Ask the BA Staffer and Heathrow ATC
May 29, 2012, 3:37 am
#1186
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: Mucci de la Cuisine Aérienne du Réseau Courte Durée de British Airways
Posts: 4,704
On some of our fleets you can bid for trips, ie. E/F, M/F and LGW have a preference bid system where you give your personal choices of trips and days off points and the roster system tries to takes account of the type of work you like. So you could put in a preference for a longer trip type. On WW they are just rostered their trips on a supposedly fair share system but do get a couple of trip requests per year and can request a trip and our pilots bid for roster lines using a seniority based system, so the more senior pilots get a reasonable amount of choice over the type of trips they do but the less senior ones have less control.
The only time you could extend your time down route would be in the rare situation that you were due to position home, this can happen at season end or start when the frequencies go up or down, although you would have to have permission from BA and it would not be normal because things can go wrong and therefore even positioning crews can suddenly be required to work at short notice.
Hope that helps.
May 29, 2012, 3:44 am
#1187
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Programs: Mucci des Hommes Magiques et Magnifiques
Posts: 19,097
As said CC cannot extend their trips down route but I have been on trips where flight crew have swapped with each other to extend their trip while the other one went home earlier.
May 29, 2012, 6:55 am
#1188
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,513
While I'm on the thanks, well done neverfirst for picking up my spelling of female.
However I beg to differ on Concord - I know what was in BA's brand guidelines but I am English, the aircraft is English, the BA ones were all registered in England as well as being based in England and in England Concorde is a spelling mistake 
May 29, 2012, 7:11 am
#1189
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London and Zurich
Programs: AA, BA, Mucci: Sir Roger des Directions Routières, PCR
Posts: 13,609
Originally Posted by wikipedia
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn, announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed ⟨e⟩ represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "[Y]ou talk about 'E' for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "[I]t was also 'E' for 'Écosse' (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added 'e' for extravagance and 'e' for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
May 29, 2012, 7:26 am
#1190
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,513
He didn't consult me. If Tony Benn wished to roll over to certain Europeans for political reasons at the time far be it for me to criticise him. But I have never particularly agreed with Mr Benn's thoughts on life, have certainly never followed his lead and I definitely am not starting now. It's an interesting aside that the way Tony Benn simply accepted this defeat prompted one of the Yes Minister episodes concerning the language of the menus on the trains in the Chunnel.
You are absolutely and totally correct that the official name has an E on the end. I am not disputing that because it is an undeniable fact. However, I still call it Concord, and will not change.
You are absolutely and totally correct that the official name has an E on the end. I am not disputing that because it is an undeniable fact. However, I still call it Concord, and will not change.
May 29, 2012, 8:27 am
#1191
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
He didn't consult me. If Tony Benn wished to roll over to certain Europeans for political reasons at the time far be it for me to criticise him. But I have never particularly agreed with Mr Benn's thoughts on life, have certainly never followed his lead and I definitely am not starting now.
The fact that it would convey a group of high earners, who in all other respects he publically hated the guts of, therefore went entirely over his head.
May 29, 2012, 8:42 am
#1192
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,060
Pink Z luggage tag?
Mrs Muscat arrived at LHR this morning, but one case didn't arrive on the belt. She spoke to the BA help, and was told it would turn up on a different belt. it did, complete with a large pink label with the letter Z on it. (attached to the original luggage tag)
What does this new label signify?
What does this new label signify?
May 29, 2012, 8:43 am
#1193
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: BAEC Gold, LH M&M Member
Posts: 2,705
My friend's name is Stefan (he's English, has a German mother) - do I call him Steven? Well, yes, I do sometimes, but only to annoy him because that isn't his name.
Concorde is called Concorde. With an 'e'. That is what its 'parents' called it, so it is not up to us to change it.
May 29, 2012, 8:52 am
#1194
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Programs: IC Hotels Spire, BA Gold
Posts: 8,668
Why is Aberdeen Airport "ABZ" in the IATA airport codes?
Both ABN and ABD are not currently allocated codes and either of these would have been far more logical
Both ABN and ABD are not currently allocated codes and either of these would have been far more logical
May 29, 2012, 9:06 am
#1195
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
May 30, 2012, 7:13 pm
#1196
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: LON, ACK, BOS..... (Not necessarily in that order)
Programs: **Mucci Diamond Hairbrush** - compared to that nothing else matters (+BA Bronze)
Posts: 15,132
May 31, 2012, 1:09 am
#1197
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Lewes, UK
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 1,213
As a long-time former resident of south Manchester, I am interested to know what goes on at the BA offices in Manchester. For starters, it seems to include HO of BA CityFlyer (presumably a consequence of BACON being there?). There are also references on various trade sites to 'Groups' being managed from the office and I think it's where seating requests (in the few cases that they are now allowed) are handled. Any confirmation/anything else?
May 31, 2012, 8:07 pm
#1198
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,797
As a long-time former resident of south Manchester, I am interested to know what goes on at the BA offices in Manchester. For starters, it seems to include HO of BA CityFlyer (presumably a consequence of BACON being there?). There are also references on various trade sites to 'Groups' being managed from the office and I think it's where seating requests (in the few cases that they are now allowed) are handled. Any confirmation/anything else?
Jun 1, 2012, 12:57 am
#1199
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
Airline corporate head offices well removed from the airline's operations (as with CityFlyer in Manchester) are unusual, but not unique. The old Dan-Air company had their headquarters in the City of London, near Liverpool Street station (they also had their aircraft base at Lasham in Hampshire, not even an airport, but just an old RAF runway and a few hangars literally in the middle of nowhere). Meanwhile the old Panagra company, with extensive operations from Panama down through all of South America, had their head office building in New York City, in the opposite hemisphere to where all their operations were.