BA dropping Luanda JUN18
May 23, 2018, 8:01 am
#31
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Customer guidelines up on Speedbird Club, but no rerouting options yet provided. No offer of SA instead; LAD-CPT is quite a distance I guess.https://www.speedbirdclub.com/en/all-news/commercial-policies/condicarr/lasdsusp/
May 23, 2018, 8:14 am
#32
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Glossop
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 344
What does this mean in practice?
"We are in contact with several interline partners for a possible involuntary rebooking guideline onto their services. These will be published as received."
Where will options be published?
BA just told us that we aren't allowed to reroute >300 miles from the original destination which is silly because I don't think that there are any international airports within 300 miles of Luanda.
Our final destination is WDH (will have to cancel non refundable connections from LAD to WDH). Qatar fly to WDH however.
Would we be able to ask BA to route us MAN - DOH - WDH instead of the MAN - LHR - LAD that we had until this morning? I think that it is the closest one world destination to LAD.
Haven't yet had chance to look at flight times.
"We are in contact with several interline partners for a possible involuntary rebooking guideline onto their services. These will be published as received."
Where will options be published?
BA just told us that we aren't allowed to reroute >300 miles from the original destination which is silly because I don't think that there are any international airports within 300 miles of Luanda.
Our final destination is WDH (will have to cancel non refundable connections from LAD to WDH). Qatar fly to WDH however.
Would we be able to ask BA to route us MAN - DOH - WDH instead of the MAN - LHR - LAD that we had until this morning? I think that it is the closest one world destination to LAD.
Haven't yet had chance to look at flight times.
May 23, 2018, 8:21 am
#33
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,575
I think you'll need to wait a few days and see what (if any) rerouting arrangement appears . For whatever reason it is quite normal for there to be a delay in any rerouting arrangements- almost as if that department gets taken by surprise!
But with such a short notice cancellation presumably BA has passengers downroute that will be needing to come back, so I think something should appear
But with such a short notice cancellation presumably BA has passengers downroute that will be needing to come back, so I think something should appear
May 23, 2018, 8:23 am
#34
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
It means there will be an update in a few days, for example https://www.speedbirdclub.com/en/all...bgosuspention/
Until then the agents won't offer you anything through any sort of discretion. Note the link above has the dreaded/unjustifiable "Not available for Redemptions".
Until then the agents won't offer you anything through any sort of discretion. Note the link above has the dreaded/unjustifiable "Not available for Redemptions".
May 23, 2018, 8:27 am
#35
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Interestingly last year they cancelled 2 flights short notice and offered JNB or LIS rerouting:: https://www.speedbirdclub.com/en/all...rr/luandacanx/
May 23, 2018, 9:07 am
#36
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,061
One thing in the meantime though... DON’T cancel your onward flight just yet. There *will* be an option of rebooking to LAD somehow or other (likely via Portugal), and just in case this happens to be better overall, you’ll want to keep your options open.
May 23, 2018, 9:27 am
#37
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: PEK
Programs: A3*G, UA Gold EY Silver
Posts: 8,957
I meant to say it's a surprise they don't have a Comair flight JNB-LAD, allowing them to at least keep SOME service to LAD as the economy there will start to pick up.
May 23, 2018, 10:07 am
#39
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
I would have thought that Comair network reflects primarily what makes economic sense from a South African perspective. Having the network be determined primarily by a couple of BA long-haul connections would be the tail wagging the dog, would it not? Comair does not have a huge fleet either. That said, I believe that they are expecting some 737 Max next year so perhaps there might be some route expansion.
May 23, 2018, 10:46 am
#40
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
Really a matter of time I would have thought. Lower oil production/jobs, Kwanza devalued by 40% this year due to the end of the dollar peg (so hard to sell seats locally) and Emirates already in the door.
Whether Comair offer something really depends on whether Comair thinks it can make any money from it.
Whether Comair offer something really depends on whether Comair thinks it can make any money from it.
May 23, 2018, 12:10 pm
#41
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,237
Well, in terms of putting a posiitve gloss, I don't think that you would have anything to envy Alastair Campbell at the height of his spin doctoring days 
. To borrow your phrase, "another way to look at it" is that if one excepts countries bordering the Mediterranean, BA serves only 7 of the 50 African countries (and that is including Mauritius and the Seychelles in there). And even if you include the Maghreb and Egypt, that only brings us to 10 out of 54.
Admittedly, Lufthansa's coverage in Africa is not stellar either but they have SN Brussels in the Lufthansa Group with extensive coverage of the continent. AF also has a fairly good coverage and the missing bits in Eastern Africa are covered by KL. There is no doubt that BA coverage of Africa is extremely poor and IB does not add much either and certainly does not compare to what is offered by its two competing European airline groups..
More globally, BA's Asian network is also limited, with minimalistic covering of China in particular, and its South American network is quite small too, although this is obviously where IB excels to complement BA so that is fully understandable. All in all, BA is an airline which is very heavily focused on the North Atlantic and IAG as a whole is a group whose intercontinental network is very heavily focused on transatlantic routes and is much weaker with respect to Asia and Africa.
. To borrow your phrase, "another way to look at it" is that if one excepts countries bordering the Mediterranean, BA serves only 7 of the 50 African countries (and that is including Mauritius and the Seychelles in there). And even if you include the Maghreb and Egypt, that only brings us to 10 out of 54.Admittedly, Lufthansa's coverage in Africa is not stellar either but they have SN Brussels in the Lufthansa Group with extensive coverage of the continent. AF also has a fairly good coverage and the missing bits in Eastern Africa are covered by KL. There is no doubt that BA coverage of Africa is extremely poor and IB does not add much either and certainly does not compare to what is offered by its two competing European airline groups..
More globally, BA's Asian network is also limited, with minimalistic covering of China in particular, and its South American network is quite small too, although this is obviously where IB excels to complement BA so that is fully understandable. All in all, BA is an airline which is very heavily focused on the North Atlantic and IAG as a whole is a group whose intercontinental network is very heavily focused on transatlantic routes and is much weaker with respect to Asia and Africa.
Plus, on a side note... if you look at the English-speaking countries in Africa, they're either all connected (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya) or don't have the critical mass for a direct flight and are reachable through Doha (and even that, I'd say, ain't that much of a traffic - Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia) or through SA (Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia) or are frankly too small...
May 23, 2018, 12:28 pm
#42
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: USA and UK
Programs: British Airways Executive Club Silver, Alitalia Freccia Alata
Posts: 1,351
So, we are now down to one single country being served in Southern Africa and four in the whole of Africa, if you exclude the Mediterranean shores and Indian Ocean islands. It feels as if we are gradually getting to the point where over half of all of BA long-haul destinations are in North America and the Caribbean. Perhaps we have already reached that point?
One wouldn’t have to work too hard to list the remaining LH flights that don’t fit into either of those catagories.
May 23, 2018, 1:04 pm
#44
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,076
May 23, 2018, 1:22 pm
#45
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 587
. The last one I did had 17 total on the entire aircraft so not hugely surprising, although the cargo documents were always never ending which I think was the real money spinner.