BA, the low cost carrier LHR-IST
Dec 1, 2019, 1:56 am
#16
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TK is also Do&Co, but using different specs to BA.
As for the OP, yes he has got a great fare for the distance, and it's the sort of fare that allows people who may not have a lot of disposable income to see and experience one of the most amazing cities on the planet. It is not the very cheapest BA fare to IST, that comes in at £103.47 return, which I think is tremendous. However on OP's flight there will be plenty of late bookers who will end up paying a multiple of the fare he paid.
Turkey's own LCC, Pegasus, offers £80 return fares, but that is STN to SAW, which would be a false economy in many cases.
As for the OP, yes he has got a great fare for the distance, and it's the sort of fare that allows people who may not have a lot of disposable income to see and experience one of the most amazing cities on the planet. It is not the very cheapest BA fare to IST, that comes in at £103.47 return, which I think is tremendous. However on OP's flight there will be plenty of late bookers who will end up paying a multiple of the fare he paid.
Turkey's own LCC, Pegasus, offers £80 return fares, but that is STN to SAW, which would be a false economy in many cases.
Dec 1, 2019, 3:58 am
#17
Join Date: Jun 2014
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Well it seems that BA isn’t even good at being low cost on that route:
Dec 1, 2019, 5:38 am
#18
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,575
Must be one of BA's lowest $ per mile routes at times but their BoB stocking is always 0 in this route in my experience
Dec 1, 2019, 5:54 am
#19
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: LHR, LGW
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Well it seems that BA isn’t even good at being low cost on that route:
https://twitter.com/interiors_neil/s...700931584?s=21
https://twitter.com/interiors_neil/s...700931584?s=21
Dec 1, 2019, 6:07 am
#20
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The CE = TK Y analogy is pretty good. The food is same same, you lack a blocked middle but trade that for more comfy seats, high chance of IFE and the comfort of a wide body on some flights. BA Y is a discount offering unless you can trick it up via status and self cater. TK J is plain out of sight of CE, even on the least desirable (and rare to London) Airbus with converter seats.
Dec 1, 2019, 6:24 am
#21
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According to BA's own internal specs, everything over 1500 miles is a medium haul flight, and is supposed to be treated as such. DME and IST were the two outliers as both were over 1500 miles, but had shorthaul aircraft. They remedied the DME situation about 8 years ago. At that time TK was just starting to upscale its entire UK operation, TK went from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 to some days 6x to LHR, they played with Stansted and eventually went 2 and even 3x to LGW, as well as Manchaster, Birmingham and Edinburgh. As we all know, at least half the LHR frequencies are on widebody long haul configured aircraft.
What was BA's response? They went exclusively to narrow body aircraft (retiring the shorthaul 767), reducing from 2x to 3x, often in the winter 1x (and often cancelling Tuesday flights), and played a weird game of whack a mole, by trying service from a bunch of different Turkish airports, but which were mostly bucket and spade...............Bodrum, Dalaman, Antalya. Then they eliminated food and drink offerings...........on their longest shorthaul flight.
What is said above is totally correct, when flying BA to/fr IST, I would posit that 70% are people connecting from places west of the UK. When flying TK, it is over 80% connecting from the East or South. But the big difference is in the front cabin. It used to be that "the regulars" Turks or foreigners that frequented the route a decade ago almost always flew BA, today, it is the opposite, and most choose TK. better product, better service, better aircraft, more frequency.
In my case, I can say that until a decade ago I would not fly TK on the route unless there was no other choice, now the only reason to fly BA is if it is significantly cheaper, or I have to be though the UK going west (i.e. the cheapest biz ticket to LAX is $5500+, while the BA is $2500 and I need to be in teh UK for a day or two in one of the directions. That being said TK plays the exact same games in the other direction whereby BA might be $6k+ to SIN, but TK offers the fare via IST for $2500!
What was BA's response? They went exclusively to narrow body aircraft (retiring the shorthaul 767), reducing from 2x to 3x, often in the winter 1x (and often cancelling Tuesday flights), and played a weird game of whack a mole, by trying service from a bunch of different Turkish airports, but which were mostly bucket and spade...............Bodrum, Dalaman, Antalya. Then they eliminated food and drink offerings...........on their longest shorthaul flight.
What is said above is totally correct, when flying BA to/fr IST, I would posit that 70% are people connecting from places west of the UK. When flying TK, it is over 80% connecting from the East or South. But the big difference is in the front cabin. It used to be that "the regulars" Turks or foreigners that frequented the route a decade ago almost always flew BA, today, it is the opposite, and most choose TK. better product, better service, better aircraft, more frequency.
In my case, I can say that until a decade ago I would not fly TK on the route unless there was no other choice, now the only reason to fly BA is if it is significantly cheaper, or I have to be though the UK going west (i.e. the cheapest biz ticket to LAX is $5500+, while the BA is $2500 and I need to be in teh UK for a day or two in one of the directions. That being said TK plays the exact same games in the other direction whereby BA might be $6k+ to SIN, but TK offers the fare via IST for $2500!
Dec 1, 2019, 6:34 am
#22
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Edinburgh
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I got a BA holiday for two. £400 all together with three nights' accommodation from EDI. Great value in my opinion. It would be quite a bit more direct with TK for flights alone.
