British Airways Citiexpress [Archive]

tristar500

16th Jan 2006, 18:40

What ever next...

Come on. By changing the name, changing the onboard service to a 'pay for food and drink' scheme, removing Club Class and slashing fares by up to 40%, do the well educated people at BA Mainline (the owners) really think that they are onto a winner?

You cannot operate a 'Low frills' operation with 3 different aircraft types.
You cannot go from a 'full service' operation to a 'low frills' overnight, slashing fares and still be handled on the ground by your parent company who charges highly inflated prices, and who offers many nice things to both its passengers and staff (ie executive lounges, staff travel - too many overheards) Where is the revenue going to come from, and go to?

Maybe the rumours going round that a certain handling company is in the running to handle BA Connect at UK regional stations, have some foundation as its clear that BA Mainline dont want to have the mill-stone round their neck anylonger. Mr Willie 'Wonka' Walsh is making it clear that the new outfit has 1 year to prove itself, something many people say is impossible. Just another attempt at BA trying to get out of all ties with domestic UK and certain shorthaul routes, while it concentrates on the 'Jewel in the crown' - Heathrow and T5.

It really is laughable!

MrBernoulli

16th Jan 2006, 18:49

BA have already played the lo-co game and it was called 'Go'. They decided it wasn't their bag and dumped it. I personally feel that BACX is being lined up by management to 'fail' (i.e. difficult to compete in the market with established lo-co players) and then dumped, got-rid-of, whatever.

beaver eager

16th Jan 2006, 20:00

Maybe it is a 'trial' to see how it gets on before deciding whether to adopt it at Gatwick?

Nearly Nigel

16th Jan 2006, 20:05

From my experience of 18 months flying RJ100s out of BHX and MAN, BACX is even more disfunctional than Mainline! As if it weren't bad enough on it's own, it gets pulled in different directions by the parent company, getting stuck with pilots and CC on different contracts and different working practices. I know the pilot secondees have different pay, but at least they fly to the same FTL scheme and ruleset as the BACX contract pilots. Compare that with the mainline CC that they inherited at BHX and MAN. Madness! And the station ground staff at MAN are about the most demotivated bunch of individuals I've ever come across (apart from the drivers who are a great bunch). No wonder BA want to subcontract them all out of work!

cwatters

16th Jan 2006, 20:11

"Cityexpress" sounds like a train.

10002level

16th Jan 2006, 20:12

You cannot operate a 'Low frills' operation with 3 different aircraft types.

Flybe do.....

DTI

16th Jan 2006, 20:27

It could work if the people who currently work at BACityexpress make it work!!

I.e. Turnaround times cut, cabin tidy up by crew, boarding by crew, the list goes on and on.

People actually want an alternative to the other LCC's.
IF the fares are what they say they will be and available, I think the flexibilty and the seat allocation and on-line part is more attractive to Jo Pub !!!

Lets cheer them on !!!

Elixir

16th Jan 2006, 22:29

This is what Ryanair have to say about it!!!

BA CONNECT – JUST ANOTHER BRITISH AIRWAYS RIP-OFF
Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today (10th Jan 2006) welcomed BA Connect as just the latest British Airways rip-off.
Ryanair has checked BA Connect / CitiExpress’ fares and found:
BA Connect’s fares range from £25 to £110 which make them 5 times higher than Ryanair’s fares.
BA Connect applies fuel surcharges
BA Connect is using British Airways oldest, smallest and slowest aircraft
BA Connect will offer BA’s awful punctuality
Peter Sherrard, Ryanair’s Head of Communications said:
“BA Connect is just the latest BA rip off. As Willie Walsh, himself says, “Our current performance is unacceptable”.*
“Passengers will continue to choose Ryanair because they can travel for a fraction of the price charged by BA Connect to more destinations on younger aircraft and “no fuel surcharges” guaranteed”.

BluffOldSeaDog

16th Jan 2006, 23:06

Give it a chance, we can make it work

False Capture

17th Jan 2006, 07:21

Was "BAConnect" chosen to disguise BA's objective which is to dis-connect BACX from BA?

HZ123

17th Jan 2006, 07:29

I would hope that BAC survives intact with this temporary fix. However, this may be to little to late. BAC needs some new aircraft with greater capicity to make a sucess of this. Bring out the EMB190.

BEagle

17th Jan 2006, 08:08

I wonder how many Business Class (or whatever Imperial Airways calls it these days) passengers will still choose to fly with ba ConAir when this new 'product' :yuk: is 'rolled out'? They'd put up with a cramped flight in a 145 if fed and watered well, but as Econopax having to pay for as yet unknown standards of catering? Somehow I don' think so.

