jackr27

Personally, if I was going to balance it between passenger experience and revenue, I'd keep the densification (sorry) and CE as it is at the moment.

I'd then purely focus on the service provided in the two.

For ET I'd bring back basic free catering - something along the lines of a sandwich or basic salad, soft drinks, wine or beer. I'd also get rid of the silliness currently where someone with status cannot take a free checked bag on a 'basic' fare.

As a result of the travel situation right now, I've flown a couple of Ryanair segments. Before I usually connected through Madrid and flew Iberia. To be honest, once you're onboard, the difference really is very minimal. I would struggle to tell you why BA or IB demand a premium if you don't have status. I was even surprised by the fact my knees weren't rammed up against the seat in front. Yes, I'd rather have been on IB or BA, but I doubt most passengers would really see that much of a difference.

So fine, keep the densification, but at least have some service differentiation.

For CE I would focus on making sure the food was of a consistent quality. I might even see if it was feasible to bring in a pre-ordering option so people received the meal they wanted. And no more running out of drinks on the return.

JAXBA

But the suggestion was to use the BA brand (i.e BA Express), which would use the existing BA serviced website, call centre, etc., but a pared back inflight service closer to Vueling/LEVEL. Some BA soft benefits on the ground, a more basic experience inflight.

Compare with OpenSkies, which was BA branded but had a boutique feel: the BA experience with some added touches. Now consider the former BA Connect; BA brand and experience but with BoB. Both were fully integrated w/BA booking system and BAEC.

Whether it's legally 'BA Express operated by Vueling' or just 'BA Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of BA' doesn't really matter for this hypothetical BA branded Vueling style competitor to the LCCs, which could be BA at LGW until a more premium service is needed.

bafan

maybe they could buy the ‘Go’ brand back from EasyJet...or just resurrect BA connect ? In reality, hasn’t this just been tried before, unsuccessfully?

Dave_C

British Airways is not Easyjet, WizzAir or Ryanair. It is unable to make (sufficient) money from short-haul alone.

It is like Air France / KLM Group or the Lufthansa Group.

At best, short-haul will break even or be marginally profitable. It is there to feed the long-haul traffic that actually makes the money.

As long as it's not too intolerable for a two hour hop, then that's good enough.

ISTFlyer

Also, I would like to remind you that not everyone who purchases Club Europe has status. For someone who has no status, there are perks like;

- Lounge access
- 2 x 32 kgs baggage allowance
- Priority boarding
- Priority check-in
- Priority baggage delivery

So, for someone who has no status, it might be feasible to purchase Club Europe in some cases.

For example on a group vacation next year, with the only passenger having status in any airline being myself, some of us have paid an extra €150 r/t for LH J in order to get checked baggage, not worry about seating fees ( LH does not charge for seats in J ), have lounge access and not deal with long lines at the airports.

To contribute the real-J recliner seat discussion, LH & AF Business Class was the cheapest Business product on that route for our given dates, while LH and AF J was €450 r/t, TK Business Class was €1500 r/t on an Intra-European route so we preferred to fly LH as nobody valued the recliner seats and saving a few hours €1050. Although, there were some people who paid TK Y €900 r/t who claimed that making a connection on an intra-European itinerary seemed silly to them. Required background information: This vacation is on a Turkish holiday and we didn't have flexibility on the dates.

BrianDromey

I think you have hit the nail on the head. CE has a place, but even this place is price-sensitive. I fall very much into your category. For example on our skiing holiday CE saves a fortune in luggage and ski carriage. It literally pays for itself on this basis alone.

Apologies, I missed that. That makes even less sense, as BA are already within a hair of Vueling. By the time they would have TUPE’d BA’s LGW crew over to Vueling and then lost the flexibility to roster them as a mixed fleet, I honestly think this is barking up the wrong tree. Not to mention the BA pilots unions would resist this and likely strike.

PGberkshire

No Union in their right mind would strike when there is a ton of qualified people sat on the bench / unemployed.

I had my hair cut the other day, the guy was an ex pilot. Thomas Cook then Virgin, redundant twice in a year poor sod. He's chomping at the bit to fly again.

Skipcool3

I would simply like them to remove a row of seats between row 1 and the over wing exits so I can use my laptop and not have my knees jammed against the seat in front...

BrianDromey

Not in the current climate, but there will hopefully be a recovery.

AHC96

The "BA Express" concept sounds a lot like what Iberia does with Iberia Express. An experiment that hasn't worked very well... I find it interesting that some mentioned that a BA ground experience combined with a Vueling/Level/LLC on board experience would work, but how is the current BA offering differs from Ryanair or EasyJet (and even Vueling and Level)?

Something I would love to see is the return of BA Connect: Flying BA from around the UK but without having to always transfer at LHR or LGW.

HIDDY

In my opinion (the ordinary man in the street without a shiny status card who doesn't fly that often).

I don't sweat the small stuff. As long as the flight is near enough on time and my ticket doesn't cost a fortune I'm not that bothered about any inflight service on a short haul flight.

PGberkshire

What is Iberia express, surely it is just Veuling in drag?

PGberkshire

38,000 Flyertalk posts do not make you the ordinary man in the street when it comes to flying, sorry to disappoint.

ISTFlyer

Iberia Express is the company that handles Iberia's LCC operations out of Madrid.
Vueling handles the LCC operations out of other Spanish cities and some other European cities.

BAeuro

Also, Vueling has no business class (only a few priority seats at the front) whereas Iberia Express flights all have a business cabin. Iberia Express is also in OW and allows you to collect TPs. It’s more a hybrid than full LCC in that sense.

The reason it was set up though was to operate routes which Iberia itself couldn’t turn a profit on. They hired crews on lower contacts and jammed in a few more seats.

BA don’t have this issue though. I’d say most European routes are profitable and those that need lower fares/lower costs are operated from LGW due to the cost savings.