Dec 1, 2019, 6:54 am
#23
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Dec 1, 2019, 6:54 am
#24
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The CE = TK Y analogy is pretty good. The food is same same, you lack a blocked middle but trade that for more comfy seats, high chance of IFE and the comfort of a wide body on some flights. BA Y is a discount offering unless you can trick it up via status and self cater. TK J is plain out of sight of CE, even on the least desirable (and rare to London) Airbus with converter seats.
TK is wide body on pretty much all flights except the very early or late ones, A330, 777 and 787, and even the rare A321's are mostly the Neo with a mid haul configuration of good C seats and brand new IFE on all seats.
Anyway, if BA is that cheap i'll just fly them, I'll make sure to go with a full stomach. It's sad though the state of starvation on the plane, 5 hours (including taxi etc.) without food is unacceptable and BOB on the return is a huge risk on such long routes when most people will eat on the outbound. I'll take some Burger King with me from the airport!
Dec 1, 2019, 6:58 am
#25
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According to BA's own internal specs, everything over 1500 miles is a medium haul flight, and is supposed to be treated as such. DME and IST were the two outliers as both were over 1500 miles, but had shorthaul aircraft. They remedied the DME situation about 8 years ago. At that time TK was just starting to upscale its entire UK operation, TK went from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 to some days 6x to LHR, they played with Stansted and eventually went 2 and even 3x to LGW, as well as Manchaster, Birmingham and Edinburgh. As we all know, at least half the LHR frequencies are on widebody long haul configured aircraft.
What was BA's response? They went exclusively to narrow body aircraft (retiring the shorthaul 767), reducing from 2x to 3x, often in the winter 1x (and often cancelling Tuesday flights), and played a weird game of whack a mole, by trying service from a bunch of different Turkish airports, but which were mostly bucket and spade...............Bodrum, Dalaman, Antalya. Then they eliminated food and drink offerings...........on their longest shorthaul flight.
What is said above is totally correct, when flying BA to/fr IST, I would posit that 70% are people connecting from places west of the UK. When flying TK, it is over 80% connecting from the East or South. But the big difference is in the front cabin. It used to be that "the regulars" Turks or foreigners that frequented the route a decade ago almost always flew BA, today, it is the opposite, and most choose TK. better product, better service, better aircraft, more frequency.
In my case, I can say that until a decade ago I would not fly TK on the route unless there was no other choice, now the only reason to fly BA is if it is significantly cheaper, or I have to be though the UK going west (i.e. the cheapest biz ticket to LAX is $5500+, while the BA is $2500 and I need to be in teh UK for a day or two in one of the directions. That being said TK plays the exact same games in the other direction whereby BA might be $6k+ to SIN, but TK offers the fare via IST for $2500!
What was BA's response? They went exclusively to narrow body aircraft (retiring the shorthaul 767), reducing from 2x to 3x, often in the winter 1x (and often cancelling Tuesday flights), and played a weird game of whack a mole, by trying service from a bunch of different Turkish airports, but which were mostly bucket and spade...............Bodrum, Dalaman, Antalya. Then they eliminated food and drink offerings...........on their longest shorthaul flight.
What is said above is totally correct, when flying BA to/fr IST, I would posit that 70% are people connecting from places west of the UK. When flying TK, it is over 80% connecting from the East or South. But the big difference is in the front cabin. It used to be that "the regulars" Turks or foreigners that frequented the route a decade ago almost always flew BA, today, it is the opposite, and most choose TK. better product, better service, better aircraft, more frequency.
In my case, I can say that until a decade ago I would not fly TK on the route unless there was no other choice, now the only reason to fly BA is if it is significantly cheaper, or I have to be though the UK going west (i.e. the cheapest biz ticket to LAX is $5500+, while the BA is $2500 and I need to be in teh UK for a day or two in one of the directions. That being said TK plays the exact same games in the other direction whereby BA might be $6k+ to SIN, but TK offers the fare via IST for $2500!
Dec 1, 2019, 7:07 am
#26
Join Date: Oct 2015
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And please, for the sake of your fellow passengers, don't take that Burger King on board.
Dec 1, 2019, 7:08 am
#27
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I will take my burger king if BA sends that dreaded text, 'no bob on board please buy at the airport'.
Dec 1, 2019, 10:14 am
#29
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Traditionally BA never compared itself to Bus or Train service.
Please name me another flag/trunk/regular carrier that does not provide at least water free of charge on a 4-5 hour trip that is not a part of IAG?
Please name me another flag/trunk/regular carrier that does not provide at least water free of charge on a 4-5 hour trip that is not a part of IAG?
Dec 1, 2019, 10:25 am
#30
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,237
Much in the same way as Henry Ford considered (although I suspect the story to be apocriphal) its car to be a competitor to the horse, or Coca-Cola saw the Coke as a competitor to water... train, bus, planes... are all means of transports. And BA does compete with trains on specific routes (Paris for instance, where arguably they are losing); planes and trains do compete in the rest of the developed world where high speed rail is already a reality.
I found it quite interesting that many happily board a train without expecting a snack but if there's no snack on a comparable plane journey then all hell breaks loose.
(BTW, BA offers water free of charge on short haul. Just ask for 'tap water'.)
I found it quite interesting that many happily board a train without expecting a snack but if there's no snack on a comparable plane journey then all hell breaks loose.
(BTW, BA offers water free of charge on short haul. Just ask for 'tap water'.)