gordo6

It's not very trivial to see airlines keeping TLV service in the same level these days, with TK, for example, reducing 2 daily flights. So kudos to BA!!!

W14/15:
Starting December 1, BA166/167 will increase to 5 weekly operation. Overall incease from planned 17 weekly to 19.
BA167 LHR 17:00 TLV 00:05+1 - Operating on Mondays starting December 1
BA167 LHR 16:35 TLV 23:40 - Operating on Saturdays starting December 5

BA166 TLV 09:05 LHR 12:35 - Operating on Sundays and Tuesdays starting December 2

S15:
BA166/167 has been loaded as 3 weekly operation (with the same schedule it has in November) - overall increase from planned 14 weekly to 17. Hopefully the 2 new flights will prove successful so BA will be able to further increase planned S15 service in the future.

cxfan1960

Nice, I do not need to worry about 5am arrival anymore for me.

BardLucyHumeXI

Sorry to be such a noob, but please can you explain what W14/15 and S15 mean?

thanks!

Jenzo

W14/15 is winter for 2014 & 2015 S15=Summer 2015

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

W14/15= Winter 2014/2015 season
S15= Summer 2015 season

Regards

TBS

BardLucyHumeXI

Thanks!

Now I feel silly.

seaskybound

Currently (I think) there is only twice daily. one 777 and one A321

Can someone put together a clearer list of what happens when and which aircraft (thanks!)

with this amount of flights BA should consider upgrading the DAN+ as it is a joke...

gordo6

seaskybound, Currently the schedule is:

BA165 LHR0845 – 1530TLV 777 D
BA163 LHR2230 – 0530+1TLV 321 D

BA162 TLV0735 – 1100LHR 321 D
BA164 TLV1710 – 2020LHR 777 D

starting W14/15:

• BA162/3 will be operated by 4 class 777 (instead of A321)
• BA164/5 will be operated by the A321
• BA166/7 will be added - 3 weekly service during November and S15, and 5 weekly service during the rest of W14/15. Operated by A321.

BA167 will leave LHR between 16:25 to 17:00 on the days it'll be operating, BA166 will leave TLV on either 09:05 or 10:30 on the days it is operating.

I guess Dan+ will be very crowded on the days BA166 will be operating on 09:05, with BA162 leaving just 1:30 hours before that...

sds1493

It's nice to have a mid morning option ex TLV. And the afternoon flight from LHR is perfect for connections from the West coast. Reminds me of the BD days.

monkeymagic

Thank goodness, those flight times are much better. I hate the overnight flight, landing at 5am, meeting during the day and flying back same day trips. It's a killer and normally need to book a hotel for a few hours in the morning in TLV to freshen up which is really a complete waste of money

frb98mf

Pleased to hear this, I like the mid-morning TLV-LHR and late afternoon LHR-TLV flight timings, but am disappointed at the lack of WT+ (my usual purchased cabin before I UuA!) on the daytime flights. And a bit of me wants F around for when I treat myself to a redemption or UuA off the occasional I-class ticket, wasted on a short overnight hop...

I would love to see the 777 on the 163/166 timings, meaning a 7-hour layover, with the A321 on the 162/167 timings, meaning a 4-hour layover. This puts total time on the ground at TLV at about 11h, which is about the same as the two have now anyway.

The argument was that they need the larger capacity and all 4 cabin options for the morning TLV-LHR run, both for point-to-point and transferring pax. They added back the third flight to pick up transferring pax from the later-arriving l/h flights from the USA and Far East.

Most premium travellers I know do not want to take a short overnight flight which even in J and F doesn't give a proper night's sleep, but would certainly like to get most of a working day in London or a later-arriving inbound to LHR and catch a 5pm flight to TLV, resulting in a late bedtime but a proper night's sleep.

Even an l/h 767 would be preferable to the A321 on the 166/167. Where have they gone? Still a couple of years before they are put out to pasture. Eventually this route might lend itself to a 787 I think, whilst the A321 is ideal for IST where TK do use (a bit randomly it's true) proper widebodies to London, or the overnight to LCA where plenty of cheap seats are required but there are people who are willing to pay a premium for a few hours' proper kip.

BA tend to tinker with this route a lot before eventually doing the right thing once they exhaust all the alternatives. Hope the same will happen here...

gordo6

I agree that this would be the best possibility, however remember that they may need the 777 earlier in LHR, as it can be needed for a long-haul departure...

However, for CW the A321 is much better than the 767, so personally I prefer it over the 767. In fact, I think that the A321 offers the best hard product in CW in BA's fleet.

economyman

Whilst it's great they are increasing the number of flights on the route I think there are a couple of misses here.

BA166 on Sunday could be useful for later connections from LHR or people not wanting to take a later flight to London but actually the earlier flight is a 777 so I wonder if the additional capacity shortly after the early morning flight is that necessary. Maybe it is...

But my main concern is lack of capacity on Fridays LHR-TLV in premium cabins for connections from the US.

Bottom line is considering there is an additional flight in the morning from TLV most days and in the afternoons from LHR most days it seems to me that moving the 777 to the morning ex-TLV and the nights ex-LHR makes even less sense now. Why have a large aircraft and a small one more or less together (a few hours apart at most) rather than 2 smaller ones together and the larger one at the other extreme of the day. I think I know the answer - aircraft utilization but it's a bit of a shame...

joshwex90

Glad they're adding flights, though I'm waiting for 3X777 always! (I guess 4 class would be pushing it)

clubman

TK are probably not the best example actually, because it is the Turkish government's policies (that's all I'll say here as it's not OMNI) as well as the atrocious treatment people got from them during the flights disruptions that has caused people to vote with their feet, with many not willing to step foot on a TK aircraft anymore.

As a result, they have cut down their schedule from 8 to 6 flights out of TLV which is still pretty impressive for a foreign operator.