[Anonymous]

[pheighdough]

I am flying on a BA Charter flight LHR-LXS in June as part of a Mark Warner holiday package. Does anyone know what terminal the flights use at LHR, and is it possible to pre-book seats, as I am a BAEC Gold card holder?

[travelworld2]

no- although I do recall flying on on BA Charter from Geneva to Gatwick a couple of years back when I was not permitted to use the lounge even though I was BA Silver as “it wasn’t for charter passengers”

[AMcWhirter]

pheighdough – Wouldn’t Mark Warner holidays have this information ? After all isn’t it the charterer of the plane ?

[pheighdough]

I’m just being impatient, they will have all the answers but I have just booked it and was curious. That’s all.

[yahoo1000]

Should be from T5.
If you want to pre book seats you need to go through the agent, agency. In your case Mark Warner.
Ba only supplies the plane, crew. All special meals, seating, luggage etc needs to be done through the agent.
Unfortunately no Avios either.

[StephenLondon]

The charter flights have been regularly going from Terminal 5. They have dedicated check-in desks to the left of Iberia in the middle of the terminal.

From what I understand, status does not necessarily count since these are chartered flights so are operating on different flight numbers (9420/9421, for example). Recent charters have been to Grenoble, Friedrichshafen, Zurich and Geneva this past weekend.

I know someone who took one and were allowed into the lounge (just) since it was quiet, but were told that as it wasn’t mainline BA, technically the lounge wasn’t an option. Not sure if that is correct or not, but you can but ask!

[SergeantMajor]

Technically, you are not eligible for lounge access, but ask nicely and see – it can’t hurt!

[pheighdough]

Thanks for the replies, that all sounds OK. Anyone know aircraft type(s) operating the services this summer. I would guess A320…?

[SergeantMajor]

Yes, A320.

A ideal excuse to buy a Plane Food Picnic before you fly:

http://www.gordonramsay.com/planefood/picnics/

[rjhcambs]

Pheighdough

If you look at The BA Source website you will find which aircraft has been used to the previous weekend’s destinations – A319/320/321.

[SimonS1]

Having seen the current food hygiene rating for Plane Food I would be looking for an excuse not to go there.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/178692/response/434245/attach/html/3/FOI%205550%20gordon%20ramsay3%20aug13.pdf.html

[pheighdough]

So, an update to the BA Charter Flight/T5 Lounge access.

I checked in, no queue, which was very nice considering charter flights (ex LGW) are awful. Straight through security, up to T5 North lounge, presented my card and boarding pass and walked straight in. No questions, no funny looks.

Now currently enjoying coffee and something yellow in some form of dough. Answers to what that is on a postcard please…!

[MartynSinclair]

I have noticed recently there is a shortage of European avios redemption flights over the weekend. Are the European charter flights re designated scheduled flights? Or can one flight be designated both charter and scheduled.

How otherwise would BA get additional slots out of Heathrow to run ad hoc charter flights??

[JordanD]

Martyn – BA run less flights on the weekend vis-à-vis a weekday (fewer rotations to traditionally business destinations in Europe). Slots are allocated on a 7 day basis, so BA use the spare capacity on the weekend (both in terms of slots and aircraft) to run these operations on behalf of tour companies who pay for the service.

The aircraft is chartered by the tour company, and I believe BA do not sell seats on them directly.

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