Porky Speedpig

17th Jan 2006, 08:13

Beagle,
You are of course not known for your pro-BA stance - if you read the posts on the related thread you will see that most customers agree you will be less cramped on an EMB-145 than a 190 seat 737 and you will certainly get on and off much quicker.

BEagle

17th Jan 2006, 08:41

Porky, yes, I freely admit that I am no fan of the ba management who were responsible for the despicable 'Dirty Tricks' era.

But Brymon deserved considerable praise.

ba ConAir will need to have some USP to attract Business Class pax, although you're probably right that the ERJ-145 is less cramped than Lufthansa's horrid little CRJ-200s with their 2 seats per side. But the ConAir BAe146 will have the unpopular middle seat for Business Class passengers, whereas Lufthansa Regional keep the middle seat empty for Business Class travellers....and provide free catering, of course. At a price - but probably a price that someone else will be paying?

I was considering switching to BACX after the latest Lufthansa imetable fiasco, but not now that the 'product' is being dumbed-down.

Bombay Bad Boy

17th Jan 2006, 09:15

Sitting here in the tower, potentially its good news as long as:
.
1) It lowers airfares (especially at BHX) :)
2) Keeps the movement figures up.
3) Keeps you guys in jobs.
.
The key to it will be its employees. They must buy into the concept of LCCs. If they dont, it will be a BUM potch-up of an outfit.
.
www.egbb.co.uk
BBB

Elixir

17th Jan 2006, 13:00

How correct is the ppjn indication of the Dash 8 fleet expansion for BACX? I wonder if this will still go ahead or whether BA connect will think about using something larger (737?) to compete with the likes of easy, ryan etc.

Any thoughts?

tristar500

17th Jan 2006, 14:30

The Boeing 737 (4/500) has been rumoured to be going to BAcitiexpress for a while now, but the sticking point (one of them) is the fltightdeck crew pay. Birdseed Airways were not prepared to pay the citiexpress guys the same as mainline.

The B737 fleet may yet go to 'a subsiduary' as the summer schedule shows yet more Airbus flights T/F LGW on the domestic network, including the last one out of LGW in the evening to EDI (nightstop), and the first one out in the morning. Its listed as an A319 which is Y126 comapred to a B737-400 with Y146.

Firestorm

17th Jan 2006, 14:40

BA Connect, becoming known as Bacon. Is this a pre-cursor of the big carve up? The Locos a t BHX are wetting themselves over who's going to pick what route off the Bacon carcass.... If I was at Bacon, I'd be reaching for the big black and yellow handle...

tristar500

17th Jan 2006, 14:45

Firestorm - wicked sense of humour!

thedude

18th Jan 2006, 10:02

Elixir,

"and we all know Ryanair's publicity machine can be thoroughly trusted don't we!" Dis-information when spouted long and loud enough has always been a powerful tool. You only need to look at Germany in the late 1930's to see that. Journalist's, lawyer's and Ryanair's marketing department. What a better world this would be without them.
:*
In response to the the thread however. Although it is with some skeptisism that I view the proposals, I hope for the sake of the employees, there is some success.

Blade Blender

18th Jan 2006, 10:50

Just a short note to the chap/chapess about BACX punctuality. If you look at the punctuality tables printed at the back of Big Airways News, more often than not CitiExpress has the best scores, beating LHR, LGW and competitors, so we must be doing something right.

As for RyanAir saying they have checked the prices of the new fares, well thats cr@p as well. The new fares will not be available until February 1st.

I do agree that the new name is not the right one. It implies that we connect with Mainline, and I'm sure the LT should have seen the BACON thing coming from a mile off. But there again maybe not with those rose coloured glasses on.

BB

Railgun

18th Jan 2006, 11:09

tallaonehotel

19th Jan 2006, 10:54

answer to Railgun....

Nope. ACARS not fitted to any of the fleet!!

Hand Solo

19th Jan 2006, 11:15

Wasta

19th Jan 2006, 12:19

And don't forget that BA Connect has the additional bonus of no airmiles. So if you live outside the southeast, you have a disadantage. Personally, I'll continue to fly with other carriers, where I do get miles.

Railgun

19th Jan 2006, 13:22

In addition to all these things if you are travelling on business you will still have the opportunity to earn miles and points as part of the Executive Club and On Business schemes.

