Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
As time goes on, there are fewer reasons not to fly easyJet instead. If they get into Heathrow, as they want to do, BA short-haul is dead.
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As time goes on, there are fewer reasons not to fly easyJet instead. If they get into Heathrow, as they want to do, BA short-haul is dead.
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Never actually flown with BA, but I've not heard amazing things about them (Air France of Lufthansa for the win) The BBC article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39184179 seems to suggest less legroom than even Ryan Air.
Ryanair have a nominally reasonable pitch but it's spoilt by the relatively thick plastic backed seats that mean the actual legroom is less than easyJet even though easyJet's pitch is tighter.
Shaw S Hunter
Established Member
For point to point journeys, maybe. But BA's largest market is one-stop journeys from all over Europe to all over North America and they link many more city pairs in that market than anyone else. As long as trans-Atlantic demand holds up BA will be OK. In terms of short-haul around Europe they have long since lost the lead to Ryanair so becoming more like easyJet is probably a sensible long-term strategy.
atillathehunn
Established Member
Quite. While the LCCs have slowly either drifted towards or made mutterings about offering connections either onto their own services or connecting to other carriers, it's unlikely they will ever have - or have access to - the range of services to North America or other key global cities (looking at Hong Kong, Singapore, Johannesburg, Cape Town as the multiple-daily destinations).
While they may well lose some very price conscious travellers onto a potential new LCC connection service, it's probably only a fraction more than they have already lost to Norwegian, and witness the fight back BA are making against them.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Their sharing agreement with American Airlines will probably insulate them against problems in that market. Even if people ditch BA, if they move to AA then BA still get some of the cash. Virgin/Delta are probably the biggest threat from London, but they don't have the network spread in the States.
That said, if they make the short haul connections through Heathrow absolutely vile, people from elsewhere in Europe probably will ditch them. From up here, connections on KLM/Air France rather than BA seem far more appealing these days.
BA has basically turned into Vueling though. I'm not convinced of the long-term strategy benefits of that. But Senor Cruz will have cashed his stock options in long before the birds come home to roost.
theageofthetra
Established Member
I have a flight back from San Jose Costa Rica via Madrid which is operated on an Iberia codeshare with BA.
Will probably be my last ever BA flight when I found they try to charge you £56 each to prebook the pairs of seats on the outbound LHR- San Jose direct BA 777.
On the return journey with Iberia the seat configuration for the whole of economy is 2-4-2 with none of the BA rip off seat choice fees.- I am curious what aircraft this is as am struggling to remember the last time I saw this seat configuration (possibly a Malaysian Airbus on KL-Perth?)
Will probably be my last ever BA flight when I found they try to charge you £56 each to prebook the pairs of seats on the outbound LHR- San Jose direct BA 777.
On the return journey with Iberia the seat configuration for the whole of economy is 2-4-2 with none of the BA rip off seat choice fees.- I am curious what aircraft this is as am struggling to remember the last time I saw this seat configuration (possibly a Malaysian Airbus on KL-Perth?)
berneyarms
Established Member
Either an Airbus A330 or an Airbus A340.
That layout is by far the more appealing.
I'd agree - charging for long haul seats isn't good.
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theageofthetra
Established Member
There is charging and then there are BA's rip off fees. Fortunately for the outbound flight the Mrs has access to Galileo and that flight isn't busy and is wide open so will book seats at the 24hr window
Okay, easyJet short report (hey, nice rhyme!). 
Thursday morning. We travel to Liverpool John Lennon airport. Honestly, I didn't see why we went there instead of the more trend Man Airport, or even Leeds-Bradford (which is closer to us), but whatever...
Anyway, checking in with our baggage was reletively smooth and quick (apart from two other students failing the metal detector for whatever reason!), and soon enough, we were near our boarding gates. Me and a few others went to the inside Burger King as we were starving. It's been a while since I've been there, but I immediately fell in love with the Double Whopper!
Next up, the actual plane experience. Geez, the colour scheme for easyJet is very easy to the eye (if you know what I mean) and certinatly better than Ryannair. Now I've taken an Airbus product, I can quickly judge from experience that the A320/19 is better than the Boeing 737 in many ways: smoother takeoff and landing; quieter cabin; you get my wind!
The flight took about an hour and a half, and we were soon in Belfast. Despite loosing two matches and drawing one (I blame the dire weather
), I had a truly decent time, and enjoyed my first flight without my parents! 
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan
(P.S. Wrote on my phone, so sorry for disjointed text
)
Thursday morning. We travel to Liverpool John Lennon airport. Honestly, I didn't see why we went there instead of the more trend Man Airport, or even Leeds-Bradford (which is closer to us), but whatever...
