Star Alliance at BRS
Hello,
I'm wondering what the chances of seeing a Star Alliance airline set up shop at Bristol? OneWorld and SkyTeam are represented, but it's a bit hard for us Star fliers to keep trekking to BHX and LHR.
I use Star (LH/UA/OS/TG/SQ) to do long haul out to the US, Asia and Australia, as well as short stuff into Germany and Austria. In that respect, having the MUC and FRA routes run by BA isn't as helpful as if they were run by BD/LH. The hubbing opportunities through FRA/MUC would be so much better when hooked up with a Star airline rather than BA, which is a bit "dead-ended".
I've asked LH, and they were very non-commital (they used to run BRS->DUS in the late 80's), and the airport was similarly unable to give any firm information. Maybe I'm missing a trick here? Maybe the existing KL arrangements through AMS are thought to be good enough (surely nobody takes SN through BRU as a serious hub?).
(In case you're wondering, I choose the Star airlines because a) where I fly is where they go and b) the service I've experienced has always been better on LH/SQ/OS/TG than BA/AF/QF etc. It's not a case of chasing my points around!).
I flew BRS->EWR and then LHR->JFK (on UA) in the same week, and the BRS flight got it by a whisker because of the convience. I can bear 31" seat pitch if it's only 20 minutes to the office when we land! Otherwise, I'd be in UA's Y-Cabin....
Nick