British Airways
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Looks like BA have made some proactive cancellations in anticipation of fog tomorrow am...
So far LHR departures canx as follows...
Domestically ,
ABZ 4 ,EDI 4 , GLA 2 , LBA 1 , MAN 2 , NCL 2
European ,
AMS 1 , BCN 2 , BRU 2,BSL 1 ,DUB2 , DUS 1,FRA 2, GVA 4 , LIN 1 , MUC 1, TXL 2, ZRH 1
Long haul
Looks like trying to protect , think only DOH AND 3rd LAX gone and think they had already been canx due 787 shortage.
So far LHR departures canx as follows...
Domestically ,
ABZ 4 ,EDI 4 , GLA 2 , LBA 1 , MAN 2 , NCL 2
European ,
AMS 1 , BCN 2 , BRU 2,BSL 1 ,DUB2 , DUS 1,FRA 2, GVA 4 , LIN 1 , MUC 1, TXL 2, ZRH 1
Long haul
Looks like trying to protect , think only DOH AND 3rd LAX gone and think they had already been canx due 787 shortage.
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Originally Posted by ‘BCALBOY’
Long haul
Looks like trying to protect , think only DOH AND 3rd LAX gone and think they had already been canx due 787 shortage.
Looks like trying to protect , think only DOH AND 3rd LAX gone and think they had already been canx due 787 shortage.
01DEC to 08JAN - LHR-DOH-LHR (BA123/BA122)
17DEC to 21DEC - LHR-LAX-LHR (BA281/BA280)
02JAN to 07JAN - LHR-SJC-LHR (BA279/BA278)
04JAN Only - LHR-IAD-LHR (BA293/BA292)
The 777 that would usually operate the daily DOH service is being used to replace the 787-9 that would usually operate the JED service.
Ba baggage allowances and on line check in
Had an odd and annoying experience travelling back from Prague yesterday.
Three of use went out before Xmas on very cheap business class ticket but cost prohibitive on return so that was in Y . However BA let you have the full J class baggage allowance on the return sector on these occasions (I believe they are trying to stop this in true Cruz fashion.) My itinerary confirmed same baggage allowance out and back.
Go to online check in and all three of us come back with you have no checked bag allowance.
More than slightly worried about what the cost of four bags at airport check in rates would be I called BA customer services -(to say they were utterly useless is a huge understatement, Asian agent didn't even know phonetic alphabet -where Prague is- are you on a long haul flight, ) but go no where near even discussing the problem.
Get to PRG very busy and have a long wait as we are in the problem line not bag drop . explain situation to charming check in agent and he says well on my screen is says 2 bags per person and that's what you are getting.
So all well in the end but a worry overnight .
How can this sort of thing happen though, I thought that airline systems had checks and balances to ensure pax and bags matched up and it was a real concern to the point hat we thought about leaving some things behind and repacking bags to at least get them down to three .
Any one had similar problems?
Ona happier note
great Xmas deal from Heathrow parking getting meet and greet in T3 for less than the cost of my normal cab fares and less than half sticker price.
And some praise for Prague airport-not the biggest I know but super efficient car hire return 50 M from Terminal 1.
Very efficient automated boarding pass and immigration checks on departure together with a super helpful multilingual overseer for people whose passports wouldn't read or put wrong item in wrong machine. Big contrast at LHR on arrival where numerous purple coated drones who barely spoke English drifted around immigration doing nothing at all and with all but three auto gates closed and those that were open couldn't be seen as you walked into the immigration hall. Prague security very nice too -although perhaps the Russians departing from the adjoining gate might not have shared that view as the Czechs seemed to enjoy barking slavic orders at them for once
Three of use went out before Xmas on very cheap business class ticket but cost prohibitive on return so that was in Y . However BA let you have the full J class baggage allowance on the return sector on these occasions (I believe they are trying to stop this in true Cruz fashion.) My itinerary confirmed same baggage allowance out and back.
Go to online check in and all three of us come back with you have no checked bag allowance.
More than slightly worried about what the cost of four bags at airport check in rates would be I called BA customer services -(to say they were utterly useless is a huge understatement, Asian agent didn't even know phonetic alphabet -where Prague is- are you on a long haul flight, ) but go no where near even discussing the problem.
Get to PRG very busy and have a long wait as we are in the problem line not bag drop . explain situation to charming check in agent and he says well on my screen is says 2 bags per person and that's what you are getting.
So all well in the end but a worry overnight .
How can this sort of thing happen though, I thought that airline systems had checks and balances to ensure pax and bags matched up and it was a real concern to the point hat we thought about leaving some things behind and repacking bags to at least get them down to three .
Any one had similar problems?
Ona happier note
great Xmas deal from Heathrow parking getting meet and greet in T3 for less than the cost of my normal cab fares and less than half sticker price.
