Much as I have always used to enjoy flying on BA in the past, I can't say that these new routes will tempt me back to using them especially destinations within Europe. It just emphasises that calling themselves BRITISH Airways is a bit of misnomer these days and that the reality is that they should really be called ENGLISH or even LONDON Airways because they offer so few flights that serve those of us who live outside of the southeast of England. The last time I used them was to fly from Edinburgh to Heathrow for a connecting flight to Madrid and the flight was so delayed and Heathrow so chaotic that I very nearly didn't make the Madrid flight and they managed to lose my suitcase on the return flight from Heathrow!

SM

I don't really notice the difference these days. We still fly from Aberdeen to Heathrow, as we did before( if the price is right). And the bonuses are, check for second flight as soon as the first one opens up. And of course it means more tier points.

It might be different if I lived close by an airport served by BA but I have a minimum 90mins journey time to either Edinburgh or Aberdeen. So given that I can fly direct to nearly all the new European destinations direct from either Edinburgh or Aberdeen in the first place I don't see the point in flying from either of them down to either Gatwick or Heathrow to make a connecting flight I would prefer the convenience of flying direct over loyalty points any day but each to their own.

SM

You mean to say you can earn status quicker than me ! This is unfair !

Quite a few new routes there from LGW , some of them do appeal to me for summer breaks , I do now like flying from LHR , it's about an hour drive away with LGW about 30 mins .
I think this is really to compete with Easyjet ( in a very small way admittedly ) BA can earn quite a bit from leisure travellers from LGW , for too long they've allowed EJ to become extremely dominant , the flights I've been on have been very full and with families too , it's a small step anyway .

SMa , you could even argue that they could just be Heathrow Airways , although they are now committing a bit more at LGW , I suppose from a business point of view they offer more where the population is , 10 million live inside the M25 and 5 million in the whole of Scotland approx , a strong case could be made for Manchester too , that would have a strong catchment area .
I imagine working from a hub they can offer more direct flights from there with domestic flights feeding in than offering a bitty and less choice direct service from other UK airports . I still think that's offering the British people a service , although I agree with your point with it being better for some than others .

Doesn't Ibiza appeal to you then , One strange fact is that BA will fly to Ibiza from LHR, LGW , LCY and EDI , not sure if any other European destination is served from 4 airports in the UK by BA ????

I do price my flights first. Last european city we went to was Amsterdam so obviously we went with klm. As I use my miles for long haul redemptions every year I would choose BA if pricrs were similar.
Anyway back on topic, I did read today that they are also flyimg to fuerteventura after a break of ten years

I flew with them there just over a week ago !! A 20 min flight from Lanzarote for a re fuel , No tier points though

Nah, you're right - Ibiza doesn't appeal but if it did I could fly direct from up here. As I could to Sardinia, Rhodes and Crete as well and which are islands which appeal to me much more.

I fully accept that the market determines where airlines choose to fly from but for destinations where I can fly direct to from an airport closer to home I simply don't see the point of adding time to my journey by getting a connecting flight to a London hub. It takes me a minimum 90 mins to get to an airport from which I can fly to Gatwick or Heathrow so why not fly direct from there when I can rather then going via London?

I moan about it but accept that I have to travel south for flights to eg Holguin but where destinations are served by direct flights from Scotland, and especially from Aberdeen or Edinburgh, it would be my my preference to use them rather than get a connecting flight or spend 6 or 7hrs on a train to get down to London. Now if some of these new destinations were based on flights from London City then it might be a different matter because I can get there direct from my nearest local airport.

SM

still takes some time time though does it not to get either from Aberdeen or Edinburgh? Both are certainly quite far apart. Ofcourse BA do not serve well from Scotland which is a shame however frankly the demand is not there within the business model that BA adopt. Quite simply they cannot compete with easyjet on holiday type destinations and BA dropped scottish european flights which mostly routedvia Birmingham or Manchester some years ago when Birmingham and Manchester lost europeanflights.

There isn't a great deal of direct flights from Aberdeen to places I want to go to. On the whole it is long haul that we go on. Have been to Madrid and Barcelona. Can't for the life of me remember who we took to go to Berlin.And we flew direct to Amsterdam. But I would be tempted to go back to one of the Greek islands- if the price was right.
We used to head down in the car to Glasgow but then you have to pay to park your car and quite often the flights came home in the middle of the night when you really can't be bothered with a drive. We have flown years ago direct to mainly Greece but the surcharge for flying from Aberdeen was a bit of a joke.

. still takes some time time though does it not to get either from Aberdeen or Edinburgh? Both are certainly quite far apart

I'm not sure that I have understood your point Nivsy. Yes, they are quite far apart and I live approximately halfway between them. It takes me long enough to get to one or other of them in the first place and so see no point in flying via London from any of them to destinations that I can fly direct to from one or other of them. It doesn't take me that much longer to get to Glasgow from so but even that is a better and quicker option than getting a connecting flight to Heathrow or Gatwick if there is a direct flight available,

SM