Nationwide to LGW

[PAXboy]

I see that the website are taking bookings and a sample for January asked for R6,993. for the return. Has anyone heard how the inaugural flights went and what their prospects are?

Despite being a tourist orientated route (all pax in Y) I see that they are still making both sectors overnight, rather than turning the machine immediately. This puts up their costs as the machine will be on the ground for 15 hours. Perhaps, as they have no other route for the machine, it might as well be on the ground in the UK, than in ZA. Not to mention that they can then hope to pick up low paying biz pax?

[El Peligroso]

Saw the aeroplane in Gatwick yesterday. Good to see another SA company going international. Guess they'll have to change the name to 'Nationswide' now! ;)

Which hotel are you guys at?

[tired]

Paxboy - the way I heard it the 15 hours on the ground in LGW is so that they can use the same crew for both sectors - the crew that operates northbound gets Min. Rest in the hotel before operating southbound the next night. It sounded far-fetched when I heard it and I have no idea whether it's actually true, but I checked it up in our (JAA-approved) Ops Manual and it would be perfectly legal. I assume the SA regs are much the same.

If it is true I'm bloody glad it's not me doing it!!

[PAXboy]

Thanks tired, I had wondered if that was the reason. As they are planning two trips a week from JNB and one fron CPT, it would probably leave them with one crew in London at all times. On this length of sector, I presume that they are carrying a 'medium heavy' crew of three rather than four. So the trip is no picnic for either flight or cabin crew. With LGW about 30mins on the train from London, it would be difficult to fit in a shopping trip. But I dare say that some will be able to do so.:p

[planecrazi]

Tired-Don't you remember doing the min.rest in London once upon a time. I sure you don't miss it!!!:D

[Flying Bean]

Flying to LGW with them on the 19th Dec.
Will chat to the crew and post my impressions.
Passing through Joburg the other day I went on board to have a look at the fittings. Basic but comfortable.
Normal Y has 32 inch pitch. I found adequate.The Economy Plus has 35 inch pitch with the identical seats. Just the big screen for entertainment, nothing individual.
I'm paying R4500 plus taxes for this flight but I have heard there are cheaper deals with some of the Travel Agents if you take a car hire package etc.
Will be interested to see how the Cabin Service is, especially on the return flight if the crew are doing 2 sectors!!

[Fluffy flyer]

so has any one actually confirmed that the crew are doing two sectors or are we still speculating at this stage?????

[finnman]

if it makes you guys feel any easier ther is always a crew taking
2/3 day layover's in gatwick

[tired]

I have no idea whether it's true or not, I made that plain in my first post. However, it is possible and legal, and the source of my information is usually reliable and not given to wild rumours, but I make no claims for the accuracy of it all. I would be interested to hear, actually, which is why I posted in the first place - finnman's post seems to indicate that it's at least partially incorrect.

Hey planecrazi, how are you bro'? You still hanging on in Paradise? Hope all is well your end. :)

[planecrazi]

tired-In Paris now and I'm glad it's not minimal rest on this one-off to bed right now!!!:zzz:

[Jangys]

Crew is laying over in Gatwick, they have a 3 day and a 6 day layover. How they work it i do not know.

What i do know is that they receive R80.00 a day away from home. 40 pounds for S&T while they are in Gatwick.

I dont think that is a lot of money for staying over for 6 days. Come to take into consideration the cost of transport and meals.

Apparently crew has to buy their own food as that is not included in the Hotel deal.

Shame......wonder how they are coping.

:confused:

[Dogma]

They seem to be on the high road to going bust. I have seen no advertising of any sort over here, SA Times or whatever. Terrible name too.

My mate travelled to Jo'berg a couple of days ago for next to nothing (£190) and it was almost empty. So much for high season.

They better get marketing to the hugh South African population over here.

:ok:

[expedite_climb]

They were advertising for LGW based crew a few months back.

[PAXboy]

Dogma: "Terrible name too." Could you be confusing this thread on Nationwide to LGW with the thread about av8air to MAN?

[Dogma]

Pax,

No, but does av8air fly to South Africa?

Nationwide works well in the domestic frame work of SA, but it lacks any savoir-faire for the international market.

However I would like to be proved wrong but I doubt it. I give them 6 months.

[PAXboy]

av8air have just started service from Manchester to CPT with a leased 767, I understand. I have not seen any advertising as I live in the South East of the UK.

As for Nationwide, if they can do a half way decent job - then they should not have many problems. The volumes of traffic on the UK/ZA route is astounding and shows every sign of increasing. Up until now, Nationwide, have had a marketing deal with VS to provide internal connections and I can only presume that they reckon they can take much of the long haul stuff for themselves.

As far as I know, the JNB/LHR route, which used to have just the two monopoly carriers on it now has a weekly tally of these rotations :
SA = 9 x 744
BA = 9 x 744
VS = 4 x 340 + 3 x 744 (variable)

When VS started on the route, fares came down but have now crept up again (natch!), so to add LGW at a discount should work. The others are going to Man, which SA used to serve many years ago and sounds like a good idea. I have only used Nationwide a couple of times but they seemed fine.

