British Airways

[LBA787]

The loads are starting to look healthier which is good news.

Will this be the 1st 100 load?

I believe so!!

Very encouraging growth on the route over the last week or so. :s_thumbsup

 

[markietg]

Boxing Day should be a busy day anyway as there are no trains operating today from Leeds to London.

 

[White Heather]

I imagine that BA expected to get some half decent loads over the Christmas period and that is why they chose to launch the route and what would otherwise seem to be the worst possible time of year to do so, just as the business travellers stop going abroad for their meetings etc. It is great to see some decent loads and lets hope it continues. My sister flew in on the Saturday afternoon arrival and said the aircraft was pretty full, although she did say that the flight prior to hers had been cancelled?

 

[planespotter1333]

Some pics of British Airways A320 ( G-MIDX ) Taken from Spen lane,West Park -

 

[planespotter1333]

Sorry For the Blur on my Pics of the BA im a beginer.

 

[White Heather]

Hi planespotter 1333, thanks for posting them and for confirming it was an A320. I was outside washing my car and saw it land but it was a silhouette from where I am so I was thinking it was an A320 but not totally certain without seeing it properly. As for your photos, considering they were taken from West Park they are pretty good and certainly welcome!

 

[ridgeback]

White Heather there was a canx on the 1346/7 about 4 days ago due to a/c unserviceability. Loads were merged onto the 1342/3. The Northbound that yr sis was on was subsequently pretty full.

 

[stars&sids]

Some pics of British Airways A320 ( G-MIDX ) Taken from Spen lane,West Park -

Nice pics, she's looking a bit different to when I flew on her twice in September, still in bmi star alliance livery then, & operating for Lufthansa, MAN to Frankfurt.

 

[ridgeback]

Well Happy New Year all.

Some pretty dismal loads over the Christmas-New Year week With the odd exception.

Everyone goes back to work tomorrow and I think the route now starts its proving period in earnest.

Good points are that the operation seems robust and that the word is firmly out there so lets see.

The high watermark for the festive period was the 1341/29 which had 95 pax inc 72 with oncarriage, that is what we need to see regularly topped up with business travellers.

One problem is that even sending 319's puts a lot of capacity on the route. 144 is a lot of seats, there are 1152 seats a day to sell, a heck of a lot. i think the KLM F70's have 80 (?) If BA had put 80 seat a/c on this route I think the load factors would be looking quite favourable! Still MAN/NCL regularly get, and fill 320's so we'll have to see.

Here's hoping, I remain to be convinced but am eternally hopeful

 

[markietg]

I flew down to LHR yesterday on the 15.55 Just 13 pax onboard. Nice service though....3 vodka and lemonades later I was in LHR.

 

[lbaspotter]

Well with the National Train fares going up yet again today I wonder if it might have an effect on the Leeds – Heathrow route with passengers maybe looking to switch from using the train to using the plane option now we have it available again.

Well I’ve just done a price check on both the East Coast Trains and British Airways websites and searched for the lowest fares going southbound at 09:00 on the morning of Monday, January 21st 2013 and coming back Northbound at 20:00 on the evening of Friday, January 25th 2013 and here how they fair.

East Coast trains = £150 (Open return) - Takes 2 hours 15 mins.
British Airways = £109.22p (economy lowest price) - Takes 1 hour or less.

I've also just checked the options for using either the National Express Coach service or the Megabus service as well using the same dates and times as above.

National Express Coaches = £17 – Takes 4 hours 10 mins
Megabus = £16.50p – Takes 4 hours 15 mins.

So looking at the above examples the quickest and cheapest option is by opting to using the British Airways flights from Leeds to Heathrow. The longest and cheapest option is to take either the Bus or Coach services while the East Coast Train service is in-between journey time but more expensive price wise.
Now before anyone jumps on my back I know that prices can change and that the train option doses have cheaper fares available if you can travel at off-peak times which could make it a whole lot cheaper option than using the rival British Airways flights. But As we also know that traveling off peak might not be an option for some people...

 

[747hold]

That's not really a fair comparison though is it?

When you go with BA, you pick your flight and time
You have compared an open return for the train which is a lot more expensive

You can actually book for the end of February at peak times on the train, for so much less if you specify the time of the train

It's £30.50 one way to London on the train, first thing in the morning
It's then £22.60 to return again at peak time
So it's a lot cheaper if
1: you book in advance (which you would be doing with BA Anyway)
2: you specify the time of train (which you would be specifying the flight time with BA)

You can even go First Class for £113.90 return if you did them as single fares (£69.50 out, £44.40 back)

 

[lbaspotter]

Well i can't disagree with what you say 747hold, I was just using the above dates and timings as an Example. Like I did mention at the end of me last post the train can still work out to be the cheaper option if its booked in advance or if you travelling at off-peak or like you’ve proven above....

But I would just like to point out as it has been said on here before that a lot of Business folk end up doing last minute bookings due to not knowing there travelling needs until they need to go. So I suppose that both options can be as expensive or as cheap. As for myself i know it would be the plane every time!

 

[747hold]

That's a fair point
I'm not having a go at the route, I hope it does well
Like you say business travellers, would probably prefer to travel by air
I just hope there's enough of them who decide to use it

A lot of negative comments on other forums about this route

 

[LBA787]

A lot of negative comments on other forums about this route

These people seriously need to get a grip. All they want is for the ex bmi slots to be used for long haul. BA just don't have enough equipment, a/c orders or even space at LHR to support the kind of monumental expansion they're all talking about! Before people post most of the 788's and A388's on order are to replace older a/c leaving the fleet. When bmi was acquired they got hold of a fleet of short haul A320 family a/c and your not going to fly them to Guangzhou are you!

The irony of it all is that the very long thin routes they are saying BA should be flying to require the european and uk shuttle feed to make them work more than any others on their network simple as that.

Time and patience will reward BA....

:crazy:

 

[cmj]

What other forums are they?

I notice (from the BA banner ads on this page!) that the London-LBA price is now "from £85 return" - so they have dropped the prices a bit - think it started at £110 return.

 

[lbaspotter]

What other forums are they?

I notice (from the BA banner ads on this page!) that the London-LBA price is now "from £85 return" - so they have dropped the prices a bit - think it started at £110 return.

At a guess the recent price drop on flights from Leeds to Heathrow maybe due to British Airways currently having a big January "World on Sale" offer at the moment!

Offer is on all British Airways flights and holidays if booked by January 22nd see link for full details http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flights-sale/public/en_gb

 

[Bigman]

I was on my way into work this morning and saw the BA flight coming in and it gave me a warm feeling of satisfaction, and pride that we have got our ‘jewel in the crown back’. What I don’t get is why has there been so much bickering about it on this thread. Moaning about timings...loadings...slot retainers....and all the other comments.

I have heard stories in the past of BA 747’s going across the pond with 1 passenger on. I was on a flight a few years ago from Chicago to Atlanta (ie 1st and 2nd busiest airports in the world and there were 23 people on a 170 seat MD83. Poor loads do happen!!

I think we should all give it a break and see where we are with it in 6 months time.

 

[Aviador]

So true Bigman and in any case, what business is an instant success without any need to work hard to make it a success.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Have to say I have booked BA flights ex Leeds using heathrow as the hub into Europe.
Whilst it incurrs a 3 hour wait at HR, saves me doing a journey across the pennines or down the motorway all,costing time and money for fuel and parking.
Costing very little more then the direct low cost airline charge (although current B A sale price)
Assume can forward hold luggage forward to destination from Leeds, you could do 30 years ago, hope not gone backwards. Will be great to use T5 at HR, plenty of time to cross from T1.