From BA connect

BALIX

19th Jan 2006, 18:06

Booked a GLA-BRS trip a few days before the big announcement. Just recieved an e mail from BA that says the following:

***The following flight has been cancelled***
Flight number: BA4029
From: Glasgow
To: Bristol
Depart: XX Jul 2006 18:40
Arrive: XX Jul 2006 19:55

*** You have been re-booked onto this flight ***
Flight number: BA4029
From: Glasgow
To: Bristol
Depart: XX Jul 2006 18:40
Arrive: XX Jul 2006 19:55

***The following flight has been cancelled***
Flight number: BA4026
From: Bristol
To: Glasgow
Depart: XX Jul 2006 13:30
Arrive: XX Jul 2006 14:45

*** You have been re-booked onto this flight ***
Flight number: BA4026
From: Bristol
To: Glasgow
Depart: XX Jul 2006 13:30
Arrive: XX Jul 2006 14:45

We hope you find this acceptable, in which case you do
not need to contact us.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Globaliser

19th Jan 2006, 18:53

Booked a GLA-BRS trip a few days before the big announcement. Just recieved an e mail from BA that says the following: ...I think you may find it's something to do with changing the booking class that you were booked in, which would involve cancelling the sector and rebooking it in the new class. If it makes a difference to your frequent flyer earning, you might want to find out what's actually happened.

BALIX

19th Jan 2006, 21:26

Globaliser

Frequent Flyer miles don't enter into it as far as I'm concerned, unfortunately... You may well be right about the class, though going from a cheap cityexpress ticket to a cheap bacon ticket means the change will be merely one of nomenclature. (Further investigation shows the class to be 'domestic', the same as before.)

Interestingly, I looked at the booking through the manage my booking link on the BA website and I can't see a single thing that has changed. It still shows the flight being operated by British Airways Citiexpress. It isn't letting on as to the aircraft type, though...

Globaliser

19th Jan 2006, 22:27

Interestingly, I looked at the booking through the manage my booking link on the BA website and I can't see a single thing that has changed.No, I hear that it's almost certainly something like changing the booking class from J to Y (or whatever change needs to be done), an invisible change on just about every website, and almost certainly of no interest to you if you haven't got any frequent flyer issues. I just thought I'd mention that in case you did have.

HZMIS

19th Jan 2006, 23:52

From the comfort of CBK billet this thread is geting more desparate with each new entrant. e.g. If we all pulled together BA would be a world beater but I have yet to see this effort at any time during my 31 years. More talk talk; the rest pick up more while we deliberate.

skiddyiom

20th Jan 2006, 13:47

Balix, you wont see BA Connect on your booking until after Feb 1st, when the official launch happens. Until then, we are still BACX.

skiddyiom

FlyboyUK

20th Jan 2006, 15:14

Rumor is that BA Connect (BACON) is being merged with European Gatwick Shorthaul (EGS). Creating a new operation...

BACON & EGS :} :} :} :} :D

VHF FLYER

20th Jan 2006, 17:34

BACON eh? Pigs might fly after all...:ok:

marlowe

20th Jan 2006, 18:45

Flyboyuk you really should not joke about that, in your joking you may be closer to the truth than you think!!!!!!

tristar500

21st Jan 2006, 20:33

Watch this space regarding BA (What ever they are going to call it) at LGW... Announcement due Sep 06 regarding a 'Mixed Fleet' where the cabin crew will do both long and short haul routes. Existing cabin crew to be offered LHR and all new entrants will start at LGW before migrating to LHR. The B737 is being squeezed slowly from the Scottish route network with up to 4 daily flights (LGW-EDI-LGW) to be operated by the A319, including the night-stopper in this years summer schedule (Playing catch up with EZY?)

As far as Iam aware, the BRS flights to and from Scotland will continue to be operated by the Embraer EMB145. Speaks of the RJ100 taking over the EDI-CDG-EDI route, reducing from 3 per day to 2 per day as per Air France.

KLMkitty

21st Jan 2006, 21:57

An RJ100 on the edi-cdg would be very interesting! AF by Cityjet had better watch out.

flying jocks

10th Feb 2006, 11:03

How easy will it be to drop the "BA" from Connect in say 2 years if the company does fail? - or let's say not live up to expectations. It can then be sold to the highest bidder and may get rebranded - "connect airways" with the BA coca-cola like stripe being removed.
FJ:oh:

Kak Klaxon

10th Feb 2006, 14:22

Connect air became Air Europe express who became City Flyer who became BA but gave its RJs to BACX who became BA Connect who become Connect Air....who will last 2 weeks without the BA brand...:D

beaver eager

10th Feb 2006, 15:05

Connect air became Air Europe express who became City Flyer who became BA but gave its RJs to BACX who became BA Connect who become Connect Air....who will last 2 weeks without the BA brand...:DAnd therein lies the rub KK. Your post did make me grin though! Why do BA keep doing this kind of thing?