What pandemic. I have been watching QVC lol

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today opened enforcement cases into both British Airways (BA) and Ryanair (FR) after they conducted investigations back in December 2020 following reports that consumers were being denied refunds for flights that they could not legally take.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c..._content=daily

As the article states, it should not be assumed at this stage that any of the airlines have breached the law as it is only a court that can decide whether such a breach has occurred.

British Airways low cost
 

It seems British Airways plans to enter the low cost market. What could possibly go wrong? Anyone remember "GO" ?

I thought BA was on most people’s “No Fly List”.

If not it should be.

In my experience BA already is a low cost carrier charging sometimes insanely high fares experially for their mediocre First and Business product. If they go lower cost they would be getting dangerously close to a No Cost airline....

I don’t see how it can get any worse than their current EuroTraveller offering… buy-on-board sandwiches, over-priced drinks and hard seats with no legroom. I’m surprised ‘High Life’ is still free to be honest.

There was a time when I thought the ‘All Day Deli’ nose bag was a poor show vs the traditional meal trays that preceded them, but how I long for even those days now.

It’s already just another low cost airline, they just want an excuse to take advantage of desperate unemployed pilots whilst they can - I bet the fares don’t get any cheaper though!

oxenos

Not quite sure what you're getting at here. BA didn't seem to quite crack the formula with GO but selling it has been viewed in some quarters as a commercial mistake - GO became a success and then merged into easyJet while they, and the LCC sector in general, have gone from strength to strength since. BA has tried to compete to the detriment of their brand and reputation over the past few years so perhaps establishing an LCC will allow them to focus on the full service market once again.

QF, SQ, JAL, ANA, LH etc have all shown that legacy carriers can accommodate LCC in their group of companies so it could well be argued that BA are coming to the party rather late.

Unterwegs

As I say a few pages up, just lower the prices and call it BA, jobs a good’en.

Signing Cruz as the CEO has to be one of the biggest corporate mistakes in the company’s history. He relegated the airline to a tier 2 level of service, although it could be argued that it was already headed that way.

Anti BA bashers out and about I see. You need to read the Gatwick thread to get up to date about recent BA plans.

Regarding legacies running locos it is worth pointing out that for Lufthansa at least, it is done at great cost. Mainline subsidises Eurowings to the tune of hundreds of millions.

The IAG group already has Vueling in Spain, which is a LCC so there is some corporate experience (good or bad) to call on.

Glad to hear this !
At the height of the pandemic, I was booked on 2 legs with Iberia to the UK with an overnight stay near T5.
I was supposed to then fly to LA.
All access at the time to the US became legally forbidden.
BA refused to consider a refund as the flight still might run
I was expected to fly the other legs, stay overnight and turn up for a flight that I was not legally entitled to take !!
Only IF the flight was cancelled by BA was there a chance of any refund !

In BA's credit they issued vouchers which you could apply for to protect the value of your ticket. Lots of carriers didn't refund and in many places people are still fighting to get some credit or money back.

Fact B318 !
For various reasons, one being particularly critical, a voucher was of no value to me (us) unfortunately !

Few airlines offer refunds if you can’t meet the requirements to travel. It’s your job to meet them when you book a flight (granted the circumstances changed) but BA did offer a voucher as I said. It’s better than nothing which a lot of carriers - particularly outside Europe did.

I, (we) were perfectly able to travel.
BA would have been unable to board us or risk being penalised on arrival in the US.
We would not have been allowed to board after travelling on two previous legs and overnighting at Heathrow.
Both Iberia and the Hotel refunded us within weeks !
If they could do it, why not BA ?

BA discovered, along with the rest of the airline world, that not enough people will pay the price. Over the last 30 years pricing in numerous areas of commerce has moved to the pricing formula of a certain well known LCC. People have decided that they want the headline price to be low and might then pay for extras. This has been tested many times, one simple example is motor cars. The low priced threshold of a lease got people to take new cars which, ultimately, cost them more.

BA, along with the rest of the legacy carriers, cannot readily be two carriers. The example of LH and Eurowings is instructive. However, this combination of Legacy and LCC will continue in one form or another.

Each and every purchase, be it a car or a plane ticket or a take away meal, is decided upon at the time at the price on offer.

BA have nearly 20,000 staff on Furlough. The scheme will finish at the end of September.
Redundancies, unpaid leave, part time? Take your pick but its going to hurt a lot of people.

Assuming BA eventually return to LGW for the Summer schedule next year, what will they do with the Routes where they've used LHR A21N for the additional (assumed) capacity? Naples springs to mind, since it's been LHR operated, they've used A21N a few times a week whereas out of Gatwick they've only been able to operate the max size aircraft based (A320)