Anyway, checking in with our baggage was reletively smooth and quick (apart from two other students failing the metal detector for whatever reason!), and soon enough, we were near our boarding gates. Me and a few others went to the inside Burger King as we were starving. It's been a while since I've been there, but I immediately fell in love with the Double Whopper!
Next up, the actual plane experience. Geez, the colour scheme for easyJet is very easy to the eye (if you know what I mean
) and certinatly better than Ryannair. Now I've taken an Airbus product, I can quickly judge from experience that the A320/19 is better than the Boeing 737 in many ways: smoother takeoff and landing; quieter cabin; you get my wind!The flight took about an hour and a half, and we were soon in Belfast. Despite loosing two matches and drawing one (I blame the dire weather
), I had a truly decent time, and enjoyed my first flight without my parents! Thanks for reading,
Jonathan
(P.S. Wrote on my phone, so sorry for disjointed text
)
Okay, easyJet short report (hey, nice rhyme!).
Thursday morning. We travel to Liverpool John Lennon airport. Honestly, I didn't see why we went there instead of the more trend Man Airport, or even Leeds-Bradford (which is closer to us), but whatever...
Anyway, checking in with our baggage was reletively smooth and quick (apart from two other students failing the metal detector for whatever reason!), and soon enough, we were near our boarding gates. Me and a few others went to the inside Burger King as we were starving. It's been a while since I've been there, but I immediately fell in love with the Double Whopper!
Next up, the actual plane experience. Geez, the colour scheme for easyJet is very easy to the eye (if you know what I mean
The flight took about an hour and a half, and we were soon in Belfast. Despite loosing two matches and drawing one (I blame the dire weather
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan
(P.S. Wrote on my phone, so sorry for disjointed text
It took you an hour and a half to fly from Liverpool to Belfast. Have I read something incorrectly? The weather must have been bad.
ModernRailways
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Just to add some more complaints about BA.
Flew with them last week NCL-LHR-JFK, then return LHR-NCL - JFK-LHR was by AA.
Originally our outbound was supposed to be BA to Heathrow then American Airlines LHR to JFK but 12 hours before our flight was meant to leave it got cancelled. I called to rebook and we were moved to an earlier flight from NCL. They decided to change the flight from LHR too, and if we wanted to keep the AA flight from Heathrow they wanted to charge an extra £100 per person (that was to stay on the same flight from Heathrow). The BA planes were horrible, cramped and just felt dated, even though it was a refurbished 777. The power plugs didn't work, and the usb didn't work either. I asked if there was any other groups of 2 seats free somewhere and was told unless I paid extra we couldn't move.
The return flight on a refurbished American Airlines 777, was a million times better (although the staff member welcoming us on board was strange, she was standing blowing bubbles with chewing gum. I laughed but I can imagine some people would be horrified). The seats were comfy, there was plenty of room to move around in my seat - it seemed like there was more space than on the BA flight although there probably wasn't. The power worked, and the IFE system was so much nicer too - an Android tablet basically stuck to the seat in front.
The return flight on BA short haul was again horrible with the seats being cramped, although thankfully we did have a row of 3 to just me and my friend so 1 spare seat which meant we could stretch our legs a bit more.
The food service on the BA flights was disastrous too. It took them 45 minutes into the short haul flight before they started with the trolley. They got about 10 rows in (with maybe 3 orders) before the pilot told them to prepare for landing. In my view, they should offer a free drink (a small can of coke, the really tiny ones for example) and then food is paid for. It's something to set them apart from the budget airlines where you do get nothing at all.
This was my first and last time flying with BA, KLM to Schipol and then onwards from there is so much nicer and so much more pleasant. The whole ambience is just better. I would also fly American Airlines again, but they don't serve Newcastle so I'd need to be able to get to London first - train possibly.
Flew with them last week NCL-LHR-JFK, then return LHR-NCL - JFK-LHR was by AA.
Originally our outbound was supposed to be BA to Heathrow then American Airlines LHR to JFK but 12 hours before our flight was meant to leave it got cancelled. I called to rebook and we were moved to an earlier flight from NCL. They decided to change the flight from LHR too, and if we wanted to keep the AA flight from Heathrow they wanted to charge an extra £100 per person (that was to stay on the same flight from Heathrow). The BA planes were horrible, cramped and just felt dated, even though it was a refurbished 777. The power plugs didn't work, and the usb didn't work either. I asked if there was any other groups of 2 seats free somewhere and was told unless I paid extra we couldn't move.
The return flight on a refurbished American Airlines 777, was a million times better (although the staff member welcoming us on board was strange, she was standing blowing bubbles with chewing gum. I laughed but I can imagine some people would be horrified). The seats were comfy, there was plenty of room to move around in my seat - it seemed like there was more space than on the BA flight although there probably wasn't. The power worked, and the IFE system was so much nicer too - an Android tablet basically stuck to the seat in front.
