BA 855 operated by Titan Air

[DLT1939]

Anyone know why BA854/5 LHR-PRG-LHR was operated by a Titan Air B757 today instead of a BA A320?

[Hotel Tango]

At a wild guess I'd say because BA had no spare a/c to replace one that was AOG.

[DaveReidUK]

BA are currently using a number of Titan and Thomas Cook aircraft.

I would imagine it's in connection with the continuing cabin crew industrial action.

[G-ARZG]

A review of 'thebasource.com' will show that Titans are no strangers to BA schedules.

TCX - not so much...

[jijpc]

Confirm it us in relation to the cabin crew strike. Titan B757 (G-POWH) and A320 (G-POWM) and Thomas Cook A321s (G-DHJH and G-TCDO) operated today. Privilege Style 767 EC-LZO will be operating tomorrow.

[Musket90]

During the previous 2 occasions of BA cabin crew strikes Titan have based 4 x aircraft at Heathrow. Thomson has also operated a B737-8 on behalf of BA at Heathrow
for the same reasons.

[Hotel Tango]

Oops, seems I was way off the mark :O But I did say it was a wild guess :)

[wiggy]

Tut Tut, seems some people aren't drinking enough cool aid. ;)

I thought the party line was "the strikes are having no effect. FACT!":E

[DaveReidUK]

A bunch of cowboys! I personally would probably refuse to fly with them, especially if they are operating in to an airport that might require holding and/or the weather is a bit entertaining.

Currently on final approach to Gothenburg as BA790. Happily, didn't have to hold. :O

[pax britanica]

I must admit that as a regular passenger and BA FF member for years I am not that keen on the idea of contracting out service to operators that people have often never heard of . TC are abit different because they are a large operation . I know Titan seem to have a good reputation but they are hardly a household name and the other mob i had never heard of and from the comments on here theyseem more likely to feature on the AAIB website than any positive recommendations. What is the positiion n if you pitch up t the gate for the BA xyz and instead are confronted with a possibly garish and unfamiliar nose poking past the jetway.? Can you just say no thanks I'll have my money back or are BA in their rights to sub in anyone they like.

I know BA tried this sort of stunt before with cabin crews on the Caribbean flights- although the girls and boys wore BA uniforms if you flew regularly you knew in an instant they were not BA crew. They apparently had alot of complaints-mine included and I got a lot of airmiles as compensation but whats the situation if you buy a BA flight and it isn't a BA aircraft, its not flown by BA flight deck crew and the CC are not BA either- I mean what is left as BA other than the flight number?

[Harry Wayfarers]

I must admit that as a regular passenger and BA FF member for years I am not that keen on the idea of contracting out service to operators that people have often never heard of

The last time, and I mean the last time, I flew with BA my seat was broken whilst we flew a very lumpy AMS/LGW with the gear down because the silly b@stards had overfuelled the damn thing.

Give me a cowboy outfit any day!

[Hotel Tango]

:= Some of you are making unkind and unsubstantiated comments about PRIVILEGE AIRLINES. For the record, Spanish operator Privilige Airlines specialise in this type of work. They have been doing so since 2003 and with a clean safety record. I very much doubt that BA would use "cowboy" operators!

[Newforest2]

Well said HT! Doesn't the purchase of a ticket commit the supplier of said ticket to get you from A to B, but not necessarily in a craft with the supplier's name on the side?

[SpringHeeledJack]

I taxied past a Thomas Cook A321 at LHR earlier today on a remote stand and wondered why it was there. Also, there was a white A330 with a gold band around the forward passenger door, that in the depths of my mind, belongs to a Portugese ACMI operator ???

[Sobelena]

Can you substantiate your allegations Council Van? Any of it officially documented anywhere? Just curious.

[Sobelena]

:hmm: my searches certainly haven't come up with anything!

[crewmeal]

I know BA tried this sort of stunt before with cabin crews on the Caribbean flights- although the girls and boys wore BA uniforms if you flew regularly you knew in an instant they were not BA crew. They apparently had alot of complaints-mine included and I got a lot of airmiles as compensation but whats the situation if you buy a BA flight and it isn't a BA aircraft, its not flown by BA flight deck crew and the CC are not BA either- I mean what is left as BA other than the flight number?

A disappointing comment. Back in the 90's the were BA franchises, GB Airways, Maersk to name two. They had outstanding cabin crew who were on the ball and knew about service. Infact at BHX pax would compare crews with BA Regional and many would comment favourably about Maersk.

Well I would suggest they should not pitch up in the Balliarics without holding fuel when thunderstorms are forcast arriving at the diversion airfield on little more than fumes

I'm sure that Flight Deck would 'tank up' with extra fuel if the weather looked bad at a destination and not divert and run on fumes as you put it. However if an airport is below limits then the flight would have no alternative than divert.

[Sobelena]

Tell that to the punters who gave my Cabin Crew a load of abuse when we could not get into a certain Greek destination with exceptionally high minimus post thunderstorm at the start of the season last year!

What exactly this has to do with with your slamming of Privilege Airlines beats me. And as I already pointed out, your allegation about Privilege landing on fumes is completely unsubstantiated. Give us the proof or shut up!

[pax britanica]

Crew meal

I did fly on Gib Air operated flights a couple of tiems and the crew were very good, the point I am making is that youcan only stretch branding so far
if its not BA plane
Not BA pilots
Not BA cabin crew

If it all boils down to just a BA ticket that is in my mind too far and verging on deception. My Caribbean experience was just the cabin crew but peoplel finding themselves ona different plane with different livery and different flight deck and cabin crew are entitled to think just how BA this is.

