NickB

Indeed. We had to book a flight to the South of France for August relatively late (i.e. early-ish July) and BA flights eye-wateringly expensive in economy (let alone CE) to either MRS or NCE (even from LGW) and the AF LHR-NCE was the only reasonably priced one then (gone up a lot since then too).

orbitmic

Yep, exactly my experience - AF was the only reasonable option some days, others AF is outrageously priced too (good for them, not for me) so I had to rely on U2, which can also reach crazy fares (well over €300 one way) on many flights between London and Nice in that period. There have also been days with literally not a seat free on any airline between London and Nice, despite BA flying around 12 flights most days, U2 up to 7, and AF the one.

Now BA have just removed all inventory till 8 August so I suspect that whatever is left on AF and U2 flights will fill up within hours for the next week.

orbitmic

Or put it the other way round, as the flight is actually running everyday: it is already sold out till 8/8, from 11 to 13/8, and on 20/8! To be honest I'm actually surprised there is still availability during the British August Bank Holiday weekend and I suspect that it won't be the case very long! Looks like a pretty successful route launch to me!!

thierryd92

Not a so bad service for a full economy flight (see picture below).

I just write a flight report (in french) here: LHR-NCE flight report in french

olivedel

If it is that successful, why don't they sell J? I am sure it could be popular with British tourists.

And of course they have to put these horrible seats...

irishguy28

I may be wrong, but didn't they scrap business class on all flights from the provinces?

orbitmic

I believe they have. On most there would be no market for it. On LHR-NCE olivedel is right that there would be but I believe the reason they don't offer it is partly that it is hard to make one route different from all others, and in other part because if I'm not mistaken, that with current union agreements, that would require one extra crew member and obviously, that's not possible on an aircraft that makes a lot of rotations to other places in one day.

olivedel

The unions, the unions, always there to save management's mediocrity.
But either than this, I do not see any valid reason. Catering is available in both Nice and London Heathrow.

Goldorak

J still exists to/from CDG. J has been scrapped on ORY-Province and Province-Province routes.

Goldorak

Same opinion. J would sell well on such a route.

cdg_dxb

Update: I did fly the LHR - NCE - ORY yesterday. Or rather, the LHR - NCE yesterday, and the NCE - ORY leg this morning.

Our LHR - NCE leg had a 1 hour 30 min delay, so obviously the onward connecting flight had already left before we touched the ground. Despite the delay, it was a very pleasant flight. Cabin manager came by to personally thank us for flying with them, we had a bit of a chit-chat and he even showed me how his iPad with the PAX info works.

Because our connecting flight to ORY was the last one for the day, our group of 10 got lodged at the Novotel Arénas (as usual with Novotel/Mercure/Ibis, room doesn't look half as good as the photos in real life). No dining open at night so we headed down to the city center to grab a pizza. Great breakfast at the hotel before departure.

Got rebooked on the 8:40AM flight to ORY. Row 37 with the lavatories as our neighbors. Good thing ORY provided stairs for us to deplane from the back.

orbitmic

Sorry to hear about your delay. It seems to be what we should all expect with any route and airline this summer, but it is still annoying. Arguably, if you are going to be stuck somewhere overnight, NCE is not a bad place, if only because indeed, with the tramway, you are 20 minutes away nonstop to great food, a bit of beach time or pretty much anything else you may want, so well done to you on making it to the centre for your dinner rather than staying around boring Arenas.

As I mentioned in the other thread, when AF makes the route year round from October, the timings change and the flight will leave LHR in early morning so risk of overnighting when connecting will be low. In addition to nonstop London-Nice traffic, I expect that the route will prove useful to people on a number of connecting itineraries such as those wanting to go to Corsica, which is typically better deserved from NCE than from Paris.