UKtravelbear

another strange comment.

on what basis do you suggest this? are BA suddenly getting rid of a load of planes?

dougzz

There's plenty of discussion, and some good answers. You, as a person that once claimed they booked all the company travel, should have better awareness of airline pricing and economics. BA are in a battle for survival, certainly as they see it, so there is no point in surviving through the summer to be in a huge mess next year as a result of dumping inventory at low margin/loss. Right now no airline knows what next summer may look like, maybe demand disappears and their network is a fraction of what it was previously, and what inventory is available needs to be at a decent margin.

As as been pointed out already, you just seem irked that you can't bag a potential bargain, you're not acting based on altruistic motives towards BA.

IAN-UK

Indeed.
Although the OP's altruism is admirable, removing inventory at a price below the level the airline expects to achieve wouldn't be particularly helpful.

mmxbreaks

Predictable, yes. Fare difference = payable.
When my flight to EWR is finally cancelled I will be cancelling the whole thing for a cash refund.
I would prefer to just move it by one year, but that'll cost me several hundred pounds, so no thanks.

FlyerTalker39574

Things may take a long time to get back to ‘normal’.

A P Yu

They currently have no customers as non-essential travel is currently not recommended by the Government making any insurance policies on trips booked now null and void. While there will always be people who ignore their governments advice and who don't need insurance when travelling. The vast majority of BAs potential customers wont be looking to book any travel until the FCO travel advice is lifted, which could be sometime

gliderpilot

Read through this and afraid another one to disagree with the OP. I understand their frustration but all the points above make sense given BA is not yet at a point where it desperately needs the cash now to stay afloat (maybe VS is in a more precarious position and is thus more willing to dilute future revenue).

southlondonphil

All of the following questions serve to lessen demand right now, and most of them are immune to deep-discounting as a means to stimulate demand until answers are clearer:-

• How long will 'lockdown' or restrictions on normal daily activities in my home country last?
• Are me or my family going to get sick in the next few weeks?
• Will I still have a job in 6 months?
• Will [company] still exist in 6 months?
• Will they still be operating to [destination]?
• Is [destination] likely to retain stricter immigration/visa requirements even after the immediate crisis is over?
• Will I need a health certificate to fly?
• Will Covid-19 become like the winter flu, i.e. something that is always there in the background with occasional flare-ups in some regions?
• Will I even want to travel as much in the future?

Some airlines have made the calculation that they're going to be offering discounts on everything right now because they're keen to get the cash in now. BA appear to have taken the longer-term approach and are waiting to see what their future strategy will be once there is more clarity on progress dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. There's little to be gained in firing all your revenue-generating guns all at once when the global situation is so fluid, and then having nothing in reserve for when you can make more effective use of them.


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LondonElite

I was talking about next year, not now.

Mountlodge

Caveat: probably complete pie in the sky (forgive the pun) I really have no idea the feasibility of this idea but: To help mitigate this would BA not be better if it got hold of one of each aircraft and pilots took a few hours each to fly around somewhere just to keep all the necessary requirements for being able to fly when the time comes. I feel once again I'm about to be educated
ML

A P Yu

That's even simpler, they have no customers for next May as bookings don't open till 350 days before. I'm sure they will have customers next May, but probably not in significant number until towards the end of 2020

rossmacd

It appears that BA doesn't want your low value bone

LondonElite

Sorry, May was a typo. My point was OP doesn't know what the demand/bookings are for the flight he was hoping to book next year.

13901

Well the news we've heard on the pilots being on-off two weeks per month might point in that direction but... it isn't that simple.

Crews must pass their recurrent. If they don't, as per CAA rules, they'd have a return-to-work course of the duration of 6 weeks. Right now I'm told there's no crew training in progress, so no chance for doing recurrents.

Engineers must keep their licence active, if they don't they need to pass a Quality exam.

And, even more basic, airside passes: if you don't swipe every 60 days, they get parked and have to be un-parked. And this affects everyone working in an airport. plus a lot more that I'm sure I'm missing.

This industry is not designed to sit on its bum for months. Unless measures - most of them requiring legal changes - are relaxed, and technical steps put in place, re-starting will be a bit like the T5 opening again.

rapidex

That would require BA to bring people to work who would be better of staying at home. They would need engineers/fuelers/tug drivers/fire staff atc and a host of others.
I accept that some of those may be needed and in work but we dont need to add to their workload.