And some praise for Prague airport-not the biggest I know but super efficient car hire return 50 M from Terminal 1.
Very efficient automated boarding pass and immigration checks on departure together with a super helpful multilingual overseer for people whose passports wouldn't read or put wrong item in wrong machine. Big contrast at LHR on arrival where numerous purple coated drones who barely spoke English drifted around immigration doing nothing at all and with all but three auto gates closed and those that were open couldn't be seen as you walked into the immigration hall. Prague security very nice too -although perhaps the Russians departing from the adjoining gate might not have shared that view as the Czechs seemed to enjoy barking slavic orders at them for once
There's your answer.
The old BA IT team, who understood (very nearly) every aspect of airline operations, were got rid of and replaced by an outsourced operation, selected wholly on the basis of the cheapest bidder. Work is done as "projects" to a fixed budget. Once spent, that's it. Issues that are discovered are just accumulated for the next tranche of budget allocation, if any. There is also no practical system for feedback of issues encountered with the systems. It seems that working for 99% of all situations is seen as good enough.
Well done Alex.
The old BA IT team, who understood (very nearly) every aspect of airline operations, were got rid of and replaced by an outsourced operation, selected wholly on the basis of the cheapest bidder. Work is done as "projects" to a fixed budget. Once spent, that's it. Issues that are discovered are just accumulated for the next tranche of budget allocation, if any. There is also no practical system for feedback of issues encountered with the systems. It seems that working for 99% of all situations is seen as good enough.
Well done Alex.
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Interesting to see the continued criricism of BA , it should not be forgotten that BAs buy-in is crucial re the Heathrow RW3 debate and yet here we have an airline that in many experts eyes on here is going backwards.
HAL keep banging on about domestic connectivity but in my view the only airline that can join the dots and provde this is BA.
Are they fit for purpose in that regard?
Doubtful
And what of the others ?
EZY if indeed they do decide to enter the fray will cherry pick. It will be CDG AMS FRA etc NOT
Leeds Teesside, Londonderry etc
FLYBE are unable to afford the fees and that leaves
BMI and Eastern who currently are both niche carriers. Niether has expressed any desire to operate from LHR.
I think Davies, Various MPs and indeed some in the media still still look upon BA as some sort of BOAC with VC10S, an airline that's Queen of the skies.
The last few months would suggest otherwise.
HAL keep banging on about domestic connectivity but in my view the only airline that can join the dots and provde this is BA.
Are they fit for purpose in that regard?
Doubtful
And what of the others ?
EZY if indeed they do decide to enter the fray will cherry pick. It will be CDG AMS FRA etc NOT
Leeds Teesside, Londonderry etc
FLYBE are unable to afford the fees and that leaves
BMI and Eastern who currently are both niche carriers. Niether has expressed any desire to operate from LHR.
I think Davies, Various MPs and indeed some in the media still still look upon BA as some sort of BOAC with VC10S, an airline that's Queen of the skies.
The last few months would suggest otherwise.
Last edited by Navpi; 29th Dec 2017 at 12:16.
Overall, it's probably against BA's interests anyway to expand Heathrow runways. Doing so would only increase their competition, both EasyJet and Ryanair have discussed what they might run from there if only they could get the slots, and Norwegian would have a field day. Gatwick would empty almost overnight. Good for overall UK air connectivity and commerce, bad financially for BA.
It's certainly unreasonable to expect the current operators, principally BA, to make a significant advance financial contribution to the construction costs, if this only leads to a competition landslide and thus weakens their financial position.
It's certainly unreasonable to expect the current operators, principally BA, to make a significant advance financial contribution to the construction costs, if this only leads to a competition landslide and thus weakens their financial position.
WHBM
Thanks for your post-I fear you are 100% right , ie lets sort of get it right and let the customers debug it. Still i got some revenge on BA who damaged two of my bags-the oldest tattiest two and baggage facilities gave me a voucher for reasonable replacements via their baggage company who respond so quickly Iwas still at LHR.
The BA customer service people on the phone were absolutely useless and gave the impression they had no idea who British Airways were or what an airline does-simply shocking.
re the comments on LHR R3 while major users might take the view that more capacity means more competition, they should take the view that they cannot expand at all without it and as has always been the case you cannot stand still in business , if nothing is done LHR will get worse and they will not retain business but continue to lose it without any way of countering the trend.
Twenty minutes flying circles around Lambourne among what seemed to be a squadron of BA 320s underlined to me just how full LHR is and thats before we got to T3 and spent 50 minutes waiting for our bags. In fact my two damaged ones and half a dozen others appeared quickly but I had time to go and make my baggage claim and return before the remaining bags (not just ours ) appeared. meanwhile on the next carousel so many bags appeared from a TAM flight where all the pax were still in in immigration, that the carousel became overloaded and had to be stopped -bit of a shambles
Thanks for your post-I fear you are 100% right , ie lets sort of get it right and let the customers debug it. Still i got some revenge on BA who damaged two of my bags-the oldest tattiest two and baggage facilities gave me a voucher for reasonable replacements via their baggage company who respond so quickly Iwas still at LHR.
