Originally Posted by
beachmouse
There remains a certain BA mystique in the USA, and combine it with broad low level dissatisfaction with the US legacy carrier domestic operations and the popularity of London as a leisure destination because they speak 'merrikun over there and all, I suspect a lot of load originates on the North American side, where BA can also often charge higher fares than they would on London-originating flights.
Yes, I work at an international company and while the majority of Brits, Japanese, Germans and French all seem to favour their national airlines, there is a sizable amount of Americans, maybe a majority, who seem to prefer BA to the US airlines for their trans-Atlantic travel. I've asked a few why and it usually boils down to preferring European airlines but BA being little less exotic and 'foreign' feeling than the others. A couple said they actually prefer Delta for domestic but fly AA instead in order to keep their eggs in one basket and be able to use BA when going abroad, the JV certainly seems to be working for AA for those two!