I made a point of not suggesting that Titan , who on the basis of comments on Pprune are perfectly competent and TC who are a big operation anyway but I have never heard of the third operator used and I just dont think BA do themselves any good by relying on the small print in conditions of carriage, especially at a time when they are finding it harder and harder to distinguish themselves from Aer O Leary and big orange . In fact in the short haul market and depending on actual availability and pricing I would say that easyJets Upfront product is the best out there for leisure/holiday travel in Europe

[vctenderness]

How do you think, back in the day, the Americans felt when turning up in Miami for their BA flight to London to find an Air NewZealand DC10?

We operated them with our crews from LAX when ANZ didn't have traffic rights. We ended up with down time and BA utilised them on several routes MIA, BOS and PHL.

Back then New Zealand was not well known amongst our American cousins and the DC10 was known as 'The Widowmaker' due to several fatal incidents.

[atakacs]

Just wondering: what are the SLF rights in those occasions? Can you refuse to board? Ask for a refund or compensation?

[pax britanica]

VC 10, great name great plane btw.

Wasnt the NZ DC 10 used on London-Lax but it was advertised that way and did have BA Cabin crew for the LAX-LHR section. It was a scheduled flight so I am sure in the timetable (back when they existed) it showed a/c type as DC10 and probable folloing a ~ or * or other symbol the words Operated by Air NZ

[Hotel Tango]

Just wondering: what are the SLF rights in those occasions? Can you refuse to board? Ask for a refund or compensation?

1. None (It's in the small print of your contract of carriage)
2. Yes, of course you may refuse to board, but
3. No (refer to 1)

[vctenderness]

Pax: ANZ were not able to operate past LAX so an arrangement was reached where BA operated the final leg from LAX to LHR and return using BA flight and Cabin Crew.

I can't remember the circumstances but the DC10 ended up with extra down time in LHR. It was then utilised on s number of US routes, again with BA crew and a BA flight number. I'm not sure if it appeared in the timetables as 'operated by ANZ' as it wasn't.

[El Bunto]

1. None (It's in the small print of your contract of carriage) Not always the case; previously Norwegian and Ryanair have both offered full refunds or rebooking in cases when they've had to contract-in contingency ops. For the former it was Euroatlantic and HiFly, from memory, and Ryanair was with an Eastern European outfit with 737 'classics'; possibly something like Air Explorers? A colleague took the refund offer on the latter which I thought was daft since there won't be many more opportunities to fly a -400.

[renfrew]

I did fly on an Air New Zealand DC-10 LHR/JFK with a BA crew and I doubt that any of the passengers were aware it wasn't a BA aircraft.

[crewmeal]

How do you think, back in the day, the Americans felt when turning up in Miami for their BA flight to London to find an Air NewZealand DC10?

This was a LAX operation. I used it many times to position back and forth. In those days BA were careful who they chose for this kind of operation. We had 'Paddy Zulu' (A leased Aer Lingus 747) operating for BA as they didn't have enough of their own to expand the route network.

[finncapt]

Ex BA ANZ DC10 driver.

Yes, originally it operated lax/lhr and return daily - iirc the original 747-136s were not able to do Lhr/lax direct with any useful load and the pax nos. did not support a full 747 every day.

After a while the 236s came along, the pax figures had increased and 5days per week the 747 operated with the ANZ DC10 working the other 2 days.

This meant the DC10, when it got to LHR, could be used for other rotations until it came to the day to operate to LAX and onward to AKL.

The routes were as suggested and also YMX.

There were about 18 BA flight deck crews and the BA cabin crew were qualified L1011 (in BOAC parlance) and DC10.

[vctenderness]

Renfrew: well when they walked down the airbridge in, say, MIA and saw a bloody great big DC10 with Air New Zealand written on the side they sure as hell questioned if it was a BA aircraft!

I say that from personal experience.

[Hotel Tango]

Renfrew: well when they walked down the airbridge in, say, MIA and saw a bloody great big DC10 with Air New Zealand written on the side they sure as hell questioned if it was a BA aircraft!

Not the Americans though. They wouldn't have a clue where New Zealand is! ;)

[crewmeal]

Back on track so to speak, at least Tommy Cook and Titan cabin crew will know how to sell the BA sarnies. Not quiet sure what their Club Europe product is like.

[jijpc]

Presumably the aircraft will be loaded with BA catering.

[pax britanica]

So its in the small print and by definition legall but not very honest.

Apologies about the BA DC10 Ops , if they were int he early 80s I have an excuse as I wasnt in the UK. However BA did provide all the crew and thats two out three so not unreasonable for BA flight number etc.

In fact on the subject of people not knowing what sort of aircraft etc in the 80s I flew Air Canada quite bit witht he familly and on one trip back abroad they ahd subbed a 747 for a 1011 , different seating and we had booked a bulkhead 'basinette' for baby daughter and I was trying to make sure we got the right row . Air Canada ground supervisor id basically tellign me to stop making a fuss the rowas will be the same as the inbound flight its the same on every a/c to which i reply but its a different type of plane. More denials no you are wrong etc etc and as I push it a bit as having somewhere for babe to sleep is big deal sh eputs hands on hips and says respectfully sir I know more about this than you and i know where the seats are on a Tri star.

So I ask her to turn around and look out of the window and ask her what kind of aircraft is that- and get the answer its a Tri st ohhhh. But she was very nice about it and having previously mentioned it was our 5 year oldsons birthday when she checked the tickets he was thrilled when half way across a couple of hosties came by with 'cake' made from Ice cream and first class goodies and pretend candles for him which I thought was a lovely touch.

Any way i have done enough thread drift damage -sorry