[Travellator]

Did this route out last week back yesterday – full payload both ways also 8 rows CE out and 5 in – no empty seats.

Standing waiting to board listening to other PAX and the number of people transiting LHR was significant – I heard Delhi, New York and Cape town mentioned.

There will now be NO direct flight AGP to LHR unless IB come back into the equation.

[AMcWhirter]

DisgustedofSwiegi, BA’s domestic Shuttle launched in the 1970s originally had no catering or drinks at all. Passengers couldn’t even get a glass of water. The only “service” was offered by staff coming through the cabin collecting the fare !

In those days state-owned BA had a monopoly on the main domestic routes from LHR, ie those to MAN, BFS, GLA and EDI. Other carriers were not allowed to compete alongside BA. That is why BA’s privately-owned rival B.Cal had to operate out of LGW.

It was only when Bmi was allowed to compete with BA out of LHR in around 1981 that BA’s original Shuttle concept began to change.

Bmi offered passengers drinks and full meals at fares which were similar or cheaper than those of BA. It won a significant share of the market.

BA responded with limited free catering, eg breakfast on the early flights and a drinks service for flights later in the day.

But Shuttle (with its back-up planes and crew on standby) was a costly product for BA to operate. So it was gradually watered down into today’s conventional service.

[jonathanmiller]

Travellator. Yep – usually full these days and with a biggish CE cabin. Apart from the “public” (me for example) there are plenty of BA Heathrow crew members who also use the AGP-LHR route. Still, I guess we have learned that when Willie makes up his mind …..

Back to the old AGP-MAD-LHR route then, I guess. What a pain

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“It was only when Bmi was allowed to compete with BA out of LHR in around 1981 that BA’s original Shuttle concept began to change.”

What part of ‘circa 1980’ are you having a problem with?

I’ll be happy to explain, honestly.

[NTarrant]

The shuttle concept was introduced to some domestic routes from the end of 1975, I think MAN was first. Certainly on the Scottish routes catering was available.

The trolley collecting fares was a short lived thing.

[AMcWhirter]

Let me clarify the points I made about BA’s Shuttle:

I took several BA Anglo-Scottish Shuttle flights in the mid to late 1970s.

There was definitely no catering for two reasons: 1. the “trolley collecting fares” would impede the meal/drinks service and 2. the Shuttle concept guaranteed a back-up plane should the original flight be full. If BA were to offer catering then it would take longer to prepare the back-up.

What must be noted is that BA accepted no reservations or seat assignments for its original Shuttle. Pax paid either with an open-dated ticket coupon (normally pax making connections at LHR) or by cash or card. As I said above, if the flight you wanted was full then BA laid on another within a matter of mins.

BA copied the Shuttle idea from US carrier Eastern Airlines. This airline pioneered the concept on US northeast corridor flights in 1961.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines

The problem was that BA charged quite a lot for Shuttle (it had to because there is a hefty cost involved in having spare planes and crew sitting around on stand-by) and not every passenger appreciated or were prepared to pay for it.

That is why when Bmi was allowed to compete directly against BA in 1981 and Shuttle lost traffic that BA responded with an upgraded product branded “Super Shuttle.”

But Super Shuttle lost the purity of the original Shuttle. Meals/drinks were served and pax could make reservations. But the guarantee of a back-up faded away.

[NTarrant]

I too made a number of trips in the late 70’s between LHR and EDI/GLA. At the time I was in the travel industry and a single fare in 1976 was £19.00 each way. We had to write “SHUTTLE” across the date, time and flight number. It was difficult for some people to understand the concept and were concerned they didn’t have the time and date on their tickets.

The trolley collecting fares was withdrawn due to, according to the BA rep at the time, there were a number of people who boarded and had no means to pay or insufficent for the fare. Favouring paying at the gate to avoid this.

I certainly remember being served beverages on shuttle flights. I think the concept was too inovative for the time, where as now it might work, but of course BA does not have the frequency it had in those days.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

There was also the option to collect a food pack at the gate at one stage, thus my comment. I seem to remember this being around the time when they had automated gates at LHR and your boarding pass let you through, similar to the Eurostar now.

Another reason for the fading of the back up aircraft was allegedly groups of wily BA staff on standby tickets, who would ‘game’ the system and chip in buy one firm ticket if necessary, so the whole group could travel on the standby aircraft.

I can’t personally attest to this, but it came from a senior BA manager I knew, who was normally spot on about such things.

[Author]

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