The return flight on BA short haul was again horrible with the seats being cramped, although thankfully we did have a row of 3 to just me and my friend so 1 spare seat which meant we could stretch our legs a bit more.
The food service on the BA flights was disastrous too. It took them 45 minutes into the short haul flight before they started with the trolley. They got about 10 rows in (with maybe 3 orders) before the pilot told them to prepare for landing. In my view, they should offer a free drink (a small can of coke, the really tiny ones for example) and then food is paid for. It's something to set them apart from the budget airlines where you do get nothing at all.
This was my first and last time flying with BA, KLM to Schipol and then onwards from there is so much nicer and so much more pleasant. The whole ambience is just better. I would also fly American Airlines again, but they don't serve Newcastle so I'd need to be able to get to London first - train possibly.
BA have been cutting service for the last 4 or 5 years, forgetting that they are supposed to be a full-service airline (with full-service costs)
Many customers have fled to more sensible airlines.
The straw for me was actually when they insisted of me removing a sleeping baby from an approved car seat where he was perfectly safe and put him into a dangerous 'lap-belt', rather than any cost cutting (I'd mostly moved from BA before the final incident due to poor service and high prices, but hadn't moved completely), however I was very unimpressed recently by the fact they no longer pay for stamps when sending you mail.
Not flown long haul many times but BA from Heathrow to Hong Kong the headrest was falling off, the bogs looked liked they hadn't been cleaned in the 20 years the plane had been flying (Along with the ash trays) and the cabin crew acted like they had been on the the plane without a day off since it went in to service. I think out of spite they took the seat and crew off the flight to Hong Kong and stuck them on the 777 back from Buenos Aires to Heathrow. At least no one had spattergunned the toilet whilst having a ciggy. A bonus of my round the world plane ticket is that I would now never use BA out of choice. LAN were much better, is this something to do with Thatcher being mates with Pinochet?
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So I'm hoping for some advice here - I may be flying from Beijing to Sydney in August and have the option between two airlines - either Air Asia X or Qantas. Has anyone here flown Air Asia X and can help me decide if it's worth it to pay the extra £150 to fly Qantas.
I can fly Air Asia X for about £160 with a stop in Kuala Lumpar (including baggage) however I'm wondering if it's worth paying nearly twice as much to fly Qantas which is direct, offers meals, more room, has IFE and I can earn Avios. What's mainly putting me off AAX is the 3-3-3 layout in their A330 which reviews suggest to be incredibly cramped which would worry me for a 6'1 male on a 5 hour and then an 8 hour flight. However, being able to split up what would otherwise be an 11.5 hour flight is nice, but mainly the price will allow me to have an extra day or two in Sydney so it's a tough call! Being a student, I am somewhat limited by my budget but I am more than happy to pay the extra £150 for a significantly more bearable flight...
I can fly Air Asia X for about £160 with a stop in Kuala Lumpar (including baggage) however I'm wondering if it's worth paying nearly twice as much to fly Qantas which is direct, offers meals, more room, has IFE and I can earn Avios. What's mainly putting me off AAX is the 3-3-3 layout in their A330 which reviews suggest to be incredibly cramped which would worry me for a 6'1 male on a 5 hour and then an 8 hour flight. However, being able to split up what would otherwise be an 11.5 hour flight is nice, but mainly the price will allow me to have an extra day or two in Sydney so it's a tough call! Being a student, I am somewhat limited by my budget but I am more than happy to pay the extra £150 for a significantly more bearable flight...
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Personally I think carrying children on aircraft in lap belts in front of the parent needs to be banned. In the event of an otherwise survivable rapid deceleration, the child will be crushed under the weight of the parent's upper body, or the child will break loose and slide down the floor and the parent will hamper evacuation looking for them (not to mention the injuries caused).
Like with cars, a proper seat needs to become a requirement.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I see no reason to fly BA over easyJet now and plenty of reasons the other way round. Well, I see one reason - Heathrow, which is (unlike Luton at the minute) now a very pleasant airport - but if easyJet get in there...
Long-haul I'll stick to my existing rule of "fly the national airline of where you're going", usually served me well doing this.
On the 777 it's quite possible American did have more room - do they have 3-3-3 and BA 3-4-3? I flew on an American 777 years ago and it was very pleasant indeed.
Oddly enough this links in with what I put just above. My one experience of Qantas was excellent. The service, food, IFE etc. was really good in economy. Not sure what your seat layout would be on the Qantas flight but we were on a pretty standard 747. Re AAX, I'm guessing it is an A330? I've been on an A340 in 2-4-2 layout and it was the best plane I've been on. Can't imagine 3-3-3 on an Air Asia flight will be much fun without extras. There mst be a heck of a price difference difference if Air Asia will give you 2 more days in Sydney, Australia is expensive.
