Originally Posted by
Blueboys999
Am I right in thinking that the aircraft used to/from MAN by QR aren't all up to date in terms of interior refits? In common with the other carriers operating from regional airports, there's no F so if you want to try it then you have to go through LHR. OTOH, award availability can be pretty good if you are happy with the direct J flights.
That is a fair caveat to note when considering OW offerings, and perhaps never more so when away from LHR.
By way of example a quick check of QR from MAN shows the two flights are operated by an A330-300 and A330-200. Both currently have “lie flat seats at a 165 degree" in Business and "180 degree" in First. I am assuming the economy class is standard?
In collating OW fliers from regional airports this would be useful information to display….
After writing the above sentence I then went to the
OW destination map and I was astounded at the lack of direct flights. Only MAN is serviced by an OW airline that originates somewhere other than London. The entire list is as per:
American Airlines: JFK, ORD, HOU*
Sun Air: BLL, GOT
Qatar Airways: DOH
Finnair: HEL
*with a stop in JFK
I guess for many this is not news but I would have put money on a least a flight or two into Scotland.
JFK west and DOH east do however open up a lot of possibilities with a connection which is what one would have to do if travelling via LHR. That said, if I was heading to LAX for example I think I would rather MAN-LHR-LAX than MAN-JFK-LAX to secure BA metal all the way.
It appears that rule #1 of Regional Flying is 'don’t expect to fly direct with the exception of MAN to seven destinations'. With this as the foundation it seems that knowledge has to pertain to taxes, availability, etc around hubs.