BA have cancelled a number of flight routes for winter 2009/2010 including Malta which I had booked. Have just phoned for a full refund!

Pippa

BA cuts Gatwick winter short haul network

British Airways is trimming its short haul network from Gatwick for the coming winter.

Services to Alicante, Palma, Malta, Madrid, Barcelona and Krakow will be dropped and the airline will only fly to Varna in Bulgaria from Gatwick during the summer.

Pisa, Malaga and Gibraltar services will move from Gatwick to Heathrow for winter 2009.

BA will continue to fly from Heathrow to Madrid and Barcelona.

The number of flights from Heathrow to Barcelona in increasing from five to seven a day and Prague from three to four a day.

The winter schedule sees frequency between Gatwick and Bermuda rise from five to six flights a week; Barbados from nine to ten a week and St Lucia and Port of Spain from three to five a week.

These are in addition to the previously announced new winter routes from Heathrow to Las Vegas, Gatwick to Montego Bay in Jamaica; Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic; Male in the Maldives; Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and Innsbruck in Austria.

BA has been facing increased European route competition from Gatwick with the arrival of low cost routes by Aer Lingus this year and estbalished services by Easyjet.

Head of UK and Ireland sales Richard Tams said: "We have some exciting new routes in our winter schedule and extra services to popular sun spots like the Caribbean."

With permission from Travelmole

I think this is a real blow. Not all of us want to travel to far off climes during the winter and not all of us like to travel 'no frills' with Easyjet.

I now have to look at either Easyjet (who I hate travelling with) or Air Malta who return fairly early in the morning.

I have a hotel booked and may lose the deposit on that if I cancel.

I think BA have made a big mistake here.

Pippa

i need to book an internal flight from newcastle to heathrow in nov,can anyone please tell me how much are you allowed in your suitcase and is it 1 piece of carry on luggage,at what kilo ,thanks,oh forgot the flight is with ba!

les127,

Checked-in luggage allowances are on BA's website, hand luggage here.

Darren

Regarding BA change of some operations to Heathrow from Gatwick,

It appears quite clear that BA does not have a particular long term commitment to Gatwick especially now if they are met by strong competition - ie EasyJet from that airfield. They have been however decreasing services from Gatwick on a fairly regular, yet spread out basis for a number of years. They therefore quickly retreat to the safe haven of Heathrow.

Things are changing - and short to early medium flights in my opinion from the "flag carrier" are also likely to go at their "premium base airport" as slots become more and scarce (at Heathrow) and the "need" to operate aircraft with larger capacity (on routes that can be filled by such sized aircraft) provide greater revenue.

Nivsy

BA accelerates capacity cuts

British Airways is cutting capacity further following traffic levels dropping by almost four per cent last month.

Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres in June, fell by 3.8% resulting in a passenger load factor decline of 1.8 points versus last year, to 79.6%.

There was a 14.9% drop in premium traffic and a 1.3% fall in economy.

The airline's available capacity for this summer will be down by 3.5% against a planned drop of 2.5%.

For the winter, capacity will be reduced by 5% instead of the 4% originally planned.

Three remaining Boeing 757s will be grounded next summer and a further three 747-400s in winter 2010.

The delivery schedule for the first six Airbus A380 mega jumbos has been extended by an average of five months with the first delivery still due in 2012.

The schedule for the remaining six A380s has been extended by an average of two years with the final aircraft arriving in 2016, BA said.

Forecast capital expenditure has been reduced from £725 million to £580 million for 2009/10 and is likely to remain at that level in 2010/11.

"Market conditions continue to be very challenging with trading at levels well below last year," the airline said.

"However, on an underlying basis, both premium and non-premium volumes and seat factors have now been stable for more than three months."

With permission from Travelmole

Hello,

I'm trying to find out what type of plane I was on when I went to New York via BA from Heathrow; I have a few details to go off...

It was big!
4 Engines
Small upstairs part I believe
I left March 20th or 21st can't remember exactly last year.

Maybe a 747-400?

Thanks,
David

It would be 747 (Jumbo) 400.

Thanks for prompt reply!!

David

We are thinking of flying with B A to mumbai has any one done this route can you give me some info what they are like..Whats the seating like (width) is it better than monarch?Also is it T 5 from Heathrow...Oh what baggage allowance do you get with B A...Thanx ...I forgot to mention its flight No..BA139.

sleep_r_us,

BA139 is operated by a Boeing 747-400. Seat pitch is marginally bigger than Monarchs at 31" and seat width roughtly the same. You'll find a seating plan on Seat Guru and baggage information on BA's website.

Darren

£30 off a BA long haul flight HERE

luci

Thanx to Dazbo and Luci for your help.

Hi

Does anyone know what aircraft is used to fly to Kingston from Gatwick? I have never flown with BA before (normally Thomas Cook and Thomson) and I am not sure what the planes are like.

The flights we are looking at are BA2263 leaving on the 17th Feb 2009 and BA2262 departing from Kingston on the 26th Feb 2009.

Thanks

T.

tm319,

LGW-KIN-LGW (BA2263/2) are operated by a Boeing 777-236/ER. You'll find seating and other inflight information on BA's website.

Darren

Than you Darren for your speedy reply!

British Airways scraps short-haul meals

There is no such thing as a free lunch at 35,000 feet, British Airways announced today, as the loss-making carrier scrapped meals on short-haul flights.

From Monday passengers on flights lasting less than two-and-a-half hours will not receive a meal after 10am and will not have the option to buy food. Instead of a complimentary sandwich, they will be offered free drinks and mini-pretzels in a move that is expected to save the airline £22m. Passengers will still receive a free breakfast on morning flights, the airline said.

Click here for full story

With permission from The Guardian

And so Willy Walshes "enhancements" continue!

From 7th October 2009 for tickets booked and travelled from that date, BA are REDUCING the baggage allowance in Economy from 2 x 23KG each to ONE x 23Kg per person

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/new-baggage-policy/public/en_gb