Quite annoying that they’ve done this considering it’s been at least double daily this year. If it’s not the best performing route surely they ought to drop to daily rather than just chop it completely

Shame, was planning a visit when they finally finish Stuttgart 21!

You'll probably be able to teleport by then.

Apologies for the pun: I've just seen the other thread that Stuttgart has been dropped and I had to follow the format!

However, my next trip to Germany was to CGN in May. It was booked as a holiday, and with the route being dropped entirely, I was unable to rebook automatically. As a result, I had to phone up and while the agent was polite and trying to be helpful, she was very keen to get me to take a refund even though that would have left me out of pocket if I then rebooked.

The upshot was that, while she was sceptical that there would be any alternatives within 300 miles (there are plenty!) they absolutely refused to rebook the car hire at their cost. I ultimately agreed under protest, asking her to note the booking, but I will be complaining - although the best automated route seems to elude me. It's not a huge amount of money but it's still a change initiated by BA and which should not be chargeable.

Eurowings has between 2 / 3 direct flights between LHR and STR. Maybe BA could not compete on fares.

I suspect they could, they just would rather not.

Ultimately I liked STR but it's only an hour from FRA to Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof by ICE (while STR takes the best part of 40 minutes). The logistics of having an operation there, even shared with other airlines, and paying lounge fees etc. out of those low fares, is quite difficult - while there aren't that many loyal passengers flying to Stuttgart compared to *A/LH loyal business travellers who are happy enough on EW.

It's a nice airport and convenient for some of my favourite parts of Germany, but it's easy to see that it's one of their more strategically vulnerable destinations, and going single-daily might work for price-sensitive leisure passengers but would undermine the business traffic that would be willing to pay fares higher than Eurowings (or at least a late-booking premium).

Same applies to CGN: the only strategic imperatives would be to do a spoiler operation like OAK was to Norwegian, or to create extra capacity on what is already a densely-served route network.

For 18-months between 1996-1998, I used to fly out on the first flight on a Monday and back on a Friday, the Friday flight was often delayed, and operated by a 767 and occasionally a 777.and always full

While the customer drove me crazy, the best part as getting Krug incredibly cheaply in duty free, as it was priced the same as Moet, and I built up a stock, which sadly went very quickly

Fwiw, as an STR based gold who has been commuting on the 917/920 between STR and LHR / points west for the past 15 or so years I can safely say that I will be switching airlines, not airports.

r

This may be in small part due to the decline of the UK automotive industry. There are some major equipment suppliers around Stuttgart that would have a sizeable amount of business in the UK. I would visit STR semi-regularly.

I feel something has changed at BAH.

I have a lot of dealings as most of my trips are BAH to allow deposit and further payments.

Traditionally they were super flexible and did not apply change fees. I think direction has changed and goodwill is being scaled back.

Thank you for this tip regarding Frankfurt + the ICE. Also another person affected, quite annoying as I only booked the flights literally a few days ago and its to fly in Mid-April!

It did move from being an BA business to an IAG Loyalty business 12-18 months back, I wonder if that's had an impact when it comes to how goodwill changes are accounted for (i.e. BA charges IAG Loyalty for them). IAG is also pushing IAG Loyalty as a high growth part of the group with far better margins than are usually seen in an airline so again, I imagine there's some pressure to keep spend low.

Sadly the ICE isn't as cheap or as frequent as the S-Bahn, so it's not all good news even if it does help with your particular problem (and hence I agree with the Stuttgart-based poster who says they'll switch airlines). However, for a big part of the region, FRA, BSL, and MUC are viable alternatives.

When BA recently dropped SAW, I thought to myself, I didn't see that coming!

This just saddens me - another three city routes gone, no doubt to be replaced with increased frequencies to bucket and spade destinations. I'm sure that's economically sound for BA, but their city network certainly looks a bit threadbare now when you compare to Star and Skyteam offering the likes of Poznan, Stavanger, Belgrade, Bilbao etc (many of which BA used to serve). Still, will ease the transition when my status expires I guess!

Flying Stuttgart next month back from the Xmas markets so a first and last visit to the allegedly highly rated lounge beckons 😁