nufnuf77

Amigo - dont go asking. Just say BA is cancelled and QR is cancelled, there is no other alternatives, therefore you would like the agent to use Lufthansa rebooking policy to rebook onto (and provide dates and flight numbers)

Globaliser

The Santa charters thread (BA10) led me to discover that the BKK shuttle is indeed now happening. BA9 LHR-BKK-HKG and BA10 HKG-BKK-LHR, with a couple of hours on the ground at HKG. A pity that the ability to load yourself onto the aircraft (presumably) disqualifies you from travel.

Presumably nicer for the crew than having to remain onboard for an entire LHR-HKG-LHR round-trip.

sbs2716g

Not sure CX have any space or not. VS have cancelled their flights n VS are offering to rebook to CX. Even CX also cancelled their own MAN-HKG flight.


and for CX, they are asking for 24hrs pre-departure PCR result during check in.

sxc

CX is now “banned” from flying LHR-HKG from 26th December to 8 January.

sxc

Not quite sure what you’re saying. Is BA carrying pax LHR-HKG via BKK now/soon?

moondog

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW9

ScienceTeacher

The BA flight via BKK is operating but it isn’t loaded for sale it seems. A pity.

An option to get back from Hong Kong now seems to be:
- CX to AMS or CDG and connect on BA from there.

As far as I can see on the local press;
- Qatar banned from operating at all into HKG until 8th January 2022
- Cathy banned from operating LHR - HKG until 9th January 2022
- British Airways voluntarily has withdrawn flights until 1st March 2022
- Virgin withdrawn flights until 3rd January 2022

Interestingly however, CX255 and CX251 are still for sale HKG - LHR contrary to SMCP so perhaps not entirely as reported in the news!

moondog

I suspect they'll start selling passenger tickets on it as soon as they work out the crew swap logistics. AA, AF, DL, and UA have been switching crews at ICN for 20 months and the drill works pretty well, but there were some teething problems at first.

sxc

So looks like cargo is valuable enough for BA to still operate this route without passengers.

Globaliser

Self-loading cargo not welcome. Sadly.

Particularly given that VS seems to have voluntarily suspended for at least a week after (allegedly) one of their crew was sent to Penny's Bay; and CX, EK and QR are all serving 14-day sin bin bans at present.

moondog

The BKK stop is a sign that BA actually wants to try to serve the market. The crews flying BKK-HKG-BKK don't need to worry about Penny's Bay because they won't make it far from the airplane if they are allowed off at all. BA would not have gone to the trouble of injecting BKK into the mix if they wanted to fly cargo only. Of course, there is no guarantee that things will go as planned, but I give them kudos for trying.

Carfield

While Hong Kong government bans these airlines from carrying passengers into Hong Kong on a specific route, they are still allowed to carry passengers from Hong Kong back to their origin. I presume cargo is not affected. CX can continue to operate flights from Hong Kong to London, which will surely be really packed after the Near Year when many students head back to UK. I presume CX will just fly the crews back immediately without them entering UK ground with the plane filled with cargoes in the belly back to HK. Qatar Airways has indeed continued to operate flights from Hong Kong to Doha during their numerous suspensions. They just carried cargo and the operating crews from Doha to HKG, and then both passengers and cargoes on the way back to Doha. Qatar cargo operates multiple flights between HKG and Doha, so cargo demand must be high.

Carfield

brunos

As Globaliser mentioned, it is really hard for UK pax to currently fly into HK. No nonstop flights. QR, EK, KE banned. Singapore does not allow transit to HK.

BA does not have a cargo fleet and needs to fly some cargo to HK, hence the LHR-BKK-HKG route where a pilot crew operates BKK-HKG-BKK.
BA does not take pax on either LHR-BKK or BKK-LHR. Whether they will do it in the future in unknown. Personally, I doubt that the number of pax will justify the logistics to accommodate FAs will be worth it after the holiday period.

moondog

If BA pulls this off, they will have a monopoly on the route, and can charge extremely high prices for the ~50 pax that fly it. This is the way UA 857 operates (to PVG).

Schwann

No idea how long the student holidays are, but I can't imagine they'd have had much meaningful time back home in HK with all the public health formalities. I'm guessing many would have just stayed in the UK?