As far as I know VS don't provide a car from the terminal to the aircraft for all their UC passengers do they?

Looks like there will be a lot of whistling going on , £500 per pax on a limo :ugh:

A couple of hundred K for dedicated busses wouldn't even come close to covering all the flights BA serve from LHR let alone the rest of the network.

£200k for a dedicated security channel, at which airports? That again wouldn't even touch the sides on the way down.

If VS are paying £500 per pax on transport to the aircraft then I am amazed that they're making a profit - are they making money though, who knows....

The BAA provide security. Not BA.

I agree, go whistle.

I think WW is trying to do that.

Fargoo and L337

Let me see if I can help you:
VS Limo home to airport £125
Airport to Hotel to airport £125
Hotel to airport £125
Airport to Hotel £125

They don't need to. Unlike BA, they bring the aircraft to the gate.

Re the busses, yes I think it would...again, it's only needed at Heathrow. Everywhere else manages to bring the aircraft to the gate.
Re the security, I am suggesting a similar operation to VS where the service is at check-in T3 and it is paid for by VS. The equipment is there already so it is staff costs per annum.

As neither of you seem to have flown with VS, you can check all these services on Virgin's website.

If he's paid £9k for a flight which you can get for £750 down the back he should be taken to the plane on a sedan chair carried by the four 747 captains who are highest on the BA seniority list. If that's what floats his boat :)

At T5 we have some remote stands, but the vast majority of arrivals and departures are onto a pier.

Capot : Thank you for posting that information. It is of course a common misconception that agoraphobia is fear of open spaces. That does not apply to me, nor does fear of confined spaces, it is only fear of being surrounded by large numbers of people. I find it difficult to walk into a crowded room, even if it´s full of people I know (mind you with some of the people I know ....!)

And as a matter of interest, it is often mis-spelt as agraphobia, which is a fear of sexual molestation

L337 I'm sure they are but the times that they AREN'T are the times it's noticed - that's the business.

I arrived at T5 last August from JNB, so we were on 27L and able to roll off directly into the T5 area. As with all JNB flights, we arrived in the 06:00 /0 07:00 hour and the place was quiet. We had to be bussed.

Yes, I realise that the a/c might not be turning immediately and so they parked on a remote where it could wait until later in the day. In that case, park at a proper gate and then tow the machine back to the remote gate. Cost money? Oohhh shocking. For the record, the flight was great. Boarded on time (through some old fangled device called a jet-way that they still use in South Africa) and the cabin service was very good indeed. I was in WT+ and fed up with having to go through the old bussing routine after a 10.5hr flight.

Incidentally, the only reason I travelled on BA? I had enough FFMs to spare. Such a pity to see a good company sliding down but, as I have said before, ALL old companies do this and it is inevitable and unstoppable. Ask Woollies and General Motors and all the rest.

Simple and effective, no idea why it isn't done :ugh:

Not sure I understand , you were talking about seperate transport from aircraft to terminal yet your costings are based on a limo from your home direct to the airport and then to a hotel and back again.

I assume also you haven't travelled much, there are lots of airports and carriers that still bus from remote stands other than Heathrow and BA.

I think the points you made in your first post on this thread were extremely valid though. If you ever start an airline with a limo service as above for all your prem pax then count me in as a customer :ok:

No, it's not simple and it certainly wouldn't be effective.

You've got a whole wave of Longhaul Flights arriving into T5 from around 0500 onwards. They've got to be unloaded, turned around ( cleaning/catering/engineering, etc) and then loaded for the next departure, the whole process taking the best part of a couple of hours... and that's with the aircraft remaining static. If you insisted on also towing off of and back onto "proper" gates you'd add at least another hour to the process, and you have the extra costs of tugs and towing crews and in addition the extra ground congestion caused by dragging a fleet of 744s and 777's around Heathrow.

I know that off Pier stands can be a right PITA. I really don't enjoy apologising for the umpteenth time when there are no busses especially when we've spent all night trying, and succeding, in engineering an on-time arrival ....I would also agree with the premise that our Premium passengers are entitled ( as in "paid for") to expeditious passage to T5A. Then again, to be fair to BA, there are plenty of other airlines and airports that also use off pier stands....and I've never ever heard anyone complain about the off pier stands used by BA and Virgin in the Carribean - must be something to do with the weather .

You really are stretching a point. I think you need to compare like with like. Of course it's expected that downline there are going to be times when the facilities are not available but T5 is the home of BA. It is supposed to be a flagship terminal for a flagship airline.



Well, give Virgin a call then.

Unfortunately Virgin don't yet offer that service for all of their premium passengers. Maybe one day....

strake
 

Fair point, my not so subtle attempt at humour failed. Rest of the post stands, including my comment about the transport of Premium passengers. There will be less "bussing" once T5C opens - but it won't end completely.

(Oh, the other PITA is the fact that some of the existing stands on T5B are off-pier...go figure)

Well, now I am confused. As far as I know (having flown with VS for the last 6 years) all full-fare UC passengers receive this service.

Expectation
 

I don't think it matters whether you fly F,J,C,W or Y: what matters is the expectation of service the airline, it is irrelevant what they call themselves, generates by their advertising ( mere puff excluded) and more particularly these days their website.

If West London Airways promise you " an experience" in C or F you have every right to expect them to deliver: if South London Airways adds some value to their product e.g. limo service you may elect to use your hard earned cash to pay for their product over the former.

If you pay £2 for North London Airways loco flight and add £X for speedy boarding you have the expectation that you will get what you pay for.

The problem all airlines have is delivering that promise or expectation because so much of the ground side is contracted out.

The ground handling side is, like the aircraft you fly on, provided by the lowest bidder.

Only going on what i've seen when i've been to book with them, only the most expensive tickets in UC get the limo service. If you but the cheaper (but still full fare) UC tickets ie non-flexible then the service is not offered.

A moot point I guess but still they don't offer it to everyone.

From the horses mouth so to speak :)

Having said that, just checked out the LHR-MIA route and even the cheapest £4000 UC ticket had the ground transfer included.

Anyone know if AA, United or the others offer this or is it just Virgin?

Routing LHR/RUH/LHR

Outbound 20 March, inbound 28 March

BA fully flexible business class = £3,910.50

bmi fully flexible, with chauffeur drive included = £3,192.90

I've used both.

The BA NCW seat is better, but I slept easily on the bmi seat too.

Is NCW worth £700 more (plus the car savings?) For me, no.

Also, I preferred the bmi crew, more down to earth, but the service on BA was fine.

£700 is some difference!