BA 2 inbound often arrives a good 30 minutes early, sometimes as soon as the airport opens at 0630. I hear the thrust reversers from the house, it's one of the few aircraft into LCY that uses them. A useful supplementary alarm clock !

When foggy they divert to Gatwick which is where the pilots report for departure, at the moment they wait to hear the inbound has made it in before their car leaves to take them over to LCY, otherwise they ferry the aircraft over later in the morning. It was for this reason that the pilots change over in Shannon. Pilots are effectively paid by the flying hour, so it makes little difference to costs how you organise them within their monthly hours allowance.

The logic behind the westbound timetable was that it facilitated either a morning in Canary Wharf or most of a day before departure. I wonder how many going to New York actually go to the effort of heading for the office for a couple of hours first. Of course, it prevents any going in to the New York office in the afternoon, so maybe demand is for that and this is behind the change.

Once upon a time there was a BA 3 that allowed you to do both !