Purely personal views there.
Both flights I'm looking at are an A330-300 so 2-4-2 on Qantas and 3-3-3 on AAX. I flew an American Airlines A330 a few years back and loved the 2-4-2 layout, but like you said, the 3-3-3 layout on AAX is what's putting me off. Seatguru says for Qantas the width is 17.5 - 17.0 inches whereas Air Asia X appears to be 16.5 inches. For the dates I'm looking at, the fare for AAX is £160ish whereas Qantas is £320 so it's a fair difference, but like I said, the Qantas fare includes food and IFE. My plan is to use AirBNB when I'm there so it's pretty cheap when comparing the price to a hotel - hence why I can spend an extra two days!
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ModernRailways
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American was 3-4-3, but we were sat in the last row so it was 2-4-2. We were sat in the second last row on the BA flight and the BA flight was 3-4-3 all the way to the back so possibly something to do with that. The plane narrowing, BA just squeezed the seats in, whereas American where more relaxed about it.
theageofthetra
Established Member
Be careful with Airbnb in parts of Sydney- been quite a few scams aimed at younger travellers. Try and build up an online dialogue via personal email with the person letting to be sure they are the sort of person you would want to be dealing with. I got an excellent one when I was there by being picky (but do have age and an approved status on my side)
theageofthetra
Established Member
I see no reason to fly BA over easyJet now and plenty of reasons the other way round. Well, I see one reason - Heathrow, which is (unlike Luton at the minute) now a very pleasant airport - but if easyJet get in there...
Long-haul I'll stick to my existing rule of "fly the national airline of where you're going", usually served me well doing this.
On the 777 it's quite possible American did have more room - do they have 3-3-3 and BA 3-4-3? I flew on an American 777 years ago and it was very pleasant indeed.
Very good advice re using the national carrier- can make all difference when something goes wrong and guess who gets priority.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
ian959
Member
I have flown Air Asia X a couple of times on their A330s (PER-KUL) and Qantas once internationally on their A330s (HKG-SYD) and many times domestically (PER-BNE and PER-SYD).
I would strongly recommend Qantas over Air Asia X and I HATE Qantas as an airline. Air Asia X 3-3-3 configuration is the pits and that is before even considering the awful faux leather seating they use and being stuck looking at the awful adverts plastered on overhead bins, seat backs, tables and wherever else Tony Fernandez has worked out where he can stick an advert.
The 2-4-2 configuration of the Qantas A330s is way nicer and the seats are better, but still not especially brilliant compared to those on the similarly configured Cathay Pacific A330s. Qantas IFE is okay. Service is pretty much on a par between Air Asia X and Qantas other than meals/drinks are free on Qantas.
I am 5'8" and found the Air Asia X seats to be a little cramped and uncomfortable overall. The last time I flew with them, I vowed it would be the last time. On Qantas I find the seats reasonably comfortable and a little less cramped, especially in the last couple of rows at the back of the aircraft.
I agree. Alas BA don't, and indeed believe the exact opposite.
"I've looked into this for you and contacted our Inflight Safety team for clarification. They have confirmed that the guidelines that should and will be followed by our crew when a seat is purchased for an infant to travel in an approved car seat do confirm that our crew can ask that the infant be removed from the seat when the seat belt signs have been switched on and during turbulence. "
Thanks for the reply. Just out of interest, why is it you hate Qantas?
I must say, after this reply and having read a few more reports and reviews, I'm strongly thinking considering paying the extra to fly Qantas simply because I cannot imagine being stuck on a 3-3-3 layout on AAX for 13 hours... Hopefully I know by next week if I end up flying to Sydney or not!
Thanks for the help. I've had a look around and have a few places in mind but I will certainly be weary about fake reviews. I've come across a few deals that almost seem too good to be true and have many excellent reviews, but I will certainly try to ensure I don't get scammed!
ModernRailways
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I use Airbnb incredibly often, fake reviews don't tend to be too much of an issue but you can always click through and check to see that users account. See what people have said, whether they have IDs linked etc.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
I am going to look again at our holiday plans; regardless of what the inter island fares are, there is the small matter of getting to Alderney in the first place. Aurigny want £830.46 return from Southampton for two adults and two children ( 13 and 10 ) including taxes and surcharges.
hock:They must be joking... :mad:
theageofthetra
Established Member
I am going to look again at our holiday plans; regardless of what the inter island fares are, there is the small matter of getting to Alderney in the first place. Aurigny want £830.46 return from Southampton for two adults and two children ( 13 and 10 ) including taxes and surcharges.
They must be joking... :mad:
Christ- you could probably charter a boat for that!
Joe Paxton
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BA are occasionally cheaper than easyJet... like many who compare fares, I'd simply chose whoever had the cheaper fares along with the more suitable flight times.
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