretend to be familiar with the law governing airlines.
  The difficulties arise because people are able to book flights many months in advance of the actual timetable (TT) being set. From what I have read here, timetables change twice a year – there is a summer TT and a winter TT.
  I feel it is perfectly reasonable for someone who has a confirmed booking for a flight advertised on a official TT to expect that that flight will operate on the exact route and times that the booking suggests (unless real force majeur applies).
  However, many do choose to book flights 9, 10 or even 11 months ahead. While the flights may be offered, if they are not in a published TT then arguably, the booking should only be regarded as provisional, not confirmed; or, if you prefer, confirmed, but still subject to change or cancellation.
  Airlines should then be required to have a clear, unmissable warning§ on their website that customers would have to acknowledge before booking, and this would also be clearly repeated on the confirmation.

  § something like “I acknowledge that this booking is subject to change, including among other possibilities cancellation, rescheduling and, change of airport”. A lawyer would state this better.

  Or airlines could just stop taking bookings so many months in advance.

  • Nick says:

    21 Sep21 September 12:32

    They already do that. It’s called the Conditions of Carriage, and the T&C make clear it’s part of your agreement when you purchase.

  • Roger W says:

    22 Sep22 September 09:11

    Try calling BA and asking to cancel your booking. Seems one way to me.

• JDB says:

  21 Sep21 September 10:54

  @David S and @ RussellH – airlines all over the world are changing schedules, cancelling flights etc. throughout the time after bookings open and for a whole host of reasons. Hotels don’t open on schedule or close after taking bookings.

  Anyone making bookings expecting some sort of guarantee would have to be very green indeed. Equally, anyone running a business will tell you that one needs to be agile and adapt smartly to changing circumstances. Or you can be the next Nokia or Schweppes.

• Anna says:

  21 Sep21 September 12:35

  Will BA re-book those that have had cancelled flights, to alternative flights, at a different airport, free of charge? I note that the prices at LHR are significantly higher than what I paid for my flights from SOU?

  • ukpolak says:

    21 Sep21 September 14:13

    Yes – after calling (as of course auto rebooking won’t work as no alternatives out of SOU) we were booked on to flights out of LHR. It worked out OK as we could take an outbound flight a day earlier which suited us. Cash prices £3k yikes.

    They offered a choice of flights out of LGW or LHR and we picked whichever suited us most. In the case of LHR-AGP, IIRC there were four or five per day and no quibbles with picking any.

    I’ll still try to claim a cab to / from LHR for this disruption, albeit with eight months’ notice 🙂

• Bernard says:

  21 Sep21 September 14:12

  Jet2 from Bournemouth instead. Many more flights a week and row 2DEF on 737s is comfortable indeed

  • RH says:

    21 Sep21 September 18:01

    The Jet 2 flight times look dire though….

• Mikeact says:

  21 Sep21 September 15:30

  A bit disappointing for us, but managed to do a number of Avios runs despite the limited locations.
  KLM were a lot worse a few years back, ‘Now you see us, now you don’t. ‘

• Alex says:

  21 Sep21 September 23:51

  We had flights from sou to chambery for Feb half term that got cancelled. Same happened this winter. Now flying from London city.

• Mark says:

  21 Sep21 September 23:54

  Like many I agree this is a decision to take before publishing Summer schedules not once they’ve been on sale for 2 months.

  Southampton has a prosperous catchment area and flights have been well loaded at not insignificant fares.

  It often helps to be cynical when understanding BA and their intentions. What if loyal BA customers are trying out Southampton with BA at the weekend then realising it’s easier to access than they imagined and with a short KLM hop to AMS they can access the world without hassle of getting to Heathrow and dealing with all the BA hassles?!

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