I was flying back from Barcelona last Sunday with Vueling to Edinburgh and noticed a BA flight to Glasgow departing at 1035 local time. The passengers boarding all seemed to be holidaymakers from the Glasgow area from their appearance and accents respectively.

There was a BA 319 or 320 parked on a remote stand, and they were boarding a bus, however there was also a scheduled BA flight to Heathrow on the screen so I can't be sure which aircraft was for Glasgow, and indeed if it was a BA one. The Glasgow flight had a 4-figure number, sorry can't remember it.

Investigation with my BA semi-specialist Mr N Tarrant of Hampshire has drawn a blank, so I need the fuller inside knowledge of Lord Krug of The Galleries for this one.

Can Joe Business Traveller book this flight and the return, whatever way round it operates, just like Mr & Mrs Jimmy McCutcheon from a G postcode area? Is it operated as part of a package holiday? - my amateur psychology in passenger profiling certainly led to that theory - so only available if you're prepared to sit in a high street travel agent as a couple, which is a bit like marriage guidance if you ask me.

Do you get the usual BA onboard service, and can you accrue BA miles? What about hold luggage? - do the usual BA rules apply? Club Europe? Is it a BA aircraft in the first place??

How many other such flights are there operating?

I've seen holiday charters by bmi but never BA before.

Calmed down now.

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There was a 4 digit call sign A320 of BA's that flew in from Venice today. Strangely there was also one that flew in from Gatwick.

I can only assume that these are indeed chartered planes. A Saturday in August will usually see a few planes left lying idle and it makes sense in this time that they charter them out.

Qantas have, in times gone by, flown one of their early arrival B747's out to pick up cruise line customers during the day before it does the return flight that night. The plane makes money and the company doesn't incur the cost of leaving a plane at Heathrow for a day

My understanding is that you would receive the full BA service but others may know different.

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JimBannerman1

"The passengers boarding all seemed to be holidaymakers from the Glasgow area from their appearance and accents"

I would be intrigued to know how you can tell Glaswegians by their appearance?

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Tom I've added the word "respectively" to that sentence. No doubt some people would say they could though - I've certainly heard it said of Celtic fans!

Perhaps we have to accept that BA is operating a flight that we frequent customers can't access - don't like it though. I do wonder if there would have been any EC members on board. Would the cabin crew have made the usual announcement welcoming them and those from the Oneworld partners? Just not happy that BA is operating regional flights behind our back so to speak, the very flights which it has abandoned, primarily at Birmingham.

Might it be a consequence of the collapse of Globespan, which flew to BCN from the 3 main Scottish airports and BAA did say at the time that the routes would be picked up by other operators?

Mobile boarding pass?...

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Could it have been a BA Cityflyer E170 or E190 ?

They are doing charter flights from Glasgow Airport for Barrhead Travel to Palma, Majorca and Barcelona.

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Quite possibly, there was also a E170/190 parked on a remote stand but I assumed it was for a LCY departure.

Interesting to know though - wonder if they can be booked via Barrhead Travel online, I refuse to subject myself to a personal interview - and don't live anywhere near their shops anyway. Sounds rather like ex Globespan routes.

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After a bit of further research, I think it was a BA Cityflyer E190 which was the BA4532, the charter flight for Barrhead Travel.

The flights are weekly until Mid-September. I looked on their website and it didn't look like it could be booked online.

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Thanks, nice to know how the other half live.

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All Gatwick scheduled BA flights have a 4 digit callsigns and BA still fly to Venice from Gatwick (2 or 3 flights a day when we went last month)

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BA indeed operates chartered flights, they usually have a 4 digit flight number and a C attached to this. There are several Cruise charters ex LHR this summer I believe and quite possibly form other Airports too. They are crewed by specially selected Crew. I am not sure if you can book them individually but I would assume they would have to be booked through the "Charterer" of the flight. Hope this helps

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BA are still operating charters, out of T5. Easy to spot on the screens because they are normally a four digit flight number, with a 'C' attached and because they nearly always have check-in only in area 'G' of LHR T5.

Yesterday (Sunday 5th Sept), there was one to Nice, and even at the peak of busy season in December 2009, there was a charter to Kittilä and Kuusamo (Finnish Lapland).

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Perhaps they wore Rangers shirts, hats and knickers and just returned from a friendly game with Barcelona?!?

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I looked online as well and, funny enough, Barrhead Travel offers flights to Barcelona, Catalonia and Barcelona, Venezuela. If this is true, you better be careful when you book your flight. You could end up in the wrong country...

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Good refuelling stop for the E190 in Tenerife on the way though...

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Hi Jim/All,

The flight in question would have been one of our Barrhead Travel chartered flights between Glasgow and Barcelona operated on a British Airways aircraft. This route has now finished for the season but was distributed exclusively by ourselves here at Barrhead. We will be operating more routes on a similar basis in Summer 2011.

Hope this is helpful.

Paul Kelly, Barrhead Travel.

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BA Mainline charters operated from LHR or LGW are as previously posted operated with flight numbers that range from BA9116C to BA9149C.

This Summer BA have been operating charter flights from LHR to Venice and Cagliari. The flights operate in the standard 2 class CE/ET configuration and offer the same onboard service, baggage allowance and CE lounge access as you would receive if you were onboard a scheduled European service from LHR or LGW.

During Summer 10 BA operated charter flights for the following companies:

Sartadur Holidays - Heathrow T5- Caglairi (CAG)

BA9216C/BA9217C - Weekly, Saturday flights operated from May until end of September. Flights were mostly operated by a 132 seater A319. However this was upgraded during peak travel times to a 162 seater A320.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) - Heathrow T5 - Venice

BA9218C/BA9219C - Weekly Saturday service. Operated 15 May - 02 Oct 10. Flights were mostly operated by a 132 seater A319. However this was upgraded during peak travel times to a 162 seater A320.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/14/32591/ncl-charters-ba-jet-for-norwegian-gem-cruises-from-venice.html

BA9220C/BA9221C - Flights operated on specific dates to provide additonal capacity for Norwegian Cruise Line customers to VCE. Operated by a 252 seater 767 aircraft. The flight operated on following dates:

1st & 17th May, 10th & 22nd June, 6th July, 9th & 21st August, 2nd, 13th, 14th, 25th & 26th September 7th October

As yet I am unable to find any information to whether BA will be operating any charter flights from LHR or LGW during W10/11

This week Sardatur Holidays announced that BA will be operating charter services next summer on there behalf.They are:

Heathrow - Cagliari

Flights will operate as this summer once weekly on a Saturday from 14th May 2011- 01 Oct 2011

BA9216C LHR 08:40 CAG 12:25

BA9217C CAG13:15 LHR 14:50

Heathrow to Olbia

BA will operate a weekly, Saturday service from 21st May - 24th Sep 2011.

BA9222C LHR 09:10 OLB 12:40

BA9223C OLB14:35 LHR 16:05

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