[VintageKrug]

“Henkel.Trocken – 19/12/2012 15:42 GMT

The US holds little or no interest to me but the repeated comments about Fort Lauderdale are interesting.

I have a colleague who by his own admission is in to heavy S&M and leather. He says Fort Lauderdale is that best place on earth to meet people of similar mind and persuasion.”

Possibly the most bizarre comment I’ve ever read on this site.

[LeTigre]

BT, can the comment (and subsequent references) to explicit topics be deleted?

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Thanks HT

I always wondered what was so fascinating about FL. You have also made my day!

As BigDog mentions, MIA is a short drive away.

VK, do you have an aversion to Miami Airport? If so, I can only empathise with you 😉

[VintageKrug]

MIA is a mafia controlled hellhole.

FLL is an hour’s drive from MIA. I have never met any American who would willingly take a train.

An LGW-FLL flight would serve a completely different market to LHR-MIA, as I set out. There would be plenty of remaining MIA demand.

[dutchyankee]

Have to agree, If one can avoid MIA, it is best advised to do so. FLL is a pleasure, and the catchment area of Fort Lauderdale, and the appeal is far different from that of MIA. The affluent population alone from Fort Lauderdale and the areas north and around including Pompano, Hollywood, and Boca, and even south to Bal Harbor would far prefer to have a quality direct flight from a pleasant airport than to endure MIA which for most of us feels like entering a foreign country before even leaving the USA at all.

[canucklad]

Brilliant HT……

I have a colleague who by his own admission is in to heavy S&M and leather. He says Fort Lauderdale is that best place on earth to meet people of similar mind and persuasion.”

Get’s me wondering what he Cabin Crew would wear as uniform on the inaugral flight !! although getting through security might pose a bit of a metallic problem…

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Last night I watched ‘Españoles en El Mundo’, a programme about Spanish expats. This one was from Florida and Fort Lauderdale was included.

I would definitely fly there, but not for the above reasons!

[AuldReekie39]

I gather from a friend who recently read in a BA in-flight magazine that BA were launching a service to Sri Lanka from London in Spring 2013. Can anyone confirm this?

I also agree with VK that Miami should be avoided at almost all costs – long immigration lines, etc.. The only exception is when BA have fare deals at less than £1000 for CW return flights from London which was the case for the Jubilee in June this year.

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

It’s true AuldReekie39

The flight is from Gatwick and is via Male. I think it is 3 times a week.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/new-routes/public/en_gb?DM1_Mkt=BE&DM1_Channel=AFF&DM1_Campaign=AO&DM1_Site=Webgains&utm_source=Webgains&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Webgains&cookiesAccepted=newvispop

[sparkyflier]

Many months on from the BMI purchase, it seems that BA has only announced one brand new route since aquiring the slots, that being Chengdu (good choice) to start in September. Seoul I think was announced prior to the purchase, and the new tags to Colombo and Monrovia are simply extensions to existing routes.

So what will happen next, if anything?

I can imagine there may be some delay due to 787 issues, but additional 777s are coming and A380s are on the way, but still no news. Do you think Jakarta will happen, or have Garuda coming in non-stop scared them off that?

Any new rumours around?

[BeckyBoop]

I doubt Jakarta will happen as a direct route but could possibly run as a codeshare flight through Malaysian and Qatar Airways.

[NADEEMumer]

B.A should think to resume their Flights to ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN).Because there are a lot of pax on this route whome are living in UK…

[MarkivJ]

They’ll never resume flights to Pakistan. Their reason for dropping out was always their fear (of security) and used that hotel bombing as an excuse. 26.11 was a far worse day in Mumbai but let alone not withdrawing flights form India, the BA flights were full and on schedule even on that same day!

I guess BA has realised that India flights are far more profitable than flights to Pakistan, which is infact why they’re increasing both capacity and frequency to both Hyderabad and Chennai come summer’13.

On a separate note, should BA start direct flights connecting Heathrow to Austin, Texas or Portland, Oregon? Austin is fast becoming a major technology and education hub, and doesn’t have any direct connections to Europe.

[sparkyflier]

Another point about Pakistan is the huge cost of insurance of flying/landing there, and an issue which I think came up earlier in this thread, is control of airspace, with lots of military activity.

BeckyBoop Jakarta was even mentioned by Willie, and there were certainly rumours about going there. It could certainly justify itself as a BA route, however, a daily non stop 777 by Garuda only time will tell. But I do not see why BA should delegate this route to QR or MH – this is a route that would benefit BA and UK PLC.

I had never thought of Austin and that would be interesting.Portland as you say could be ideal. Perhaps AA could use a 767 to start it off?

In another thread someone suggested 787s being good for South America, but I wonder if 777s are preferable and more appropriate with I assume greater cargo capacity, and the region providing an ideal balance of business and tourist traffic.

[batterytraveller]

The US/AA merger might mean Philly, Charlotte or Phoenix might be worth serving or increasing depending on how the hubs shake out. As a brit living in Pittsburgh I’d love to see service resumed there but we hardly even count as a USAirways focus city any more.

Delta/AF have made a really good go of summer 757 service to Paris, initially subsidised but now sustainable. When it runs it’s been my favoured choice for business trips to Europe. I’d love to see the BA/AA/US take a look at that. I somehow doubt it would happen though.

But if anyone from BA is reading I’d like to point out that Pittsburgh is the fastest growing labour market in the Eastern US, we have a rapidly expanding Google office, a number of significant blue chip employers and I’d love to see more options to Europe that didn’t start with a hop to Atlanta, Detroit or New York.

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