The fast track at Gatwick is labelled Premium Lane , it opens at 05.30 , it's nothing too special just enclosed , and in my experience is not much quicker than the normal lanes , the BA lounge opens at 5.15 , find a comfy seat and ask one of the staff for champagne or Buck's Fizz , otherwise help yourself to anything you want .

Last year I booked a flight back from Alicante for my sister she was booked in euro traveller and I needed to add an extra suitcase , it offered me the same £79 upgrade to CE which included 2 hold cases so it was very good value , I was on holiday at the time and did her online checkin and was then having an email conversation with her while she was enjoying herself to all the food and drink in the lounge , I found out later she was sat next to Davina McCall on the plane .

Thank you, both! This is all sounding rather good

It's not something I'd consider usually, but this is a trip to which I'm treating my mum and sister and an upgrade would make it that little bit special.

A question about specific seat numbers in CE. Do all window seats line up exactly with a window? Or would you have to lean right forwards/back in order to see out of the window from some seats? Daft question, maybe, but I love to be able to sit back and look out If I go for the upgrade, it'll be me in a window seat, my sister next to me in the aisle seat, then my mum in the seat across the aisle.

Does anyone know why BA2639 was an hour late leaving Alicante on Saturday night please? Just interested really. Also the Captain said he was struggling to find clean (clear?) air wondered what that means, he said he was checking with others but they were struggling as well ?

It was a bit bumpy maybe that was what he was apologising for.

Must say well done to them though as we were barely late into Gatwick so there must be some slack in the timings and they still managed to do a couple of the 'free' drink runs although they aren't allowed to do hot drinks only the double vodkas etc - but no great hardship there.

Doe

On the 737 in club europe you tend to have two windows to look out off (front rows can actually be three)...so yes they align pretty well. In general the first 5 rows are club although depending on booking it can be the first four or back to row nine.

Nivsy

Doe, Most likely due to the late running of the aircraft in bound Alicante. Could be various reasons for a hold up, air traffic delays, slot control, head winds, ground handling issues. Clear/clean air is exactly that. On all occassions an where possible to ensure a smooth cruise altitude changes will be requested from the flight deck or a re-route to make sure it is not too bumpy for the paying public. This is not always possible due to conflicting traffic and radar control from air traffic along the route.

nivsy wrote:

On the 737 in club europe you tend to have two windows to look out off (front rows can actually be three)...so yes they align pretty well. In general the first 5 rows are club although depending on booking it can be the first four or back to row nine.

Nivsy

I've done it! Upgraded all three of us to Club Europe!

good for you.....let us know how it goes for you.

Will do

nivsy wrote:

Doe, Most likely due to the late running of the aircraft in bound Alicante. Could be various reasons for a hold up, air traffic delays, slot control, head winds, ground handling issues. Clear/clean air is exactly that. On all occassions an where possible to ensure a smooth cruise altitude changes will be requested from the flight deck or a re-route to make sure it is not too bumpy for the paying public. This is not always possible due to conflicting traffic and radar control from air traffic along the route.

Thanks Nivsy, he did say he was trying to find different altitudes but no luck.
It was a great flight regardless, excellent cabin crew

Doe

BA have introduced hand baggae fares only from Heathrow for selected domestic and european destinations.

While this is favourable for some it is not for others as it now introdces some confusion over passport checks and ID requirements prior to boarding gate. It appears that even if you have checked in on line and printed boarding card, you need to be re-issued with Boarding Card either at at a BA check in area at T5 or via the card issuing machines.

Personally I now envisage the Easyjet sceanario of everyone trying to take as much baggae as possible on board and the overhead lockers (bad enough as they are) will now be more than over filled and that boarding will take longer.

I guess BA need to compete with the low cost airlines although now I wonder if BA should just be classed as "nearly low cost"...whatever low cost means!!

Sounds like a race to the bottom

Maybe it is because BA never come up as competitive on all the screen scrapers, as they always included baggage etc in their price. Whereas anyone who was savvy and looked at the BA price and then compared it with easy jet, plus hold baggage, plus snack would have often found BA cheaper anyway.

