[Anonymous]

[KSHaggag]

Gentlemen ,

I have been enjoying flying BA Openskies tremendously and was going out of my way very often to go to Orly airport and catch Openskies to Newark or Washington IAD …One of the features I seem to appreciate most about it was the fact that travelling with just 84 fellow travellers ( if the flight is fully booked ) meant a fantastic ,swift disembarkation process and a feeling of flying your own private business jet over the Atlantic !!..all this is indeed precious ….

Now that Openskies is squeezing in 66 seats in a new Eco cabin at the back ,cutting the number of Bizseats to 28 seats and enlarging the Bizbed cabin to 20 seats you end up flying with 114 fellow travellers ,jeopardising such a swift disembarkation process ….however am now worried about the seat pitch in the new Premium Plus cabin ( ex Bizseat ) ….Come on ,Openskies ,I hope the new Premium plus product will be as attractive as the bizseat arrangement …anyone has any info about the new product features ????…

Four months ago ,Patrick Malval ,the new Openskies CEO announced the great news about the codeshare arrangement between Openskies and AA on the four axes from EWR to Chicago,Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles giving us BIG hopes about throughfares on EC/AA ,etc …we have not yet seen those fares ….any echoes so far ????…moreover the existing Joint Transatlantic business between BA,AA,IB was to welcome Openskies …I am eager to see this happening soon..very soon ….Is anyone well informed in this respect ???

Generally speaking ,Openskies is one of the GREATEST initiatives BA has ever taken so far in my opinion ..I would love to see it linking Newark with Brussels ,Milan ,Madrid and Frankfurt ….what is keeping you ,Openskies from conquering those markets ???

[VintageKrug]

I think the price of oil is a problem for these point to point carriers, just as was the case for SilverJet et al back in the day.

Milan and Madrid are teetering on bankruptcy, so I can understand them steering clear of those markets right now, and Frankfurt is too heavily in thrall to Lufthansa which would squash an upstart like Open Skies. Amsterdam didn’t work, so I can’t see how Brussels would.

It’s a shame the airline doesn’t start up exLGW and open up some of the Chinese routes everyone keeps asking for with its spare aircraft (something BA sorely needs to utilise).

It’s good that Open Skies is adaptable enough to be able to add in an economy cabin; seems sensible to vary the mix according to the economic times, and with only a few aircraft it’s not such a big deal as would be the case on a large fleet.

I haven’t tried them, but would like to do so at some stage. I haven’t noticed particularly competitive fares, but then perhaps we are spoiled exLHR with the many options on that route, which keeps prices down.

http://www.flyopenskies.com

[KSHaggag]

Hello VK !

Thanks ….Openskies B757-200 cannot fly nonstop to China ..it can t do Chicago from Paris ORY in the first place ..unless they stop to refuel ….business sense ??…not sure ..

Yep…there is now indeed an attractive promo on Openskies to EWR if u travel either on some days in June or btw Aug and oct but u need o buy it before 10th April …Eco 500 E …Premium Plus 1000 E .and bizbed 2000Euros ..this is indeeeeeeeeeeed mouthwatering !..no ?

[RichHI1]

The cost savings of new aicraft will surely prompt open skies to replace their 757’s within the next few years. It will be telling to see if they stay narrow body with the latest Boeing 737 or minbus offerings or go 787 to maintain cost savings (without adopting the scale of Airbus a380 ) whilst permitting routes such as China and Non Eastern Seaboard destinations.

I think marketeers for Open Skies need to think about their brand key. Moving to the 3 class config may make them lose differentiation from af or other flights ex CDG. It seems the small jet experience appeals to some as with the LCY services.

[VintageKrug]

Indeed, there’s no chance of OpenSkies adding longer distance services with their current equipment.

But with fuel efficient leased 787s, China that would be eminently possible and indeed a good idea for opening up long thin direct routes for businesspeople. And using LHR for such point to point services seems excessive; LGW would work well in this regard.

That sound slike a more competitive special offer, KSH. Have you a link to it? Might only be on the US site.

[KSHaggag]

Hi VK !

You get access to the promo on the French page of flyopenskies.com ..let me know if you can t see it ..it is great !

Gentlemen..I don t think BA will love to see EC flying ftrom London ,even if it is from LGW not LHR and syphoon off its passengers ,..its premium passengers as the EC product is indeed more intimate for biz people ( like a private jet ) rather than the nice but still cramped 747 Club World product ..

The idea of incepting Openskies was to make it fly from continental Europe to US or other and not from LON in order not to bite BA s premium product …..the A318 from LCY to JFK is also a marvelous innovation of BA s among others …………….

I would love to see Openskies linking more of Europe with the world and BA A318 linking LCY with other potential destinations like IAD or BOS or Montreal maybe ..am not sure ….JFK is a unique place that s why the product is successful and witnessing great demand ….!!!!……what nice surprises do u have in stock for us ,BA ????

[VintageKrug]

Oui, je peux le voir maintenant

http://www.flyopenskies.com/fr/offres-speciales.html

I think the concept would work from the UK, though maybe more in a CWLCY vein. However, I think the pilots’ union would resist any Open Skies flights exUK.

I cannot understand why you can’t get a flight from London City to Bermuda. It’s crying out for a dedicated business service from the City, and would free up LGW seats for premium leisure pax.

[KSHaggag]

Salut VK !

Oui..c est une offre fabuleuse !!!!…..je l ai achetee deja ….c est pas a dedaigner ….!

Can a A318 fly nonstop or even with a refuelling stop in Shannon from LCY to Bermuda ????..am not sure …maybe one day BA will fly from LCY to the new HUB of the world as they call it ..Dubai …..U can never tell ……fingers crossed !

[VintageKrug]

It has been confirmed in another thread that OpenSkies is available for redemption using Avios – just 40,000 each way in Business.

Personally, I’m keen to sample its excellent Premium Economy on a daytime flight:

http://www.cntraveler.com/dam/blogs/perrinpost/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/24/open_skies_prem_cabin.jpg

…looks really spacious

[KSHaggag]

Please do ..I can t wait to do it too !….Premium Plus is in my opinion the BEST VALUE FOR MONEY PRODUCT across the North Atlantic !..you really feel how good it is on a daytime flight ( westbound ) ….enjoy it !

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