Will Jersey get BA flights to LHR at some point?
Mar 19, 2019, 2:24 pm
#31
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Jersey
Programs: BAEC gold
Posts: 522
SI still exist (and are still operating the flights) - they are just in a franchise agreement with Flybe. Whether that arrangement will survive the recent Flybe rescue is in some doubt, and SI have just taken delivery of two new aircraft which are not in flybe colours. I think BA would do very well on JER - LCY, but as others have said they don’t have the airframes at the moment.
Mar 19, 2019, 2:56 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145
That’s accepted, jmd, but this was 2 weeks apart last month. All the ‘suits’ went down the back ... nearly all the CE pax were either leisure or ‘posh suits’. 
Mar 20, 2019, 5:50 am
#33
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: West Sussex, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold (11/Dec/18)
Posts: 262
And this Sunday just gone, I returned from Jersey as the solo occupant of CE.
Mar 20, 2019, 5:59 am
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145
OK, not holiday season yet [with this weather I'm not surprised] but that is spooky. But - we rarely do the run at weekends. Our recent 2-row experiences were Tue [0705] and Wed [1820]. We have a Sat [2020] LGW-JER
next month: I shall count rows/pax then!
Mar 20, 2019, 7:54 pm
#35
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: IAD
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 348
Living in NYC and with a brother+niece on Jersey the LHR/LGW shuffle has long been a PITA. At last count I think I've made about 60 trips to Jersey since 2005...
The JFK-LGW service has made things a lot more convenient albeit with ropier 777s and obviously no First. From a purely selfish POV I'd really like to see LHR-JER myself too, and when I travel at hours well suited for business travel I quite often see others in both CE and CW/First/in the LHR lounges that are making the same or similar journeys. There has to be enough demand for at least an early morning JER-LHR and late evening LHR-JER for European feeder services.
The JFK-LGW service has made things a lot more convenient albeit with ropier 777s and obviously no First. From a purely selfish POV I'd really like to see LHR-JER myself too, and when I travel at hours well suited for business travel I quite often see others in both CE and CW/First/in the LHR lounges that are making the same or similar journeys. There has to be enough demand for at least an early morning JER-LHR and late evening LHR-JER for European feeder services.
Mar 21, 2019, 5:03 am
#36
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Manchester but from Yorkshire better known as Gods country
Programs: BA Gold, , Sandals plat
Posts: 839
My ba97 record says it was 2008 when BMI dropped the JER-LHR connection. We managed to use it just once to LHR, in May 08, before the route was dropped (got a prompt refund of the return ticket!), and we had to come home 3 weeks later with BA via LGW.
In the intervening 10 years nobody has tried to do it again. I suspect if it was going to be lucrative, and LHR slots were available/affordable, it would have happened by now. The GCI-LHR is, IMO, a false dawn as far as JER residents are concerned, and as UKtravelbear notes, it's a subsidised Summer service. Indeed, many services to the Islands are Summer-only, for inbound tourism purposes - that's when we can actually fly JER-DUB direct for a few months!
I have full sympathy for the OP. We've been doing the LGW/LHR shuffle for over 10 years, and agree it's a bloody great PITA!
In the intervening 10 years nobody has tried to do it again. I suspect if it was going to be lucrative, and LHR slots were available/affordable, it would have happened by now. The GCI-LHR is, IMO, a false dawn as far as JER residents are concerned, and as UKtravelbear notes, it's a subsidised Summer service. Indeed, many services to the Islands are Summer-only, for inbound tourism purposes - that's when we can actually fly JER-DUB direct for a few months!
I have full sympathy for the OP. We've been doing the LGW/LHR shuffle for over 10 years, and agree it's a bloody great PITA!
Mar 21, 2019, 5:20 am
#37
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Up North.
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 311
JER-LHR would work only with BA, however why would they? In terms of a 'premium', truly international airline, they have a monopoly. LGW is cheaper to operate to and an absolute cash cow. The number of Prem/Gold/Silv passengers in Jersey per capita is huge.
I spent many an hour behind a BA check-in desk in JER before during and after the BD JER-LHR operation. The number of premium passengers shunning this and doing the M25 shuffle with BA did not change one jot. This is why I doubt KLM would shake things up as a) the financial and cultural connection between St Helier and London is so strong (far stronger than Amsterdam), and b) they would have to convince a significant number of premium pax to give up their shiny BAEC card and switch alliances.
Cityhopper used to operate between JER and AMS of course... This stopped for a reason.
Having said that, for personal reasons I would dearly love either a JER-LHR or NCL-LGW connection from BA.
I spent many an hour behind a BA check-in desk in JER before during and after the BD JER-LHR operation. The number of premium passengers shunning this and doing the M25 shuffle with BA did not change one jot. This is why I doubt KLM would shake things up as a) the financial and cultural connection between St Helier and London is so strong (far stronger than Amsterdam), and b) they would have to convince a significant number of premium pax to give up their shiny BAEC card and switch alliances.
Cityhopper used to operate between JER and AMS of course... This stopped for a reason.
Having said that, for personal reasons I would dearly love either a JER-LHR or NCL-LGW connection from BA.
Last edited by TraumaDoc; Mar 21, 2019 at 5:26 am
Mar 21, 2019, 9:44 am
#38
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK.
Programs: SQ LPPS, A3 *G, BA Silver aiming for Bronze
Posts: 1,506
Given how premium heavy the LGW-JER services are I do wonder how BA justifies LHR-LBA and LHR-NCL which are in reality lighter on premium than JER. Surely the slots being used for LBA & NCL could be more profitably used for high end bucket and spade routes which currently seem to be all the rage and space found at LGW for NCL and LBA - if LBA survives.
Mar 21, 2019, 11:18 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145
Mar 21, 2019, 11:25 am
#41
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,196
Given how premium heavy the LGW-JER services are I do wonder how BA justifies LHR-LBA and LHR-NCL which are in reality lighter on premium than JER. Surely the slots being used for LBA & NCL could be more profitably used for high end bucket and spade routes which currently seem to be all the rage and space found at LGW for NCL and LBA - if LBA survives.
If more passengers from NCL have onward bookings on BA from LHR than do flights from JER then BA are going to route NCL to LHR.
If most of JER is people flying to London as an end destination then LGW is a lot easier to get to central London that from LHR
Mar 21, 2019, 11:27 am
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145
JER = Finance. And a bit of Agriculture and Tourism.
But mainly FINANCE = City and London.
That’s why so many pax are wearing suits and carrying briefcases.
But mainly FINANCE = City and London.
That’s why so many pax are wearing suits and carrying briefcases.
Mar 21, 2019, 2:53 pm
#43
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Up North.
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 311
If BA were to offer NCL-LGW to connect to their long haul network ex-LHR, it wouldn't work. People would either use the EK service going East, drive to MAN/EDI, or use KL/LH/AF and connect through their respective hubs.
Mar 21, 2019, 6:40 pm
#44
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,596
Mar 21, 2019, 9:55 pm
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: BAEC Gold, Delta Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, AMEX Platinum (US)
Posts: 18,487
A few years ago I did have JER-LGW-AMS-LHR-IAD. Was a standard return option on ba.com and figured it was good for a laugh...until we circled LGW for an eternity because of fog, then diverted to JER! I missed the LGW-AMS flight. In the end BA reissued my ticket at LGW without the AMS legs and comped my National Express ticker to LHR.