To the UK routes, there are now summer rotations by LH to MUC and others like Emirates are promoting theur connections to the UK. The whole of Europe wants to visit and the CPT rotations increase every summer.

[Dogma]

Pax,

Good gen., thanks.

av8 using a 767 from Man to Cpt, they must have a sharp pencil or relatively few seats. Any stops on route?

[PAXboy]

From the neigbouring thread on av8air:

Flights are MAN - CPT direct on Tuesday return Wednesday and bizarrely MAN - DUB - PMI - CPT at the weekends! They are using an Icelandair leased 767-200 TF-FIA.

To save looking it up, PMI is Palma de Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Med. So I guess they are reckoning on some short hauls, rather than someone staying on for the duration. It will give CPT a direct to PMI which must be a first, not to mention an easy hop from there to the Spanish mainland (or the rest of the continent) with multiple carriers as it is served by many of the European LoCos and that could prove highly lucrative.

[tired]

Pax - yeah, but do they have traffic rights PMI-CPT?

[Goldfish Jack]

No they have not got traffic rights for that sector. Apparantly they have no rights at all - the whole thing is for IT - not sure which operator uses it.

Had a mate that tried to book on it and he had to take a package, etc etc.

I know SAA ops to Manchester a few years ago and it was not the most successfu route. Now that KLM fly non-stop from AMS, it must be quicker to route that was than go via LHR.

[PAXboy]

tired - thanks for the info, that link would be worth something! Are av8air are a pure IT company? The world seems to be going the other way at the moment.

As for access to MAN, I would reckon that KL have that sewn up as MAN is now a fairly significant hub.

[Flying Bean]

NW Flight Jhb-Gatwick 19th Dec

Well. At last something different!
I first flew to London in 1968. Although the equipment has developed, the pax experience has pretty much stayed the same. 11 hours fighting boredom and discomfort.
Inflight movies (Yes I even remember when we did not have them) were a great step forward, progressing to the seat screens.
But that was about it.

The aircraft. Very Nice. New décor of course. Seats comfortable and exactly the same throughout the aircraft.. The economy pitch is 32 inches which is adequate. The ‘economy plus’ cabin has 35 inches which is comfortable. I may be mistaken, but the seats seemed slightly wider than in SAA but I will have to check this when I get back to RSA.
No seat screen, just cabin screens. They show 2 movies, one new , one ‘oldie’. This flight had Finding Nemo and Speed.

The cabin service is the same through the whole of the aircraft.
But herein lies the difference. The meal is served in a restaurant style.
They first come through with the basic tray the starter. A larger & better than average salad with a cheese terrein. Also the first decent roll I have had in years
This is then cleared away and you get the main course. Standard airline dish, chicken, beef or vegetarian.
Next this is cleared away and they come down the aisle with a sweet trolley. Choc gateaux, or trifle or cheese etc.
This style of serving does take a bit longer and you do get quite a pause between courses, but as the stewardess said ‘why the rush – there’s 11 hours to kill anyway’. Personally I liked it, especially the sweet trolley. They serve the tea & coffee in mugs as well which is another small plus.

The cabin crew,Jane & Ronald, handled us in a fast and efficient manner. I was not able to talk to the FD crew but they have 3 crew. PIC, Co-pilot and a 3rd PIC who rotated/rested in the ‘plus’cabin. All crew do a 2 day layover in a Gatwick Hotel.

The flight was nearly 100% full in economy, but only 7 in the’plus’ section.

All in all a pleasant experience and one that I intend to repeat. I will be interested to see if the ‘plus’ concept works. Don’t know what the fare difference is but I reckon there are only 2 types of pax now. Business and economy. You either want the cheapest or you can pay for the extras of business class.
I doubt whether pax will pay more for just the extra leg room. I think they would be better having a one class service.

Other gripes? Hard to find. OH lockers are old fashioned, but that’s the age of the plane.
Lets see if there is any variation over time. With Virgin,BA & SAA I have had good flights and stinkers. With me it’s a money thing and NW seem to have a good service at the right Dollar!

[planecrazi]

Flying Bean-That's very nice to hear, it sounded like a very pleasant flight.

PS-What hotel does Jane stay in?

[BAe 146-100]

Thanks for the report. I'm flying to CPT with BA (for the first time) in February, so I hope my flight will be as enjoyable as yours.

BAe 146-100 :)

[Flying Bean]

Just got back from London and am pleased to report the pleasant first impressions remain.
The seats are definately more comfortable than SAA/BA and I am fairly sure there is more legroom. Tried to confirm what SAA seat pitch was yesterday and after much humming and harring was told they would call me back. No reply yet. Suprise. But I am going to follow this up with BA/SAA & Virgin to see if the impression of more room is backed up by the figures!

Spoke to NW office today and the fares still range in the R4500 - R6000 mark

BTW a relative flew back from Frankfurt with SAA's new airbus the last week. Also an experienced traveller, said what a fantasic pasenger aircraft it is.