BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
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BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
BBC: British Airways to launch £25 short-haul flights
British Airways has announced plans to offer £25 one-way short-haul airfares in an attempt to challenge the no-frills budget airlines that dominate European air travel.
Business class is to be dropped from the regional operation and passengers will have to pay for meals. But restricted and non-changeable tickets will disappear, with all tickets, no matter how little they cost, being changeable. Free food and business class will still be available on domestic and short-haul routes operated by BA from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports.
BA CitiExpress currently operates from more than a dozen UK airports, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Countries served include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. BA Connect will start flying on March 26, and bookings for the new regional services can be made from February 1.
"The restructuring of the regional business will set us apart in this fiercely competitive market," David Evans, BA CitiExpress managing director, said. "We have an innovative service promise for business and short-break leisure air travellers, offering year-round, one-way prices that match the no-frills airlines and the added service promise and resources of an airline of British Airways' size and stature."
BA's regional services have been losing an estimated £30 million a year. Today's announcement means that BA is once again running a no-frills operation - something it has not done since it launched low-fare airline Go in 1998.
[I]Orac Please see above sticky. As the thread starter we need you to make a point or an argument. You can quote sources by links.
thanks
H./I]
British Airways has announced plans to offer £25 one-way short-haul airfares in an attempt to challenge the no-frills budget airlines that dominate European air travel.
Business class is to be dropped from the regional operation and passengers will have to pay for meals. But restricted and non-changeable tickets will disappear, with all tickets, no matter how little they cost, being changeable. Free food and business class will still be available on domestic and short-haul routes operated by BA from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports.
BA CitiExpress currently operates from more than a dozen UK airports, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Countries served include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. BA Connect will start flying on March 26, and bookings for the new regional services can be made from February 1.
"The restructuring of the regional business will set us apart in this fiercely competitive market," David Evans, BA CitiExpress managing director, said. "We have an innovative service promise for business and short-break leisure air travellers, offering year-round, one-way prices that match the no-frills airlines and the added service promise and resources of an airline of British Airways' size and stature."
BA's regional services have been losing an estimated £30 million a year. Today's announcement means that BA is once again running a no-frills operation - something it has not done since it launched low-fare airline Go in 1998.
[I]Orac Please see above sticky. As the thread starter we need you to make a point or an argument. You can quote sources by links.
thanks
H./I]
Last edited by Hawk; 18th Jan 2006 at 19:29.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Originally Posted by Polarhero
But i wonder if it will last as long as Go, 
In fact can anyone remeber how long it was before go had gone.
In fact can anyone remeber how long it was before go had gone.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Originally Posted by Manxtraveller
But if BA have got it right, the ID90 will be of no use, the flights will all be full!
Yes but cheap firm flexible fares ! Chin up.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Cabin crew to clean the cabins, (albeit with a slight pay rise), so maybe we'll all get a nice wrist watch to help expedite the turn rounds. Hmm, so, slashing the fares will put us into profit eh - just as long as the load factors go up.
The single biggest thing it needs (cos it's not a bad plan) is for us to recruit a manager to run the thing properly. The blockheads we have both from BA (Evans) and from BRAL (Hutchings and Co, particularly Phelan) have a proven track record of screwing up in quite spectacular fashion. I just hope Willie carries through with his plan for all managers to reapply for their jobs. Wow, the cost saving there alone would reduce our losses significantly.
Seriously, a good plan. Just needs implementing properly.......let's say I'm not putting any serious money on it!
The single biggest thing it needs (cos it's not a bad plan) is for us to recruit a manager to run the thing properly. The blockheads we have both from BA (Evans) and from BRAL (Hutchings and Co, particularly Phelan) have a proven track record of screwing up in quite spectacular fashion. I just hope Willie carries through with his plan for all managers to reapply for their jobs. Wow, the cost saving there alone would reduce our losses significantly.
Seriously, a good plan. Just needs implementing properly.......let's say I'm not putting any serious money on it!
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Do BA measure revenue made from connecting City Express flights???
The word "BA Connect" would suggest that they want PAX to connect with BA mainline services. Maybe they should consider offering further fare incentives on European & inter-continental flights for "BA connect" PAX??
This would attract PAX that currently use the other LCC's.
Reducing cost's is not as difficult as people think. Catering & cleaning cost's can be drastically reduced IF flight frequency and capacity are measured and monitored. Based on this,cleaning cost's could be reduced to ad-hoc call outs when required. Catering cost can be turned into revenue depending on choice along with in-flight shopping if marketed properly. The question is are the crew who have had a pampered life until now, prepared to roll their sleeves up and make " BA Connect" work ???
Other cost's can be reduced including cabin furnishings, seat cover and carpet changing frequencies along with cabin daily consumables. The list goes on and on.
One thing they don't want to get into is the rugby scrum procedure experienced travelling on many LCC's. FR are already looking at offering assigned seating, at an additional cost.
Luggage weight charges. Always a bone of contention with everyone. Why not offer increased weight charges when booking?
Alleviating the hassle when checking in. Also add charges for over weight baggage (properly).
BA Connect. If you don't do it, somone else will !!!
Good luck BA Connect. I'm relying on you.
The word "BA Connect" would suggest that they want PAX to connect with BA mainline services. Maybe they should consider offering further fare incentives on European & inter-continental flights for "BA connect" PAX??