That's the trouble with computer systems, they often don't give the full picture and people are obsessed with the bottom line, without fully reckoning what that bottom line includes.

It's interesting trying to work out exactly who the new HBO fares are aimed at , from sep 24 LHR are launching 9 short haul destinations with this fare and if successful it will be rolled out further , with destinations like Amsterdam ,Barcelona , Stockholm , Paris , Rome , Rotterdam and Glasgow and Edinburgh it seems they have the business traveller in mind , but those destinations also appeal to leisure travellers .
It seems BA are in a bullish mood also launching semi flex fares too , perhaps trying to grab back the business travellers who use easyjet and a lot do ( the main reason why allocated seating was introduced ) BA now offer the chance to switch to an earlier flight on the day for no charge which easyjet do and is attractive to business travellers who finish meeting early .
Not forgetting trying to lure leisure travellers with an attractive frequent flyer program which is what I find most desirable especially if you want to fly on one of the new additions to the fleet . Also the introduction of lifetime tier points for those in the BAEC , ok lifetime gold is beyond the reach of the vast majority unless I live until I am 123 , but the introduction of it gives scope to offer other enhancements for loyalty .

To me they now seem to be offering something for everyone , the everyday users , the leisure travellers , the cheap weekend away in a European capital , the long haul dream destination , different levels of travel depending on what you want or can afford , isn't all that something that people would want from a company with British in its name

To be honest it is not really what I want. Also if BA were really British then I would suggest that they would operate far more destinations from the regions.. infact they could easily be renamed London Airways right now. Plus, If I want to fly with a LCC then I would choose to do so. Now I am confused by BA and hand baggage only fares particularly from Heathrow, and have already noticed that a price between LHR-GLA shoing last week as an inclusive baggage fare is now excluding baggage and the baggage price is ten pounds more expensive....albeit i recognise that a week has passed since that initial check. I could live with Gatwick and the baggage only fare as traditionally it is mostly leisure travellers thru that airport including BA flights. Even on many occassion the BA Buisness Class fare reflects a cheaper rate than LHR and obviously it is a good mileage run airport to maintain status.

I am keeping an eye on the BA forum elsewhere to see if the frequent flyers are seeing any increase in fares, rather than a decrease as we have been lead to believe.
( its a pity we only have one thread for BA here, rather than a sub forum as any debate here can get lost with other BA queries)
As for regional hubs we are lucky in that we still have BA from ABZ and also the lounge but it still limits options as we have flown BA through other of their regional airports in the past.

ABZ-LHR will always be safe. It is a big revenue route with many oil related companies willing to pay hndreds of pounds one way for last minute bookings.

Yes as a BA FF i will be watching very carefully how this develops. They have already needed to backtrack on the re checking in issue at T5 when on hand baggage and the showing of passports prior to gate...thankfully!

Fiona wrote:

I am keeping an eye on the BA forum elsewhere to see if the frequent flyers are seeing any increase in fares, rather than a decrease as we have been lead to believe.
( its a pity we only have one thread for BA here, rather than a sub forum as any debate here can get lost with other BA queries)
As for regional hubs we are lucky in that we still have BA from ABZ and also the lounge but it still limits options as we have flown BA through other of their regional airports in the past.

I'm not convinced that what is being reported as decreased fares will be sustained I will also be interested to see what FF's report over the next six months. I still can't get my head round the re-checking of boarding passes seems a retrograde step.

I didn't realise that the rechecking of passwords had been overturned. Just had been reading about the carry on yesterday

Fiona wrote:

I am keeping an eye on the BA forum elsewhere to see if the frequent flyers are seeing any increase in fares, rather than a decrease as we have been lead to believe.
( its a pity we only have one thread for BA here, rather than a sub forum as any debate here can get lost with other BA queries)
.

I've usually looked elsewhere for BA related info , it's a hotly discussed issue from what I've read must admit I'm shocked to hear its sometimes called London Airways Does seem to attracting a bit more discussion more recently on here though .

We could always discuss my upcoming First Class return flight to Dubai for £506

Andy,

Both sectors in F at that price without Avios or are you using upgrades here?

BC (upper deck) for us to SFO and LAS back to LHR using Avios at the end of next month

Nivsy