British Airways - Gatwick to New York

[bealine]

At a rcent Staff Forum, Rod Eddington was asked if he may return a New York service to Gatwick, as there was demand from local businesses and Continental are currently have the monopoly with their Newark service. The question has been raised before that, if we don't want to duplicate Heathrow's routes, perhaps the LHR-EWR (Newark) service could be transferred to LGW.

(New York pax please note, with the high speed "Rapid Transit" service between Newark and New York's Penn Station, Newark is now as convenient for Manhattan as JFK!)

Well, what do you think, PPRUNE pax? (For these purposes, the term "Regular" pax means more than 2 journeys per year)

How many PPrune pax (a) Regular pax who prefer BA but currently use CO on the route
(b) Regular pax who prefer BA LGW but currently travel to LHR for BA LHR-JFK or LHR-EWR journeys
(c) Occasional pax who would prefer to use BA LGW.
(d) Pax who would prefer to use LGW, but would still use LHR if the Gatwick service flew to Newark.

Thanks friends, I hope R.E. may view your replies!

(this post also appears at www.flyertalk.com)


:ok:

[PAXboy]

I only use LGW under duress, due to distance not anything else, I hasten to add dear Bealine!! ;)

But a comment on the EWR rapid transit link. Any user of LGW or STN will find it familiar territory. Penn St works well and I used the link twice in March, I can reccomend it highly.

A Memory Moment ... my first flight to the US was VS from LGW to EWR. That was a choice by reccomendation and I have stayed with VS ever since, very pleased when they got into LHR, from where I am happy to take either NYC destination.

[Egg Mayo]

Thought I'd wade into this one being a bit of a NYC route user.

a) Had a good friend travel CO from LGW and thought they were pretty awful. I think what upset him was the 50p nominal charge for the headset! Well something along those lines, terribly infra dig.

b) c) Restoring the LGW-JFK route might avoid the 'bun fight' at Terminal 4 when departing our green and pleasant land.

d) Going to Newark has got to be better than 'running the gaunlet' in getting to and from JFK. Had the odd bad public transportation nightmare journey in this respect. Heard the new transit link from EWR is pretty good. No changes, etc?

I think half the problem is, if I recall correctly, is that some of the flights from LHR departed slightly earlier than the Gatwick one.
This gave more time at the arrival destination and more flexibility to the infamous Business Traveller.

Hope this helps.

[brockenspectre]

bealine I am not a regular flier to NY (although I zoom off to FL every chance I get), so my vote is for (c).

LGW long-stay carpark is only 50mins from home (subject to traffic) so BA from LGW is always my first choice...

As I am now one of the lowly pax who pays for her own fares (alas, the days of paid for Biz travel are prolly over!) I am now constrained by price but thus far BA to TPA has been best value! Not sure 'bout my next trip though as the ExecClub website still has cheapest fares running higher than Airtours Premium Cabin to SFB (grey leather seats and biz-class legroom, service almost as good as BA World Traveller).

:D

[mainfrog2]

Flippin' ek it doesn't say much for Airtours Premium Cabin with that comparison brokenspectre, are you sure?;)

[brockenspectre]

mainfrog2 - you bet I am sure! When I worked as a travel agent (during mom's illness) I learned that all tour operators/charter airlines offer a flight only service to all destinations and got myself an Airtours Premium Cabin to FL for a lot less than the then BA World Traveller to TPA/MCO. The flight was fine .. delayed as always .. and the space available in the Premium Cabin was good (you gotta check that it is an Airbus to get a separate "biz-style" cabin on the route cos otherwise the premium seats are just scattered throughout the regular cabin). When I am planning my FL trips I therefore check Virgin, BA, United, AA, Continental, Airtours and then any other charters who will make a price for a flight only ... THEN I decide! usually based on price these days alas ..

My last two trips to FL, in Dec 2002 and Feb 2003, were with BA to TPA and the fare was £298 INCLUDING taxes. At the time I wrote my first reply above the BA WT fare was running about £180 more than the Airtours Premium. I am, of course, keeping an eye on the BA economy fares and as soon as they come down I will be booking (only decision will be do I try for Sep and a possible Atlantis launch OR do I book for Thanksgiving - when I have a standing invite to see friend!)...

btw bealine I really DO prefer BA to Airtours!! :D

[MarkD]

bealine

Since CX dropped ORK-LGW post 9/11 we are stuck with LHR :D