British Airways adds three new short haul routes

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• Nico says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:28

  Thanks Rob – managed to change my xmas feeder flight to Madrid from Heathrow to City airport

• Terry Butcher says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:28

  The Avios app does not even recognise Graz as a destination – and putting in Austria, it omits it

  • tony says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:32

    The website accepts it for an Avios search (not for cash), but appears to be winter only.

• Doug says:

  10 Jul10 July 08:02

  “I doubt many people can face the walk from North to South, or vice versa, if they arrive in one and find it busy.”
  Hey, I’m sure most HfP readers are not that lazy!

  • tony says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:42

    But there’s not much point if you then walk over and find the situation in South as bad or worse…

  • AJA says:

    10 Jul10 July 09:11

    I usually choose to go to the north lounge as that’s where the business class checkin is unless I know the gate my plane is departing from is closer to the south lounges or from the B or C gates. But what really annoys is choosing a particular lounge as it’s closer to the planned departure gate and then BA changes the gate while I am in the lounge.

• Richie says:

  10 Jul10 July 08:05

  BACF flights to Madrid are a re-launch/re-start.
  I did the route last in 2015.
  BACF’s LCY-BCN flights have gone back to summer seasonal.

• DreamingOfFirstClass says:

  10 Jul10 July 09:43

  How do you know if your flight is likely to depart from 5B or 5C hours before the gate is announced ?
  Is there is a list somewhere ?

  • ColinThames says:

    10 Jul10 July 09:46

    +1

    • PeteM says:

      10 Jul10 July 10:07

      Broadly, if your flight is long-haul it’ll go from 5B or 5C. Obviously some short-haul flights depart from there too.

      This is a vaguely useful feature that is sometimes correct: https://wayfinding.maps.ba.com/ as it works from the day’s plan.

      But so much changes during the day you cannot rely on it and be ready to come back to 5A if your inbound flight parks there. Once your inbound aircraft has parked (apps like Flighty can help with that) you have a bit more certainty, but, again even then things can change!

  • Nate1309 says:

    10 Jul10 July 11:15

    If you’ve made a mistake and end up at 5B and are departing from 5A I think you can walk back in the tunnel afaik.

    • Rhys says:

      10 Jul10 July 11:18

      You can.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      10 Jul10 July 19:40

      Yes. There is an article about it.

      Whatever you do do not take the transit!

• Matthias Mahr says:

  10 Jul10 July 10:42

  Normally the departure screens in T5 show “will depart B Gates” (or C Gates) early on if applicable, even if no gate is displayed.

  Failing that, ask at lounge reception, they usually have the actual gate even if it isn’t publicly displayed yet.

  The B Gates lounge has always been quieter than A Gates in my experience, so I strongly recommend heading there if you can. Plus, for B Gate departures you’re already there rather than having to plan in some margin for the (not always very reliable) train.

• Rj-24 says:

  10 Jul10 July 11:04

  Me this morning “oh, new routes”

  Opens article.

  “Oh, Morocco”

  Having used the new Agadir route last year, partly due to availability and expiring companion vouchers, and all 4 family members suffering violent food poisoning in a country ranked top 10 for food poisoning incidents (I found out after – and I have been 40+ times to India and not been ill), I will never visit Morocco again. Iberostar won’t be getting another penny from me either. So many people were ill, the food handling I saw was abysmal. The hotel didn’t care, IHG didn’t want to know. The only perverted saving grace was a significant delay with BA and so we all got £350 back.

  • BBbetter says:

    10 Jul10 July 11:13

    Damn, was planning a trip there this winter. Is Egypt better? Sharm el Sheik?

    • Rhys says:

      10 Jul10 July 11:19

      Counterpoint: spent last Easter in Marrakech, didn’t get food poisoning once, including eating from street food vendors.

      • Alex Sm says:

        11 Jul11 July 16:42

        Thanks for this, Rhys – always weird to see how people project one-off incidents to be a trend and inevitable apocalypse… 🤮

  • 1ATL says:

    10 Jul10 July 11:48

    I don’t think you can write off an entire countrys’ culinary safety because you opted to stay in a dodgy all inclusive. Ruffet at the Buffet can happen literally anywhere. Just pick your hotel dining more wisely next time.

    • Rj-24 says:

      11 Jul11 July 13:27

      You can when you read any articles on how many reported cases there are (and the many not reported) versus all other countries… thanks for the patronising advice too. I guess choosing a hotel from one of the largest global hotel groups isn’t good enough?

      • Alex Sm says:

        11 Jul11 July 16:44

        things could happen anywhere – I spent three weeks in Kenya and ate/drank in dodgy places, no sign of food poisoning at all, but then got a severe case (probably the worst in my short 44-year life) in sterile Japan. You never know…

• Lee says:

  10 Jul10 July 11:23

  My wife once had the idea at T5 to ask the staff at lounge entry which gate our flight was departing from. Although maybe 60 minutes before the gate came up on the screens the receptionist was able to tell us the gate (and even recommended we go to a closer lounge)

  • Rhys says:

    10 Jul10 July 11:46

    You can often ask at check-in and they’ll give you a good idea (although not 100% confirmed, depending on whether the plane has arrived yet.)

  • Rob says:

    10 Jul10 July 13:01

    They usually know when you check-in where it will go from, because the incoming flight (for a long haul) is likely to have arrived already. Cynics would suggest that Heathrow wants to keep you in the main bit to keep shopping.

    • jjoohhnn says:

      10 Jul10 July 14:57

      Indeed.. just ask at check-in or the lounge if it’s likely to go from B or C gates and they’ll tell you!

      Or you can get an idea in advance of where it is planned to go from. If you type in the flight number on flightaware.com it tells you what gate previous flights left from. You can quickly scroll the page, and click on a previous day for over a week worth of flights and see that for example BA67 left from B or C gates over that time so it gives you a good idea.

    • JDB says:

      10 Jul10 July 18:00

      @Rob – yes, if you check in a couple of hours ahead of a short haul flight, the check in staff will know the expected gate, but it is very subject to change so BA staff are instructed not to communicate what might be misinformation. If, for instance, the aircraft on the pre-planned stand doesn’t leave on time or the inbound arrives later than expected, the gate will likely change. You do also see last minute aircraft changes. If it’s pre-planned to be a remote stand, they may well tell you as that’s a longer boarding process. It’s different for long haul flights given the turnaround times, but even they change and B/C departures are often marked as such long in advance without specific gate numbers.

      Also, the lingering customer hanging around for a gate to be announced isn’t usually the big spender, buying the £60k whisky or Chanel handbag.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      10 Jul10 July 19:42

      Yet no one is forced to spend anything in DF.

      I’ve not spent a penny in DF for years except for things I actually want not just to fill in some time.

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