The BA customer service people on the phone were absolutely useless and gave the impression they had no idea who British Airways were or what an airline does-simply shocking.
re the comments on LHR R3 while major users might take the view that more capacity means more competition, they should take the view that they cannot expand at all without it and as has always been the case you cannot stand still in business , if nothing is done LHR will get worse and they will not retain business but continue to lose it without any way of countering the trend.
Twenty minutes flying circles around Lambourne among what seemed to be a squadron of BA 320s underlined to me just how full LHR is and thats before we got to T3 and spent 50 minutes waiting for our bags. In fact my two damaged ones and half a dozen others appeared quickly but I had time to go and make my baggage claim and return before the remaining bags (not just ours ) appeared. meanwhile on the next carousel so many bags appeared from a TAM flight where all the pax were still in in immigration, that the carousel became overloaded and had to be stopped -bit of a shambles
re the comments on LHR R3 while major users might take the view that more capacity means more competition, they should take the view that they cannot expand at all without it and as has always been the case you cannot stand still in business
It's extraordinary how nobody of any prominence in aviation policy ever questioned BA replacing the 757s which were the majority of European route equipment in the 1980s-2000s with A319s of little more than half the capacity, at an airport that was full all along, and deployed them on their "grandfathered" slots. Having built up a substantial operation they then squeezed out all the low revenue end of it. The same is currently happening again with the European B767s being replaced by A321s.
As both BA and, separately, Heathrow are now effectively managed and run from Spain, you have to wonder how UK government policy on asset ownership views this. Likewise how other airports, also assets of the national infrastructure, are now run principally for the benefit of Canadian teachers' pension plans.
spent 50 minutes waiting for our bags....meanwhile on the next carousel so many bags appeared from a TAM flight where all the pax were still in in immigration, that the carousel became overloaded and had to be stopped
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It’s extraordinary how nobody of any prominence in aviation policy ever questioned BA replacing the 757s which were the majority of European route equipment in the 1980s-2000s with A319s of little more than half the capacity
The 757/763 was quickly reversed and a load of A320s were ordered as well as more A319s, as well as pulling in all the existing fleet out of BHX.
WHBM
Re baggage
Don't BA use their own baggage handlers at T3 or have they outsourced everything that isnt T5
re LHR R3 and competition I have often wondered why IAG is HQd in Spain-it was way before Brexit and BA is much much bigger than IB and I have to say i havent really seen any other large corporations moving HQ to Spain either.
Of course with brexit UK Govt will have no influence whatsoever about what BA do at LHR as both the airport and the airline are effectively Spanish now and when the country needs an efficient global hub to allow for all these global trade deals the Govt pretend we will get we need a proper mega hub level airport to handle long haul expansion . Its no good saying SH traffic would reduce because Europe is just too close not to continue to do business with as the UKs biggest partner but in terms of supporting a global trading outlook we can no longer support the modern equivalent of a merchant navy (BA) or the Port of London (LHR) so it would seem LHR expansion is important brexit or not but the decisons will be taken in Madrid not in London
Re baggage
Don't BA use their own baggage handlers at T3 or have they outsourced everything that isnt T5
re LHR R3 and competition I have often wondered why IAG is HQd in Spain-it was way before Brexit and BA is much much bigger than IB and I have to say i havent really seen any other large corporations moving HQ to Spain either.
Of course with brexit UK Govt will have no influence whatsoever about what BA do at LHR as both the airport and the airline are effectively Spanish now and when the country needs an efficient global hub to allow for all these global trade deals the Govt pretend we will get we need a proper mega hub level airport to handle long haul expansion . Its no good saying SH traffic would reduce because Europe is just too close not to continue to do business with as the UKs biggest partner but in terms of supporting a global trading outlook we can no longer support the modern equivalent of a merchant navy (BA) or the Port of London (LHR) so it would seem LHR expansion is important brexit or not but the decisons will be taken in Madrid not in London
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My understanding was that IAG had its registered offices in Spain but it’s Operational HQ is actually in London.
7 out of the 12 strong Management team are British & Irish with the rest being Spanish.
7 out of the 12 strong Management team are British & Irish with the rest being Spanish.
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as far as I can see there is absolutely no evidence that British Senior management are any better than any other nationality at running an airline (laker, Virgin, BA, BMI, BCal, Court......... the list is long)
the only man who has done it without a vast national subsidy is the dreadful leprechaun..................
the only man who has done it without a vast national subsidy is the dreadful leprechaun..................
