aks120

I was actually going to say I have been served with a smile and a bit of friendly chat by every crew member today - and 2 different sets of crew. I have had to bat off drinks (driving at other end) and the foods all look pretty good - hot food as well on the train I was on!

aks120

HIDDY

Looks eerily quiet. Out of interest how many hours will the whole journey take?

aks120

LNER takes me 5:30 to get home. BA takes me 6:30 on a very very good day. You are going to ask me why I take BA in the first place - well because I used to love the journey!

aks120

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

If I could give that 1000 likes it still wouldn’t be enough in my opinion. It’s not just air travel of course but as this is a frequent flyer forum I won’t wander off piste.

HIDDY

I think I'd be sticking to the train as well.

FlightDetective

That's what the oneworld alliance airlines are for. I'm tied to the Executive Club, but I'm certainly not a BA loyalist. I've been actively choosing AA to cross the Atlantic this year because the food is far better and frankly so is the seat, though that is no longer an issue due to Club Suite progressing in its rollout. While the BA crews quite frankly always sh*t all over the "service" I get on AA, the other elements made it a no brainer.

Also, Qatar Airways joining oneworld was a real game changer as it opened up everything east with one stop in Doha. For me it's all about the price as I am not independently wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, even though people do equate blogger to having money. I work full time and blog on the side as I like writing, so I will choose whoever has the lowest price or deal, as long as it's oneworld. Personally I far prefer flying airlines like Cathay Pacific long haul, except it's rare as they're usually expensive.

Short haul and it's BA all the way, partly as I have no choice (that will change if Aer Lingus ever rejoin the alliance in some form), but also partly because I think BA Club Europe is an excellent product. Service is always great, food is always very good and I really enjoy flying it. So yes, I agree, people should look around, but most people don't out of habit I suppose.

firstlight

I can't see anyone wanting to book for bank holiday weekend anyway. We got an £2 avios fare economy to Nice this morning - cash price (B class) was £1987. Will be interesting to see if BA go to the next level and start cancelling reward bookings for that weekend if they are above the cap as they won't have to pay 261 compo and can just give people their avios back.

corporate-wage-slave

It's only departing from LHR to shorthaul, but not arriving to LHR.

So for new bookings
LHR-NCE = no go
NCE-LHR = OK
LCY-NCE = OK

NCE-JFK = OK via LHR
JFK-NCE = no go via LHR, OK via LCY, LGW or Iberia etc. Return via LHR is ok

The last example is crazy: you buy an expensive ticket from NY, you arrive into LHR, there are flights to NCE departing which are half empty, you have to leave LHR and go to Gatwick or City. In a terminal where baggage handling is largely automated. Or more likely fly on another airline instead.

The Ginge

I know that corporate travel is significantly down over normal times, and it is the summer holidays so that normally thins it out, however those corporate accounts that take late notice short haul flights will be looking elsewhere, if they weren't already.

Jpm81

95% of my travel is booked with maximum 10 days notice.

I've got a trip to BUD booked next week which fortunately was done 10 days out and so far is not showing as cancelled. Let's see if it still goes ahead.

PUCCI GALORE

That beggars belief. I sincerely hope that this idiotic decree by the World's Most Trashy Airport is enforced on all carriers. I understand that Schipol is doing the same thing. What you will know, and I do not understand is why Barajas is operating apparently normally. CDG/ORY Ditto

I note too that one can book from (NCE is the example that you are using here) NCE to LHR but not back from LHR. I do hope that this results in no more personnel related cancellations.

TheJayHatch

With this sort of behaviour from BA it may never recover!

orbitmic

A little tangential, but I know that this forum has quite a few fellow LHR-NCE regulars and I thought some may have been impacted by BA's current booking freeze as I have been. As you may know, AF has now launched LHR-NCE too (one daily from T3 for the summer period, Y only) and just in case it's of interest, I've just reviewed it and tried to provide a fairly comprehensive comparison between the BA, AF, and U2 offers between London and Nice here in case that's of interest:

Ground experience (note I used the Centurion lounge rather than Aspire as provided by AF): FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Service on summer European flights from regional airports

Boarding and flight experience: FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Service on summer European flights from regional airports

Overall comparison BA/AF/U2 and final thoughts: FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Service on summer European flights from regional airports

and the full thread if preferred: Service on summer European flights from regional airports - FlyerTalk Forums

In a nutshell, I gave BA the overall edge - mostly because of fares (usually), schedules, and F Wing, but AF had the better onboard service (choice of sandwich, biscuits, full bar, and excellent crew) so certainly worth considering if one needs to book between the two cities (I quite like U2 but I found AF a lot better).

Anyway, I posted that in the AF forum as it is what I primarily wanted to review, and as always talk way too much about food, but given the comparison and given the number of regulars and current impossibility to book such an important route in the next two weeks, I thought I'd link it in case it is of interest to anyone.

orbitmic

Indeed, totally nuts. Who on earth thinks of those things?! And indeed, since we are at NCE which is a little more than a random example for many regulars on this forum, just posted a link to my review of the new competition (AF) and my (very personal) comparison between BA, AF, and U2 offerings on the LON-NCE market.

KeaneJohn

I also travelled LNER from Newcastle to London recently. My one way ticket was £17.20 booked 2 weeks in advance and the one way flight was £89 which was over what I’d want to pay.

From 24 hours prior to departure you can bid to upgrade to first Class on LNER with seat frog. It gives an upgrade now price and you can bid. I secured an upgrade for £23, which was lower than the £40 upgrade now price

The First Class lounge at Newcastle was Ok. Comfortable seating, tea, coffee, water, crisps, biscuits and fruit. Toilets, tv and fast WiFi and plenty of charging points. Seat on board relatively comfortable.

Alcoholic drinks issued with snacks on departure, then soft drinks and tea of coffee. Hot food orders were taken from the Dine menu. I had a decent tortellini with lemon mousse for desert. Regular drinks runs for alcoholic drinks including wine with meal and tea and coffee/soft drinks and snacks.

I normally fly and love flying. Door to door times for me from Newcastle are around 20 mins longer by train plus lounge time it’s not that much difference from EDinburgh.

BA need to be careful if they are rebooking people on their cancelled flights to LNER as they will see a highly comparable very acceptable alternative to flying. Whilst I appreciate there are a few rail strikes looming too the train is not too shabby an alternative at the moment.