[flyingcanadian]

Henkel.Trocken
I do not think that BA will be too worried by Limousines for F Pax. Virgin and EK have had it for several years, and they did not seem to be bothered by them. Why worry about LH? Also, QF in conjunction with EK are now offering Limousines for F & C Pax. Will BA be worried that a PAX will fly QF just for the Limo? BA are now offering yet another Free Upgrade one-way from C to F? Are they getting worried about their Premium cabins?

[VintageKrug]

BA tried the Black Cab transfer Any few years ago and it wasn’t popular. Another innovation done only by be a. In London cabs and other limos are so popular as to be ubiquitous.

Genuine business travellers are not swayed by eight £35 free transfer

Apologies for the spellings I am experimenting with my new voice dictation technology stop be afraid, be very afraid stop

[esselle]

VK

I live in deepest Cheshire. EK send me an E Class pick up from home, EY an XJ. If I do BA, which is increasingly rare these days, I get a limo pick up, normally an A8, but it costs me £80. And £80 when I come home.

The EK and EY lounges at MAN offer waiter service dining. When I fly in EK F to Singapore week after next, I will get something along the lines of a Corton Charlemagne, against , maybe, a GC Chablis from BA.

And the EK ticket will be around 50% of the price of the BA equivalent.

[VintageKrug]

Enjoy EK; it suits you, stick with it.

BA cannot satisfy every journey, nor should it seek to do so. It is steadily increasing passenger numbrs and margin, particularly in premium cabins for its target marget, which isn’t Cheshire.

Odd that if you have an office at Heathrow, you are driving from Cheshire. But horses for courses, I suppose.

[FormerlyDoS]

” It is steadily increasing passenger numbrs and margin, particularly in premium cabins for its target marget, which isn’t Cheshire.”

You are joking?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3141193.stm

[Ricjackal]

Has anyone tried Air Malta s Business class out of LHR to Luqa ??

[FormerlyDoS]

Yes, on approximately 75 flights.

What would you like to know?

[FormerlyDoS]

Vintage Krug asked

“Do they have an online booking App?
Regular departures at convenient times to business destinations?
Service from major airports like Heathrow?
To they permit on board one bag which can be lifted and fitted into the overhead, plus an additional personal item?
Do they reserve the best seats for their most frequent users?
Offer priority check in for their best customers, even when in economy?
Priority baggage check with 2x32kgs checked allowance for their best customers?
Lounge access, with vintage champagne and table service food for their best customers?
Showers?
Complimentary newspapers and magazines in the lounges, newspapers for all passengers on boarding?
Free ‘net access in the lounges?
Empty space between seats next to you?
What is their seat pitch?
Full complimentary bar on board, including Champagne?
Hot food on longer flights and a decent English Breakfast?
Proper Tea?
Baggage interline agreements?
A hub which connects you to a broader longhaul network?
A frequent flyer scheme useable globally as part of a major alliance?”

I think you are rather missing the point with Germanwings.

It is integrated into the Lufthansa network and booking via Germanwings.com offers a very broad variety of airports including LHR, LGW, STN and LCY, to a very broad range of destinations, including FRA, CGN, STR and the rest of the world.

On operated routes, it cuts LH costs to manageable standards and is a decent service for the short hops it does.

[esselle]

VK

If you are suggesting that BA’s strategy for filling its F cabin is only to attract pax from certain parts of the country, I suspect you are mistaken. Or, to put it more strongly, potty.

If you look at the traffic on MAN-LHR, there is a high proportion of transfer pax onto the long-haul network. I spent years doing that. Then came competition. Why spend more money on poorer product and service over LHR when you can get far better for much less over DXB or AUH?

By the way, you are wrong about an office at Heathrow; not sure where you got that from, but another mistake I’m afraid.

PS Here in Cheshire, we have recently been connected to the national grid, and rumour has it that running water will be available during 2014.

[FormerlyDoS]

“If you are suggesting that BA’s strategy for filling its F cabin is only to attract pax from certain parts of the country, I suspect you are mistaken. Or, to put it more strongly, potty.”

+1

[AllOverTheGaff]

Hi Alex

Back on the topic in hand.

Business travel in Europe has never appealed to me, I just don’t see what advantage it offers me, I’ve done it more than once and came away thinking “Nah, not worth the extra”. A lot of the discussion seems to be a bit London-centric, from the below I can demonstrate ably why I wouldn’t use business within Europe.

Last year I did several inter-European trips, I used Easyjet from EDI, Jet2 from GLA and German Wings from EDI. I was at my destinations directly, cheaply and with little fuss.

Flying business would see me have to connect planes, most likely in LHR, not an option for me I’m afraid. Even if I could fly to my destination directly in business class, why would I bother? A 3 – 4 hour flight maximum I just don’t see how it is justifiable unless it is at a really attractive price point, and by that I mean less than £100.00 more each way or I’m going to go with good old Easyjet.

I think a lot of business travel now is about getting value for your Pound/Dollar/Euro, and some of the airlines have recognised this and give you some lovely rewards for flying with them, those rewards, for me are diminished somewhat within Europe as everywhere is so accessible directly, cheaply and with almost no fuss.

Regards.
AOTG.

[FormerlyDoS]

AOTG

Yep, I agree. Point to point in Europe on easyJet, Vueling, Germanwings, Norwegian and others is a no brainer, comoared to a transfer.

Even Ryanair can be made to work, with a little thought (and QC15s.)

[AllOverTheGaff]

Dos

I’m with Easyjet next week as it happens, first time I’ve used their pre-booked seat service as my EJ+ card has just lapsed.

I reckon my ‘business-class-now-makes-sense-and-is-justified’ point would be anything over 4 hours…..that’s when I start thinking about seat comfort.

Good point you make earlier about the emergency exit aisle though, worth considering for future jaunts aboard the big orange birds, I’ve booked row 1 there and back this time, might think about exit aisle for next.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[Henkel.Trocken]

“VintageKrug – 01/05/2013 11:19 GMT
As someone who actually uses shorthaul business class regularly for business rather than the many retirees and leisure travellers off with their other halves for weekend jaunts, I am very happy with the service offered on the ground (far better than that offered, for instance, in the USA on similar tickets) and also the offering in the air, including catering.
Not everyone will agree with that, but it is my strong assertion that the flexible layouts work well for shorter European flights under two hours duration. Unless you’re obese, you simply don’t need extra space.
Otherwise the pricepoints, frequencies, flight times, lounges, aircraft used and BAEC incentives keep me loyal. Any improvement towards a more luxurious but less efficient layouts would increase prices, and with travel budgets stretched, it wouldn’t take much for my all-business class policy to change to Y, which would lose money for the airlines long term.”

I can’t help but think that here we have VK, a shorthaul C class traveller who scrapes in to C as long as the fares don’t go up on BA. With LH stealing the initiative I’ve no doubt that fares will go up and some people will pay them and others will be in economy and lose their gold cards at the same time, perhaps not even qualifying for silver.

Yet, at every opportunity those of us who travel far further at full fares are told that BA is best with an arrogance that is obviously founded on a few award seats and an intimate knowledge of product descriptions on BA’s website.

At least now we have some insight in to the level of experience the board’s most arrogant poster has.

[Henkel.Trocken]

Another charm filled post from Irons80! No surprises there then.

” Irons80 – 03/05/2013 14:21 GMT

Can’t you put a sock in it for one day?
It’s really getting boring now – this was an interesting thread until you ruined it with the above diatribe. If you don’t like what VK has to say, just ignore it!”

I did wonder which handle would pop up first.

[Author]

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