This would attract PAX that currently use the other LCC's.
Reducing cost's is not as difficult as people think. Catering & cleaning cost's can be drastically reduced IF flight frequency and capacity are measured and monitored. Based on this,cleaning cost's could be reduced to ad-hoc call outs when required. Catering cost can be turned into revenue depending on choice along with in-flight shopping if marketed properly. The question is are the crew who have had a pampered life until now, prepared to roll their sleeves up and make " BA Connect" work ???
Other cost's can be reduced including cabin furnishings, seat cover and carpet changing frequencies along with cabin daily consumables. The list goes on and on.
One thing they don't want to get into is the rugby scrum procedure experienced travelling on many LCC's. FR are already looking at offering assigned seating, at an additional cost.
Luggage weight charges. Always a bone of contention with everyone. Why not offer increased weight charges when booking?
Alleviating the hassle when checking in. Also add charges for over weight baggage (properly).
BA Connect. If you don't do it, somone else will !!!
Good luck BA Connect. I'm relying on you.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Originally Posted by DTI
Luggage weight charges. Always a bone of contention with everyone. Why not offer increased weight charges when booking?
Alleviating the hassle when checking in. Also add charges for over weight baggage (properly).
Alleviating the hassle when checking in. Also add charges for over weight baggage (properly).
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
I for one would be very happy for BA to succeed and give us an alternative to the great con EJ..... aside from their Rottweiller approach to luggage ( not only banging on extra costs for even a couple of kilos on a half empty flight but making standard airline sized hand luggage unacceptable via there joke luggage test box...) the impossibility of telephoning to get a reservation ( except at a ludicrous telephone charge ), has anyone else out there had the experience of selecting a flight on line at a quoted price and then when selecting 'purchase' had an increased price displayed on the screen ? A sort of "ok this chump wants to go ahead...lets see how far we can push him ?"
I've flown EZ twice.... never again. For me the total cost was similar to that of a regular ticket...and the lack of decent service just wasn't worth the very small difference.
I've flown EZ twice.... never again. For me the total cost was similar to that of a regular ticket...and the lack of decent service just wasn't worth the very small difference.
Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Originally Posted by MungoP
has anyone else out there had the experience of selecting a flight on line at a quoted price and then when selecting 'purchase' had an increased price displayed on the screen ?
I complained and their excuse was that this can happen when multiple people are trying to book the same flight at the same time. In this case, they didn't get my business (EZY did instead!)
To defend EZY a bit, and ensure a level playing field, I used EZY twice last year. LGW-VCE and return for myself and the wife in early May, which cost us approx £60 each, then later the same month (just before half-term when you'd expect the prices to be higher) LGW-TLS and return for the family of 4 for £132! It would have cost me that in fuel alone to drive us there and back.
If you are able to book at a time which will ensure the lowest fares, they are out there. If you want to travel tomorrow, forget it. That is the LoCo model, like it or not.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
As a pax who uses BACX from BHX every week this doesn't seem like the smartest of moves. Now I seem to have a choice of a no-frills BA service or travelling with bmiBaby with bigger planes and lower fares but the same service level. I know who I'll be flying with after March and it ain't BA!!
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Richae,
Fair enough, but read the fine print. BA Connect still offers a lot more per ticket than the low-cost operators do. As for it not being a smart move, CitiExpress was not making a profit. Anything is worth a try instead of continuing the business model we had.
Fair enough, but read the fine print. BA Connect still offers a lot more per ticket than the low-cost operators do. As for it not being a smart move, CitiExpress was not making a profit. Anything is worth a try instead of continuing the business model we had.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Concorde001 states: I can't see Ryanir/Easyjet doing that - you only have to hear the horror stories of some passengers.
Last edited by Hawk; 18th Jan 2006 at 18:50.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
After learning more about BA Connect, I think it may just work. They are still going to be offering a lot more than other low cost airlines...I don't know why people are so negative and always want them to fail. BA Citiexpress are the only airline in the OneWorld Alliance that doesn't charge
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
Don't get me wrong, I hope it does work but I don't think it will. I choose BA every week so that's pretty supportive. The fact is that the instructions have already come from our travel manager at work that we are not to use the higher BA Connect fares. So assuming that my employer is not unique, BA Connect is going to lose an awful lot of the revenue that it currently enjoys from business passengers. From personal choice, I'd rather be in a baby 737 than crushed into an ERJ and I reckon I'm not alone.
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Re: BA launchs £25 short-haul flights
BA Connect is going to lose an awful lot of the revenue that it currently enjoys from business passengers
What about changing bookings? From the BMIBaby website: "There is a fee for each change made to a booking, and also a possible fare increase that will also need to be paid". From the BA Connect press realease: "Changes to tickets will incur a competitive £30 administration fee per transaction, with the exception of the highest level, refunable 'BA Connect Plus fare' which will be exempt from administration fees for changes". From personal experience again, I've been almost bankrupted trying to get my tickets changed with a certain low-cost carrier. Considering that most of our customers are business travellers, and the tickets are booked by the companies they work for, which 'perk' would the company's bean counters prefer?
From personal choice, I'd rather be in a baby 737 than crushed into an ERJ
End of rant!!
