Ba Egcc-eham

[dope05]

Anybody know why BA keeps cancelling the midday Manch-Amsterdam flight? As occasional SLF myself and two young sons got delayed on our way out and Again on the way back when BA cancelled the flight and return AGAIN!. Told it was owing to "Operational Reasons" probably not enough profit more like. Eventually got off in some unmarked 146 possibly of Italian origin.

Dope O5 :(

[chiglet]

AFAIK, BA are "operating" as BACE on that route.
It "was" a B737:D It's now a "Barbie Jet" [E145] or a sub-chartered "Titan Airways" BAe146.
Hope this helps
We aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[Hand Solo]

As far as I know BA don't operate any European services out of MAN anymore, they are all BACE. Expect this sort of (un)reliability in the future cos it aint gonna get any better.

[Curious Pax]

I and my colleagues travel on BA MAN-AMS very regularly, and flight cancellations are a regular feature. On the plus side they seem to happen a lot less now that the flights are all E145s rather than 3 737 roundtrips/2 E145 roundtrips; on the minus side they do seem more prone to cancellation during quiet periods (which late August definitely is as far as business travel is concerned). Thus we have always assumed that passenger numbers were the reason.
8 years or so ago the flights used to be pretty full most of the time, but as KLM ramped up the number of their flights, and Easyjet started out of Liverpool the BA seems to have been hammered. They also lost a lot of passengers from the first MAN departure of the morning as that flight got a poor reputation for ATC delays - I usually spent more time sat on board at Manchester waiting for a slot to Amsterdam than I did airborne. However recent experience suggests that moving the departure time to 20 minutes earlier has helped a lot. It also didn't help that when sitting waiting the KLM FK100 usually taxied past - although they also got hit with ATC delays their departure was 0610 but the perception remained.

[Herod]

Why not travel on the KLMuk Fokker, which regularly taxies past while the BA is waiting ?

[Curious Pax]

BA Miles!!!!

[JW411]

I was interested to read the suggestion from Hand Solo that on-time departures are likely to deteriorate as BA CE take over flights from BA.

My last experience of BA was in business class from LHR - EDI last week. (I hasten to add that my company was paying). Since it was a 757, I presume it was a BA mainline flight?

Push back came 50 minutes late. Breakfast was distinctly average but the cabin staff were OK. On arrival at EDI, we all waited for 30 minutes or more to become reunited with our bags. If this is the norm then how much worse is it going to get?

I have asked my company to use easyJet/Go or Ryanair next time. The service might not be any more reliable but it will cost a hell of a lot less.

[BRUpax]

I suffered a number of cancellations on Barbie Jet services between BRU & BHX this August. Even by combining flights they could only achieve 30-40% loads. Why not just change the schedule for the Summer holiday period, rather than inconveniance pax by making them turn up for flights which are not going to operate, then insulting our intelligence with the "technical reasons" cr@p. If they were indeed all technical cancellations then all I can say is the the 145 is one heck of an unreliable aeroplane and I'd get rid of them asap!

[Hand Solo]

Well you've inadvertently hit the nail on the head there BRUpax. Most of the cancellations are indeed technical problems. The aircraft are notoriously unreliable. Add to that the inability of staff in the Isle of Man to reliable get a qualified flight crew, cabin crew and service aircraft in the same place at the same time and you have a recipe for schedule chaos. Some may scoff, but those of us who see the punctuality stats on a weekly basis and the number of cancellations on the ERJ can't dispute the figures. Out of interest, how many cancellations did you experience when travelling to BHX on our 319s?

JW411 - I would say that one flight is a rather unrepresentative sample, wouldn't you. What was the reason for the 50 minute delay? A slot perhaps? If you had to wait 30 minutes for the bags then do let us know how long you have to wait on one of the low cost carriers, because we're all using the same luggage system at EDI. The service may not be more reliable on low cost carriers, in fact I bet its a lot less reliable, especially when the fog hits LTN or Ryanair start running late (but then they could make up time by leaving with departing EDI with your bags still in the hold). Plus if your company is paying theres no jeopardy to you if they cancel the flight and leave you without a hotel. If you are very concerned about saving your employer cash, then why not forego the unnecessary expense of buying a business class ticket (especially as there is no dedicated business class on shuttle flights) and ask them to buy you a fully flexible economy ticket. Or, if you know your travel dates well in advance, why not book an excursion fare starting from a very reasonable £69 pounds. I think you'll find they compare quite favourably with what you can get on the low costs with les than a months notice.

[Smokie]

JW411,

May have been average but was it kosher ? :D

[dope05]

I seem to have stirred things up a bit. (EGCC-EHAM)

Thanks for the info people.

Just a point, I booked these tickets about 5 months in advance and BA or whoever were around £350 for the return flights for three. SqueezyJet were about £50 more and that was for a very early morning flight out of Speke. I suppose BA at least fed us with a dodgy "All Day Deli" sandwich (Does that mean it has been sitting in the Deli all day?) and a few beers.

:)

dope05

[JW411]

Hand Solo:

I have indeed given up on BA business class. I have made two journeys since my last posting - one with Go and the other with Ryanair.

Go left 10 minutes late and arrived on time. Baggage took 15 minutes to arrive. The aircraft was clean and the cabin staff were fine.

Ryanair left 20 minutes late and arrived 10 minutes late. The baggage took 20 minutes to appear. The aircraft (738) was clean and comfortable.

Both flights were better and ran more to schedule than my last BA experience (and my company saved a fortune). I was quite surprised at how many chaps with suits and briefcases were on board both flights. BA would do well to note this trend.

On the subject of lost baggage; in the last 40-odd years my bags have been lost on 4 occasions. BA were responsible for 3 of those (the other was a US LCA).

Smokie:

I am not sure if my average BA breakfast was kosher or not but I can say that the most recognisable bit was the strip of bacon!